I have been a fan of Patagonia for a long time. I like their environmental stance and general integrity. I love their catalogs but all the good publicity and green work is pointless unless the merchandise is good. I purchased some Capilene shirts back in 1987 that I can still wear regularly and a fleece hat that remains in constant use about the same time. Patagonia gear is expensive but easily a good value in the cost per wearing and per use equation.

About 5 years ago, my in-laws gave me a Critical Mass bag for a Christmas gift. I used it daily on my commute, on trips. It held at least 2 grocery bags full of stuff, beer, books, dog food,  what have you. I liked it because it rested on my backside for bike rides, not on my shoulders or my back.

Tossing it in my car one day, I neglected to buckle the buckles on the thing. (Yet another reason to avoid driving.) The plastic buckles were slightly cracked but still worked. When they finally gave out, I contacted Patagonia via chat about getting replacement buckles. They offered to ship them to me but when I considered trying to restitch the straps and so forth, I decided to mail the bag back and have their repair department handle it. I emptied my bag and put my daily needs into my Lowe Alpine daypack, which I love for hiking but was too small for riding and uncomfortable when biking.

I printed and completed the repair form and packed it up at the UPS store.3 weeks later, I got a call from Patagonia that they had received my bag with only the UPS label on the package, no instructions, no idea what to with it. I called them and explained that I sent it in to have the buckles replaced.

A few days later, it occurred to me that, if they didn't have the form, they didn't have my payment method. So I made another call to them.

They told me that the record showed they were sending a new bag out Monday at no cost to me. It wasn't my old bag or a new old stock version of my bag, but a brand-new updated bag. My old bag had a small pocket in the back so that objects inserted in there would sit at my back. It didn't have pen slots so that pens floated around the bag. There was no place for my phone. It had a built-in laptop pouch.

The new bag has a phone pouch attached to the shoulder strap. It has slots for 3 pens. The small zipped pocket is in the front of the bag. The new bag has a detachable, padded laptop pouch.
Despite constant improvements in bags, I was committed, in my mind, to using the old bag until it wore out. I'm thrilled, though, to have a newer, nicer bag and where I'm making a choice, I'll buy Patagonia.

Of Dog Food, Human Food and such

We had a moment of truth, an opportunity, last winter. Our longtime dog, Chester, who we've had since he was six weeks old and who has never lived anywhere but our block, had trouble walking one icy morning. It looked like a harbinger of a long decline. We took him to the vet to see if he'd had a stroke or something. Looming was a conversation that neither of us wanted to have, the one where we have to decide to spend a lot of money or to have him put down.

It turned out that he was fine, just old. A friend told Laurie that her dog had gone through the same thing and found help through Dr. Linda Faris. She is a veteranarian, and an accupuncturist.

 Her other recommendation was to start feeding him Urban Wolf, which we bought at Brookside Barkery. In my years at Whole Foods, we had sold the ground chicken necks and backs to customers for years but I had been skeptical of them. There was something of the Flat Earther about the raw diet. I gave it a try or rather had my dogs try it.

It was an instant success with them. As I prepared the first batch, they watched with great interest. Both Chester and our other dog, Mocha got a great deal more efficient in eating. Chester began waking us up, hungry at 6:30 every morning rather than laying about in his bed until 8:30. Their meal time took about 45 seconds max after eating. Also reduced was their weight. Chester went from 77 pounds to 61 pounds. Mocha went from 80 pounds to 62.

The villain, in this piece, was corn. Anyone who has read Michael Pollan's recent food writing will be familiar with the nefarious grain, grass, whatever. The fine documentary, King Corn, puts the origin of this back to Earl Butz. Corn is so heavily subsidized that we have to put it in everything. We feed it to cows. We brew it up to run our cars. We put it in dog food. The last use was killing our dogs. They were fattened up by it, just as cattle are but not getting the nutrients they needed so they were hungry all the time and overeating, just as we have been.

About this same time, I heard about The China Study by Dr. Colin Campbell, or it became part of our curriculum at Whole Foods. The nascent Healthy Eating Initiative was coming together, so, being the company man that I am, I read it and Laurie read it. It's a profoundly life-changing book. Following that I've read Eat to Live by Dr. Joel Fuhrman and the Engine 2 Diet by Rip Esselstyn.

Being a Foodie, it's hard to accept that "Everything You Know Is Wrong". Olive oil is as much empty calories as white sugar and white flour. It's going another step further than we had been. We've had some intense discussions at the store among the team members and it's just begun.

Nevertheless, I am enjoying the changes in my life. I turned 50 this past year and I want to be as strong or stronger than I've ever been. I've failed to be as disciplined in my eating as I've forced my dogs to be but I've reconsidered my  relationship to food and I'm going to get back to the body I once had when I was running 50 miles a week.

Pump it Up

For years, it seems, I have fought with our bicycle pump. It's a decent pump, a Joe Blow Pro from Topeak. The top part of cylinder where the piston pulls up against is plastic and keeps popping off. It didn't screw on to the cylinder but was attached with a couple plastic tabs and the top of the cylinder was two parted that continually had to be snapped together. I am getting to a state in life where I don't want to make do with things that don't work on a regular basis.

When we rode the BikeMO last fall, I had an opportunity to use a Lezyne pump. It felt solid, well made.Velo-Orange sells them, which I find a reassuring recommendation. So, using a birthday gift, I bit the bullet and bought the Lezyne. I haven't been disappointed. The only thing it's lacking is a dual head. That is, you have to open up the pump head and switch around the mechanism to use the pump on a Schrader valve, a small amount of bother.

I still have the problematic Topeak pump for those bikes of mine that use Schrader.

Where we stand at the end of the Oughts

Or rather, where I stand. I went in to get my blood pressure checked this morning for my application to an immersion program for the Health Eating Initiative.110/54. My blood was drawn for my cholesterol, which was at 163 when I had it checked in May. According to the information I've read, 150 or below is best to avoid cardiac events. In the past, I've had it as low as 112. Anyway, I've read The China Study , Eat to Live and The Engine 2 Diet and we're on board.

So, I'd like to be one of the 300 team members selected. I'd like to be the ambassador for that lifestyle change. I'm not certain about giving up the occasional hamburger (once a month) but maybe I'll more often exchange the weekly fries for a green salad.

I also want to learn to sew with a sewing machine so that I can make some bike bags.

I need a goal for 2010. With no stated goal, I can't accomplish things. So, I'm aiming for 1000 running miles.
2000 cycling miles.

That's it.

Getting close to another year's end.

This is the deal, right now, my deal, at least.

Unfortunately, the Stella met an untimely demise a couple years ago, just after I'd gotten it right. I hit a parking lot wheel stop one night riding home in the dark and bent the frame. She awaits some sort of art project.


I replaced her with a curbside find, a Peugeot UO8

From My Pictures

My Picturesthat someone abandoned on 41st Street. Just the frame was there, along with a Raleigh and a Gitane and a Schwinn Mountain Bike. Anyway, I built up the Peugeot with the parts from the Stella and continued on fixedly.

In February, Laurie and I visited Indianapolis for NAHBS, guaranteed to incite gear lust in any red-blooded bicycler. The only catch is that there is so much great stuff, I could hardly fixate on any one bike. A 20 inch wheeled cargo bike from Hunter Cycles came close but I lacked $1500 to buy it so I bought a wool cycling cap from them.

A few weeks later, my friends at Acme Bicycle Company called me in and told me that it was time I rode an Acme. They had a handmade track frame in my size. I told Christi that I wanted to be able to use a rack like one of those from CETMA. We talked for awhile and I thought about it.

2 weeks later, Christi called me in to see something. There was a built-up track bike with a custom front rack. She had me ride it around the block. I took it up the alley to 17th Street and came downhill on Locust before I realized it had no brakes. No problem.

The plan was the have it painted whatever color the painter was using that day. Fortunately, it was bronze, about the color of a beer bottle. It took awhile for it to get done but it is definitely my bike now. I could not be happier.

Same story, different location

Here

Sad Day

I heard about it awhile back and it's like someone cut the heart out of our bicycle community. We're tough, we're resilient and we'll keep growing. Sometimes a business is like a play. You have a good run and then it's time to do something else. Sarah and Christi at Acme Bicycle has made a great difference in my life, connecting me to a new community, guiding me through the baby steps of fixed gear, teaching me to fix my bike, giving me a place to drink beer, and most importantly building the perfect bike for me.

When I should be thinking about something else.

I have to think if it's worthwhile to bail out GM.

On one hand:

All the jobs, GM, the steel companies, the tires, the freight people, the sales people, the service departments and those that depend on them for their living.

On the other hand;

We don't want their cars anymore. We're never going back to the days of buying a new car every year and might be better off if half the cars in the country were raptured or something.

They seem to think a bailout would just maintain the status quo. Not for R&D for better, more fuel-efficient, cars but for more of the same cars that we don't want anyway.

Couldn't we just pay them, like farmers, not to make anything?

Tag

If you could have any one — and only one — bike in the world, what would it be?
Probably my Panasonic Touring Deluxe, I can't imagine a better bike.

Do you already have that coveted dream bike? If so, is it everything you hoped it would be? If not, are you working toward getting it? If you’re not working toward getting it, why not?
I suppose if I went to Christi and Sarah at Acme with my bikes and tried to figure out what would make me like it better. Maybe disc brakes or a Rohloff hub, or the SA Three Speed Fixed Hub.I can't imagine.

What kind of sick person would force another person to ride one and only one bike ride to to do for the rest of her / his life?
Probably someone who holds the purse strings. I can imagine worse fates.

Do you ride both road and mountain bikes? If both, which do you prefer and why? If only one or the other, why are you so narrowminded?
Yes,
Have you ever ridden a recumbent? If so, why? If not, describe the circumstances under which you would ride a recumbent.
I've ridden someone else's, around the block. They just seem inelegant to me and hard to see in traffic.

Have you ever raced a triathlon? If so, have you also ever tried strangling yourself with dental floss?
I tried a couple times and I freaked in the swim. Training for a Triathlon is too much like a job.

Suppose you were forced to either give up ice cream or bicycles for the rest of your life. Which would you give up, and why? Ice Cream.
Could I still have Gelato?

If you had to choose one — and only one — bike route to do every day for the rest of your life, what would it be, and why?
I can't even ride the same route to work 2 days in a row. Forget that idea.

You’re riding your bike in the wilderness (if you’re a roadie, you’re on a road, but otherwise the surroundings are quite wilderness-like) and you see a bear. The bear sees you. What do you do?
Ride faster than the people with me.


Now, tag three biking bloggers. List them below.
Ok, I tag anyone reading this who has not updated their blog in more than two weeks. Everyone else, ignore this.

So Long Captain Bike

It was a beautiful afternoon to ride home and I had time to think about Sheldon Brown. What a wondrous time we live in now! I feel the loss of a cycling friend with whom I never got to ride, or to drink a beer or even talk face to face. Yet due to the internet, I was able to be friends with Sheldon Brown, through his postings on the BOB list, on the Bicycle Restoration List, on the KOG list and more that escape me right now.

If you ever had a bicycle question on the internet, you had to have encountered Sheldon and you couldn't help digging deeper and getting distracted from what you had come to look up. If you ever posed a bicycle question on a list or newsgroup, you stood a pretty good chance of getting an answer from Sheldon, directly and a reference to his page. His few podcasts about English 3-Speeds and recumbent bicycles were informed without a hint of condescension.

Left hand drive? Done it.

Build a tandem from two old bikes. Sheldon had done it.

He made it clear, for me, at least, that bicycles existed to be ridden not hung on a wall. His 1918 Mead Ranger was all the evidence anybody needed.

And to ride a fixed-gear, one couldn't build one up without consulting Sheldon once or twice.

He was opinionated, informed and I would have loved to have met him and drank a beer or two with him. He was also generous with his time, energy and knowledge, answering most of the 500-1000 emails he received daily. I recall he responded one time to a question about buying bikes at the Salvation with a diatribe about "monotheism" and had to be restrained by the moderator. His home page included these 2 lists, along with every book, movie and television show he watched or read.

Some Things I Believe In

* Democracy
* Duty
* Equality
* Exogamy
* Family
* Freedom
* Justice
* Kindness
* Law
* Love
* Loyalty
* Mathematics
* Science
* Space Exploration
* Truth


Some Things I Do Not Believe In

* Angels
* Astrology
* Death Penalty
* Devils
* Elves
* Faeries
* Faith
* Gods
* "Intelligent Design"
* Leprechauns
* Luck
* Magic
* Racial Purity


I often say that I don't, myself, believe in eternal life, physically, at least as religious people describe. I do believe that good people live on in our memories or in the good deeds we repeat after learning from one another. Sheldon will live on, everytime someone needs information about fixed gears or rebuilding a 3 speed hub.

Searching for The Holy Grail

There is always one more part that will make my bike perfect. For the Twenty there are several. Some day, all that might be left from the original bike is the frame and fenders. The most pressing is the fork. The original Raleigh-built fork will not fit a fatter tire that I want to use for winter commuting. Actually, it's a studded tire but the bike will not fit a tire over 20 by 1.75 inches. So, what I need is a BMX fork with a 7.5 inch steerer that also has cantilever bosses.

There is not such a thing out there or at least not easily accessible. I am beginning to search.

New Jerseys, Cycling Jerseys

Like nearly everyone else who has ever touched a bicycle, I get a weekly catalog from Nashbar or Performance, less often from Terry or Title 9, REI and Sahalie. So I'm aware that the cycling manufacturers want to put us in spandex jerseys with classic album covers from the Rolling Stones, KISS (of course, available on any flat surface, the KISS logo), The Doors, Led Zeppelin, Lynyrd Skynrd, Iron Maiden and Pink Floyd.

I'm a little jaded, I guess. I'd wear jerseys with less mainstream albums like Frank Zappa and the Mothers of Invention's Weasels Ripped My Flesh or Todd Rundgren's Utopia or the wonderful Little Feat's Sailing Shoes originally titled Thanks, I'll Eat it Here, along with the Zappa album, artwork by the wonderful Neon Park. Maybe some of the classic Santana or Mahavishnu Orchestra would make some sweet jerseys. Or Ian Hunter's first solo album.

I don't wear the jerseys that I own now all that much, save for a wool Fox Riders jersey and and a solid orange from Ground Effect. I've tired of having advertising all over me and I don't especially want it across my backside. Maybe if they'd make some with albums I actually liked.

The Best Critical Mass I've Been On.

Does it take a death to learn what a life is worth? - Jackson Browne

I got to Westport about 6:30 after carrying a bag of dog food home and getting a set of housekeys made. But I wanted to be at Critical Mass, tonight, especially.

I had met Lewis Bailey a few times, first after my first Critical Mass in July of 2005. A bunch of us were sitting in front of Cave Dave's in the Crossroads, drinking cheap beer and telling stories and Louis came by with his knapsack, saying that he had an alchemy textbook from the 1870's. He may have even shown it and passed it around. I would see him at Acme from time to time and he had something going, comic books that were going to net him a fortune. According to others, he was a drug addict but he made his living, such as it was, salvaging flowers and reselling them. He was a character, the kind that makes a city into a collection of human beings, that makes life interesting.

He was killed this past Wednesday,just after midnight, by a motorist. I can't call it murder but I have to wonder how much of our humanity that we're willing to sacrifice for our cars.

Due to work commitments, I was unable to attend the vigil on Thursday but I did find my way to Critical Mass. We took a long time getting out of the Sun Fresh parking lot and made it into the Plaza with what seemed to be a hundred of us, completely filling 2 lanes on the Plaza and looping around for awhile then heading into downtown KC and across the ASB Bridge where we looped around the site of Lewis' death, the intersection. I set one of the empty PBR cans next to the plastic flowers and drew a breath. We headed back to Acme.

Sarah, at Acme, had lights from Planet Bike, one of our successes for the Kansas City Bicycle Federation. We gave them out to a lot of people who had no lights. I took a couple sets for people who work with me at Whole Foods. It seemed an appropriate way to remember Lewis. I hope someone else's life will be spared.

The Twenty is on the Road

Awhile back, Matthew on the Kogswell Owner's Group list posted about how building a new bike made him appreciate the thinking that goes into a Schwinn Suburban.
Having the Twenty all built up, I get some of the same feeling.

The front fender is really well designed. That's my Reelight added on the Front wheel, a Nitto Technomic stem, Nashbar Moustache bars wrapped with Salsa Cork Tape, old DiaCompe quick release levers. I put on some 20 x 1.75 Kenda Tires, this past weekend and it rides much better. A Brooks B5N saddle completes it, along with a Live Free or Drive sticker from Prescott Alternative Transportation.

Twenty is on the Road

I've got the Raleigh Twenty up and running. The final bit of business was replacing a cotter pin on the left side this afternoon. I stuck a washer under the L-Bolt and it seems to be steady. I put a new gold chain on it and a used BMX rear wheel with a fixed cog and a bottom bracket lockring and it's rideable. In my stash of stuff was a package of Salsa Cork tape that really ties the bike together on the cheap Nashbar Moustache bars I put on the ginormous Nitto Technomic stem. It seems to have a slightly taller gear than my first fixie, the Stella Scorcher but still quite rideable albeit a little more compact. I'm due several photographs which I'll take tomorrow but I've put about 30 miles on it and it's fun.

One thing that really impresses me is the set of fenders. When I look at the front fender and see where it comes down to keep any off me, I just smile. It's really an amazing achievement to build a nicely integrated bicycle like that.

My own hinge

What does the bushing look like that goes here?

Raleigh Twenty

What part goes inside the yellow box?

The stable, as it stands now.

I have to chime in on all this, too. I suppose if somehow I never got another bicycle (and that may well be a good idea), I could be happy with the ones I have. These are the ones I have to ride

Panasonic Touring Deluxe - As nice as any production bicycle I've seen. With a coat of new paint, it might be perfect. Nice long wheelbase, cantilever brakes. and soft ride, suitable for a long tour. Like Sarah, I have to tinker with my bikes so I might convert this one from 27" to 700C, just so I can switch my dynamo wheel between bikes and I'll probably put bar-end shifters on it when I'm ready to take of the cork grips.

Stella Fixed Gear Mock Porteur - Currently sitting over at Acme Bicycle Company a couple miles away while we try to get the stuck stem to move, but it's comfy and fun to ride.

Sam Benotto Cazenave Three Speed Derailleur Model 650B- This one is like a stray cat, that I just wonder how it came to find me. It has a sticker from a bike shop in Ames, Iowa (World of Bikes) that doesn't seem to exist any more, at least under that name. I just use it for Coffee Shop rides and such.

Bridgestone MB6 - Adequate for my trail-riding needs. I think I'd like it better as a single speed or a touring bike. I have this one but haven't decided what to do with it yet.

Cannondale 1988 SR500 - The only new bike I've ever purchased new. I keep thinking it may find new life as a 650B conversion but it doesn't really meet any of my bicycle needs anymore.

A New Year

As I sit at my desk, evaluating the last year and taking droppersful of Kick Ass Immune Activator from Wish Garden, wishing that I could go for a short ride or something, these are the thoughts I have.

1. I love riding fixed. Stella has seen so much use that I need to overhaul the bottom bracket and rebuild a hub and headset so I've been riding the Panasonic lately, which I also love, but I miss fixed gear.

2. I love working on bikes. Not enough to try to make my living at it, but it is what I think about enough. I also like seeing other people take up riding, at whatever level they can.

3. Bikes are not inanimate. They respond to love and use. Just as our human bodies were built to be exerted, bikes need that, too. The Peugeot Mixte that I've been tuning up for Rebecca needs to be ridden. It has some bad mojo for a derailleur I tried to install. After I got that set up properly, with much assistance from Mis Chief, I took it home and then took it for a short test ride. I stopped at the end of the block and it felt like the brake cable wasn't tight enough and had slipped from the cable hanger.
No, it was much worse. The brake shoe had broken off the shaft.

A New One on the Way

Well, new to me, that is. Since reading Sheldon Brown's page extolling the virtues of the Raleigh Twenty and finding others, like Tarik, I have coveted one. So last night, tooling around on eBay, I found one with a $49 bid on it and an early morning ending time. I looked before leaving for work this morning and after calculating freight, put in a bid that I found comfortable. These things have been going for $200 - 300. I got to work and did a few chores, then checked my email. To my shock and excitement, I won. Now I get the fun of making it work for me.

The appeal of these bikes, I find, is the "hackability" of them. Certainly, there are lighter, more advanced folders out there now but Bike Fridays and Dahons and Airnimals don't take on so readily the personalities and whims of their owners.