F L A S H B L O G

A Flash In The Pan Rebuild

2012-02-22T20:30:00.001-08:00

So this afternoon I took a rusted/flat-tired/weather beaten piece of junk vintage pink Huffy and in 2 hours transformed it into this. I wish I had taken a "before" pic because the gestalt vibe change is dramatic.

The backstory is my friend is a struggling single mom with 4 grown kids, some of which are still living at home. Her daughter a young woman in Berkeley, is supporting herself but has a 45 minute walk and bus commute to work and back everyday. Her mom said if she had a bike she could cut an hour off her commute and save the bus fare too. Mom has a back porch full of broken, rusted bikes and asked me if I could get one running for her daughter. I wasn't sure, but I chose this pink Huffy beachcruiser over the Walmart mountain bikes, and also chose a classic Peugeot mixte, more on that later. I also harvested tires, tubes, a saddle and assorted parts off the other bikes and hauled all this stuff to Flashblog headquarters.

Made in the USA...they don't make them like this anymore, thank goodness!

Now, I have to admit my faux Army bike is based on an old Huffy mountain bike frame. Huffys were made cheaply, with poor parts fit, all steel so they weighed a ton, but even neglected they will last a lifetime. This beachcruiser should have ended up in the steel bin at the recycling center, but I know my Huffys and knew this one just needed some oil. My granddad used to tell me "Jimmy, oil makes the world go round." My dad always oiled, never greased. His bikes were black around the hubs, but they went for years. Its in this vein that I vowed to simply oil this thing and move on. But in my mind I wanted to paint it too, as fast as I could but still getting a descent result. Why? Its gratifying on some level to work fast and deliberately.

Armed with a crescent wrench, an oil can, a spray can of WD40, and a spray can of blue paint, I just tore into the thing. I got the flat, cracked tires off and sprayed the rusted chrome wheels blue. I had an image in my mind of monochromatic everything, I've seen photos of Dutch bikes like this. Blue and yellow were the only colors I had on hand, so blue it was as yellow would do poorly over the rust. I spray painted the frame after merely wiping it with a rag. I sprayed the rusted chain with WD, squirted oil in the wheel and bottom bracket bearings, into the large gaps not sealed. The paint was barely dry on the wheels when I put the replacement used tires on, then threw them on the bike, adjusted the chain, mounted a saddle, put on the Knog light, reflector, and voila! JOB DONE! I took it out for a ride and it is surprisingly nice, it soaks up the bumps with its long wheelbase and has an old-timey coaster brake. I would ride this bike around town, proudly. Total cost to get it running: 2 hrs free labor and $2 in spray paint.

Its actually an attractive bike, no cables, brake levers or shifters to mar the simple lines

Here's the Peugeot, I love the frame and classic look, and spent some hours putting it back together. I had to cut through a U-lock connecting the front wheel to the frame. (I found a way to defeat the Kryptonite lock in 30 seconds, ask me about it some time as I don't want to put this dangerous bike theft info out on the 'net) This bike had also fallen off a car driving down the freeway, and the rear wheel had dragged on the pavement.

Must have made some nice sparks!

This bike was messed up, I swapped the rear wheel, mounted tires, and tuned the shifting and brakes, but didn't notice the front wheel was out of alignment due to a bent fork. The bike is un-rideable, pulls hard to the left. What a bummer! That really harshed my vibe. It can be fixed with a replacement fork, but that is beyond my gratis work on this project. So one out of two ain't bad, the young lady will have a cool bike to ride to work and maybe when she saves enough bus fare she can get the mixte fixed and ride in classic geared style.

Thats it for now, keep on ridin' and wrenchin'

Flash

My Good Luck Charm

2012-02-06T19:56:00.001-08:00

Hello, and welcome to Flashblog. I'm Flash, and I'm pleased to report that my Team Alameda medal for "Most Rides Led in 2008" has not been stripped from me by the Cycling Arbitration Board. In fact, they don't care a whit if I ate an entire cow made from pure clenbuturol, unlike the hapless Alberto Contador, Tour De France champion, who just saw all his gains of the last 2 years taken away from him by the CAB, and he may have to pay upwards of 2 million Euros in fines. As a bike blogger, I enjoy the freedom of not having to endure urine tests just to ride my bike fast. They don't even test for caffeine, so I'm golden!

So I started wearing my medal again last week. I've worn it once or twice since 2008, but I felt self conscious those times, pretentious. Not any more. Last week I pulled it out of its box and was struck by its timeless design and rugged good looks. I knew then it would be on my future rides, I had grown into it.

The ribbon is striped in blue, white, and orange, the TA colors, and the medal itself looks to be bronze, but I prefer the term "tarnished gold". (wink) The medallion is almost 2 inches in diameter, and is heavy. Etched in relief in the center is a flaming torch and olive branches within a shield, Olympics style, with near mirror image old-timey cyclists riding on either side of it. In the background are trees lining a road, and above them an old fashioned horse riding style helmet resting upon a parchment (?) that has the number "51" on it.

This is my Olympic gold medal for inspiring my fellow cyclists, most of whom are ride leaders themselves today. The etching says almost everything about me, Flash. However, I would change two details.

1. In place of the trees I would prefer triangularly peaked mountains in the background.
2. I would replace the parchment with a steaming cup of coffee

That's it, otherwise its perfect!

This is a classy dignified medal, suitable for wear with my Team Alameda kits. But the thing is, I wear it less as a medal of achievement but rather for something more important to me in this time and place: Good Luck. Yes, I am getting superstitious. I wear it as an amulet.

From Wikipedia: "An amulet, similar to a talisman (Arabic: طلسم‎ / transliterated: tilasim), is any object intended to bring good luck or protection to its owner. Potential amulets include gems, especially engraved gems, statues, coins, drawings, pendants, rings, plants and animals"

There you have it...engraved pendants. Need I say more?

I will admit to being very fortunate in my cycling career, only having had one bad crash in 1975. I've fallen since, but without injury. I attribute this to veteran skills on the bike, innate good balance, using a mirror, and overall situational awareness. Some people have it, some have less of it. Believe me, I ride in large groups and the range of awareness is all over the spectrum. I have also had my share of pure good luck too.

One day I was riding down Park Blvd just before the 580 underpass. I rounded the corner to see I had the green light ahead, so I kept my speed up, which was around 25mph. As I entered the intersection, my front tire caught in a road crack and instantly turned 20 degrees left. By all rights I should have launched over my handlebars Superman style at 25mph. By some miracle, I reacted, the tire skidded sideways, then straightened and I stayed on my bike. But there was a moment of deep, all-consuming utter dispair that welled up inside of me. It was like I had crashed and I was feeling the agony of my broken, helpless body, perhaps a body that would never ride again, all because of some fucking little crack in the road. Alameda Velo rider Alan Le perished in a very similar situation up on Grizzly Peak last year.

And how many times have I had to grab a fistful of brakes to avoid some oblivious auto driver who blindly pulled in front of me and caused me to slide sideways to avoid a collision?

I think about all the door-ings I narrowly missed. All the rocks I've rolled over causing my tire to lose traction in a corner. I've witnessed harrowing criterium crashes that happened to the side of me instead of in front of me.

Even my worst crash in '75 could have been much worse as I didn't have a helmet on. They hadn't been invented yet for non-racers. I hit my head and scraped off the top of my ear, broke my left arm, but no concussion or other head injuries. So very lucky.

I like the idea of an amulet, a talisman. Its romantic and quaint. I know it makes no real difference, but then again, maybe it does in some way. Because it changes ever so slightly, how I feel that day, how I ride. It makes me feel Olympic caliber, ready for anything. Confidence cannot be understated in this sportive activity.

Last weekend someone came up to me on the group ride and said, " You're the guy with the medal". That sounded good to me. How many people ride their bikes with a medallion hanging down under their necks anyway? I do now, and I will continue to. We, as cyclists, need all the advantages we can get. If a round piece of bronze or a stuffed pink moose help you get through it, then do it.

Stay healthy, and get on your bikes and ride!

Flash

The Look Back And The Shadow Game

2012-01-22T14:37:00.000-08:00

It's a good day to blog. Rainy and cold out today. I was expecting to take a ride, had my Miyata in launch mode, then it started raining. However, I did get in a good ride yesterday, so not all is lost this weekend. This is a ride story about an aspect of cycling that doesn't get much discussion, and that is, how we, I, in this case, interact with other cyclists out on the road. There are infinite flavors of the ride, some are spicier than others, this is one of those.

I awoke yesterday feeling groggy, having slept in an hour. I had planned to take a morning ride, but was not in any hurry about it, I already missed the "Go" window for the Team Alameda group ride, so I had a leisurely morning. As I sipped my blend of French and Mocha Java drip, I looked out the front window at the swirling wind. It was drying out nicely, but now it was blustery. Not easy to get up for that, but eventually I did get out of the house and on the bike at around 11am. It felt like an accomplishment just doing that. I had no goal other than to get in some miles.

On autopilot, I found myself on route to Montclair, via 14th and Park Blvd. As I climbed the 16th Ave overpass, which is short and steep, there was a gusty headwind further slowing my progress. I felt like my leg muscles had turned to sandbags, heavy and non-responsive. Some days are like that, and when it happens I just press on because it usually gets better for the second half of the ride. So I made Montclair Peet's my goal, to reward myself with a hot java. Sure, this is a modest goal, it's only 6.5 miles away, but this is winter, it was windy, short daylight hours increase one's melatonin, (the sleep hormone), and besides, just getting out was the point. I reminded myself that when I first took up cycling again in 2003, it was a big deal for me to get to Montclair.

I had a good ride up Park Blvd, it actually seemed easy, and when I got to Peet's I had the thought that I didn't need to stop, that I should just go on, but, nah, I was here so why not? I got my cup of joe and sat out front looking at the Miyata. I had made some changes on it since I last rode it. When I got the new wheels for the Lemond, the old Rolfs went on the Miyata. They are nice wheels, fairly light, roll smoothly, and absorb road buzz nicely. Road feedback is sweet with a Zaffiro Pro on the back and a Pro Race 3 on the front. I had also put a second wrap of bar tape over the first for extra thick padding. I was liking this extra cush. I reflected that these trickle down mods had made the bike kind of resonate, that it had not resonated before. Nice!

Making my way to Tunnel Road, I realized that standing up on this bike feels very natural but mostly I was staying seated for climbing. After Lake Temescal, I was pedaling up Upper Broadway, wishing for one lower gear, and I caught a woman on a purple Bianchi, and so I made a remark about how purple bikes ROCK!! (the Miyata is purple) and she got a good laugh. I try to be friendly to other cyclists, especially the ones I pass, I say hello or comment on the bike or their bike. About this time I looked in my mirror and noticed someone coming up the hill behind me.

I analyse people coming up behind me, I try to estimate when they will pass me, and when they do, I do a quick check of what they are wearing, then what they are riding, and I draw a conclusion. Sometimes if it is a small group, I will drop in to catch the pace for a while. Sometimes it is just obvious there is no way I am going to hang with a guy, some of them are obvious racers. If they say hello I am generally fine with that and hey, have a nice ride! Then again, sometimes I get passed and my conclusion was that the pass was dismissive. That I was summed up and found lacking, so get out of my way. Maybe it's the mirror, or the vintage bike, or my thrown together kit, or my gray hair, whatever. The dismissive pass feels insulting and I don't really like it when that happens. I should just let it go, and sometimes I do, like who gives a fuck? but sometimes I don't. That's when I play The Shadow Game. It's a chess match I play with my body as well as my brain. And, like chess, I often lose. But when I win, ahh, it's a moment to savor.

The rider behind me didn't catch me as soon as I expected, it was after climbing the short pitch after the Monument to Disaster at the foot of Tunnel that he passed me, without so much as a glance or utterance. He looked like he was around 30 of age. I looked at his kit, he looked kind of Rapha-like, a hard to describe generic upper tier kit look that seems a bit pretentious. His bike was something silvery, maybe titanium, I didn't see it clearly. He had short hair a short beard that looked obsessively trimmed. As he rode ahead of me about 20 feet, he was constantly tweaking is head to the left, as if he had a small rock in his left ear and was trying to shake it out. Strange. I mean he must have jerked his head left 20 times in a half mile. He looked a bit like a stuffed sausage in his too tightly fitting kit. All this put together really grated on my basal ganglia.

I decided to shadow him. Shadowing is quite different than dropping in on his wheel. That would be gauche, too aggressive, I used to do that in my less wise days. When I shadow I stay back about 50', close enough to observe my opponent, but far enough back to give them a sense of staying away. Shadowing someone changes their game from offensive to defensive as they become all too aware of being followed and not being able to drop the follower, and a cascading sequence of mind games ensues. Unless they just smirk, speed up and drop me and it becomes a very short game.

I was riding along comfortably as we approached the left hand turn after the house with the palm trees. As he rounded the corner he looked back to see where I was. He Looked Back....Game On! The Look Back in my book is Game On for the simple reason that a guy will not look back if he doesn't care a whit about you, but if he does then he is In The Game. I use a mirror, so I never have to twist my head to look back, another advantage of this small very useful tool. I look back All The Time. But in a passive way you see.

His pace then quickened a bit but not enough to alarm me, and I sorted out a strategy. My opponent was easily 20 lbs heavier than me, so I assumed when the road pitched up at the 2 mile mark, he would slow down. This is a strategy that has worked for me time and again, so why not this time? Around the bends we went, and we got to the steeper part. He stood up and attacked the hill and got a bit away, but I wanted to keep my heart rate at around 140-150 so I sat down for the most part, and when I rounded the steep left hand corner after the tractor, there he was not that far ahead. The plan was working. I could tell he was feeling dogged and that pleased me. My world had narrowed to my vision of the rider ahead of me, my legs pulling me up the grade, all cylinders were firing in harmony now, my world was heavy breathing and feet spinning in circles.

On we rode, and I was slowly reeling him in. I was aware I was gulping lungfuls of air, getting a max workout for sure, but I could dig deeper if I needed to, but hoped I wouldn't have to. I try not to push it that last 15% if I can avoid it. By this point we were nearing the Baker Millennium House and I was but 10 feet behind and contemplating a pass further up ahead near the top, when the unexpected happened.

He pulled off the road and feigned a bike adjustment! He "tapped out" rather than be passed. I was just beginning to accept that strange turn, when, in my mirror, I saw him mount up and start going again. This was a first in my book, and in my mind it totally justified my opinion of the guy, that he was a good rider, but also a poser that could not take getting passed by a silver haired guy on an vintage bike wearing leg warmers on the outside of his shorts and a red Fred jacket. As I summitted the hill I felt good, the other guy was no where in sight. I had started off the day feeling dead but got to the top of the hill feeling stoked and very much alive. It had all just unfolded by chance. I knew this was prime blog fodder.

I believe we men are genetically hard wired to be hunters and warriors, to be competitive for food and mates, the instinct to do battle is within each of us, no matter how cultured or civilized we appear to be or think of ourselves. This instinct usually lies dormant but can be unleashed surprisingly easy. Should I be old enough to know better? Yes, I should, but on the other hand, I prefer to live fully when I can, and tapping into my reptilian brain is a great way to get there.

Get On Your Bikes And Ride!

Flash

Drillium and Other Non-Weighty Matters

2012-01-06T22:15:00.000-08:00

Continuing my series of informative parts talks, I now steer you towards the arcane art of lightening your bike parts by reducing their weight. Essentially replacing mass with air. The art became known as Drillium---a derivation of drill, as in electric drill, and the added suffix of an element, "ium". Think Unobtanium, that rarest of denizens of the Periodic Table. The difference is that Drillium is quite attainable, all one needs is a tool, a design, careful measurement, a steady hand, and a willingness to risk one's health by weakening key bike parts that are originally robust for a good reason.

Back in the day, metallurgy was for the most part fixed in steel frames and aluminum parts. Titanium was very rare indeed, and carbon fiber, if even invented, was the stuff of military secrets and certainly not available to the world of velomen and women. A typical good road bike of the time weighed about 25 lbs, and very expensive bikes were down around 21lbs. An modern entry level bike these days is under that weight. To get a very light bike back then the weight weenies had to turn to their drills. Every time a drill bit bites into metal, metal is lost in shavings. Remove enough shavings and grams, then ounces disappear, then even pounds. But what is added, in my mind, is art. A certain delicacy, a jewel-like quality is added that didn't exist before the drilling. I just love the way it looks. I'm fascinated by the obsession the craftsman pours into his holy parts. Books have been written about it.

Book cover " As Light As Air" by John Derven

And check out this photo of Drillium in progress

I wouldn't want this to break off between my legs!

As technology has improved and new materials (alu alloys, titanium, and carbon fiber) utilized for both bikes and parts, things have gotten very light without the need for drilling. So the art of Drillium becomes a thing of the past. Or has it?

I sometimes find myself walking the back alleys of Ebay bike shops, and I found something there I just HAD to have. Drillium headset spacers! Produced by KCNC of Taiwan, here is a page to some of their other lightweight/blingy/ ultra cool items.

Ok, maybe not drilled out, but machined out, but still, hollow spaces filled with air describes Drillium to me. So I ordered a set of these as a homage to the lost art. They will make not a whit of difference in my bike's performance or weight, but rather they represent for me a bygone era, and they are just so cool! I could have gotten carbon fiber spacers in red, but in my opinion they can't hold a candle to these 6061 alloy masterpieces. Drillium exists as a commodity to us ordinary consumers. How could I NOT get these?

Actual scan of my new spacers. Can't tell from this angle, but they are various heights: 15/10/5/2 mm sections. They are wider overall than the OEM spacers, they have to be when you think about it, but this extra width imparts a very cool feature: once installed, the hollow channels can be seen above and below the stem.

Kind of reminds me of this, don't you think?

This view shows the visually exposed channels

It all stacks up in the end

So my new hollowed out spacers are installed and I feel like I am taking a part of the Old World Velo out with me on every ride. And as with all Drillium parts, I just hope to God they don't break.

Get On Your Bike and Ride!

Flash

Flashblog Seasonal Upgrades

2011-12-28T13:27:00.000-08:00

Greetings, and, as always, welcome to Flashblog,

I'm your host, Flash, sifting through the detritus of modern culture for molecules of joy, seasonal and otherwise, as it relates to my almost obsessive interest in bicycles and bicycle riding. In this edition, I get to report some very good news. I've acquired even more bike parts since the last installment! Here's an intriguing fact: all these parts are brand new, the result of throwing cash around locally, and all over the internet. Flash is doing great things for the economy! And supporting the Euro as well, I'm proud to say.

"So just what are these parts?" you are probably asking yourself and I was hoping you would ask that.
The first thing is a new bottom bracket for my Lemond road bike. Yes, it is at the bottom of the bike, but no, it is not a bracket at all. What it is is a hollow splined axle with ball bearings inside a sealed metal tube. I know, that's pretty fascinating. I could let the warmth and tingleyness stop there, but I'll go on. You see, the bottom bracket, in this case a type called ISIS, is an important thing in that it connects the gear thingys to the pedal thingys, and lets them go round and round smoothly. If it fails, the "smoothly" part goes away and it literally becomes a drrraaaaaaaaag.

Here's what it looks like,but you don't see it because it is hidden inside the bike frame

Anyway, my previous BB got a little bent somehow, so the gear thingys (chainrings) were pulsing side to side a bit, rubbing on the derailleur. And dragging at the same time. Bummer. So I dropped some cash at the LBS (local bike shop) and let them order the part and install it. Costs more this way, but its time I gave them some business as they've been very good to me. ISIS, by the way, was an interim technology to combat the market supremacy Shimano appeared to be gaining when they "dropped" their proprietary Octalink splined system. ISIS was formed by a consortium of competing parts concerns to combat Octalink, so they basically copied the Octalink but put on 10 splines instead of 8. Time would show that the ISIS system, while stiff laterally, has a bearing design that wears out faster because it is forced to use more, but smaller ball bearings, thus more bearing surface area compared to a system of larger balls.

Thus, The Market then "rolled out" the external bearing system which put larger bearings on the outside of the bike, fixing the inherent shortcomings of the splined systems. The external system is not so good for sealing out water and dirt, but it is stiff due to its larger axle shaft. The hollow axle is integrated into the crankset, a light and efficient setup.

This is what the external bottom bracket looks like, bearings on the outside.

Even newer is the BB30 system, invented by Cannondale but now also on many high end bikes.

Note the large bearing races sit inside an oversized frame tube shell. Lighter, stiffer, most efficient. The BB30 system results in frame swelling in its nether regions to accommodate the large bearings.

I know what you are thinking: "Flash, why didn't you just upgrade to an external bearing system?" Because I didn't want to also have to buy a new crankset to fit it. My current crank features my time tested 52/39/28 gears that can not be had in a modern triple, which is commonly 50/39/30. Beside, that would have been a $400 upgrade, just to modernize a bearing system. I decided to put that cash into a different area, so I just replaced the ISIS unit and I'm back in biz for a good long time.

So where did I put the cash? Here:

Giant P SL1 Road Wheelset

Designed for performance road riding, aimed at enthusiasts and beginner racers seeking a stiff, durable wheelsystem.

6061 Rim · Forged 6000-series hubs
DT Aero bladed Stainless steel spokes, 18 front, 24 rear
Single handed wheel release
DT Swiss sealed hub bearings
21mm wide rim
Weight 1775g per pair

The 2012 Defy Composite 1 with the P-SL1 wheels

I went on a wheel research bender, and got quite overwhelmed. Brands such as Easton, American Classic, Shimano, Most, Neuvation, Velocity, Rolf, Rol, and a myriad of boutique wheelsmiths all claim to make the best wheel at the best price. At first, I was thinking about a very light climbing wheel like the Easton 90, which comes in at under 1500g per set. Or Rol Alp Duez at 1490g. Then I started reading reviews over at Roadbikerider.com and it became clear that the lighter the wheel, the greater risk of breaking spokes or of wheel flexing. Not to mention the cost skyrockets commensurately. The Rolf Vectors I have been using the last few years weigh in at around 2000g, so these Giants save about 200 grams, or about half a pound. I found them on Ebay, at a great price, so threw down for them. They feature a wider rim than usual, 21mm vs the 19mm normally found on road rims. However, the Rolfs measure a spindly 17.9mm wide, so the new rims are something like 15% wider. When mounting 23mm tires on the 21mm rims, the resulting tire cross section profile looks less like a lightbulb and more like an airfoil. So this is reported to result in better cornering and road feel, almost tubular-like.

What I can report is that when I spin the new wheels, they are completely silent, so utterly smooth that if I closed my eyes I could not tell if they were spinning. This is new to my experience, believe it or not, I've never had spanking new wheels on a bike. This is going to be a treat!

Road report: SWEET! I definitely feel a small but better difference going uphill. It feels easier going up. Descending feels about the same as before. Cornering is better, and overall ride feel is zingy-er without being harsh at all. Drawback: changing a tire on the road is HARD. Not sure if this is due to the Lithium tires mentioned below or the wider aspect of the rims. I've now included liquid soap in my saddle bag to make the next road repair easier. I kid you not!

Lastly, I contacted my people across the Pond, and they sent me over some Michelin Lithium 2 tyres. I really like the Lithium as it rides like a ProRace, but has better puncture resistance,and is the most cost effective tyre in the line, I got a pair for $42 American.

In progress shots.

The wheels with tires on looks how I want them to look, understated yet with a high tech, no-nonsense appearance. The black, gray and white colors fit the bike's overall scheme quite well. The wheels appear as climbing wheels should look, light and purposeful, none of this aero, oversized, super deep dished carbon excess so prevalent in bike marketing today. Here' a fine example of blingtastic wheels:

Ugg. I hate this look on a bike. It reminds me of this:

I just improved my machine quite a bit. It runs like a Swiss watch and goes just a little bit better than before. Riding should be about the fun, and it is fun that I'm having right now. Oh yeah.

Lastly, my New Year's resolution is to add a second ride name to my personal roster. This name is inspired by the recent news of a long covered up family story that due to a philandering enjoyed by my grandmother I may in fact be 1/4 Italian!

Ride On My Friends

Ciacomo Gordoni

My Day/Night/Wet/Dry/On Road/Off Road Urban Assault Bike Build

2011-11-23T15:29:00.001-08:00

I've been wrenching on my bikes again. It's a fun hobby. I put them together, then take them apart and put them back together differently. This is the beauty of bikes. They are accessible. Simple. Easy to work on. And the variations are endless. Here's my latest and how it came to be.

Plz clic pics

I've increased my commuting by bike to work up at Chabot Space and Science Center. I was using my Lemond road bike, which is by far the fastest and easiest way to get up the hill. But the Lemond is relatively fragile, especially the tires, which have suffered on the mean streets of Oakland. I also want to keep it clean as I have bad memories of riding it 200 kilometers in the rain and the major work I had to do on it after that. I've also ridden my fast commuter, the Miyata, to work, and while almost as fast, it's a harder grind because the gears are too high, and again, the tires take a beating. The streets of urban Oakland are in bad shape and I find myself constantly dodging potholes, cracks and seams that could not only wreck a wheel, but cause me to crash.

A few years ago, while in the midst of a steep hill climbing phase, I modified my Specialized Rockhopper mountain bike with smaller, fast rolling tires, and rode it up some of the steepest streets in all of the Bay Area. Marin Ave. in Berkeley, for example. Very, very steep, up to 25% grade, or more. While the ultra low gears of this bike served me well in this endevour, the overall heavier weight of the bike made it hard for me to keep up with my riding buddies on road bikes. After a 40 mile hill ride on the Rockhopper, I was beat like an abalone. So I wrenched it back into a dirt bike and it was a favorite ride of my exchange student, Lorenz from Germany. So favorite in fact, that upon returning to Deutchland, he bought an even better mountain bike. In fact, the last time I had an off road adventure, this story developed from it.

I encountered this bike 2 years ago and was inspired by the audacity of the thing

The Rockhopper has been hanging on the wall, awaiting a new purpose. I didn't do any dirt rides on it this year. So one evening, my inspiration fueled by Charles Shaw merlot, I decided to resurrect the road version of the Rockhopper. It was just what I envisioned: A ruggedized bike frame with bomb-proof wheels, wider but still fast rolling puncture resistant tires, front shock absorbers, powerful U-brakes, and low gears for getting up the 7 mile hill to work. And I would need fenders for wet roads. And lights for when it gets dark at 5pm. And reflectors. Lots of reflectors. I got to work.

For tires I use some generic kevlar belted city tires from Performance, the City-K, size 26x1.25. They look like baby tires compared to the knobbies they replace. But the small diameter also serves a secondary importance: they provide fender clearance. For fenders, I stole some 1975 vintage rusted steel parts of my junk project bike I call "entropy". I never ride it anymore, and it is just sitting outside rusting away. But I've always admired the rust on top of the old chrome fenders, and their sturdy construction. The Rockhopper was never designed for touring type fenders so I had to get creative with the mounting, relying on zip ties, bolts, and even Gorilla glue.

Front fender detail: metal fender tab affixed with 2 zip ties to the fork bridge, and Gorilla glued to prevent sideways slippage

Rear detail: the bike's left stay has a rear eyelet to bolt to, but none on the right side, so I used a piece of bent wire and a loop of cut innertube to create a flexible but tight connection.

The fenders are bent to a 27" arc, so they are a tad large in diameter, thus the generous tire clearance fore and aft. I cut a rubber mud flap for the front and bolted that on. One of these will greatly deflect road spray off your feet.

Here you can get an idea of how well the reflector tape works, even better in the dark under car headlights

Next, I installed my largest saddle bag, and put into it my Park Survival Tool, a spare tube, and other tools. For night riding, a rear LED tailight, a front LED headlight, and the Bikeglow e-light wire for the frame, taken of the Kaptein Dutch Bike. I also made a vestigial mount for my Nebo Redline 220 lumen flashlight which will light the pitch black road of Skyline Blvd. at night. I also will run a 2 LED flashing red light on my helmet.

Bikeglow battery pack and Topeak pump. Note front mud flap

Lastly came a set of ultra bright yellow stick on reflectors by Nathan, available at Alameda Bicycle. I put these on the bike and on my commuter helmet. They glow intense yellow when lit by a bright light, just what I want. I also applied a large yellow reflector triangle on my backpack for the ultimate light throwback.
Night riding is the most dangerous time for bike riding, I want to be seen a half mile away, I think I've achieved that. The road going weight with everything except a water bottle is 33 lbs. That may sound heavy as many of us ride road bikes almost half that weight, but it doesn't feel that heavy. 50 lbs feels heavy. 33 lbs feels normal.

I rode this bike to work yesterday, and while not as fast as the road bikes, it is not slow either, it's moderate, which is fast enough for commuting uphill. It takes me 10 minutes longer to ride up the hill. Downhill however, is a blast, as this bike runs like a small motorcycle, has front shock absorbers, and powerful brakes. This is my favorite downhill bike, even better than the Lemond, which is a sterling downhiller. The upright position is much more fun when going fast as I can see more not being hunched over.

A funny thing happened on that ride yesterday: as I was climbing Skyline, I got the sudden urge to go offroad. I considered the smooth tread tires but also considered that this is a mountain bike after all, so why not try it? I turned off the pavement at the Sequoia-Bayview trail, which is flattish and hardpacked, and instantly my ride was transformed into something almost religious as the cathedral of trees towered over me. "This is my commute to work! How lucky am I?" I mused. I knew the trail eventually got steep at the Sequoia horse arena, and I was prepared to walk, but to my amazement, I was able to ride up the soft slope in my lowest gear. Using street tires. A revelation! So after work I hopped right onto West ridge trail to Graham trail, and enjoyed about a mile of dirt downhilling. More slowly than usual, to be sure, but still, I was doing it and the bike was handling fine, and I was loving it. The fenders did not fall off. Here was icing on the cake in terms of my one-bike-does-all build!

This bike is making me really happy for some reason. It's a great 20 mile ride machine, and can handle anything in that 20 miles short of challenging dirt riding. I feel more confident on it, that I don't have to worry about breaking it, that I can roll over holes and other crap and it will just suck it up in stride. And even if I wanted, I could not buy this bike. There are many variations on urban bikes out there, but none exactly, or even close, to this. It's safe to say it's unique.

Build it and Ride It My Friends,

Flash

The Stove Whisperer

2011-11-17T21:07:00.001-08:00

Greetings and welcome to Flashblog! I'm your host, Flash, and tonight I have a very special presentation for you, my first guest Flashblog, written by my good friend and hearty cyclist John "Sweeps" McNulty. Not having time lately to write a fresh blog update myself, it is my good fortune that Sweeps invited me and Flashette to his house recently for dinner. What transpired there that evening was nothing less than a desperate man quickly losing his sanity, driven semi-insane by an infernal stove noise, but pulled back from the brink of the precipice by a Flashly insight born of squeaky chains, clicking deraillers, screeching seatposts, and howling brakes. And don't forget my daily work up as Chabot Space and Science Center, where I hone my fixology skills on a daily basis. Ok, it was a lucky guess, but Sweeps makes it seem oh so much more than that.

So grab a glass of wine, put on some light jazz, and read Sweep's intriguing adventure down the rabbit hole of (old) technology.

Ride On,

Flash

My Pre-Flash 15 Mins of Fame---1987

2011-10-11T22:47:00.000-07:00

Before my evolution into Flash, way back in my 2nd Cycling Incarnation, I was known simply as Jim Gordon. There were few road riders back then as mountain biking was taking off like a rocket and what riders there were abandoned the pavement for the dirt. There was no blogging for there was no internet or computers, at least for civilians. I remember the fun of the hand drawn sketches of bike parts in the Nashbar catalogs back then. I was getting into distance riding, and did a few centuries, none of them easy or comfortable. I even did a hard climbing century in the heat with a full aero fairing on the front of my bike. I only tried that once.

One of my friends convinced me to try racing, so I signed on as a Cat 4, at that time the entry level position for wannabe racers. I did some local Oakland criteriums, and a few short road races---I never placed in the top 10, but then again I never crashed or dropped out either so that's something. I did witness some horrible race crashes and I think that informed me more than the actual racing. The following story occurred during these times. One day I found my phone ringing off the hook by local sports media people, and I had no clue why. Here's what went down as reporters and photographers descended on Alameda:

(Click to enlarge scan)

I found my old racing license recently, then this old article showed up in a drawer at my parent's house. I've been looking for a copy I had, and had given up finding it, then it just appears. A Flashblog story meant to be.

Note authentic period details in the photo:

Note in the article I referred to myself at age 32 as an old guy. I wonder what that makes me today? I also stated I was riding 150 miles a week which might have been an embellishment of the truth, but to be honest I can't recall actual mileage from back then. By the way, I still own that bike, a Novara 12 speed made in Japan. It currently lives in Tacoma Washington, slightly modified with flat bars into a commuter bike for my son Max. I still have all the original parts so someday I will restore it.

I hope you've been amused by this rare artifact of a by-gone era. All I can say is I'm very happy to still be out there turning the pedals a quarter century later. Such is the beauty of cycling.

Ride On My Friends

Flash

How To: Dutch Style Flat Repair

2011-10-07T11:15:00.000-07:00

So...it finally happened. I was riding the Kaptein one warm Indian summer evening recently when I noticed the rear end was getting noticeably squishy. Really? My tire was going flat? How was that possible? As I've recounted in earlier posts the last time I had the rear wheel off, one year ago, is when I installed new Continental Cityride puncture resistant tires, along with plastic rim strips to ensure I would not flat unless I rolled over a land mine. There were no land mines this day, in fact, nothing out of the ordinary that I had rolled over. I felt disappointed, yet curious as to why my system failed.

Flashette was with me, but she had to go home to work straightaway and could not return with the car to pick me up. I was off at the far end of the island, in fact, in front of the USS Hornet aircraft carrier museum. I checked my bags for my repair kit...and it was not there. I had taken it out before my last grocery run. The pump was not present either. I sat there in the warm orange rays of the setting sun pondering my mistakes. My biggest mistake was assuming I would never get a flat on this bike. Just...Flashtastic.

I could have slowly walked the 3 miles home, but my sister was in town, with her SUV, so I called her for a ride. Luckily, with the rear seats down we could stuff the whole 50+ lb machine in in one piece. Things worked out for me to avoid that long, slow walk, but in more normal circumstances I would have been in a jam of my own recipe, as it were.

Fast forward to repair time. As I've said, taking the rear wheel off these bikes is a ~~bitch~~ ~~headache~~ ~~pain in the ass~~ challenge. I suppose if you work in a Dutch bike shop and do this every day it is easier and faster. It takes me about an hour to remove the wheel and re-install it. Here's the breakdown:

1. remove screws securing upper and lower halves of chaincase. Using screwdriver, pry the two halves apart along the horizontal middle seam, pull halves away from chain.
2. remove 3 speed shifting chain from rear hub
3. remove rear brake cable from drum brake
4. remove rear drum brake positioning arm from frame mount
5. remove axle nuts
6. remove axle positioning stay nuts
7. remove chain from rear cog
8. shove rear wheel forward until stay bolts clear the frame
9. jerk wheel from frame.

That's the quick and easy part. Then I fix the tire. Getting it all back together in the proper order takes 3 times as long and the dexterity of 3 frisky cats put together.

However, I heard about an alternative rear flat repair method that does not require removal of the wheel. In a nutshell, the tube is repaired within the frame. This can actually be done on any bike.

Notice that Bike Bro here shows you how to remove the tube on the FRONT tire. Even Bike Bro fears the rear wheel demonstration--- let alone the actual fix.

First, start by getting the last bit of air out of the tube. Starting at the bottom of the wheel, use your tire levers to lift the tire bead from the rim. Its easy on this bike as the tires are large and not tight as on a road bike. Begin to work your way around the rim, turning the wheel as you go. Soon, one side of the tire is lifted off the wheel. Pull out the tube. Note that you cannot remove the tube, it is locked in by the frame and wheel axle.

Here's the tricky part---you have to find the puncture. Put some air in the tube, taking care not to overinflate it or have it push against any sharp parts on the bike. You should then hear the hisssss of air escaping somewhere. Use your stereo hearing skills or finger to locate the escaping air. Mark the spot using a black Sharpie pen. Make you marks horizontal and vertical, at least 3 inches long, the hole in the middle of a large "X" mark.
Next, sand the tube with the sandpaper that came with your patch kit. The "X" will be mostly removed, but enough will remain to see the hole. Put a good pea sized blob of glue in the middle of the X, and smear it around in a circle with your finger. The glue circle should be slightly larger than the diameter of your patch.
Let the glue dry for 3 or 4 minutes. The instructions state 5 minutes, but I feel that dries the glue a bit too much. After 4 minutes, separate a patch from its backing, and taking care not to actually touch the rubber part (handle it with its plastic wrap cover) place it centered over the X. Take the blunt end of your Sharpie and burnish (rub vigorously) all over the patch. Don't peel the clear plastic wrap off the patch.

At some point be sure to carefully inspect the tire, outside and inside. You want to find whatever punctured the tube and remove it. Sometimes you can't see anything, but if you run your finger on the inside of the tire you feel glass or a strand of wire poking through. Dig it out of there using whatever you have or whatever you can find on the side of the road.

Put the tube back into the tire, and put the tire back on the rim, essentially the reverse of removal. Make sure the tube is nicely seated within the tire and not under the bead. Inflate with your method of choice. Voila! A nicely repaired tire.

When I had my tube out I saw what went wrong with my system. When I initially installed the tube and rim strip I was not careful enough and a 4" long section of the polyurethane puncture strip folded over, laying up on the sidewall instead of the bed of the tire. Sure enough, a piece of glass punctured the tube within this 4" section. OF COURSE IT DID!! Murphy's Law. I am not thrilled with the Conti puncture resistance system, this piece of glass was puny but it still got through the puncture belts within the tire. Anyway, I repaired the rim strip ( had to blast it with a heat gun to mold it back into flatness) and now the rear tire should perform as I hope it will---that is to say, no more flats.

So I learned a new flat repair method that works, is easy, and saves much time and effort. I may just use this on my road bikes as well just for additional practice. Of course, all of this hinges on whether or not you would even consider patching your own tubes. Bike shops love flat repairs for the easy money. Support your LBS! I think tube repair is one of the fundamental skills of the true wheelman or wheelwoman; its rewarding, green for the planet and saves a lot of money in the long run.

Doing whatever it takes to keep riding,

Flash

Lemond To Lemon To Lemondazed

2011-09-23T12:34:00.000-07:00

I got my new parts last week and set about to putting the Lemond drivetrain back together and enjoying some sweet hill climbing bliss. I'm a pretty good bike mechanic. I have an innate sense of how things go together. Most of my ideas are feasible. So sometimes I coast on my build resume and overlook the more subtle aspects of the project---little things that can make or break it. Such was the case this week. Let me share the process with you.

When I dismantled the 52 and 42 chainrings, the 42 was large enough to slip over the spider arms. However, upon installing the 39 replacement ring, its smaller inner diameter was just a tad too tight to slip over the spider, so I had to remove the crankarm assembly. The Lemond uses an ISIS type splined bottom bracket, which is similar to Shimano's Octalink, but they are not compatible. Having the crank off made installation of the rings much easier anyway.

The first puzzlement was the alignment of the 39 ring as it had a ramp and pin system on the inside that was completely different than the Bontrager part it replaced. I rotated the ring round and round and finally I figured out it made no difference, as the pins would catch the chain at some point anyway. The 52 ring is finished much simpler so I just bolted that on. Lastly I greased the spindle and bolted on the crank assembly.

Next I shortened the new hollowpin chain by 5 links to match the length of the old stretched chain. Only AFTER I shortened it did it occur to me that the old chain is longer than it should be (because it's stretched, right?) , maybe by 1 link length overall. Oh well, that would make the new chain 1 link longer than needed, no big deal (?). I put the new chain on, lubed it with Boeshield lube, ran through some gear changes and patted myself on the back. Job done!

The Next Day, riding to work.
My initial feeling about the 39 was justified, I can more easily climb moderate grades compared to the 42. However, the shifting was not so great in the rear, noise, ker-thunks, and balky shifts. The front derailler was rubbing on the chain in several positions. I was riding up Park Blvd, adjusting the cable barrel, when I got a rear flat. This is the 2nd ride up in a row on the Lemond I suffered a rear flat. At this point I was not feeling the love for the bike, even though it was entirely not the bike's fault---it was society tossing its glass my way, and me, for not taking the time to do fine adjustments on the shifting. While working on the tire, I noticed on the 52 chainring that it's outside chainstop peg, which is supposed to be positioned so that it stops the chain from jamming between the spider and arm, was like 150 degrees rotated on the crank and just sticking out naked in the air, not doing a thing. DOH!! I repaired the tire and noisily climbed to work, but it was not much fun. I was beating on myself for turning my bike into a lemon.

It was then that I realized that part of the essence of a great ride is having your bike work flawlessly and quietly. If I have to think about what's NOT right with my bike while I'm riding it, it taints the whole ride experience. But I wondered why the changes to the shifting?

First, I had put a new chain on old sprockets and chainrings. There are going to be teeth meshing tolerances out of spec compared to new. Audible proof of this that when pedalling on the 39, the system purrs like a kitten, but on the 28, it has a ratcheting sound.
Secondly, I removed the crankarm assembly and reinstalled after greasing. I think I was able to get it further onto the spline than before, and that put the chain a millimeter or two closer to the derailleur cage.

So I put the bike back up on the rack, popped a cold PBR (the hipster's choice), and set to adjusting the front and back shifting. I won't go into too much detail, the rear is a matter of turning the barrel back and forth until things get as quiet as possible. The front, that's a horse of a different feather, as you have 3 index stops plus 2 trim stops, 2 limit screws, side to side alignment, plus cable tautness. By no means do I feel that I have mastered the front triple derailleur. For instance, the Shimano technical bulletin on this part states that the 2 trim settings are for the middle chainring. On my bike, they only serve the small inner chainring, there is no trim when I select the 39. All this is controlled by the shift lever, the various stops and trims. The derailleur itself is a "dumb" slave device. No way do I even want to attempt to get into the workings of a shift lever. In this case it is what it is, it works so I'm happy.

Then I took the outer rings off and rotated the 52 so the chainstop peg was in the right place. I laughed at myself. When I put that on it was truly a "no brainer".

So having made all the adjustments, I rode to work again today, and the difference is like night and day. The bike shifts well again, its quieter, the chain does not rub, there is a sense of harmony to the ride, which, like I said earlier, is essential to the gestalt.

So now I can say I put the Lemon in Lemond, and when faced with that, made Lemondade.

Ride On and Be Safe Out There My Friends,

Flash

The Lemond On Blocks

2011-09-15T22:25:00.000-07:00

So...last time I mentioned my serious hill climbing bike, I was having a FlashZone ride, lubricated with free, found Chevron motor oil. It reminds me of some irresponsible parties of the past, that are so good and you just don't want them to end, and then... it's the next day and there are some huge bills to pay. Using motor oil on your bike chain is like that. So easy, so seductively smooth. Oh so frictionless, oh so Astrolubed for a couple rides, then one day you notice a black, grimy mess all over your chain and gears. The slightest touch of this tainted substance leaves your fingers and clothes black as night. Oh, how I had sinned against my loyal Lemond! I knew better but did it anyway! Sometimes I'm an idiot, in hindsight.

Detail: 28 tooth front chainring, 42/52 removed

So the inevitable time came to clean up the mess. I found myself loathing what my bike had become, soiled, blackened, almost infected. I put on some old clothes and spent a good 2 hours disassembling the parts and cleaning. Its intimate quality time with your bike. First, I tackled the rear cassette with a toothbrush, orange cleaner, and shop rags. Next up, I took apart the chainrings for the same treatment. I removed the chain with the Powerlink (a must have feature on all my new chains) and cleaned the frame. The chain was last, and always the most difficult. After totally blackening my hands and several rags, I had a clean chain. Only then did I decide to measure it for stretch. DOH! It measured 12 3/16", that's very stretched.

Detail: 11-32 rear cassette and Deore XT derailleur

A new chain should measure exactly 12" from any pin to another one 12" down the line. Use a metal ruler and a taut chain. So I had cleaned that chain for nothing, I could have just removed it and ordered a new one. Which I did, I'm waiting on a SRAM PC 991, which is their top 9 speed chain. The 991 features sexy hollow pin construction and thus light weight and better shifting qualities. I also ordered a 39 tooth middle ring to replace the 42 I have been using. My instincts tell me that with the 39 I will be able to climb in the middle ring longer, thus the climbing abilities of the bike are enhanced overall. I'm looking forward to the new parts. I really am. (for more on the subject of gears read The Low Gear Manifesto)

The Flashco Flying Trapeze, 2004

I built this hanging bike appliance years ago, but it dawns on me that I haven't featured it in Flashblog up until now. This really makes bike work easy. It's simply two 2x4 studs cut to length and mounted between two rafters in my basement. When I am not working on bikes, it swings up and nests in the ceiling. Two large hooks support the bike from the top tube. I incorporated a shelf above the hooks which serves as a handy tool or beer rest.

So this week I've been riding my Miyata to work as part of the Great Race Commuter Challenge. It's a harder hill bike, it's lowest gear is a 25x36, which is only semi-compact. If it had a 39 in front it would be a pro-racer gearset. I feel it in my body, more stress on joints and muscles. But between the two bikes, so far in Sept. I've bagged 110 miles and 7,500' of climbing---riding to work and back! But I'm ready for my new drivetrain and low gears and some Indian Summer hill riding.

See you out there,

Flash

My Grocery Hauler- v.2

2011-09-11T15:23:00.000-07:00

After reading my recent story about my Woodie homebuilt trailer, my work compadre Jim K. free-cycled a complete jog stroller and saved it for me, thinking that at least I could use the wheels off it for a future project. Being in the afterglow of the Woodie project, I took it thinking I would not have a real need for the parts, but the wheels were nice. So it sat stashed in the garage for the last few months.

One night last week I was reclined on the couch reading a magazine, and BAM! like a bolt out of the blue I had the urge to make something out of the stroller. Do not know where that came from or why, sometimes it happens that way, like a dormant seed pushing itself up through the soil to find the light. So down I went into the garage and opened up the stroller. It was a big dude: canvas seat, sunshade, backpack storage, 16" wheels, mostly aluminum frame. It had a third smaller front wheel on a fork, the fork made of steel. Nice stuff.

I started by tearing it apart. Before I did that, I considered giving the stroller away to someone who might need one. I could just leave it on the sidewalk and it would disappear overnight. Nah. This was given to me to re-purpose, so re-purpose it became as I took my Ryobi screwgun and drilled out the frame rivets, removed all the canvas parts, and disassembled everything into three piles: aluminum parts, steel parts, and wheels.

Low center of gravity, bigger wheels, and flexible tubes yield a smooth ride

Now at this point I should disclose that the Woodie, while successful, and very cool looking, is not a brilliant design. For one thing, it's HEAVY: I was shocked when I weighed it and the result was 32 pounds! That's as much as a full suspension mountain bike. Secondly, it's very stiff, and with it's relatively small diameter wheels, it bounces over pavement wrinkles, and porpoises noticeably. ( a rythmic shifting of weight forwards and backwards)
Third, it's BIG! I can't wheel it through doorways or narrow spaces so it lives in the garage, taking up space.

It was great when I had exchange students, you can see from the pics that I filled it with stuff. Now that the kids are gone, Flashette and I use far less resources, and I have been doing my shopping on the Dutch bike, filling the panniers and a box I bungee cord on for shopping. So my limit is 3 grocery bags, and also large items are a problem. So those are the reasons that congealed to form a new trailer idea, a smaller, much lighter trailer that would allow me to carry 4-5 bags of groceries, and/or larger items.

Flashblog's organic strawberry field to the right of the rig

Once I had the parts disassembled and on the floor, I started dry fitting frame parts and soon enough it was clear that the stroller handle would fit right into the rear axle assembly, forming the chassis of a small trailer. Too easy! Then I took another aluminum section and cut it into two crossbars, and bolted them onto the handle part. I decided to greatly simplify the hitcharm by using a piece of steel lawnchair frame that I bent into shape, painted black, and attached to the left side of the unit.

So far this project was flying together, and looking very promising. The crucial item that required the most thought was the hitch mount to the bike. I really wanted to keep it simple. The re-purposed bicycle fork method I used on the Woodie is heavy, clunky, and just a tad bizarre. So, using a variation of two eyebolts that I used with the Woodie, I've created a very minimalist attachment: 1 P-clamp, 2 eyebolts, and a combination lock serving as a hitch post.

It works. It allows not only swiveling, but also leaning if necessary. I took the trailer out for the September East Bay Bike Party night ride, and banged it over all manner of ruts and potholes, expecting it would fall apart rather quickly if the design was flawed. It held up fine! The P-clamp loosened up a bit, but further tightening fixed that. Voila! So now I have a 12 pound trailer that is light and flexible, that is so smooth I can't even feel it behind me when I ride, even with 30 pounds in it. ( I do feel the overall weight) I think it looks good behind the Kaptein, and I painted the hitch arm and wheels to compliment the black aspects of the bike. (The Kaptein is a much more appropriate tow bike with it's long, stable wheelbase.) The blue storage box is what I had on hand, and works great, but something more stylish that matches the bike could present itself as well. Finally, I can detach the trailer and easily carry it into the house or wheel it from room to room... much more practical.

So my original hope of leaving the car home and biking for all my around town needs has been refined. When I made the Woodie I was thinking too big, but I had a lot of fun with it, and it is still here for those really big loads. I could have just purchased a trailer and felt good about that too. But there's nothing like the feeling of creating something new from something old, with zero cost and only using my hands, tools, and brain to fulfill a dream.

Let's Green Our World My Friends!

Flash

Ridin' In A Ghost Town: Crying Over Spilled Coffee

2011-09-03T20:41:00.000-07:00

Welcome back to Flashblog, I'm your long lost host, Flash, checking in from a dimly lit booth in a roadhouse located on a dark back road in the middle of nowhere. Hey, at least they have wifi here, always look on the bright side.
Flashblog recently went on assignment to points north---Oregon, Portland specifically, then Washington---Olympia, and points even further north, nearly to Canada. Then back again via the awesome spectacle that is Crater Lake.

But the roadhouse I speak of is not along that 2000 mile route. It's the Roadhouse of My Mind, where the coffee costs 10 cents and the refills are unlimited. By the way, I'd like to thank all those people who, upon hearing about the 2000 mile trip, piped up with " and you did it on your bike, right?" I do appreciate that. It shows you know where my priorities are.

Almost all those people know me as "Jim", my alter-ego, they are not familiar with Flash. Yet. However, this month is Commuter Challenge month, when companies sign up to compete with one another and for prizes by using any transport other than their cars to get to work. So far for September, I am 100% alternative with two work days biked. Yeah, ok, I know, only two days. But I'm fired up for this, and for a brief window of time at work, Jim will be overshadowed by Flash. Flash can be devious, using tools such as carpooling to keep his stats high. Stay tuned for more on that.

The Tragic Coffee Incident:

So I have been night riding a fair amount the last few months. I've installed something like 8 different lights on my Opafiets Dutch bike, primarily for visibility but also for artistic cool. I was heading over to San Fransisco last night for a Bike Party, and decided I needed a coffee to boost me after my two days of bike commuting to work. (hey, its 10 miles and 1500' climb to where I work, it ain't even possible in the minds of ordinary non-bike people)
I had installed a cool old-timey handlebar mounted water bottle cage on my bike, and after purchasing the coffee, black with cane sugar, I wedged it into the bottle cage. It was too hot to drink anyway, so I thought it a good plan to let it cool an the way to the BART station. Soon enough, every crack and dip in the road was causing hot java to spurt up out of the sippy hole in the cover, and the cover was getting a steady pool of dark brown liquid pooled in its recesses. So I stopped and sipped some coffee to reduce the level. Mmmmm.

I was climbing the Fruitvale bridge, looking in my mirror at approaching cars and did not see the asphalt lip ahead of me. When I did see it, it was too late---my front wheel hit it popping up in the air, transferring energy up the frame, to the cup of coffee, which instantly popped it's lid and emitted a geyser of steaming hot dark liquid. The geyser, erupted into a 10mph headwind, flew back onto my knees, the front lights, the Indian brass horn, the front fender, the pedals, my feet. A coffee tsunami!

My thoughts, in order were: " NO!!!! MY COFFEE!" then "AW CRAP, ITS ALL OVER EVERYTHING!" then "WHY DID I HAVE TO PUT SUGAR IN IT???" I pulled off the street and stopped and just started laughing, I really cracked myself up. What an idiot thing to expect the coffee not to spill! ( engineering analysis shows that the cup was too short to bottom out on the cage, thus putting stress on the lid, which was just ready to blow) BTW, I did finish the now cold coffee on the BART platform, waiting for the train. I'm a rule breaker alright, drinking cold coffee and bringing a sticky bike onto the train.
Stickin' it to the MAN! so to speak?

Next time I shall purchase the Large cup of coffee. Problem solved.

Flash caught in the act of turning on the lights (photo: Nelson Planting)

Bike Party # 6, San Francisco: Theme: Ghost Town

The fog had come in, with a blowing wind, not the best weather for night time outdoor adventures. But what the heck, I was over there. Not as many people as the East Bay rendition, maybe 2-300 total. By their own admission, all the hip, cool people were out of town at Burning Man, thus Ghost Town. Now, here's the thing with any Bike Party: It's only as good as what people bring to it. The people who bring sound rigs are, shall we say, instrumental to the successful vibe. Secondly, people who light up their bikes. Thirdly, people in costumes. These three things set the tone. I noticed the sound people were out in good numbers, but the light displays and costumes were much weaker compared to East Bay. Thus I got a lot of attention.

The Kaptein Dolphin as fitted out now has a super bright Redline 200 lumen led torch for lighting the way, a Planetbike led light for alerting oncoming cars, a rear red 3 led blinker, a 3 led rear solid light, red, blue and white downward aimed lights for ground effects ambience, a blue light over the rear fender, and the neon green Bikeglow framelight. Compared to some East Bay BP neon light setups it looks kind of weak, but in SF I was something of a standout. That was my contribution, that and walking my bike up the hills.

(This one petite young woman was riding a big cargo bike towing a big sound rig that was pumping out deep bass riffs. The whole thing must have been near 200lbs.
She was effortlessly rolling along, passing by , which puzzled me because I was really working hard, and then it occurred to me---her bike had an electric motor in the rear wheel! She smoked us all on the big hill, the big bass beats receding into our future. Awesome!)

By walking my bike up Scott street, which kept increasing in tilt until I could hardly even push it up on foot, I made everyone else look REALLY GOOD as they rode past me. Hey all you SF riders, you're welcome!
I knew I would end up doing this so it was no ding to my ego. The thing I didn't consider at all, and I don't know why, is that there were equally steep downhills. I've never tried the Dutch bike on a slope like that. In the dark. In the fog. Surrounded by dozens of other riders. Not even knowing where I was going.
BRING IT ON!

So suddenly I am plummeting down Scott street, grabbing fistfuls of brake handles, and I asked myself, "Self, how long will these drum brakes, designed for the flat waterways of Amsterdam, hold up under this kind of gravitational stress? Self had no idea. Really. I figured they could hold out or just as easily start smoking and fading, and then things would get REALLY exciting very quickly. You know what? They worked like a champ, smooth, like a car. Awesome!

The party rolled onto Crissy Field and during the mild descending roads through the empty Presidio, I noticed the Kaptein is one fast downhill bike as I was reeling in everyone ahead of me, even folks on road bikes. I chalk it up to all that weight. But it was a hoot to find a performance area it is not light years behind in. I love this bike, I really do. It is truly unique but it just does not do what most people would want a bike to do, which is: be light, pedal effortlessly, go up hills like a goat, and leave the rider refreshed feeling at the end. This bike makes up for all those things in one area: Class. It is a classy ride and makes me feel like a classy rider.

Actual film of actual Flashblog interview in progress with the Grilled Cheese Guy, East Bay Bike Party 8/11
GC Guy carried the table, gas stove, skillet, loaves of bread, cheese on his bike, providing free sandwiches for the asking. Awesome! (photo: Nelson Planting)

I left the ride early and proceeded back to the BART station where an extremely interesting social experiment developed. To my utter dismay, as I was by then weary in mental and physical state, I saw the train platform crammed with Giant's fans. NOOOOOOO!!!! I've been in this situation before. It can get ugly jostling for train space. So when the train came, and I saw people already standing in it, I thought I had no chance for this one.
However, after the baseball fans entered the train car (last car) there was a hole. Just big enough for me and my bike. There were people on the platform who did not enter the car and were just standing there, so I went for it. I was on the train! YES! Hardly 10 seconds passed before the train conductor came on over the PA and announced "YOU BIKE RIDERS FOLLOW THE RULES----NO BIKES ON BART DURING COMMUTE HOURS----YOU KNOW THE RULES!!!" I was like "What????" I looked at my watch: 10:40pm---Commute hours? What?? The standing people in the car looked at me wondering what I would do.

So, perhaps in my weary state, beaten down by the conductor's beratement, I backed out of the train onto the platform. A lady on the platform said to me "There's room on that train, get back on there!" I replied, " but she said its commute hours...." and the lady replied " She ain't seen you, she talking to those people at the front" , and I looked at the length of the 10 car train, and the front was WAY far away, and I knew she was right. The Giants fans started chiming in " Come back on!", " Quick, come back!" So I did, I made a quick forward move just before the doors closed. YES!! I was back on the train. Giant's fans ROCK!

What the Cop Said To Me:

So I rode home from 12th street, and when I approached the Park St. Bridge to Alameda, I saw a police car parked in the right lane of the bridge, it's two officers interviewing a "person of interest" who was standing against the bridge's sidewalk railing. Officer 1 had a notepad and was taking notes, Officer 2 had his back to me and was standing in "ready position", which if you saw it you would know what I mean. He was blocking the sidewalk. So I gave them my Dutch Ice Cream Truck bell jingle. As I rode up the bridge ramp...

Officer 2: " Evening Sir"

Me: "Evening Officer"

Officer 1: "Now THAT'S a bike with lights!"

Perp: "DAT SHIT'S LIT UP LIKE A CHRISTMAS TREE!"

That made my night, it really did.

Ride On My Friends,

Flash

A Ride "In The FlashZone"

2011-07-24T14:44:00.001-07:00

When I awoke this morning I wasn't even sure if I was going to join Team Alameda for a group ride, having the feeling they were going to a less-fond place of mine. The morning was gray, I was feeling a little groggy from a full day yesterday, not so motivated. I checked the website and it validated my instinct about their destination, but as I started sipping my morning cup of Joe, the idea of seeing what was up with the group sounded good so I began preparations for that.

Saturday I led an easy ride designed for my wife Cathy aka Flashette, and was joined by Sweeps and Z_rider, Shel, Bob, and Rick M. I explained the ride would be "touring paced". It was. Everyone was ahead of us as Flashette is just getting back her hill legs. But all was cool and mellow, and we even did a bit of Shel-cutting, as he led us...well, actually I led us up the back side of Leimert which is never easy and illicited some moaning, then Shel took us on a scenic cruise of upper Piedmont down to mid Piedmont, then I again led down to Lake Merritt. It was a very nice 25 miler and a good workout.

So today I set off with a big group of around 2 dozen riders out to Berkeley, which is a flat ride that meanders through west Oakland, then Emeryville, then Berkeley along the waterfront. What I usually do is separate at Gilman street and head for the hills, solo, as no one opts to join me. That is what I did today as well. I almost had some company, but at the last minute they went with the big group. So solo it was.

My first priority was to get some oil for my bike's dry chain. It was dry yesterday, and even dryer today, and squeaking constantly. I just forgot to oil it. As I pedaled up Gilman St. I visualized the locations of the nearest bike shops. None were near by except for REI and that seemed awkward to take my bike into that place busking for spare oil. Just then I happened upon a Chevron gas station and the solution hit me square in the brain: scavenge the trash can for an empty oil bottle. Even an empty quart always has swashbacks in it, and that would be enough. So I dug into the trash and there it was: a blue bottle of 5W-20 motor oil. Eureka! I got some paper towels and set about dripping the precious lubricant upon my chain. Oh this made me happy! There was more than enough "black gold" to do the job. Thus oiled, I set out again, with a smoothly operating chain. Ah, so much better!

Just a half mile further east, I was passing the outdoor cafe on Hopkins and Monterrey and suddenly it sounded really nice to get a cappuccino and sip it outdoors. So I did that, it felt good to relax and the coffee was as good as it gets, dark, robust, delicious. I also ate a just ripe banana and half a power bar, made a phone call and used the restroom. Good to go to somewhere...but where?

So I started up Monterrey, which, if you have ridden this, is a fairly steep residential street. It looks easier than it is. The last two times I turned up this street I regretted it, as it hurt and I felt the lack of conditioning I used to have. Then, after Monterrey turns into Marin, comes a 3 block street named Los Angeles, and this one really hurts as it is probably 12% grade, at least. After that is a turn onto Spruce and a short steeper section before it levels out. A hard way to start into the hills.

Today, half way up Monterrey, I had the realization that it was not hurting like the last time. I enjoyed the relaxed climbing effort I was having. A bit later, on Los Angeles, I found myself spinning in a low gear, still relaxed. What was going on? This was quite different than a month ago, and as I climbed up Spruce I exulted in the feeling that I was in the "zone", a mythical place in cycling lore where the body does what is required without pain or suffering, with a feeling of abundant energy and power. I recognized the zone. Long time since I've visited that place.

I used to play computer games with my son, role playing games where you are a medieval figure questing for rewards, items, and power. The structure is simple: you start from level 1 and work your way up to, say, level 100 over time. As you gain levels you benefit from increased strength, dexterity, stamina, energy and life. You obtain better items, armor, equipment that makes your questing better. Today it occurred to me that what was happening is that I had metaphorically "gained a level" along with a strength and energy boost reward. It certainly felt like that. Maybe it actually happened and I got off the plateau I've been on?

Maybe it was the double cap combined with the food. Maybe it was the vitamin supplement I started this week. Maybe it was the Pearlizumi gloves that arrived in the mail yesterday (better items!) Maybe I'm bi-polar and going manic. I can't say what it was but I knew I was experiencing the Holy Grail of cycling, the Zone Ride where everything comes easy, everything comes together. The humming of the tires on the road, the bright sun, the wisps of fog blowing over the hill, my legs motoring along, it all seemed seamless and connected, and as it should be.

Soon I was cresting the summit of Grizzly Peak. The view to the west was splendid. I took my hands off the handlebars, sat up and rode with arms hanging by my side. What a feeling of...freedom. Just then two riders in team kit summited South Park and turned towards me. As we passed I waved and said "South Park....Woohoo!" They replied "YEAH!" I felt a bond of kinship with those guys, and they felt it too.

I pulled into the Steam Trains for water. Young parents were lined up at the bathrooms with their kids. For some reason I wanted them to know this was me 20 years ago and hey, look at me...you get your life back! Strangely I felt like connecting with strangers.

I continued on down Grizzly, across the ridge to Tunnel Road, and stopped at Sibley. I saw a cyclist there I know from Peet's Montclair...Mike from Berkeley. He could be my son in another life. I actually remembered his name the moment I saw him. Man, I was having a good day! We chatted for some time. He was riding a new old Colnago he built up. It was a "Dream" model, white with tiger stripes. I almost won a similar bike years ago on Ebay. Almost. So Mike's bike spoke to me about my bike that almost was. Mike said he could not go back to his Orbea, the Colnago is so sweet. How would my cycling life story have changed had I won my Colnago Ovalmaster Titanium? I don't know, but my workhorse Lemond was feeling almost as sweet, like an eager steed.

I continued South on Skyline and Mike caught me and zoomed by. He's young and fast, he could be a pro if things went differently for him. I rode past Chabot Space where I work, and suddenly I had the epiphany that Tuesday would be my ride to work days from now on. How did that happen? I descended Butters Canyon, Monterrey, 35th to 38th, I was really booking downhill.

When I got to Alameda I was getting the "hollow stomach" feeling, a belly crying for food. I know from experience that the dreaded bonk follows this feeling about 15 minutes later, but I rolled up my driveway in 10, the "motor" running on fumes. Perfect timing.

I didn't set any records today. No personal bests. I've ridden further and faster many times in the past. But those things don't matter. The reason I cycle is to find the elusive state that enveloped me today. I found myself living in a cycling dream, being altogether in the present but sensing the weight of my personal history at the same time, a moment of intense nostalgia of remembering it happening while it was happening, it was so good. Its as if every ride I've ever taken on a bike that has led up to today was to make today happen. That's the best I can describe it.

Yeah, I'm thinking it was the cappucino.

Ride on my friends,

Flash

Seeing What Condition My Condition Is In

2011-07-19T10:44:00.000-07:00

MacGyver, Flashette, Z_Rider and Emily at Bike Party! photo McSweeps

Welcome back to Flashblog. If you were looking for regular updates last month, I'm sorry, I was... distracted by Life. That sounds like a lame excuse, especially to a reader of Bike Snob, who's prolific daily blogging output seriously boggles my mind. I don't know where he gets his ideas or his inspiration to keep it up to a high level five days a week. Maybe if I got paid to do this like Snob, I might find more inspiration. Then again, maybe not. The creative spirit can be a fleeting and unpredictable thing. Indulge me whilst I ramble here a bit.

My mother passed away a few weeks ago from complications of heart disease and plain old age. I was fortunate enough to be there with her. One thing that came out of it was that it steeled my resolve to live with mindfullness, to think about every bite of food I put into my body and consider if I really need to drive my car when I could use my bike instead. I'm actually very good on both counts already, but like most things, I could tighten it up more. Its very hard to eat like a Monk and live without convenience. Life is compromise. Whatever you do, ignore the old saw that "I can eat whatever I want within 30 minutes of a finishing big ride!" That's nonsense. Fat is fat and it won't magically disappear after eating. If I leave you with one tidbit today its "consider critically everything that you eat". Ask me about what I've learned. Preferably over coffee!

For instance, I could be riding my bike to work more often. I'm employed by Chabot Space and Science Center, and our facility is located at +1550' elevation, the uppermost point of the Oakland Hills. That sounds pretty ideal as a cycling commute, doesn't it? I've done it only a handful of times in 6 months. It is a lovely ride, but it requires getting up an hour and a half earlier than usual. It also takes a lot of energy that after a day of work leaves me pretty well spent. So I'm lazy in this regard. I have a great opportunity everyday, but I take my car because I prefer an easy morning routine.

I think I am now picking and choosing my cycling days more carefully. Two years ago when I was at the peak of my conditioning, I was riding all the time, preparing for things like the Death Ride. Yeah, I was in great shape, but yeah, I was tired and sore all the time. Yard work did not get done. Cleaning the garage did not get done. Ordinary chores were overlooked due to lack of energy to do them. My car was filthy. I gave it all to the bike. I successfully completed my epic ride. Was it worth it? Absolutely. Its something they can never take away that I carry with me everytime I pedal down to the fruit stand for an avocado. Ha! Not really, I don't think about it much but when I do it's a nice memory.

What I find myself doing these days is riding my Dutch bike to the market, to the end of town after work, on East Bay Bike Party night rides, to my dad's house for a visit. The Kaptein is almost ideal for Alameda. I say almost because Alameda features consistent afternoon winds off the bay. The Kaptein's 2nd gear is too high into the wind, and too low with a tailwind. When I ride it along the beach into the wind, you better believe my legs are getting a workout. The 50 pound bike requires downshifting to 1st gear at lights to facilitate a smooth start. I mention this because my time riding in the hills has been less this year, and I was fearing a drastic reduction in my climbing power because of it. But the Kaptein has kept my legs strong for power grinding, so for instance my Team Alameda ride of last Sunday with about 3000' of climbing was pretty normal, just a little slower than before. No suffering because these short around town heavy-bike trips really do make a difference and keep the legs fit.

It's funny how a chance ride up Grand Ave last year and finding the Kaptein at a used furniture store put my biking world down different paths, the paths of city riding and night riding. The night riding is almost totally inspired by the Bike Party. I have spun off into bike lighting and lighting effects, with the Kaptein as the test bed. It now has two 1 watt headlights, a less used dynamo powered halogen headlight, a solid red tail light, a 3 LED blinking tail light, two mood lights that shine down upon the frame and wheel hubs, and the green BikeGlow eletroluminescent wire. This is all great stuff for being seen at night, and I've gotten dozens of admiring compliments from other cyclists. However, it's not so great for actually illuminating the road when its really dark, so I've taken the next step and have ordered a 220 lumen LED flashlight/headlamp that should pretty much turn night into bluish day. Lighting is so much fun, I highly recommend it as a whole new dimension to explore. And with that comes the very cool aspect of riding at night, its so different and can be very beautiful and peaceful.

July's Bike Party travelled through Alameda with a party stop along the beach. It was awesome as usual. I missed the first part due to work lateness, but our group of Me, the McNultys, Flashette and MacGyver met the rolling bike parade by Fruitvale BART, did a U turn, and rolled back to the island with this tsunami of bicycles. What a great time. Tribal dancing on the sand and in the parking lot of a Dollar store, it doesn't matter, anywhere the migration stops is a prime party location. The vibes are so good, despite the watching eyes of The Man. MacGyver said it gave him hope for humanity. I have to agree. It is a world apart from the regimented type A roadie- training-for-a-Tour-de-France-that-will-never-happen mentality. I pretty much despise Bicycling Magazine. (grist for a future blog right there)

One other thing that has been on my mind lately is the still gestating concept that cars and their drivers are terrorists to us bicyclists. They may not strap bombs to their bodies and blow up the police station, but they terrorize and kill each other on a daily basis and especially terrorize us cyclists by taking on an entitled world view of the road and their ownership of it. Cars with blasting exhausts, blasting audio systems, DVD movie players, texting, phoning, distracted, angry, late, sad, depressed, over-caffienated, asleep, medicated, armed, drunk drivers---all on the road at the same time, passing us, cutting us off, dismissing us as children or bums, opening their doors without looking, they are nothing less than terrorists who don't know it.

Its part of the game and I try not to think about it, but sometimes I do, the full weight of what I am putting myself into out there sinks in and I admit, its frightening. So I usually don't think about it. All we can hope to do is change their attitudes and evolve our cities to separate us from the cars.

So in closing, eat well, love well, bike well. Thanks for reading.

Flash

BIKE PARTY!! June 10th...Chasing Skirts

2011-06-16T22:21:00.000-07:00

Sometimes I have these vivid dreams filled with random and surrealistic sensations, colors, sounds, and people. In the best dreams I get swept up in infinite possibilities and float like a twig in a gently flowing stream, one thing leading to another, and when I awake, I feel a unique oneness with the universe, and I feel like everything is going to be alright. I feel deeply happy.

It's 5pm Saturday and I still haven't come down all the way from last night's Bike Party. It's like I've awakened from my vivid dream and am still lying there in bed thinking about it. This is the magic of Bike Party. It's one of my dreams come to life, or maybe, life is transformed into the dream and what I am having is a very lucid experience, more real---but at the same time---thankfully less real than the ennui of daily existence.

Bike Party takes time to percolate down. It's a lot to take in, something of sensory overload really, and the mind needs time to filter it and extract the ecstatic bits from the blur the dark night memory becomes. And there were ecstatic bits, these are intangible and happen quite suddenly. At these moments the merely fun shifts gears and Awesomeness breaks out, flows like a wave through the pedaling masses, and magic happens as onlookers feel the rush of rocking music, tinkling bells and horns, shouting riders, and a light show to rival Disneyland, their metaphorical hair blown back as if a bracing, refreshing wind had just blown up their block.

I get a feeling of ecstacy when it happens, and I suspect we all do, and this is why we do it. We're on a mission to find that dormant part within each of us that responds to beauty, to helping others, to working towards the Greater Good. It's ecstatic to share this with all the other Bike Partiers. It works on so many levels.

Something happens when you find yourself in this moving amoeba of positive energy, this multi-celled intelligent party organism---you lose your sense of self, you lose your ego, and willingly submit to the collective consciousness of the Many, because part of you, on some deep level, understands that this is the path to understanding that can only come from letting go of the Ego and submitting to the Hive Mind. The synapses start firing on dormant instinctual hard wires that in turn stimulate glands that secrete the feel good juices. There is strength in numbers, there is power in numbers, there is hope in numbers; and when we have hope, strength and power we can change the world.

My Dutch Bike fitted out with BikeGlow optics and colored lights, I got several great comments on it, and it was VERY easy to find in a dark park, so it became the regroup point for my friends.

(I remounted the Bikeglow optic cable by wrapping it around the frame like they show on their website, it is brighter this way and the coils are very cool looking)

This blog's author competing to fix a flat, I lost by 5 seconds as I attempted to "MacGyver" it using only my hands

Alameda's own bike royalty, Gene Oh, was there to officiate the festivities. Indeed, it was his bike parking stations at Ashby and Shattuck that launched and landed this Bike Party. Gene Oh---making the world a safer place for your bike---since, well, a long time.

G-KNOOOOOOOOO!

My partner in Biking and Partying....the Dean of stopping to smell the Infrared Roses, McSweeps McNulty on his one of a kind one speed Swiss Kronen bike which got much sycophantic admiration from Those In The Know... or maybe it's Those Who Want To Know and Ask Too Many Questions. We also befriended Mary Elizabeth, a cycling cap maker from our own Alameda.

This is what the throng looked like just before the grand roll out. The theme for this party was "Skirts!"

Rolling along either Adeline or West streets in Oakland. We traveled through parts of Oakland known as Ghost Town and Lower Bottom. I've never been on these streets before, not even in my car! The reputation of this part of town is daunting, but it is slowly improving for the folks that live there.

Whoa! Now that's a road bike!

Party stop in Defremury Park, ground zero of the dance action. The "official" word was stops limited to 15 minutes...Yeah, right! Nice, long layover here. The second rest stop was pretty near the first one, in a grassy, dark open space. It was here, feeling the beat and watching the dancers, that I felt the bike as religion pagan ritual worship thing happening. So much positive energy!

Then we rode some more, here, there, up, down, all around.

We ended up in Berkeley at the Bike Station on Shattuck. The inside space was way too small for everyone and the in-the-wide-open-view-of-The-Man outside loitering limited the consumption of party refreshments considerably. Bikes and riders were everywhere and regular folks out for the evening must have been amused and bewildered at the same time.

One of my favorite Bikeboomers. I mentioned this guy last time and he was just as good this night

I leave you as I did last Bike Party! report: with a happy dancing girl.

I'd like to thank the Bike Partiers who posted pics on the BP Facebook site, I lifted a few of those to fill in what I missed, as I often forgot I even had a camera with me! Totally distracted? You Betcha!

That's it for now, check back as I might add to this as I remember things. Also, you might be interested to know the hot rumor about July's Bike Party... coming very close to Flashblog world headquarters?

AWESOME!!!!! BIKE PARTY!!!!!

Ride On and Ride Safe

Flash

More Lore About Canyon

2011-06-12T14:33:00.001-07:00

So... I got home late from work Saturday night, didn't get to bed until 12:30. The night before, I didn't fall into a bed coma until 1:30...Bike Party!!! More on that next blog. However, Sunday morning, I felt pretty good despite the lack of sleep and decided to take a Team Alameda ride.

Lately I hear a lot of this: " Hey Flash, why don't you lead rides anymore? We miss your style of ride, its not the same without you." Well, I have led some rides this year, but not as many as in years past, and some, like the Mystery Ride, featured bad timing when a lot of people were out of town. But the over-arcing reality is that I am exploring other avenues of bike culture, my work sometimes now happens on weekends, and I'm sometimes lazy and don't want to get up at 6:45 on a Saturday to ride by 8. Why not sleep in and ride at 10? Makes sense to me.

I do miss my TA friends, so yesterday I joined them on a Point Richmond ride. At least 10 flat miles of it, when I broke off at Gilman to get in some hill riding. Not sure of my route, I fell back on autopilot and set course for Wildcat Canyon. Los Angeles and the beginning of Spruce were tough. I've been putting in a lot of flat miles on a heavy Dutch bike lately, and its not the same kind of exercise. With the weather we've been having, I'm off my hill form a bit as well. But not a lot, and half way up Spruce these other roadies ahead of me, chatting, riding two abreast, blocking traffic pissed me off and I passed them all in a dismissive " On your left!" That burst actually kicked out the jams and I found myself climbing at a steady tempo and all felt good. My mojo came together quickly and I had the old familiar feeling of its good to be alive. I get that feeling when all is going well.

Before I knew it I was descending Wildcat and turned towards Orinda. Just as I turned a peloton of about 20 riders coming off of the 3 Bears turned towards Orinda and were behind me about 50 yards. I let them reel me in somewhere around the turn off to Geppeto's, and I liked the feeling of being pulled along, although I wasn't as I was on the inside and a 20 person line was slowly passing me on the left. Hey, I got to say hello to a lot of people, and in the moment I decided to ride with them out to Moraga. However, someone in their group yelled FLAT!!, effectively deflating the momentum, and they stopped after the big Orinda intersection. This blew the Feng shui of the moment for me, so I decided to go to Peet's for a coffee.

There were a couple of tandem couples hanging out there, and just then a gaggle of female riders rolled in as I was balancing my LeMond against the big tree planter. After I got my cup o' Joe, I grabbed a chair and sat by the doors, and started greeting cyclists as they came in. This is so easy to do: "Hey, welcome to Peets!" and the conversations start. So I chatted up the gals next to me on the bench and guess who they turn out to be?

The Cycling Wives of Canyon.... I kid you not! This is what they call themselves. They even have official Canyon cycling jerseys.

Did I mention I've been fascinated with Canyon for a long time?

I found this too intriguing. After many years of wondering what goes on in Canyon, last year I finally met a woman who lived there, went to her moving away party, met some rather eccentric Canyon locals, led a group of TA riders to a pancake breakfast there, then it was all over. I had lost my long sought after connection to Canyon.

One of the CWOC wives told me her husband's name is Canyon. Wait a minute... I met him at that party! He's the offspring of the original hippies who settled there. The other woman told me her husband's name is Sequoia. Same deal. The Real Deal, these Canyonites. The wives told me they were "imported" from SF and Brooklyn NY, like Hindu brides. They told me that the initial move from the big city to Canyon was like "hitting the wall". But they have adjusted. They are roadies as well. They like to ride. And they are expanding their circle with friends who don the jersey and ride with them.

Most importantly for us cyclists, I was told that only 6% of Canyon's 200 residents cycle, the other 94% are annoyed and frustrated by us clogging and blocking their road. One thing they hate is when cyclists being followed from behind wave the car to go around. This can result in bad things happening during the pass, and they resent the supposed authority the cyclist claims with the "go around" wave.

Makes sense to me, and I am going to think seriously about it before I wave a car around. You have to put yourself in their position.

Anyway, I took some Flashcuts between Orinda and Moraga, and although I left Peets before the CWOC, they got ahead of me, and when I was riding through Canyon, I glimpsed them up a driveway, in the trees, ending their ride. So I turned around and rode up the drive, and they were like "hey, there's that Alameda guy" (had the TA jersey on) Just then, a man came walking down the hill. I recognized him, a young middle age. It was Canyon himself, the guy I had met at the party. A nice feeling of coming full circle settled on me.

I now have several new friends in Canyon. Hopefully they will remember my verbal blog URL and find this post and comment, and this will result in a Casablanca-like beautiful friendship.

That was another great ride. It wasn't just the gorgeous day, or the 43 miles, or the great to be alive feeling. It was more... I think I took the Bike Party ethos and spread it around this day and met some groovy people, people who will somehow influence my direction, I think, yeah...pretty sure.

Thanks for reading, and as always, Ride On, my friends.

Flash

Casey Neistat: Not in the Bike Lane

2011-06-09T23:16:00.000-07:00

You have to check this video out... this cyclist fights injustice The Hard Way

Casey Neistat: Not in the Bike Lane

Quick! Check Your Six!

2011-06-01T18:28:00.000-07:00

We cyclists love our high tech devices. These gizmos tell us fascinating details about our ride, such as how fast we are going, how far we have gone, how high we have ridden, our pedal rotations, our metabolic heart rate, how many watts we are generating and even our global positioning. All fascinating data, but really this stuff does not contribute to the "big picture" of the ride in the moment.

What if you had a device, like a radar screen, that relayed to you what was going on behind you: other cyclists coming up behind you and the position of cars and trucks about to overtake you. This sounds like it would be very useful and enhance safety, right? Well, this device already exists and many of us are using it every time we ride. This backward sensing device is not radar but rather gathers light from behind you and projects the photons directly into your eye's retina where it is instantly compiled by your brain into a realtime 3D image as real as reality itself. WOW! I can hear you thinking, "where can I get something like this? I WANT this no matter how much it costs!" Here's the good news: this technology is cheap, readily available, and time proven.

It's called a Rearview Mirror.

I can hear some of you groaning. " But Flash, I've got my $5000 carbon race bike, my $500 Rapha kit, my embrocation smells like Tahoe Pines, and the Pros don't use a mirror, and I want people to think I'm a Pro too, so no way am I going to use one---it would make me look like a Flash-spastic* Dork!"

My reply to this is that if you are not a pro, then you already look like a Flash-spastic* Dork in some other way but you're in denial: too old, white hairy legs, wide butt, knees akimbo pedaling style...the list goes on and on for indeed road cycling fashion and form is not to be trifled with. I can say this with authority because is does take one to know one. Seriously, the pros are skinny, emotionally still developing young people who think shaving their body of what little hair they have makes them faster, are into riding at masochistic pain levels, and receive real-time information via radio about where they are at pretty much all times by a coach riding in the air conditioned comfort of a team sportswagon---so they don't need mirrors. If you are old enough to remember, this is the same group of athletes who opposed the mandatory wearing of helmets on the basis of these safety devices impugning their machismo.

(*all references to cyclists named Fred amended)

If the pros started using mirrors, believe me, almost everyone would start using them. It all boils down to the fickle fashion of what is cool and what is not.

This is one of those times when I say screw cool---I'd rather be safe. I can hardly ride without a mirror these days---I just feel too vulnerable from the rear without one. They become that important, that vital to my ride awareness.

Of the riders I know who use mirrors, they relate this funny behavior that comes from using a mirror long enough for it to become like a 6th sense, and it happens to me all the time. I'll be walking down the street and hear something unusual behind me. This causes me to automatically turn my head 10 degrees to the left and look into my mirror---which of course is not there. This always makes me crack self up. It happens in the most unlikely places---at the supermarket or while I am working.

It just shows how vital the rear view is when cycling. I can see cars far behind me coming up, I can predict with accuracy which cars are going to give me a wide berth and which are going to cut me close, based on how they are driving and what traffic around them is doing. I can get all this information in a glance and I can be prepared to act to save myself if necessary.

A local rider was recently hit from behind up in the hills and knocked into a ditch, suffering broken ribs. Hit and run. I wonder if he had used a mirror would he have been able to sense that the car was coming too close and saved himself? Who knows really, but I can tell you I have steered myself off the road to avoid a collision that I could see about to happen thanks to my mirror. In fact I might go so far as to say this little piece of plastic has probably saved my life more than once.

I lead bike club rides and the mirror allows me to effectively lead from the middle of a strung out group. From the middle I can see ahead to the front runners, but also way behind to the slower members. I can see when people didn't make that last light, and adjust pace accordingly. And how many times have you glanced over your shoulder to see something and nearly collided with a slowing rider ahead of you? That almost never happens in mirror mode because I am always looking ahead.

Mirrors come in 3 varieties: bike mounted, helmet mounted, and glasses mounted. I've used all 3 types but I prefer helmet mounted as it is sturdier and more adjustable. The mirror I use is by Cycleaware called the Reflex. It has a bendable arm and the mirror is on a ball pivot, so adjustment is infinite. It also rotates 360 degrees and is detachable. I have purchased 4 of them over the last 5 years, and have gotten my wife to use one as well. I'd like to add that Cycleaware has great customer service, going so far as to give me a free mirror repair kit at the Death Ride '09 when I visited their booth. (being on the side of a helmet will subject the mirror to banging around and eventually things break, but like I said, I've gotten years of use out of mine and repairs are very simple)

What you need to know is that a helmet mirror 3 inches from your eye is like having a rearview mirror on your car the size of a pizza pan, I mean the view behind is fully realized. It is truly like having an eye in the back of my head. Using a mirror takes some adjustment as at first it is distracting, the image vibrates and you are seeing two distinctly overlapping scenes. Over a few weeks, your brain adjusts the image no longer moves, and the scenes stop overlapping. Its just like getting a new pair of prescription glasses, your eyes don't adjust, your brain does. I think this is what some cyclists complain about when they say they tried a mirror but didn't like it---they didn't give the process time to complete. After the process does complete, you don't want to ride without one anymore than you want to walk down the street naked.

One other hugely cool thing about the mirror is once you are completely adept at its use a miraculous thing happens---you can look ahead and behind---at the same time! Split screen! Picture in Picture! Think about that and what that could do for your situational awareness.

So I urge you to think beyond cool and purchase this most useful tool in whatever mountingway you prefer. In my view it is equal to my helmet in terms of keeping me safe. Take important tools like this and put them to use to reduce the dangers of riding out on the roads. The best I can wish for you is that nothing bad ever happens out there, so help me make my wish come true.

Ride On and Ride Safe My Friends

Flash

Bike Party 5/11- Dare I Say The Best Yet?

2011-05-19T09:57:00.000-07:00

Of the two East Bay Bike Party rides I've been on...Yes, definitely the best! The May route featured larger, wider streets, a downtown Oakland start, a People's Park party stop, and a Lake Merritt finish with a live band. Having one Bike Party under my belt, I was better equipped this time out with the Kaptein Dolphin for smooth rolling comfort, better refreshments, 5 lights including the dynamo light covered with blue and red gels pointed at the front wheel for an aura of color as I made my way through the 14 mile urban landscape. This is a close to pure playtime as I've had since I was a kid.

At party stop #1, I catch up with Iris, my Zero Waste Lunch cohort from work

A group I seemed to be leading, so I turned around to see who was in it. Apparently a Ninja warrior princess?

Nice crotch protectin' and reflectin', styling bike too

Ogawa Plaza assembly point, around 8pm

I seemed to be within earshot of this mobile boombox for much of the ride. The owner did a super clean build on it, custom cabinet paint, neon lighting, car stereo drivers, and very little cabling evident. It could rock so hard at times I had to drop back 50' or to obtain a comfortable listening level.

Best seat for Bike Partying? Could be, depends on what you are there for.

Latino style bikes were proudly on display. Note micro tunes player

Another hard rocking sound system, this guy built a cabinet with powerful woofers and simply strapped it to the "skateboard" deck of his Xtracycle. Music is what drives Bike Party and much of the talk at the stops was who was rocking the best tunes. Reggae Guy seemed to get a lot of praise, but I didn't encounter him. The piece of bread was to attract....what? Night Owls?

Slimm Buick: bike artist. I've seen him riding around Alameda on a small bike with large cow horns

11:45 PM. Indy style band Caldecott was entertaining the riders at Snow Park at Lake Merritt. The actual scene here was pretty dark, and people were but shadows, (go back to 1st pic) so when I took this shot of some dancers I had no idea what I would get but I think this woman expresses the mood of the party.

I haven't tried to describe how much fun this ride is because I can't. It's something you have to experience. It's not for everyone, especially those who adhere strictly to state and local ordinances pertaining to motor vehicle law, helmet advocates, or those who think cycling should be a safe and sane activity done only in the daytime. I can say the local citizens, including motorists, seemed to embrace the impromptu rolling light and music parade through their 'hoods. Only you can decide for yourself.

Ride On My Friends,

Flash

May 7th: The Mystery Ride Virtual Simulator

2011-05-09T18:48:00.000-07:00

Flashblog author putting 2+2 together

Welcome to Flashblog. If it's morning, brew yourself a big cup of coffee. If it's evening, pour yourself a generous glass of wine and sit back for this extra length ride report, Flashblog style. Recently I've posted much about bikes, bike shops, trailers, bike parties and not so much about my actual riding. Originally, I got my inspiration for Flashblog writing ride reports, so this evening I return to my roots and attempt to bring you along on this ride, the ride I call the Mystery Ride.

This ride encompasses the elements I crave in a good ride: world class locale (San Francisco), varied terrain and visual transitions, good company, many people to observe along the way, gorgeous countryside scenery, historical artifacts, topographical and elemental challenges, unforseen surprises, and a day given over to the bike.

So let's begin at the beginning, in Alameda at our Team Alameda gathering place, where I found a good number of cyclists preparing to ride, but none of them takers on my ride, except for one.

8am, Kaiser steps. My stalwart companion on this adventure, Bruce Bothwell

some images will enlarge when clicked on

Check out Bruce's Team Alameda Shutterfly page for more original pics

Mystery #1: Why is this ride called the Mystery Ride? Team Alameda had a pizza and beer party back in January, and after everyone was sufficiently lubricated, some clever ride coordinators began taking advantage, er, enlisting us to lead rides. I had signed up for two already, and on this third round, I said, sure put me down. Zoraida, our ride coordinator, asked me "Where are you going Flash?" I replied in a hopsy-malty haze, "it's a mystery". I really didn't know yet.

As the ride weekend approached, I figured I should do something different to live up to the mystery promotion, so I conjured up a Marin Headlands ride, and wrote up a vague description for the TA website. Maybe too vague as it turned out, as Bruce was the only taker. Also had the bad timing of leading on the weekend of the Wine Country Century, a big favorite of the TA usual suspects.

But a Bruce in the hand is worth two or more in the bush, so to speak, and I was very pleased to have him along. Bruce and I have shared many bike adventures over the years, such as the Thanksgiving day Mt. Hamilton climb in '08 and '09, but none so epic as the 2008 Death Ride, where we got caught at the top of Ebbett's pass in a hail/ freezing rain storm. (Flashblog 2008, "Death Ride '08", has an in depth story about that) That was my Into The Valley of Death Ride, and I got to share it with the good Doctor. Plus, should a dental emergency arise, he is the man to have at your side.

Mystery #2: what of the hordes of Girl Scouts that were scheduled to walk across the GG bridge that morning? How would we ever get past 8,000 girls, their mothers, regular tourists, Blazing Saddles rental bikers, and the usual cadre of "Manx Missile" Wannabe road bikers? The emails came in early Sat. morning advising me to beware...Bah! Let the Girl Scouts beware!

We departed Kaiser steps a little after 8am, it was cloudy and breezy, and Bruce's thoughts turned to breakfast, which I think he skipped. He has the metabolism of a teenager, tall and thin as he is. He suggested Chinatown for some pastries. Sounded good to me, so along the Embarcadero we rode. I should add we had a tag along, an Alamedan named Kenny (?) whom I had met at a party for our exchange students last year. Kenny rode with us to the pastry shop, saying we were pretty fast for him. We were as Bruce was hungry and riding on a mission.

Oh, man, did it smell good in there! I scarfed a BBQ pork bun, as did Bruce and he got some other things to take along for lunch. Delicious. We said goodbye to Kenny and rode to Oakland West BART where we transited to SF Embarcadero station and detrained.

An obligatory BART photo. We spend a fair amount of time standing in BART trains, don't we, and BART just makes it so easy to get around. Notice his flash enhanced jersey that glows in light. Brilliant!

We popped out of BART onto Mission St, the Ferry terminal just ahead.

Tried to get both Bruce and Coit tower in the same image, not so easy when you are riding along, but by gosh, I did it. This is SF's Embarcadero district.

Riding along just before the SportsBasement

Fast forward through Fisherman's Wharf, Fort Mason, Aquatic Park, Marina Green and Crissy Field, and here we are near the foot of the Golden Gate Bridge. I actually love getting from there to here, so much to see.

Surfers catching mild waves in front of Fort Point

Surfer with Alcatraz Island

Bruce took this lovely picture that captures the whole mood.

Fort Point looking South

Have you ever seen such a lack of tourists on rental bikes? Awesome!

Looking at our goal in the distance, the top of Conzelman Road, elev. 900

Bruce up ahead, Girl Scouts on the East side. We were thrilled to find the west side open, so the whole Girl Scout problem became a non-issue. It was very windy crossing, and chilly, riding around the towers was like entering a howling wind tunnel.

Flash approaches the Sausalito one way tunnel. Mystery #3: would we make it to the other end of the tunnel before the cars on that side came at us? There is dude standing behind the signs at the tunnel entrance, his counterpart is at the other end of the tunnel. I suspect they had something to do with the altered light timing, damn them. Normally, the light is green for 5 minutes in one direction, then it is green for 5 in the other direction. It's one lane in there with two shoulders. Not bad at all on the downhill leg, uphill, that's something else.

Minute 1 inside the tunnel, and the cars are passing us, lots of time left.

Half way through. The cars have all passed us. Ominous sign, as the dudes at the ends of the tunnel seemed to have forgotten about us, and sure enough, about 50 yards before the end of the tunnel, cars started coming at us. This is why I made front and rear lights mandatory on this ride. Long story short, they didn't hit us and we emerged gratefully into the daylight of Bunker Road. I was breathing hard and my heartrate was pretty high. It's all uphill in there, plus on this day, we were fighting a headwind blowing down the tube. Wow, this is a unique experience, not for the weak of constitution.

Bunker Road just out of the tunnel.

We took a left onto McCullough Road, and this is the view looking towards Rodeo Beach

Same location as the last pic, looking up the road. Very few cars, lovely

The intersection of Conzelman and McCullough, with the new roundabout. There was a gale wind up here and we needed to take cover for a rest stop. The lower part of Conzelman is closed for a second round of road reconstruction, therefore the almost total lack of cars. A very special unexpected bonus, this lack of hoards of encapsulated tourists.

Former ammo bunker shields us from the winds. Nice view

Flash in his foxhole

Riding through the first of two tunnels at the top of the hill, this one leads to a third, hidden tunnel, in which we found mysterious and arcane artworks inside pitch black rooms.

Flooded gun pit. There used to be Iowa class battleship cannons up here. Bruce disappeared into the tunnel darkness, an it was only the dim reflection of his bike headlight that led me into a pitch black concrete room filled with cavepaintings. Mystery #4: who painted these and did they work in the dark or by candlelight?

mandala

Bruce and the Gatekeeper.

There were two rooms like this. Very strange and unexpected.

This photo is the opposite of that earlier photo from the bridge looking to this exact spot.

Top of Conzelman's new parking area

These flowers caught Bruce's eye and he got down low, way low, to take this excellent shot with GG bridge in the background.

An observation post high atop the hill. Note the rocks affixed to the sides of the bunker to camouflage the prying eyes from other prying eyes

Inside the observation post, upper level. Lower level was filled with fetid, dark water

The usual and more expected level of artwork in here

Bruce managed to ride up here, but the Volmer-esque super steepness of the access road had me pushing the Miyata, and even that was hard work. After we explored the fortifications, Bruce took off down a dirt path into the trees. He was on his Gunnar cyclocross bike, so this unexpected maneuver had me pondering whether to follow him or not. After some time, I decided what the hell and just as I was about to push off down the hill, here he came back up the hill. He had gone down to get this magnificent photo of the walking path down to the road. Looking at Rodeo beach in the distance. Bonita lighthouse to the far left outcropping, some of you will remember that outing of 2 years ago.

Check out the one way road below, a world class descent normally, but it was so freaking windy it was almost hazardous this day.

After we stowed out camera gear, we dropped into the dizzying descent to the valley. The gusting side winds were blowing me all over the road, so I didn't get to savor the new pavement, I was just trying to stay upright and not crash out on the upper section. It goes fast. We stopped midway down to step out onto the bluff to look south down upon a black sand beach. I didn't know this beach was even there. It can be accessed via trail from a newly built auto turnout. We continued down, and soon we reached our last feature on our tour, the only remaining Nike missile base in the United States. Talk about walking straight into the past and reliving Cold War angst. There is something chilling about this place, and it wasn't the wind.

Grabbing a bite to eat before the missile complex opened. Hard to see the stiff, cold wind in this photo, but it was there.

The gates opened, we were let in, and we set to locking our bikes to a chain link fence. Bruce had an easy to use cable lock, but I had my U lock, and in attempting to put it through the fence, I dropped it on the inside, a part flying off it as well. Doh!!! Then proceeded us trying to gingerly fish it out and get it back out through the fence. I was feeling inept for some reason, but finally we got it back together and I locked my bike to Bruce's. sheesh.

What the Ruskies feared most: a 40 kiloton nuke tipped, solid fueled, Mach 3 anti-aircraft missile, the Nike

Enlarge this pic to see what the buttons say. This was state of the art electronics in the early '60's.

As was this communcations board. We were told that a modern digital watch has more computing power than the entire base had back then. Mystery #5: How did they do it? How did they control these tools of Armeggedon with tubes, and knobs, and wires?

Fire control radar screen, lit by incandescent light bulbs no less.

Our zealous tour guide, who actually worked at a missile base like this one. He took inordinate pleasure telling us how many ways you could get shot for security breaches back then . Or worse, the dogs would rip your throat out when shooting you with bullets might harm the missiles. He told us they used to transport the nuke warheads in disguised milk trucks. Fascinating stuff, this glimpse into a tense and insane past many of us grew up in. The Cold War shaped us in ways hard to describe.

The Nikes are stored in a below ground garage of sorts. I never did figure out where they launched them from, but I assume from the lift once the bird is up at ground level.

This Ford Falcon perfectly sets the time in which all this took place. The concept behind the Nike was that it would fly out over the ocean to intercept the incoming Commie air force. It didn't need a direct hit, only come within a mile or so and detonate it's nuke. The shock wave would blow the wings off any plane within, well, quite a ways. One of these missiles packed 4 times the destruction of Hiroshima. Could you imagine the fallout over the Bay Area had they used one or more of these? Probably better to just get nuked and die quickly than to suffer horrible radiation sickness that would have ensued. Really, just insane to think about it, that we were just a hair trigger away from this being our reality.

Mystery #6: What prevented mankind from destroying the earth? MAD: Mutually Assured Destruction. I guess it worked.

Suddenly, it was time to turn for home. We needed to get Bruce back to Alameda before 3pm, so we took advantage of the stiff tailwind to blow us back to the Sausalito Tunnel. Well, almost, it is rolling uphill, but the wind helped. Even returning at 30mph through the tunnel those damned dudes let the oncoming cars in early, so again, thank goodness we had lights on. Back on the Golden Gate, the sidewinds were even stronger than the morning, and when we slowed to turn around the first tower, the blast of wind nearly blew us off our bikes. We estimate it at 50mph.

Here's a photo of my glasses showing how some liquid, hopefully from me and not a tourist, dispersed across the lens.

We made our way back across the city via Bay St. to the Embarcadero, moving along at a good clip. Once we tromped down three flights of stairs with our bikes, ran to make the Fremont train, which I barely did, I found a seat and just closed my eyes. Man, I was tapped. The wind and chill had taken a lot of energy out of me. It felt so good just to sit there and listen to the train roll along beneath me. We exited Fruitvale at 3pm, I think Bruce was in a little trouble as he was supposed to make an Alameda party by 3:30 in clean condition. I hope he did. Upon arriving home, I finished my lunch sandwich, (seen being eaten in the photo at the missile base). Downed that with a cold beer. Took a hot shower. Fell asleep for two hours. Got up for an evening out which ended at Midnight. Man alive, what a full day!

Postscript: I didn't ride at all Sunday. After an intense week I just needed to veg, but that didn't even happen as all the to do items needed attending to. But even while doing those, I had the great afterglow of a day well spent on the bike. I hope you enjoyed this photo tour of the day and were able to relive it vicariously. If so, I did my job.

Ride On My Friends

Flash

Truckin' Like the Do Da Man

2011-05-01T16:56:00.000-07:00

My first full-on leave the car at home full load grocery haul using Flash power. Success! Just as I predicted, its heaaavvy and slow going, especially up the grade by the hospital, oh man, I thought I was going to blow a calf. (note the 20lb container of cat litter, under the Viva towel package is a 30 box of MGD, plus 3 gallons of juice and milk to give you an idea... maybe 100lbs of cargo) Need to work on the bike's gearing to get a granny gear going for that part. But otherwise, very satisfying to fulfill the dream. And really, its so easy to pedal down there and back. This turns an ordinarily mundane trip to the market into a real adventure.

I had 3 unsolicited comments on this trip. The first was a woman in her 30's who offered "that's a gorgeous trailer". I said thanks, but what I really wanted to say, channeling my best Joey Tribiani, was "hey, how YOU doin'?". Second comment was a senior couple walking by as I was taking a photo at Safeway and the gentleman stated " we've been admiring your trailer" and his wife added "oh yes". Thirdly, as I was panting after Hospital Hill, two teen girls on razor scooters standing on the corner said " THAT'S cool!" Motorists seemed totally nonplussed and unaffected by my display. The jury is out on that one, but I'm sure one will eventually say something, and when that time comes I will surely report it here.

I've unwittingly built an irresistible babe magnet. Who knew the ladies, young and old alike, were turned on by...handiness. So a very positive initial outing. I may not be the first cyclist with a trailer, but I may be one of the few with a wood mega-trailer. Today I feel like a trendsetter.

Ride on,

Flash

PS: I've since replaced the rear derailler with a nice Suntour part someone gave me, which has allowed me to utilize the 32 cog in the rear. While this is certainly an improvement, it is still not low enough for Hospital Hill, but there is really nothing more I can do because the bike uses an old style Ashtabula crankset which is nearly impossible to mod for lower gears. But overall I'm happy with the whole package and the last run to the mall was very smooth.

Carrying My Own Weight....The Woodie

2011-04-24T17:39:00.000-07:00

Greetings and welcome to Flashblog! In this installment I reveal my long mulled over and at long last constructed trailer build up. Here's a micro video of my (first successful run to the mall and) return to home base.

The maiden voyage captured by Sweeps McNulty

So. I've thought about a bike trailer for a few years now, thinking how environmentally sound it would be to have the means to self propel groceries home from the local mall. Normally, I get into my Taurus or Civic, fire up the motor and drive the half mile. I feel guilty about that. The cars don't even warm up in that short drive so they are spewing the maximum pollutants, getting the worst gas mileage possible, and then I have to suffer through the parking lot wars, weekends have been especially bad and it sometimes takes me longer to find a space than it would have to pedal my bike down there. Just a bad feeling of lock stepping into our dysfunctional car culture. Rather than just buy a trailer, and there are many good ones out there for very reasonable cost, I decided it would be much more interesting to build my own from scratch....design....parts...everything. With as much material used from what I had in storage as possible rather than to purchase new. That is where the creativity really comes into play.

I started my bike hauling experiment a few months ago when I managed to carry $50 and 40lbs worth of groceries on my local errand bike (early '70's AMF Roadmaster) I call "entropy". The main idea with this bike is that I park it outside to promote interesting tones of rust. This is what it looked like without groceries, I seem to have lost that archival image captured after the Safeway run. I had plastic bags strapped and hanging on the front rack, which is loosy-goosy anyway, so the handling was kind of like a greased snake. You know what? I really like this old bike, it squeaks, rattles and clanks its way down the street. It tells me its glad to be alive and not dead beneath that old Victorian where I found it two years ago.

Entropy happens

Top heavy?...oh, just a tad. The next small run to the market, I put rear panniers on my Dutch bike, and rode it back from the mall with $40 worth of groceries....I just barely stuffed everything into the bags and the rear box. That was too hard packing everything in just so, and some items like bread and soft fruits got smashed. I really wanted some elbow room to pack things easily. But the center of gravity was better weight-wise with panniers. I think that really stoked the coals on this project's birth.

One afternoon recently I sketched out the trailer details at cafe 504 in oakland, one large cup of Blue Bottle French roast and two hours was all it took. I guess the time had come as it all flowed out of the pencil onto paper that day. Yes! I had my concept and design, all I had to do was build it...the fun part!

cafe 504

click to enlarge pics

So I present to you the concept brought to reality, my built-from-found-parts Army bike with my built-from-what-I-had in the garage 12 cubic foot trailer... I give you The Woodie. There is room and potential to carry a Taurusload of stuff now.

Will get a light and reflectors and maybe future fenders.

Here's a sample Trader Joe grocery sack for scale comparison. It can carry 12 of these.

The hitch took the most thought and labor. I re-purposed the fork from a Motobeccane Mirage frame I had taking up garage space. I cut the steering tube off, used the fork touring eyelets as mounts to the matching frame eyelets on the Army bike. An aluminum rack also mounts at this point as well. I had to cut, bend, and hammer the fork to get enough tire clearance for the 2.3" balloon tire. The eye bolt on the fork mounts in the front brake stud hole... using what was already there. Note the heavy steel wire diagonal brace through the fork to the top of the rack to support the fork hitch from falling down under the weight of the trailer.

The hitch itself was inspired by a talk I had with the esteemed Prof. Nideker of Team Alameda. He was suggesting some kind of military hitch, he described it, and I came up with this simple hitch that uses a smaller and larger eye bolt, the larger slips over the smaller, and a padlock holds them together and prevents opportunistic theft of the trailer. Two birds with one stone if I have to say so myself. The big advantage of this design is that the bike can lean over in kickstand mode and the trailer stays level. Also, the turning radius is quite good, almost 90 degrees between bike and trailer can be obtained.

The flatbed of the trailer is one sheet of 4'x 3' oak 3/4" inch plywood left over from a kitchen project. The trailer hitch arm is a section of broken lawn chair I re-purposed, it is tubular steel and quite sturdy. Four bolts hold it in place.
The germination of this project was the wheels, which came off my son Max's big scooter from 10 years ago. Nice plastic rims, ball bearings, pneumatic tires. I've wanted to put them to use. The seminal idea was mounting them using drilled pieces of oak to simply hold the ends of the axles. 8 wood screws per wheel secure them to the flatbed, and they are removable for servicing. Once I had this problem solved the rest of the plan just happened...I cut out slots in the plywood for the wheels to protrude, shaped the trailer overall, mounted the wheels, then constructed the removable stakebox.

The fork hitch and rack mount to through the bike's rack eyelets using a single machine bolt on either side with lock washers and nuts. I had to trim the freewheel side very close as it is 5th gear is unavailable as the chain hits the nut. I may reverse the bolt to clear the chain but really, I won't be using high gear on this rig as the operating speed loaded is something like 5 or 6 mph.

Detail of the bracing wire which runs through and around the top post of the bike rack, the wire is swaged with a soft aluminum collar at both ends. I was going to buy some cable, but I had this wire so used it.
A sample load showing how two airport sized suitcases, a Ryobi tool box, a small cooler, and the TJ grocery bag can all co-exist inside the trailer. I mentioned the removable stakebox. I made this from one piece of 12' wide pine board. I made many lengthwise rip cuts of the board to produce 5' long three quarters square posts which were then cut to shape, glued and nailed to form the box. I need to glue 45 degree gussets in the important corners as the box is a little creaky as is and these will stiffen it up. So if I need flatbed hauling capability I can remove the 6 screws securing the box and it lifts off.

So how does it handle? Very nicely unloaded, it is almost not noticed despite its 20 lbs or so. It follows along without wandering. Put groceries in it, and it becomes quite heavy, the ride slows to 5 mph as the trailer tires bulge, but so what. Speed is not even an issue here. Self sufficiency is. Getting back at Big Oil is another issue here. Showing frustrated motorists at the mall fighting for parking spaces that there is another way is also the issue.

It may be a small gesture, but I feel like I have some power not to pay the Oil Cartels their blood money for the gallon of gas a month I will save. I am not polluting the air for my own convenience.

I'm saying I'm mad as hell and I'm not going to take it anymore.

I'm happy to have scratched this item off my to-do list. It's been a long time coming. For me, living a cycling lifestyle is not just about having the lightest, fastest bike, achieving personal bests, group rides or endless training for its own sake. I want to imbed cycling in as many aspects of my life as possible. I hope I can inspire others to take a first step in this direction.

Ride On My Friends

Flash

My Bike Weekend- Surfing Big Wave Bike Culture

2011-04-10T20:16:00.000-07:00

I am dedicating this post to Valerie Aldrich who passed away this weekend. When a friend passes we are reminded of how precious life is, what a gift each day is, and not to take our health for granted. Live each day fully and show your love.

When I commenced my activities for this blog Friday evening I set out to immerse myself in The Bike Life outside of my usual box. I think the whole thing exceeded my expectations...

Friday, April 8th: East Bay BIKE PARTY!!!

The Miyata equipped for night riding---safety wise---not party-wise. 10:30 pm

The story begins when Jonathon, a younger guy I work with and an avid bike commuter, told me about Bike Party and how cool it is. I did some search engining and found out these events run once a month in various locations in the east bay. I've never ridden Critical Mass, I've not yet made it to Burning Man. But damn it, I think I could make it to this, which might contain elements of the two. How cool would that be? Pretty damned cool as it turns out.

I was scrambling to get my sh*t together in time to get home from work, gobble some leftovers, race to BART and get to the start on time. Turns out, and I should have figured this...the leave time was very leisurely, and the ride didn't get rolling until about 8:30. (8:00 published start) If I had had more time I would have prepared a water bottle of White Russian, as the theme for this ride was The Big Lebowski. It was heartening to see more and more riders show up as the sun was setting.

Click to enlarge pics

Scene across from the BART entrance about 7:55 pm

Lebowski--The Dude himself--- showed up, ready to "Q" on the roll. "Don't burn your ass!" was everyone's first reaction. His coals wouldn't stay hot for some reason and he was seen at the first rest stop stoking the coals. His meat would never cook at this rate.

Josiah pedaled over from Oaktown with this Rightous sound system...ROCKANDROLL!!!

Last minute departure instructions and a girl in a devil costume

A picture of the roll out which does not do justice to the 500 or so riders assembled

The ride itself was orderly and sedate, there were volunteers at corners to steer people the right way and to manage car traffic. Sure, there were teenage yahoos riding stupidly, as expected, but overall everyone else was very cool. One great thing about going through small neighborhoods was the effect on the surprised residents. Most of them were laughing and waving, some were rattling cow bells or blowing trumpets. Some just stood there, stunned by what they were experiencing. Our section of riders were yelling "BIKE PAR-TAY!!!" to anyone and everyone walking down the street, ringing bells, yelling and making noise. Most motorists were cool, taking in this strange, unexpected parade, but some people just roared their engines as they passed us. Get a life people, I mean, really. This was a celebration of people power, of optimism for humanity, a bunch of strangers getting together to celebrate. Like a Flash mob....?

At the first rest stop, trying to capture the cool bike lighting. Lots of partying goin on. I was sorely missing that White Russian.

A handbuilt custom chopper with neon lighting. The owner had just finished the bike that day.

More colorful bike lights, the photo does not convey the psychedelic effects going on all around

Rest stop #2 somewhere off Ashby in Berkeley at a park. It was already 10pm and the ride was not even half over. I bugged out at this point, as doing the time math in my head would have gotten me home around 1am if I had done the whole thing.

Your reporter fumbling with the camera, which had nearly dead batteries. I got to BART Ashby and had to wait 20 minutes for a train. Waiting for that train was the exact opposite of the elation I had felt riding along in the dark with a herd of my fellow bike lovers. I am eagerly looking forward to the next Bike Party, the location changes and maybe it will be a little closer to home and I'll do the whole Lebowski. About 15 miles I'm guessing including to and from BART. Awesome!

Saturday, April 9th Solo Ride to Old Tunnel Road

An image of Old Tunnel Road I took last year. It hasn't changed.

I didn't get to bed until late Friday night, after midnight by the time I ate something, had a beer, Skyped my relative, checked in on the household, etc. So Sat. morning I was not inclined to get up for a team ride. I got out of the house around 10am and started riding towards Lake Merritt. Just enjoying the scenery, thinking about the Bike Party a few hours earlier and what that all meant. I rode over to Broadway up to Lake Temescal and then up Tunnel. At Sibley a whole flock of Grrrrl cyclists rode in for a stop. Impressive woman power on tap there. I was going to do a Pinehurst loop but then got the idea that Old Tunnel road might be the new PH loop. I was yearning to do this a few weeks ago but the weather was still very wet. Not so on Saturday, so I set out along Grizzly Peak Blvd, and turned down Fishranch, a very fast downhill, I hit 40 without trying, but braked so as to not exceed that towards the bottom. At the Caldecott building I turned right up Old Tunnel.

Soon I came to a park gate. There was an altercation going on in the parking lot... a dude had lost control of his skateboard and it had rolled at high speed downhill and impacted with a Volvo Wagon which was pulling out of the lot. The Volvo driver looked very annoyed, the skateboarder, around college age, came off as pretty doofy. I kept riding. Old Tunnel pitches up very steeply from here on in, I was in my lowest gear believe it or not, and my gears are low (see recently added Low Gear Manifesto page) I was taking it very easy, enjoying the beautiful scenery. I took a few pics with my phone camera but they didn't turn out, thus the image above will have to fill in the blank parts of your imagination.

So I am nearing the top of the paved section, and I see a woman sitting on the edge of the road with a small dog. She is talking to someone on the other side of the road, but I don't see anybody. As I climb closer, a man is scrambling down the slope, camera on tripod in hand, and he nearly runs with momentum right into my path. I look at him and am amazed... its Steven, the IT guy at work! F*ckin' A...small world man! I mean, really, what are the chances of that?

So I dismounted and walked up the dirt trail with them for a ways, then remounted and rode the firetrail across the ridge. Very nice, not muddy at all, hard packed. I felt very pleased until I got to the lava rock section, which is not rideable on a road bike, but I knew it was there. I met a woman and her daughter along this section and walked with them. The mom was amazed that I had ridden up there from Alameda. I told her anyone could do it with a few months of build up. I hope I inspired her to get back on her bike.

Back at Sibley I marveled at how easy it was, but what a truly different kind of riding. Awesome-est Flashcut of all, if I do say so myself. I turned south and Rode Skyline to a place above Montclair and dove down in one of my old favorite Flashcuts to Shepherds Canyon, then Park home. 30 miles and 3K of hills. My neck was hurting, but other than that I was feelin fine. Great day to ride!

April 10, Sunday Streets, San Francisco

Once a month SF closes part of town to motorists and opens it up to everyone else. Today it was Golden Gate Park out to the Great Highway, down to Sloat, both ways. Ocean front riding. This was my first Sunday Streets, and wow.... it is something inspiring to experience. Thousands of people out and about under their own power. Thousands of happy, joyous people. It renews my faith in humanity.

I Google mapped SF to find the best way from BART to the Panhandle. Page street looks great on the map. I rode up Market about 12 blocks and turned right on Page. Here's what it looks like from the bottom. Not so flat after all. Maybe 12% for 6 blocks I estimated. I needed a cup of joe all of a sudden, and there it was...

Notice the Mercury cafe on the right hand corner, I did. A very cool cafe, nice interior, very mellow vibe. 6 out of 8 laptop users there prefer Macbook Pros. The church of Mac convenes here very Sunday methinks...and why not? Isn't the internet our new all knowing God? The coffee was delicious, the barrista asked my preference in beans, sitting in jars along the wall, then ground some French roast and poured me a fresh drip cup. Ahhh. A well spent 15 minutes there. Then began a long climb up Page, which has a dipping saddle, then some more climbing. Every intersection is a 4 way stop. Hardly any cars use it for that reason, it would seem. I give Page a hearty Flashamendation. Once in the park on closed streets, I came upon my first area of interest. People were giving out bike blended smoothies. I stopped for one while this lad pedaled up a batch of berry yogurt. Mmmmmm! At this point I should add that climbing Page St. I caught up with this young man below, a tourist from Argentina, here on his own for a week in the City. We rode along together to this smoothy stop, but then I was distracted by ONE OF THE MOST AMAZING THINGS I'VE EVER SEEN, and lost track of Pablo. I hope he had a splendid day on his Blazing Saddles bike. Pablo, if you read this, please update me on how your day went.

Pablo from Argentina

This is it... the AMAZING VERTICAL TANDEM TREE BIKE!!!! I AM NOT WORTHY TO BE IN ITS PRESENCE!!!!

Oh my God... a tandem with OVER AND UNDER arrangement, retractable outriggers, awesome in-trunk sound system, rechargeable batteries via pedaling, and many more features. I followed this bike, entranced, half way down the Great Highway, where Paul, the designer -builder-mad genius, threw down a beach party style rappin' music fest for about 100 people.

Ported tree trunk for Xtra Bass, note retracted outriggers. The deployed outriggers allow the bike to fully stop and remain upright, a very necessary component of this design.

THE best place to ride alongside for rightous tunes!! I could not get over this bike, it is so AWESOME.

Our group of "tree huggers" riding along like pilot fish on a shark

At the end of the highway I found the Highwatters Surf rock band, these guys ROCK! It was so cool to be at the edge of the ocean listening to a live surf band, I sat in for a full set. Brilliant!

I rode a ways alongside Wheelie Dude, he can keep it up for ages

This woman was having fun, despite her downsized machine. She said she rode what she got. Simple as that. I applaud you madam! A classic Flash hangout cafe if there ever was one, the Java Beach. The Mercury caffeine was still coming on strong so I vowed to visit it another day. At the other end of the highway towards the Cliff House, a minivan was shadowing me as I slowly pedaled along, the driver shouting at someone. Then I hear"HEY FLASH!", so I turn and see Stan "The Man" Layson in the driver's seat, kids in the back. He took them out today as well. He said he recognized "my kit", which was part Team Alameda kit. Again, small F*ckin world man, I mean really. Back in the park, I found a sunny piece of grass shielded from the wind and ate my brown bag lunch, carried all day in a mussette bag along with a can of cold Sapporo. Life is good my friends. I observed all the people, an endless stream going both ways. After lunch I did a few more loops of the park and then turned towards Market St, suddenly I was running out of steam, the heady pedaling had finally caught up with me. This day, with to and from BART riding was another 30 mile day, but easy.

Some people hate riding in the city. I LOVE it. I find it thrilling, like going to Europe in 2o minutes, even better, I can speak the language. Sunday Streets is a HUGE success in its own right, and the trend of giving back the streets to people power is hugely exciting as well. So there it is, my weekend. Writing this I'm tired, sore, sunburned, but energized. The bike culture is gaining strength, our numbers are growing. Creativity is blossoming. And when you get people out of their cars, their humanity returns and blossoms like a thousand beautiful flowers. The secret is, the beautiful thing is, that any bike will do. Just ask that lady on the tyke bike. Just ride what you got, just ride, just... do it. Ride to save the planet. Ride to save ourselves.

Ride on My Friends,

Flash

Manifesto Destiny

2011-04-04T23:14:00.000-07:00

My steed resting during the Wheels For Meals charity ride, 10/2009

I just put up a new page over on the right beneath the Flashblog archives, which I call Low Gear Manifesto. Wonder what that could be about? Give it a spin, because its geared real low for easy reading.