LOL.
...and OUCH.

I'm a (happy) dork.

Firstly, Jen is awesome. I just wanted to get that out of the way.
She's off to Hawai'i for a week to help her dad celebrate his recent retirement from 36 years working for Delta Airlines. Why didn't I go too? I have no job and am ashamed to face him (only partly kidding).

Also: When Jen flies stand-by on her dad's pass, she's S1 or S2 (from years and years of flying stand-by on her dad's pass [read: seniority]); however, when I also fly on her dad's pass, I drag us down to something like S30 (again, only partly kidding). So this way she actually gets to go and possibly gets into first class! Hooray for...first class(?).

Secondly, I got new, blue stuff for the Brinks Bike: (1)Blue dice valve-stem caps (with sparkles in!), (2) blue, reflective stars for covering up the ugly joint/seam in my electric blue deep v's, (3) blue, anodized seat-post clamp and (4) blue, anodized Chris King headset. Wee ha ha! I'm such a dork. Still waiting for you job leads (or money), by the way.


I've pretty much decided on trying Panaracer T-Serv tires for the Brinks Bike. I have not, however, decided on straight black or their pretty, blue ones...could be too much blue...

Oh, and Greg informs me that you can now get blue, anodized brakes! Not just the brake-hoods, but the brake mechanisms themselves. Still another opportunity for too much blue!

On that topic, I've been considering my options for crank-sets. I was thinking I would go with Campagnolo Record track cranks again ('cos I'm a high-roller [see blue dice valve-stem caps]), but now I'm considering the blue, anodized Sugino "Messenger" cranks (which I'm told are the Sugino 75 cranks with pretty colors and a trendy-sounding name). At least the Sugino crank sets use a square taper like the Campy ones, so it would be easy enough to change it out later on if the Suginos don't work out.

One thing I'm damn certain of is that I will NOT - in spite of its prettiness - be using a blue KMC 1/8th inch chain (I wore out the pink one in record time). I'm considering an over-beefy Wipperman chain, 'cos it's over-beefy and sounds a bit like a buzz-saw when you're going fast. Plus, it's named "Wipperman", which just sounds awesome; like you're gonna take it off and lash unruly motorists and/or shrubs (or whatever) at the drop of a hat. J, you should look into getting such a chain.

What else... The job search is thus far laughable. The only response I've received is one for a work-from-home shipping and receiving job. Yes, you read that correctly: work-from-home shipping and receiving. Sounds dodgey to me, too. They want to make sure you're qualified to operate a fork-lift as well. Where, in my apartment? Weird.

I've recently been to Colorado to visit. It was the first time in several years that Eric, Genevieve, Cinda and myself have all been in the same place at the same time (photos eventually). Eric and I went to the Shambhala Mountain Center one day and that was great, but mostly it was just hanging around, catching up with each other and getting reacquainted with my niece, Cameron. Jen came along as well, but had to leave early for work and Ultimate. They have food in Colorado. I ate some. We got to see Jim & Diane and their son, Ethan as well.


It was a great visit. Everybody said they'll come to Seattle for the next visit.

Lastly, Jen has great legs.

It's coming together...

It's very exciting in the dorkiest way. I got my new wheels (well, the rims, hubs and spokes) out of "hock" from Aaron's today and the Brinks Bike is taking shape! Now I just need everything else (and the money to pay for it). Anybody have job leads for me?

Tee hee!

From Scott: " Bicycle god hates [Monica], but Pole Monster has her number."

I understand that she's looked at MANY bikes recently, including a single-speed one which I privately (now PUBLICLY) hope she gets. (^_^)

The last couple of rides I've been on have been quite good. Good to the point of having mini-epiphanies about how much fun it is to ride. Ahh... Tuesday night we went to Madison Park Beach 'cos it was just too hot and sticky to ride a lot. That said, I ended up riding what felt like a lot, probably because it was mainly uphill. But it was good! It was cooler by the water and I was energetic enough to take the hills with a minimum of being irritated with myself for being out of shape.

It was funny that the ride out of Madison Park separated into two distinct groups: The Geared Group and The Fixed-Gear Group. I ended up leading the Fixed-Gear Group - who didn't feel like trying to ride up the steepest part of Madison - through the stretch of the Lake Washington Loop Route which bypasses the Arboretum (particularly Lake Washington Blvd., which is quite narrow [only two lanes, one in each direction, and no shoulder to speak of] and almost always high in traffic) over to MOHAI and then quite easily to the U District and the College Inn Pub where everybody was meeting up post-beach.

Not being a drinker, I opted to not hang around and instead rode with Ray over to Eastlake where I learned some sad news: Thursday, 7th August is Ray's LAST RIDE with Point83. He's moving back to PA to be closer to his family. Uncool, Ray. Uncool. There were a lot of rides you were supposed to go on with us (both .83 and Slow Sunday). Whatever, man.

Suffice it to say that we'll miss having you around. Best of luck in PA, Ray.

Ben vs. Taxi, Critical Mass Fracas et cetera

What have I been doing lately? What HAVEN'T I been doing!*

On my way to July's Critical Mass I hit a Taxi on my bike. That was fun! I was on Pine headed West behind a CRV (or a RAV4 or some other smallish SUV) in the center lane when the left-most lane filled up with cars and then the CRV stopped short. I - noticing that the right-most lane was apparently empty - darted right and noticed the parked taxi. At that moment there was about half a car-length between the front of the CRV and the trunk of the taxi, I figured I'd just dart left back into traffic and then feel very nimble and traffic-savvy and self-satisfied. No such luck. Just as I pull alongside the CRV, the CRV lurches forward totally closing the gap. The curb was about 8 or 9 inches tall and so was out of the question for bunny-hopping onto the sidewalk (which was full of pedestrians and people dining at the outside cafés) at speed and on a bike ill-suited to bunny-hopping. Having nowhere else to go, I just hit the brake as hard as I could, locked my feet into a skid and plowed into the back of the taxi. The trunk lid of the taxi was actually quite soft and springy (although my helmeted noggin did smack the back window sufficiently to make a good deal of noise and startle the fare in the back seat). Like many things in life, it looked a lot worse than it was.

I was not injured, only embarrassed. To his credit, the taxi driver (and the fare!) got out and made sure that I was alright. Roughly 30 people had seen me collide with the taxi and were now asking me if I was okay. It felt like a very awkward and impromptu press conference. I assured everybody that I was okay and announced that my next show would be at 8:00pm.

The taxi was altogether unscathed.

Riding to the Critical Mass (hereafter: CM) meet-up I noticed that my bike had a distinctly different feel; more twitchy and with crazy foot-strike (when your feet hit the front wheel, in case you didn't know). Scott noticed that I wasn't altogether there and said, "you look like you maybe don't wanna ride." He was right! But I did ride with CM for a while, long enough to get up on Capitol Hill and remember that if my frame/fork were indeed bent (and they were!) that it wasn't really safe to ride (and I REALLY needed another spectacular failure whilst riding). So I went home.

That decision proved wise in a number of ways, not least of which was that I ended up missing two major incidents on CM.

I should note that CM is usually a peaceful (if raucous) demonstration and generally doesn't inspire great ire in most people. But July's CM was different. There was an incident on Capitol Hill which shocked everybody, I think. You can read about it here (Scott's blog):

http://sweetbike.org/?p=184
&
http://sweetbike.org/?p=185

The short version is that CM decided to go down a narrow, residential street (why? who knows? CM is leaderless and whoever is in front determines where CM is headed next**) where a man and his passenger were promptly "corked" (blocked from moving by people on their bikes) and after a while the man decided that he was tired of waiting for hundreds of bicycles to pass by and lurched onto the sidewalk...running down two cyclists (one of whom went to the hospital with an ankle injury). This was made worse when a group of now-infuriated cyclists chased the car for a block and managed to slash all four tires and destroy the windshield and rear window. It was massive over-reaction all 'round. Truly unfortunate.

Additionally, my friend, Jeff, said that CM went down Interlaken. For those who don't know, Interlaken is a steep and curvy stretch of road that winds through a ravine on the North East side of Capitol Hill. Part of it is regular two-way road, the rest is a run/walk/bike path. The beginning of the RWB path part is right where Interlaken and 19th Ave. intersect. The bit of 19th Ave E in question intersects with Boyer Ave at the bottom of a VERY steep hill.

19th Ave E & Boyer Ave

Some CM riders decided to go down 19th Ave instead of the RWB path. At the bottom of that hill a rider crashed at high speed and about 10(?) other riders crashed into him. Jeff said that the guy was out cold and that EMTs came and put him on a back-board and the whole shot, flopping like a rag-doll. Again, most unfortunate.

Also: This CM was Jeff's girlfriend, Cara's FIRST Critical Mass. He said that she will probably come to CM again even though he had described it beforehand as being totally harmless and safe (which it is, usually). I lol'd.

Here's Jeff at Moon Garden (Moonlight Garden?) after Slow Sunday (3rd August, 2008).
Here's Jen and myself as well.
What else...
I'm gradually putting my Brinks Bike together. My wheels are pretty, but no photos yet.

Hooray for steel frames! I got Stormy Pinkness (my Redline) up to Aaron's and he stretched the top tube and down tube back into shape and bent my forks back into almost original position. I'm still getting some foot-strike, but it's MUCH better. Sorry, no photos, I didn't think that far ahead. :(

Had my frame been aluminum or carbon, I'd be screwed. Bent or dented aluminum is done-for, get another frame. Carbon, ditto. Steel really is the optimal frame material for me. Our friend, Monica, had a similar incident: colliding with a bollard on the Burke Gilman trail. Maybe I can get pictures of her bent frame for reference...

* I haven't been doing lots of things. For instance: I haven't been successfully finding a job. I haven't been participating in the Space Program. I haven't been performing three nights per week at the Bitter End in Greenwich Village. Et cetera ad nauseam.

** I have twice found myself inadvertently leading CM. Once while I was headed home! It was an unfortunately fractious CM where lots of people got dropped and I decided to ditch it altogether. A guy came up alongside me and asked where we were going. I looked over my shoulder to see about 50 people behind me. D'oh!

Of phantom cupcakes and roller derby.

I'm sure the 2nd annual Cupcake Ride would have been great if it had held together AT ALL. Also, it was amazingly hot, which bodes ill for strenuous riding (for me, anyway).

The crowd assembled at Westlake Square was nice enough, but also impatient. Scott was leaving later than intended and while I was getting an update on his whereabouts the group took off. "See ya!" was the extent of the parting.

As Scott didn't know the address of the Cupcake Royale in West Seattle, I waited for him. When he turned up, we took off and began the adventure in mild heat-stroke. At the Eastern foot of the low bridge to W Seattle, we ran into Teresa who told the following tale:

From the get-go, the group started falling apart. A group of riders in front decided that they'd rather go fast and bolted ahead. Not everybody was able to keep up and people started ditching (which sucks) right away. A girl who was trying to keep up with the fast kids had a mechanical and was dropped from the fast pack. Teresa stopped to help her and the remainder of the ride dropped both of them. The girl with the mechanical went home. Teresa pressed onward to the Western foot of the low bridge to tell Malora that she, herself, was going home. Malora told her that she was going to wait for Scott and myself.

After hearing her tale, I figured we would finally catch up the ride. Scott had gone ahead while I was talking to Teresa, so when I arrived at the Western foot of the bridge I was surprised to see no one there. I figured that - given the heat - they would surely take the long, gradual way up to Cupcake Royale (which was incorrect), so I made for Avalon to then head out to Alki Point. On the way there Scott rang me and said that he was waiting in a parking lot just around the corner of Avalon. When I arrived, we were both bright red and miserable. I said, "I can feel my heart beating in my armpits!" To which Scott replied, "Oh good, then it's not just me." We doused ourselves in water and rested in the shade of a nearby tree while discussing whether to try and catch the ride.

When we decided to head for food in Georgetown, we ran into Kevin. He too had been dropped, but was waiting for the ride to pass by the low bridge again (as they must, unless they take the VERY long way around through White Center and South Park). After a bit of phone tag with Malora, it was decided to bail. Kevin headed to Madison Beach, Scott and I to Georgetown and then Magnusson Park.

When it became apparent that there wasn't nearly enough time to both places, we opted instead to eat at Uwajimaya. The air conditioning was too comfy for us, we tarried longer than anticipated. Quite apart from that, I had a major energy drop-off on the way and was quite pale, according to Scott.

Thank goodness for the #73 bus!

From the U District it was quite an easy ride to Magnusson Park and although we arrived late, there was still plenty of roller-derby to witness (and I would like to witness more in the future!).

Ugh. It was a long, hot day, but the evening was cool and pleasant. Scott, Aden and myself all rode to the Eastlake Zoo and from there I went home.

I had more kvetching to do in this post, but nobody wants to read all that indignant shit.

WTF?

Do you see that? The handlebars are mounted below the headset. BELOW the headset. WTF?

A history of awesome part failures.

I've had a variety of issues with bike gear. I bought my Redline 9-2-5 as a complete build (the only way you can get it unless you know somebody at Redline, probably) and it wasn't long before I started destroying the OEM parts.

First to go were the stock tires. I don't even remember what kind they were, only that I had numerous "mystery flats" and got thoroughly sick of them. After some research I learned that many people had issues with the stock tires and so I replaced them with Schwalbe Marathon Slicks (700x30) which solved the problem (plus they had reflective side-walls).

Second to go was the rear wheel. The stock wheels were Alex rims with low-flange Redline hubs. Shortly after I switched from single-speed to fixed gear I began breaking spokes in the rear wheel. After some consultation with Aaron (of Aaron's Bicycle Repair in West Seattle: http://www.rideyourbike.com/ ) we decided that a Velocity Dyad rim (made for tandem bikes) and a Phil Wood high-flange track hub would be the strongest combination (also with Phil Wood spokes: heaviest gauge in back, double-butted in front). So out went the Alex/RL wheel and I got a spanky PINK Phil track hub!


Next went the quite uncomfortable saddle (which I replaced with a black Brooks B17) and the front wheel (made to match the rear wheel). I would like to add that in the few years that I've had the Velocity/Phil wheels, I've had them trued THREE times (rear wheel twice, front wheel once) and broken ONE spoke-nipple. Not bad, eh?


When the Cane Creek headset went to bits I began thinking that I should have just invested in a frame set and fork and built the bike up from scratch. I also decided not to view part failures as unpleasant surprises and instead just wait for them so I could turn them into upgrading opportunities. I replaced the Cane Creek with Chris King.

Around this time the moustache bars were beginning to hurt my hands and wrists. So I switched to Nitto "noodle" bars and raised the whole cockpit a bit.

I was gradually trashing the FSA crank set and so decided to upgrade. I initially wanted to go Dura Ace or Sugino, but ended up getting the newest thing in cranks and chain-ring: Paul. I won't say that I was coerced, but I was definitely "encouraged" to get the Paul set-up because it was "cool" and Paul's stuff was reputed to be heavy business. So I got a 1/8th inch cog and PINK KMC 1/8th inch chain (which I wore out in record time [3 or 4 months] and then replaced with a SRAM PC-1 1/8th inch chain). I also upgraded to a Phil Wood bottom bracket (high-end quality stuff) with a Campagnolo taper for the Paul cranks.


This arrangement worked quite well for quite a while...


However, eventually the Paul cranks began giving me problems. The four-bolt interface with the chain-ring came loose and when the folks at Aaron's tried to re-tighten it the threads stripped right off the bolts. Paul honored the warranty and sent a new crank-arm which he attached with automotive-grade thread-lock which solved the loosening problem.

Again, this worked well for a while. Imagine my surprise when I actually broke the crank-arm itself! It was fortunate that I wasn't moving very quickly and was also seated when it went. At first I thought I had unclipped from my Frogs, so I was feeling around with my foot for the pedal and having no luck at all. Then I looked and found that there was NO PEDAL. Thanks to whomever it was behind me who picked it up and brought it to me.


The wear pattern on the broken ends indicated that it had been gradually cracking for a while, but there were no visible indications and it didn't squeak or anything either. Paul again honored the warranty and sent another new crank-arm, but I was finished with Paul's cranks.

I did more research and was leaning toward Dura Ace cranks when it was pointed out to me that I'd have to buy a proprietary Dura Ace bottom bracket to use them. As I already had a Campy-tapered BB, I went on Aaron's recommendation and got a Campagnolo Record track crank-set, which, I was repeatedly assured, was the strongest thing available*.

I should point out that not only were Aaron and the other ABR mechanics totally baffled about the Paul crank failure, but the Paul people were equally confounded. When I visited their booth at NAHBS 2008 in Portland I mentioned that I had broken a Paul crank-arm and they said, "oh, that was YOU!" They later told me that of all the crank-sets they'd sold, there were only three reports of broken crank-arms (but they had all broken in the same place). As a result, they made design changes to (one hopes) avoid repeats of this failure in the future. So some good may come of it.



Also, somewhere in there I switched from the Nitto noodles to Ritchey Bio-Max ergo-bars and PINK fizik bar-tape. The drop position on the Nitto bars was a bit too far away for comfort; the Bio-Max ergo hump put the position closer and solved that problem. Now I understand that Nitto makes an ergo-bar with a shallow drop...something to think about for future upgrades (and building my IRO)!

This brings us to my most recent part-failure.

I was heading up to Aaron's to help Gypsie with her music-management system (read: extracting music and organizing it), I was waiting in the turn lane between the stadiums in SoDo so I could go South on 1st Ave (and then to Spokane and then to West Seattle et cetera). The turn arrow turned green and I stood on the left pedal to "sprint" into motion and get through the intersection when something gave way and I fell onto the handle-bars and then onto the pavement (and into the straight lane). It's very fortunate that 1) I wasn't moving very quickly, 2) the traffic was light that day and there were no cars going straight through the intersection to run over me, 3) this didn't happen when I was sailing downhill on Pine heading into downtown. I quickly jumped up, grabbed my bike and the silver part from the street and hustled to the sidewalk. After calming down a bit I inspected the crank-arm to see where I had broken it, but the arm was fine. It took me a moment to fully realize that I had snapped the spindle from the Phil BB and that the end of it was still securely bolted into the arm! I limped across the street to the bus-stop by Pyramid and took the #22 up to Aaron's. Along the way, I noticed that my right arm was bleeding and that my neck and shoulder were in a goodly amount of pain. What was it that I was saying earlier about not viewing part failures as unpleasant surprises? Anyway, the breakage pattern would seem to indicate that it failed suddenly and not gradually as the Paul cranks had.


Again, everybody at ABR was impressed(?) that I had managed to break something which almost never breaks. Phil is honoring the warranty and is sending a new BB. I briefly wondered if Phil makes a BB with a titanium spindle, but I'm not sure that it would necessarily be stronger (just lighter, which isn't really a consideration for me as I weigh ~270 lbs right now [which sucks]). I'm also under the impression that titanium parts flex a lot, but I've yet to do much research into these issues. If you have any information about this stuff, do pass it along, won't you?

So how's that for an epic post? Lots to read, some pretty pictures...it might be my best post yet! Hooray and ouch.

* There are MTB/BMX crank-sets and BBs which are virtually indestructible, but they come in a limited range of chain-ring sizes (topping-out at around 42 teeth, which is fine for MTB/BMX, but not great for fixed-gear or road riding), so we didn't consider them for this bike.

OMG an post in this blogs!

So, it's been a while since I've adding anything here. No sh!t, right?

Oh, looking for a jobby-job. 'Nuff said.

Thinkin' 'bout bikey-bikes. It's in mah head.

People talking about upgrading their bikes really makes me want to build up my IRO. Oh, but for the money involved, I would.

Instead of the "Fitz" decals (which I have) on the gray bike, I was thinking I should have gone instead with "Bikes" 'cos it sounds and looks a bit more like "Brinks". Oh well.

I'm still considering the blue/gray/silver scheme. I'm also considering going with double-strap cages instead of the Speedplay Frogs. Mainly because I'm discovering cracks under the metal rings through which grease is leaking when I re-grease the pedals. To expect the pedals/cleats to last forever is, of course, unreasonable. But I don't fancy buying new ones (again with the money!). Maybe Crank Bros. eggbeaters or candies? Argh. Make no mistake, I love my Frogs, they're super easy to get into and out of and have served me quite well for a couple of years now.

I must confess that I find the double strap cages to be quite cool looking, which does, embarrassingly, influence my thinking on the matter. Also, I could just wear shoes (Adidas Superstar IIs, I'm looking at YOU) instead of cycling-shoes which aren't particularly comfortable for walking around in (and is hard on the cleats). What's a jobless tub to do?

On the topic of cycling-shoes: I'm having a love/hate relationship with my new Sidi Dragons. They fit, but just. If I wear thick socks, my toes will fall asleep after a while. If I wear thin socks, my toes get cold and eventually numb (in cold riding conditions). Yes, I've heard of wool and do, in fact, own a few pairs of Smart Wool socks which serve me well.

What a luxury to have such complaints! Hooray for America!(?)

Depression is a downer, I don't recommend it. Nobody wants to hear about that, so that's all I'll say.

At least I've found a "club" to ride with which is always enjoyable. Slow Sunday is awesome. We get to enjoy the daylight(!) and put on miles without the race-pace. We stop to get foods and snack! We take in the view! Hooray!

Alright, I've errands to run.

Pre-fab Deko-chari?

I dunno if this is still available, but holy cow! It looks awesome (and heavy).

Horpy Balenzymes Doi!