Friday, September 24, 2010

the "hit" of the week

This is a nice article................hope they catch this fool!

Finished with the week - got a week off!

Friday, September 17, 2010

a long week.......

 It has been a long week........... I've been too tired to post! Luckily last weeks friday/flat tire fiasco came out ok - just a metal sliver. This week the weather changed - rain, rain, rain - not too bad yet, still pretty warm, and only 3 "almost" right hooks. I'm really sore, and I don't know why. I should be used to this 20 miles a day thing, but it's not getting any easier.

 Today was a good day. I stopped to help a guy who had his bike upside down along the corridor. He lost a screw on his lower rear derailleur pulley but he found a screw to replace it. I'm not sure why he was still there to be honest - when I got there everything seemed to be in order. I played with it for a moment while I talked to him, but everything seemed ok. I mean, the screw he put in through the pulley seemed to work, so why was he still there and not riding? I don't know.   We talked for a moment about one speeds, and eventually I sped off. A few miles down the rode I thought about turning around and seeing if he was still there, and giving him my bike. To be honest, the thing he was riding was pure junk. He bought it used, and it was a department store bike - JUNK. The bike I ride to work is usually the five dollar bike I got from the D.I. but at least it's a TREK. If I see him again I'll give mine to him - and it will give me an excuse to buy another bike!

Monday, September 13, 2010

west linn death update

Ah, more info has come to light...............speed kills, my friend. I'll have fun working on tires today, and it's back to the road tomorrow!

 Then there's this little gem..... I see this all the time - not cyclists hitting someone, but blatantly disregarding traffic laws. I admit, I don't stop on right turns when I'm going directly onto a bike lane, but that's about it.  It's truly a battle out there between cyclists and motorists, and they've got a big advantage. Once again, as Roger Waters said "stay out of the road, if you want to grow old".

Sunday, September 12, 2010

another cyclist killed.............

  This one in West Linn....................... Don't know the particulars yet - very sad. Very sad for me on Friday - man, I need to take the training wheels off!!!!!!! I suck!!! Friday morning I had a flat on the trek - the one I fixed just a few days before - so I pulled out the cannondale for it's maiden ride. After pumping up the tires I took off.  I got off the train and took a wrong turn while trying to take a short cut  and fell over in the road (no damage) ' cause I forgot I had the clips on and couldn't get out of them!

 On the way home my hands hurt so much from the handle bars I took the train most of the way back, and I've been sore the last two days because of the riding stance on this bike - I lean over quite a bit more than  I do on the trek.......waaaahhhh. I'm embarrassed to say the least - I was stressing at work about riding home - more like scared. I kept thinking about being trapped on the clips, running over debris in the road, falling over and getting my head squashed. WEAK!!!!

Thursday, September 9, 2010

Buttercup stolen!

My first thought when I saw this was to laugh...............I mean the guy rides 3500 miles to Portland and then someone jacks his bike! But that was insensitive, so of course I laughed some more, then I saw that someone gave him her old bike to finish his journey and cannondale is sending him a new bike. Good for him! It was great someone here gave him a bike (taking some of the sting from getting violated by that thief) and then he gets a new cannondale! Of course, if this never got television coverage he would have been out like the hundreds of people who get their bikes stolen here every year and don't get jack **** in return!

Wednesday, September 8, 2010

bad rider...............

I chickened out today..............needed to pick up some door things for Jeanette and thought I'd get home as soon as possible. I took the max to gateway and attempted to take the train to johnson creek but all the bike hangers were full, so I rode there instead. I still did at least 16 miles, but they were the easy ones. Better luck tomorrow!

Saturday, September 4, 2010

pictures of my bikes!

here are some of my bikes!



the 1996 team marin

 the 2000 Voodoo Nzumbi


the 1996 Voodoo Wanga



the 1974 Schwinn Le Tour




the 1966 Schwinn speedster

Bliss!!!!!!

Thursday, September 2, 2010

Cannondale is finished! and another flat.................

  What a day! a beautiful day (kinda hot - at least 85) for the ride home, then I got a flat about 3 miles from home and instead of fixing it I just pushed it home..........  

  Joanne is out for Cycle Oregon next year, but Bobbi is all for it and Melissa wants to go as well........Bobbi is going to ask some of the folks in her unit if they want to go, and I'm sure someone will want to do it........it's going to be great!!

  Anyway, I got the clamp for the derailleur and set that up last night, and today took some pictures..................here they are! (all shimano 600 except for the headset, which is the original shimano 105)


Wednesday, September 1, 2010

beautiful day!

The day started off pretty well - nice and dry. It started to rain soon after I got to work, and rained until one-ish, then turned sunny. Of course,  I left my sunglasses at home, so I squinted on the way back. Had some chain malfunction as well - at Glisan I must have kicked the chain down to the second ring, 'cause when I went to take off, it had come off the back. Note to self - must clean chain........uck!