Archive for the 'Bicycle' Category

More positive

Published
by
Matthew
on February 6, 2009
in Bicycle, Future and Radio
. 5 Comments

I just found out Sunday
I was listening to an interview with Sally Carson (Fixpert) on Bike Talk on KPFK today and she was saying cool stuff about the way you should act as a cyclist. About not being all aggro and flipping the bird, but just trucking along in all weather having a good time. When you send out positive vibes to drivers, you inspire them to bike because it looks so fun (and then you won’t inspire drivers to hate cyclists more). 

I needed to hear that. I sometimes get really frustrated with cars and suvs cutting me off or almost hitting me and I yell and flip the bird. It can really get to me, about how cars have more rights, and can just run you off the road, and that the police or whoever would take their side. And how cars contribute to smog and exhaust just choking me and shortening my life. Bitches. 

But like Laura tells me, it is not worth getting so mad and worked up over. Also, like Sally said, you can inspire them to ride bikes, which is like better for the whole world. And they were talking about on the show that anyone on any kind of bike (road, mountain, beach cruiser, fixed gear, whatever) is GREAT because it is SO MUCH BETTER than them driving around in SUVs. There is no reason to be an elitist about it. The main goals of the cycling community should always to have more people riding. 

I have always been inspired by people like that, being so cool and nice to everyone. I feel like there are elitist and accepting cool people in any community. I would like to be more like that, not all aggro and elitist all the time, but be really cool, positive, and accepting. We all have a right to love life and not to be shamed for trying.

I am prepared for amazing things to happen

Published
by
Matthew
on January 10, 2009
in Bicycle and Future
. 6 Comments


Cyclist Takes Bed Along in Homemade Trailer (Oct, 1940)

I am siked! Stoked! Wack! I don’t know. But I’m pretty pumped. We are at this crossroads in our life, our economy, etc etc and all that yucky stuff, where we can really do anything we want. WHAT HAVE WE GOT TO LOSE? Very little really.

This picture is maybe the third thing to really get me pumped this year so far. First was reading Swimming to Antarctica by Lynne Cox. I mean, she has to be the coolest most inspiring person. Like really UP THERE with Gandhi or Dr. King or Obama, you know? She has been swimming her whole life. She swam the Bering Strait! No wetsuit, no special warming nothing, she just swam it in her bathing suit. Not only that, she swam from the USA to the Soviet Union DURING THE COLD WAR. How powerful and inspiring is that? Not only was she swimming in like 40° water, but she was swimming for diplomacy. And swimming the Bering Strait wasn’t her only or biggest accomplishment, she has set all kinds of world records and swam in all kinds of places where no one ever has. In short, read her book! Buy it or get it at the library or borrow mine. It is very important.

So that was the first thing. The second thing isn’t as specific. It is a more general concept, or a movement really. L has been getting pretty deep into the idea of permaculture (to over generalize and state the obvious). She has been an incredible wealth of knowledge and keeps sharing these mind-blowing things that people are doing. Like “…there is this farm run by two ladies near santa cruz and they deliver the CSA on bike.” Whoa! Right? And that is only the tip of the iceberg. There is a quote that maybe typifies the second thing.

…cooking, sewing, washing, cleaning, reading, gardening, fixing, writing, drawing, crafting. woman’s work? perhaps. but i think its better than lining the pockets of someone else, working for basically nothing (for what end or purpose), probably harming the earth more (we have 30 less environment impact by me not working). this work i do at home benefits us, not some unknown corp exec and doesnt pollute the earth.

We have made the choice to live off of one salary (and my husband works only four days a week) and that means that we will always be poor. one car, less “stuff”, nothing new for years, but much more happier. that means we get to see and be part of her milestones, hear each new word uttered and each new task mastered.
 — permaculture of family

It is about making a choice, deciding what you want to live for or to work towards. This may be a painfully obvious and juvenile concept, but I feel like I’m realizing its meaning fully for the first time.

The third thing is, as I have stated, this image from the October 1940 issue of Popular Science. Chet Jr. traveled 1,200 miles in 14 days funding his trip by selling post cards? WHAT? Are you kidding? That is very awesome. AND he made that awesome trailer to sleep in? Can I do that please? But seriously, what is stopping us from living out our dreams and doing very cool things like Chet Jr.?

So for 2009, a year of “change”, I am resolved to really think through what I want to accomplish in my life and start doing it.

The things we never do

Published
by
Matthew
on September 25, 2008
in Beer, Bicycle, Dreams and Rants
. 3 Comments

Lunch at Snug HarborThere’s always a handful of things that I put off. Put off until when? Some mysterious time in the future? Some special occasion that never seems to happen? I would like to air some of these ideas out.

I’ve thought for a long time about doing an Azusa/Glendora beer ride. I’ve thought about it since the Hot Knives beer ride. Although this really wouldn’t work anymore, it was a pretty good plan. There are four really good liquor stores in the Greater Azusa area. They actually make a really good loop and tour of the area. And you know what? The Brown House would have been the perfect ending destination. Why did I never get this to happen you ask? I have no idea! I thought about it being on my birthday last year, but it felt like a lot to ask of people. But would it have been? Probably not. Would it have been really fun and doable? Probably.

A lot of the other things I put off have to do with food. Making soy chocolate milkshakes? Apple pies? French fries? There never seems a good time to do this. These are the quintessential special occasion foods to me. They are my absolute favorite items. Are any of them hard to make? Not really. Well, croissants would be. I should add croissants to the above list. I love croissants.

It’s also like why don’t we have people over? Why don’t we have a special occasion roof party? I don’t know. There is no time like the present people! It’s like the roller blades you got for Christmas but kept in your closet because you didn’t want to get them messed up. One day you pulled them out to go blading and they didn’t fit anymore! True story. Well, not really, but probably.

What are the things you put off? What are the things you always want to do but the time never feels right? Comment away friends. Let it out.

Possible future for my bike.

Published
by
Matthew
on March 20, 2008
in Bicycle
. 0 Comments
Possible future for my bike.

I bought my bike about a year and a half ago with the intention of pimping it out. Or maybe not pimping. Pimping usually has to do with adding tons of stuff. More like simplifying my ride. Most parts I’ve bought over time. There was a lot of trial and error in this process.

My bike is a late 80s white Peugeot road bike. (From what I can find I think it’s called Tourmalet.) When I bought it it had most of the original parts, all Shimano grupo, Mavic rims, that kind of stuff. So far I’ve replaced the handle bars with Nitto bull horns from Ben’s Cycle, the saddle with a nice Brooks saddle from IRO, the bottom bracket and cranks with IRO parts from Orange 20, and the back wheel with a cheapo Alex Rims wheel from Coates. I’ve been looking into Velocity Deep-V Rims since the beginning because the are so hot, but I haven’t gotten up the courage to drop $300 on that yet. When I do I think I will put a blue on the front and a white on the back. I want the blue to closely match the top tube pad I bought from R.E.Load.

Well, the future is unknown. This is only one possible direction. Besides who needs Velocity rims, that just makes your bike more valuable to steal.

Fixed!

Published
by
Matthew
on August 16, 2007
in Bicycle
. 4 Comments


Fixed! (Double meaning indeed!)

I don’t really remember when I started this project exactly, roughly it’s been just under a year. It is perhaps the best feeling to have it finally finished. Speaking of finally finished Prescott Family is getting pretty darn close. Anyways, needless to say, yesterday was a pretty good day. 1) I picked up my bike, 2) We got jars for making the kombucha, 3) I ate udon noodles, 4) PLUS! BONUS! We watched the Office (by the way, have you seen this or this?)

So the bike! I’m looking forward to becoming less sheepish about going fast down hills; I’m getting used to the whole “stopping” thing. I feel pretty proud of this little project though. I replaced the bottom bracket, cranks, pedals, saddle, handlebars, rear wheel, the wonderful blue chain… It’s so sexy. I guess it’s not completely done. I still need to tape the handlebars, figure out the front brake situation (It’s the law, right? Or even if it’s not, I would feel a little more confident in going really fast…), and it would be nice to get a matching front wheel. But all that isn’t necessary, I can ride it now. I CAN RIDE IT NOW!!! It’s been too long little bike. It feels so right because a) my other bike is huge, my body gets all tense riding it for too long, and b) riding fixed gear feels so logical, you’re moving, the bike is moving. If anyone wants to ride soon, well, in two weeks, after our trip, hit me up because I’m so down.