Big Dummy Ride

Today's Hiawatha Cyclery Ride had two big dummies in attendance. One of them carried a pretty large pinhole camera mounted on the board. I think this may be a niche market.


We rode over Interstate 35W in Minneapolis on the 42nd Street pedestrian bridge. The interstate is closed today for work. With no cars underneath us, it was really quite and nice.



I converted my commuter bike to a 4 speed. Through a trade, I got the 4-speed guts and installed them in my already built 3-speed wheel. The shifting is pretty stiff. I'll lubricate the hub and all the shifting pivot points. That may improve the situation.

Click on the photos for the larger version. The detail captured by the camera was pretty good, because the light was very nice.

Comments

I received lots of spam comments the other day and I've implemented the Blogger comment approval system. I'm sorry if this is a pain in your butts, but it's the only defense I have against spam comments that I'm aware of. If you have suggestions, please let me know.

Before I started this blog, I had my own using bblog. It had no anti-spam measures at the time. I spent too much time deleting them with a SQL script and making software updates to bblog. I got sick of that and decided to go the easy route instead. Spammers made email a damned mess and they're working on ruining blogging too. What's next?

I mention comments because I've noticed a sharp drop-off in comments on my blog lately. It could be because I haven't been posting as often as I used to or it could be that I haven't been leaving as many comments on other blogs. It all goes together -- leave a comment, get acomment. It's two-way communication. Kinda like if I say hello to someone, they usually return the greeting (not that crazy-eyed guy I see in the hall at work though).

I shouldn't overlook the possibility that my posts are boring. I'll work on that. More provocative photos.

Booze, Guns, and Bicycles

I traveled to the Chequamegon National Forest last weekend with six other cyclists for our annual off-road ride. The trails are located near Cable, WI. On the way to the trails, we stopped at the New Moon Bicycle and Ski shop. I bought some fantastic tires (Kenda Nevegal foldables for $17.99 each) and we found out we were there during a special deer hunting season. They created the special season to reduce the number of does, so they said any antlerless deer could be shot.

One of the bike shop workers told us to wear blaze orange for safety. Then we made a few drunken hunter jokes. One guy suggested we put antlers on our helmets.

A woman standing in the store overheard us.She told us it was an unfair stereotype to lable all hunters as drunk and irresponsible.

I agree with her. Like your teacher told you, it only takes a few bad apples to spoil the whole bunch. We bought orange vests. You'll see photos of that here later.

Putin Looms

I realize this is a little stale, but it makes me laugh so I wanted to share it.
We have a map of the world in the break room at work. Some smart alec pasted Putin's head looming over Alaska. I took this photo of it.

Saturday Hiawatha Ride (Oct. 11, 2008)

The leaves are changing.

We rode to a coffee shop near the University of Minnesota Minneapolis campus. They serve warm muffins.

We then rode north using the Diagonal Trail for part of our route and took a group photo on a hill overlooking downtown Minneapolis. It's been a beautiful day.

Digital Negatives

My phone camera is stuck in negative mode. I can't get it out. Here are a few photos that have resulted from this problem. I like the effect, but I'll tire of it really soon.

Bathtub Cycle, and More

I just saw this photo on Boing Boing. It may provide a good theme for an upcoming Hiawatha Cyclery ride. I recommend clicking on the link to see the rest of the photos too (the rest are not cycling related).

Info. on Minnesota River Bottoms Trail

EclectChick asked about the Minnesota River Bottoms Trail.

Here's the link to a page that describes it.

http://www.morcmtb.org/wiki/index.php/Minnesota_River_Bottom

One part is now or soon to be under construction. I recommend avoiding that portion and starting at the Lyndale Avenue parking lot. Ride west from there and you'll miss all the construction.

Hurry, because they take the ferry out of the water pretty soon.

Friday Lunch Ride

I rode the familiar Minnesota River Bottoms trail today although I started at a different trailhead and went the opposite direction from my usual. This small change made it seem like a new trail.

While riding, I noticed something that's been brewing in my mind for a while. When I start a ride, I feel distracted by thoughts of work and other responsibilities. After about 20 minutes, I allow my mind to settle and I forget about my responsibilities other than the trail in front of me. My mind still wanders to subjects other than just the trail, but it seems more relaxed and able to make sense of things. This is one of the many great things about riding.

Here's a photo of the barge used to cross 9 Mile Creek. You have to pull yourself across with a rope.
It's pretty adventurous. But be careful not to lay your bike on the coil of rope. As you pull yourself across, the rope uncoils and will pull your bike with it if you've set the bike on the rope coil. This happened to me, but out of the corner of my eye I saw the bike moving across the barge.

Saturday's HC Ride (Sept. 28, 2008)

We stopped at the Hard Times Cafe. This is the Ham's Bear. He's been demoted from serving as a famous beer mascot to dispensing free condoms.


After the ride, I looked around the shop. They received a few Rawlands frames. Mark was in the process of building this one. I really like the fork crown and rear dropouts.





I also like these white Schwalbe tires. I've seen them before, but I thought they were only available in 559 (26"). I feel silly when I say SCHWAL-BEE. Its that the right way to pronounce the name?



Then I found them in 622 (700c). Tires are fun. These are on my list now.



This old Continental is very nice. I'm fighting the urge.

How many bikes does a person need? That's a rhetorical question, please don't try to answer.

Heavy Weather

This is a photo I took yesterday afternoon while riding home. The sky was so dark, most people turned on their headlights even before it started raining.

I didn't run into the heavy rain. It started right after I arrived home and stepped into my house.

Run Outlook in Safe Mode

Warning: If you don't care about Microsoft related crap, ignore this post.

I've learned a couple of methods to start MS Outlook in safe mode:

1. Hold down the Ctrl key when starting MS Outlook until it starts. It will display (Safe Mode) in the title bar.
2. In the Run window type outlook /safe. (How do you get to the Run window? Window key + r or Start>Programs>Accessories>Run.)

Q: Why would someone want to run Outlook in safe mode?
A: If you find it unreliable, this will start it without add ins that seem to be a common cause of Outlook's instability.

Saturday Offroad Ride

I rode the Minnesota River Bottoms Trail this morning, starting at the crack of dawn. I saw two deer, three hikers, and one wedding party in a photo session.

I also stopped and read this sign.

"Site of Chief Cloudman's village. He had moved here from Lake Calhoun in 1839. A friend of Gideon Pond. He tried farming."

I'm going to research this a bit and get back to you on what I find. I can't imagine farming in this exact spot. It's at the base of a cliff with a marsh and river on the other side. Stopping here in any season except winter is foolish due to the number of mosquitoes. I had a flat tire in this area one time and the mosquitoes forced me to ride on a flat until I found a better spot. But if you're moving, it's a beautiful area.
It's possible that in 1839, the area was much different. The Minnesota River may have been further away then.

Replacement Saddle

I replaced the broken saddle mentioned in a recent post.


Here's a photo of the broken saddle. It popped off the rails in a crash.



Here's the replacement. It's a Fujita and is the only comfortable, narrow leather saddle I've ever had.



Here's a photo of the entire bike ready to ride.

My New Headlight

I've been using a battery powered headlight for the last couple weeks on my ride to work. It's a NiteRider MiNewt Mini-USB Plus LED. The literature says it weighs 6 ounces. I haven't weighed it myself, but it is really light compared to my lead-acid battery light of days gone by. Last year, I used a Shimano generator hub to power my LED light. It was very nice and not worrying about recharging batteries was nice.

The NiteRider is much brighter and I can easily move it from bike to bike. I have a few bikes that I like to ride to work (one at a time of course). The generator light limited me to one bike.

I first used the NiteRider light in a offroad race in which I had to ride at night. It worked really well there and I figured that since I spent money on it, I might as well try it on the streets too.



This is a photo of it on my bike. The headlight is about the size of an egg and the battery is about the same size as 3/4 a stick of butter. It's the black thing attached to the handlebar stem in the photo below. It holds a charge for about three hours. Not too bad.

Crash and Find

I crashed my newly built bike. I was riding through a park several blocks from my house to get the mud off the tires (wet grass does a good job of that). I cut across a sidewalk at an angle and crashed on the edge of the pavement. I got up, a bit shaken, and rode home standing up, because the seat broke off the rails.

A couple hours later, my wife came in the house after running. She asked where I crashed. I told her the name of the park in which I crashed earlier. She handed me my wallet. It had popped out of my jersey pocket during the crash. She happened to run through the park and find my wallet sitting in the rain-soaked grass about four feet from the sidewalk.

A New Word from My Daughter

My nine-year old daughter does not like to wear underwear. This is an ongoing battle that we're clearly losing. We asked her why she doesn't like them. Her reply, "No one calls them funderwear."

New Bike (sorta)

I've had an idea for a bike since I installed the dirt-drop style bars on my commuting bike sometime last year. I loved the way the bars felt and liked the way it felt off road. I thought about having the same bike without the racks, fenders, lights and any other extras. Then I saw a post on MTBR.com about Monstercross bikes. (Apologies to you wordsmiths, I didn't invent the term.)

It all came together and I found a frame to serve as the basis for my Monstercross bike.

I just got it together tonight. Currently, it's a two-speed, but I'll most likely double the number of gears soon by adding a front derailleur and another chain ring.

The around-the-block test ride was fantastic. It rides exactly as I planned with the longer stem. (Last weekend, I tried a shorter stem and it wasn't right.) Tomorrow morning, it gets to go on the Hiawatha Cyclery Nature Ride.

The definition of Monstercross is pretty squishy. It has something to do with drop bars and tires fatter than the UCI cyclocross maximum of 32mm.

US Soccer vs. Trinidad Tobago

I traveled on a charter bus from St. Paul to Chicago with 40 some other soccer fans to see the U.S. mens soccer team play Trinidad Tobago in a World Cup qualifier on Sept 10.

I took a few photos and recorded a couple videos.

Here we are on the bus. It was pretty comfortable and we watched soccer videos for several hours during the ride to Chicago.

We stopped in the Wisconsin Dells for lunch. It was cheesy as expected.
The Toyota Park was very nice on the inside and outside. It's a dedicated soccer stadium in Bridgeview, Illinois (a Chicago suburb).

Many fans gathered before the game in the parking lot.


All the bus riders wore a special t-shirt. This guy got a tattoo on his forehead. We teased him a bit.

Sprinklers watered the grass before the match. The field was beautiful (as beautiful as grass gets, at least).

When the U.S. scored, they passed a giant flag up the rows for display. I've seen this sort of stuff before on TV, but I've never been under the flag until last night (three times).

Action shot of soccer action.


The sun went down during the game.



The U.S. won 3-0 and it was time for a nap in the parking lot. Our bus disappeared during the game, but they returned to pick us up. We got back to St. Paul at 5 a.m. as scheduled. It was a great trip. I don't need to do it every week, but I'll do it again when possible.



Videos:
The fans sang songs almost non-stop during match. I captured a few on video.

This is a song the fans sang in appreciation of goalie Tim Howard's fine play.


This is a cheer the fans yelled when one of the opposing players went down and needed a stretcher.

They're singing, "You're going home in a Cook County ambulance!"

Soccer Trip

I like to watch soccer and am going to see the US men play Trinidad-Tobago in a World Cup qualifying match. The match is located in Chicago. I'm leaving this morning (Wednesday) on a charter bus to Chicago (from St. Paul). We'll arrive, see the game, leave and are scheduled to return by 5 a.m. tomorrow. I'm bring a camera and will load some photos.