Trail-a-Bike

Munchkinhead and I went to the pumpkin patch and BikeWorks. Then we did a trail-a-bike ride to Starbucks today. Not the worst day ever.

The Eleven Year Old Bullet Belt

So John and I decided to ride permanent 531 today. You basically ride all over the place for 200k. You start on Mercer Island, roll around Lake Sammamish and then go south to Renton, past the salt mine, down to Orting, up to Seattle, and then do a victory lap around Mercer Island.



I've been getting over a cold, and I really wanted to get my R-12 on, so to speak, but there was no way I was going to play with the big boys in the hills today, so the flattest ride that starts closest to my house was on the play list.



We did this ride two times last winter, and I remember walking in snow and ice on one ride as well as sucking it up in dumping rain on the other ride. Today was crisp (couldn't resist) but clear.

Every time I've ridden within 10 miles of Orting, I get yelled at; I expected today to be no different. Last time I pulled into the Safeway in Orting, the local soccer club hit me up for a donation. No, I'm not going to donate since your dad just tried to hit me with the mirror of his truck and your sister just called me a "teenage mutant ninja turtle." Yelling at me keeps my donations to a minimum; call me crazy.

But today, not one person yelled at us. However, there were three kids, about eleven, doing their best to be tough hanging out at Safeway. I'm not sure if they were playing grunge-death metal-goth-skinhead-hipsters, but I suspect they are not going to be running for higher office any time soon. The best bit was that one of them was playing with a bandolier of very real looking bullets which he wore as a belt when it was time to leave.

That's just not going to end well.

The contrast with the QFC on Mercer Island was pretty severe. Sure, the kids on Mercer Island are more likely to bring down the next Lehman Brothers, but they appear one heck of a lot less disturbed.

We met one other disturbed person as the Seahawks game got out. We timed our ride past the stadium perfectly.

After she smacked and punched her I'm-guessing-by-now-ex-boyfriend in front of three cops, they gave her the chance to walk away many many times. But no, she thought it would be a great idea to pick a fight with the cops. I doubt it ended well for her, but at least she didn't have a bullet belt.





Let's play "That's Rando!"

Sadly, no contestants had anything sufficiently rando today. However, the judges of "That's Rando!" have awarded this entry from the SIR road clean up as this weekend's winner. Congratulations, mystery winner!

Baby Blue Baby

Well I finally got around to finishing up the Luigino. I took all the parts off a Cinelli that is now for sale. I went sort of old school...well at least all aluminum. It's a keeper.

Before:


After:








Munchkinhead approves:

Hamburg Cycle Chic

So I spent last week in Hamburg. I had a pretty nasty cold, but I still had a chance to walk around a fair amount. This was the most bike-friendly city I have been in other than Amsterdam. I'm talking real transportation. The downtown sporting goods store had a bigger section of lights, bags, fenders, baskets and other utilitarian gear than just about any shop I have been in.

The little bike above marked one of the ubiquitous bike lanes.

Oh, and the locals look pretty chic as they putter around on those bike lanes.

I took these shots in just a few minutes around rush hour in the heart of town.
























I think there may have been guys on bikes too. I don't recall them, but there appears to be a guy on a bike in this shot of the dedicated bike lane lights.



This cool bike may even be piloted by a guy:



Functional.

I'm pretty sure if you are reading this blog, you already know about the inspiration for this post, but just in case you don't know the master, click here.