Happy Easter

Which superhero are you?

Wandering links from everyday blogs to unknown ones brings up this:

Your results:
You are Iron Man

Iron Man 75% Spider-Man 65% Superman 60% Green Lantern 55% Robin 50% Hulk 50% Catwoman 45% Supergirl 40% The Flash 40% Wonder Woman 25% Batman 10%

Inventor. Businessman. Genius.

Click here to take the Superhero Personality Quiz

It's big bike day...

...at the Strib! Our local fishwrap has a two-wheeled fit today it seems.

See our man Big Dummy.

Also, our man Large Fella gets a profile.

I suck less

Rode the Red Menace (the wobbly Schwinn) to Weight Watchers and then to my sister-in-law's house to drop off some 80s music for her. Going up the hills from 66th to 46th on Lyndale sucked, but less than it used to. I think that Me Darlin' Mrs is right about the getting better part.

Today's ride was nothing like the one last week with Scott, i.e., it wasn't warm, sunny or pleasant. But I'm happy to say, that the Bleriot rides like a dream and I look forward to riding it when the roads are better. Until then, I'm pushing the cruddy bike. It's good training though.

It's 3-speed's fault...

He posted this.

I post this.

Could the Gub'ment get it?

Congressman Earl Blumenauer (D OR) along with Congressman Jim Oberstar (D-MN) introduce H. Con. Res 305: Recognizing the importance of bicycling in transportation and recreation.

Recognizing the importance of bicycling in transportation and recreation.

Whereas a national transportation system conducive to bicycling produces enriched health, reduced traffic congestion and air pollution, economic vitality, and an overall improved quality of living is valuable for the Nation;

Whereas by dramatically increasing levels of bicycling in United States cities tangible and intangible benefits to the quality of life for cities and towns across the country will be realized;

Whereas we now live in a Nation with 300 million people, and that number is expected to grow to 365 million by 2030 and to 420 million by 2050 with the vast majority of that growth occurring in urban areas with limited ability to accommodate increased motor vehicle travel;

Whereas since 1980, the number of miles Americans drive has grown 3 times faster than the United States population, and almost twice as fast as vehicle registrations;

Whereas one-third of the current population does not drive due to age, disability, ineligibility, economic circumstances, or personal choice;

Whereas the United States is challenged by an obesity epidemic, 65 percent of United States adults are either overweight or obese, and 13 percent of children and adolescents are overweight, due in large part to a lack of regular activity;

Whereas the Center for Disease Control estimates that if all physically inactive Americans became active, we would save $77 billion in annual medical costs;

Read the whole thing. Ride yer bike.

Don't be this guy.

Momentum magazine covers the Minneapolis bike scene

Stolen from Momentum Magazine

Momentum magazine, the Canadian cycling magazine from Vancouver, has a new issue out and one of the articles talks to 5 Minneapolitans about cycling here.

Check it out. Also showing up as a dead tree version at a LBS near you sometime soon.

A newly minted junior wheelsmith

I dragged my sorry carcass to HCHQ for the wheel building class on the wobbly Schwinn. I just rode out there without knowing the temperature and that is the way to do it. Just go, don't think about it. If I had known that it was FIVE FREAKIN' BELOW, I wouldn't have bothered. I would have eaten breakfast and driven instead.

But, I left the house after a banana and hustled to class. Five others and I learned the dark secrets of bicycles wheels from High Priest Jim. I didn't know that the tools of the smithy were rum, cigars and chickens, but that's how it is.

Really.

Sheldon Brown in my Copilot

Or at least ground crew chief.

I finally got around to rebuilding the wheel that potato chipped on me back in January. No, I haven't been riding, I'm a sad and weak man. But I did build my own wheel for the first time and I used the guide from Sheldon's site. What a great guide it is, too. I followed the instructions and, sure as shootin', I had a wheel. I have a truing stand but I needed to find a dish stick (gauge, tool, whatever) and the fine and always helpful folks at the HCHQ lent me one. Thanks guys.

It's still not dished properly, but I sorta like it this way. It made me jigger the rear brakes, but I have a pretty good chainline and it does work. I think I feel a wobble, but I can't find it by using a truing stand so I suspect that it is complaining about my sizeable hinder and I need to check the spoke tension I think -- I'm still new at this whole building wheels thing. This is why I am also attending HCHQ's wheel building class this Saturday. I hope to learn how to do this from master wheelsmithys Jim and Kevin. Perhaps I'll see ya there. According to their blog the class is full. Nice to see.

So, anyways, I took the wheel, along with the rest of the bike, for a spin to see how it rides. Again, I noticed a bit of a wobble, but I really noticed that I suck right now at riding. I've got the the bike as a single speed with 46/18 and the climb up 54th to Lyndale damn near killed me. I was riding on the middle chainring previously, so this gearing took me by surprise. I wheezed my way up it and continued on the Parkway and around Harriet and back.

Man, I suck. I could complain about big, studded tires not rolling well. Or that the snow makes it harder to pedal. Or the gearing. That's whining. I just suck. Me darlin' Mrs assures me that it will come back and that I'll be back in less time than it took to get into that shape the first time.

I don't feel like waiting a year...

But, to quote Eddy Merckx: "Ride your bike. Lots." Or Scott: "Keep Ridin'...Always." So, I will.

End of an era

Saturday was my last shift at the liquor store. I had a good run and I enjoyed the work (mostly), but I need my weekends more than I need the 50 bucks I'd make. Things are busy at my day job and I've been feeling burnt out. My vacation awakened me, refreshed me and allowed me to see that there is more than just working.

I've had fun and it is fun to introduce people to something other than the same old same old. Having someone come back and say that they enjoyed a suggestion is satisfying. I worked with good people and I'll miss them. Sorta. I'll still shop there since Eric is working to get really interesting beers in there every week and I have to see what he manages to bring in. If you like beer, go and look over the selection -- it's not huge, he doesn't get much room to work with -- but it's a fun collection. I don't think he stocks enough Pilsners, but he's not a Pilsner drinker and it's his choice. If you like Belgians and hearty ales (Porters and Stouts), you should check it out.

Anyway, I'm looking forward to more riding time, camping time, canoeing time, dog park time and grilling time. More me time. And, now that I'm not working Friday nights, I can join the HC rides Saturday mornings.

Now I just have to get my lungs and legs back. I know I left 'em around here, somewhere. Maybe they're next to OB's fresh legs...

How do you get an American's attention?

Hit him in the wallet.

LOS ANGELES - Los Angeles legal secretary James Eric Freedner got fed up with high gasoline prices.

He put his 2003 Toyota Tacoma truck in the garage and switched to a Honda Nighthawk motorcycle for weekday 6-mile commutes to Beverly Hills. He stopped driving to the beach on weekends and cut back on trips to check on properties he manages. He began grouping errands into one trip each Saturday.

The trade-offs Freedner has made in the last year haven't necessarily made him happy, but they've reduced his gasoline consumption nearly 50 percent. And although he admits to feeling jittery traveling freeways on the Nighthawk, all the changes are permanent, unless gas returns to $2.50 a gallon.

"The price was just eating up what I earned," said Freedner, 57. "This is the best thing I can do to make ends meet."

Get used the to motorcycle, dude. $2.50 a gallon gas is in tanks guarded by Dodos...

Americans are getting serious about using less gasoline, confounding some economists who have argued that most people can't reduce their driving much because they have to get to and from work and make those necessary trips such as shopping and chauffeuring their children around.

Lemme guess, you advise President CuckooBananas and Count Cheney, don't you?

The truth is more complicated, according to some energy experts: When the price reaches a certain threshold or the driving reaches a peak point of aggravation, people are willing to give up personal space and independence. "There is an awful lot of what might be called discretionary driving," said Edward Leamer, an economist at the University of California, Los Angeles. "Raise the price high enough, and you will see that there is a lot more that people can do."

For some, the next drop in prices won't be enough to send them back to their old driving habits.

"The trend will be toward more lasting conservation and longer-term savings if they are not just reacting to prices and have instead made a decision to change," said Bruce Bullock, executive director of the Maguire Energy Institute at Southern Methodist University in Dallas.

We Americans aren't a real quick bunch, but when we get it, we get it. The article goes on to say that Californians are using less gas (Californians?) by a combination of methods and then closes with this anecdote:

University of Southern California mathematics professor Kimra Haskell began bicycling to work six months ago.

She had many reasons. Sometimes she felt a shooting pain in her driving leg. She wanted to make a statement about the Iraq war and U.S. dependence on foreign oil. The California lifestyle of driving everywhere for everything -- even to exercise at a gym -- had left her too dependent on her aging 1993 Honda Accord.

The trial run was on a clunky old Schwinn mountain bike. On the return trip of the 26-mile ride, uphill, she was ready to abandon the bike by the side of the road. But she persevered, bought a sleek Italian Bianchi Volpe bicycle and is building up to cycling to work five days a week.

Gasoline prices were only part of the story, said Haskell, 43. "It was mainly the effects on my health, on the time it took out of my life, the stress of dealing with the traffic."

You don't have to be genius to see this, but it helps...

Dutchness

At the top of Mt Tabor - Batavus and Portland skyline

We rented Batavus "Old Dutch" bikes from Clever Cycle to get around Portland for a couple of days. The geometry of a Dutch bike is markedly different and is explained here. I have to admit, it feels weird.

You sit upright like you're sitting at a table and the handlebars curve back so that you impolitely put your elbows on that table. If you've worked a garden tiller before, you'll know where your arms and elbows are. Sitting upright and pedaling with your feet out in front doesn't give you great mechanical advantage, not like the bikes that you're used to riding. This is not a bad thing necessarily, I rather like the comfortable position and this along with the three speeds should get you around rather nicely on relatively flat ground.

But, Portland ain't flat.

There's no standing up for power. The handlebars are up and back so that the bike handles like a warehouse. The Batavus had coaster brakes and so there was no pedaling backwards to get your feet into position at a stop light. After a bit, you figure out how to position the pedals to get ready to go, but even on the second day, I found myself hobbled by the brake. So with the combination of the coaster brake and the different geometry, starting from a light while going uphill wasn't something I was really comfortable doing.

I eventually got to the point where I sat back and enjoyed the ride and that makes all the difference in the world. Instead of leaning forward riding like you normally do and fighting the bike, lean back and pedal. You're not gonna win any time trials, but that ain't the idea. Mrs. Yam never got the feel for these things and subsequently ended up hating the bike, which is too bad, her commute is flat and this would make a great conversation piece. We received a number of second looks and I had two compliments on it.

I don't regret renting them and the folks at Clever Cycle were really pleasant and you can tell they really believe in what they're doing. It's a great store with neat bikes and I recommend you stop in. They're happy to let you test ride and you really should, the collection is like nothing else I've ever seen.

R. I. P. Sheldon Brown

This is sad news.

Portland bound

...and not to the North American Handmade Bike Show since we'll be there a couple of weeks early.

Sigh.

Oh well, we'll just have to make sure that the beer y'all get is really, really super fresh 'cuz they just made it 'cuz they were out 'cuz we drank it all.

So there.

If anyone has any tips on things that we (MDM and I) just have to see, hear, smell, touch or taste, please drop me a line in the comments. Things you shouldn't bother to mention:

• Powell's


• Mt. Tabor


• Clever Cycles
  

Anything else is fair game. 'Specially beer. We're all over the beer. Oh, and coffee. And a good place to rent bikes since we're not going to rent a car.

I'll attempt to take pictures and/or blog if I figure out the computer situation -- I'm not really keen on lugging the work laptop (IBM A31) since it weighs about 900 pounds.

My political party

And opponents in this country also, Governor Huckabee...

No.

"I have opponents in this race who do not want to change the Constitution," Huckabee told a Michigan audience on Monday. "But I believe it's a lot easier to change the Constitution than it would be to change the word of the living god. And that's what we need to do -- to amend the Constitution so it's in God's standards rather than try to change God's standards so it lines up with some contemporary view."

It's now time that we bring back the term "Jesus Freak." The quaint notion that Evangelicals are, shucks, just a bunch of God fearin' 'murikans just like the rest of us has now been blown out of the water by a candidate. I have to admit I appreciate his honesty, but I do not appreciate his sentiment.

Not. One. Bit.

"When fascism comes to America, it will be wrapped in the flag and carrying the cross." - Sinclair Lewis

Destruction (and, hopefully, rebuilding)

Our bathroom is gone. We think we're getting another one in its place.

We hope we're right.

We're so happy...



Image stolen from Jim at Unholy Rouleur

Winter

A coworker asked me about winter for our company newsletter and here is my reply:

Winter survival comes in two fashions; hate it or deal with it. Hate it: pout, stay inside, watch TV and eat. Don't complain to me about being fat in the Spring, though. Deal with it: go outside and stare down Ol' Man Winter. Winter here has a beauty that you really need to see to appreciate, a silence and alien (to inside-folk) world that is really worth the trouble to venture into. So here's three things to consider about winter:

First thing is to dress for the weather, since there isn't any bad weather, just bad clothes. Real winter survival depends on you keeping yourself warm and dry. Wear a hat and good boots and keep moving and you'll be surprised how quickly you'll get warm. Keep sweat from staying next to your skin with wicking underwear ("base layers" to outdoor geeks). Wool is best, but polypropylene or silk work well too. Layers are the way to do it, with the last layer windproof. Keep it light because you may want to shed a layer after a while.

Second thing is to do something you like. I'm happy to be outside, so I don't care what I'm doing and I have a bunch of winter toys. You needn't go out and spend a bunch of money on gear or go all that far since Winter tends to have a wide delivery area. A walk in a regional or state park is cheap (free), sledding with kids, boot hockey or walking a dog are cheap too. Rent snowshoes -- they're great for going to hard to reach places and you'll probably get the hang of them in about 5 minutes. Heck, the hardest part of snowshoeing is putting them on followed by taking them off. You don't have to buy a bunch of stuff or go far

Last thing has to attitude. Yeah, yeah, yeah, you hate the cold, the dark, the snow, the whatever. Seasonal Affective Disorder (SAD) is treated in lots of ways, but one of the most effective ways is exercise. And, right now, do you really want to go to the Gym with all the Resolutionists staring at themselves in their new work out clothes and iPods? Wait in line for a stair machine and try to read the closed captions of a show you don't really care about? A little fresh air won't kill you. You don't have to camp in the Boundary Waters for a week, just walk around your neighborhood. Work into it slowly, and you may possibly find out that those skiers and shoers aren't as crazy as you first thought…

Where a streak ends

Well, the streak ended quickly. I got up and dressed for a ride into work and found out that another spoke had broken on the Icebike. This is getting depressing -- am I so fat that bikes crumple underneath my ample arse? Or, was the over-exuberant curb hopping to avoid grumpy drivers on Lyndale at the choke point under Crosstown?

Either way, the wheel was potato-chipped and nigh unrideable. I bailed and caused the Mrs to bail too. At least we'll carpool, so it's one less car either way. I've still ridden to work more times than driven this week, and I hope that I can repair the spoke and keep it that way for tomorrow.

I have a rare weekend off from both jobs and when that happens, we take off for some far away corner of the state, but me Darlin' Mrs. came up with a great idea: let's act like tourists in our own town! What should we do?

Some ideas I have are to go outside -- biking, skiing, shoeing -- it matters not. Or a trip to the Russian Art Museum, because:

• it's something the Mrs wants to do


• it's something I've always wanted to do


• it's two freakin' blocks from my house

Also, go out for breakfast somewhere different. I'll take care of the lunch and dinner, but I like to have someone cook my breakfast. I"m not sure what else, so I'll happily take suggestions from the great Ether. And, no, I won't be going to the MOA.

Coldest commute yet

Unlike Doug, I'm not a winter commuter. I'm trying though and today was a real test. Radio alarm goes off and I immediately hear "and currently, it's minus four outside."

Gah.

Well, if you're gonna ride every day, you ride every day. So, I did and I'm glad. Nothing was cold except my big toe on my right foot (that's where I had tendon surgery a couple of years ago and it's never been much for the cold since), so I think I've got the clothing part right 'cept for the undershirt. This includes (taking a hint from Pete)

• Columbia under helmet hat with ear flaps. It's fleece with a windproof shell -- light and warm
• Fleece pants with windproof pants
• Fleece top with long-sleeved cotton t-shirt (dumb, I know, I know)
• Novara bicycling rain jacket
• Merino wool socks and Mukluks (short Ojibwa)
  

I don't have a balaclava since my beard works well and it's a lot of fun after a couple of minutes. It becomes completely frosted from my breath and turns white and people give me quite a look when I ride past. Ol' Man Winter, indeed...

Mrs and I went for a ride yesterday and she found out the beauty of studded tires, so now I need to get a pair for her. I knew that, but she had to make the call and after see the night and day difference, she called loud and clear. Time to pick up another pair.

The bike is really stiff to ride when it's this cold. I need to find a better lube (or maybe just use the stuff I have) so that things turn better and I'm not fighting the bearings and chain besides the snow, ice and traffic.