jeremyridesbikes

Looks like Portland’s model is expanding to other major cities. RE: Sunday Parkways

Families riding bikes, children on roller skates and barely a car in sight; it’s hard to believe this is usually one of the busiest roads in Mexico City.

It’s an eerily calm Sunday morning on the city’s Avenida Reforma, an avenue which is grid-locked on weekdays by tens of thousands of cars sitting bumper-to-bumper. The Reforma’s closure to to car traffic on Sundays in 2007 kickstarted the capital’s attempts to make life easier for cyclists. In 2010 a 17km-long bike lane through the city opened - and more efforts to promote pedal power are being unveiled in the coming few months.

Via BBC 

Today was the maiden voyage with the @ruckuscomponent Chain Guard.  The best thing one could say is the they didn’t notice the fancy new bike component on their bike. The reason this is a great comment is that it means the system is working as designed and they could focus on other things like getting lost in the woods or out-running honey badgers.

This is one of those items. I didn’t notice I had it on.  Meaning my front ring is SOLID now. No tossing the chain to the inside and now no tossing the chain to the outside! I would have a chain mishap once every offroad ride with the 1x9 setup on the Karate Monkey.  Now nothing.  I didn’t even think about the issue at all today.  That piece of mind is priceless in my book.

Riding Scappoose.

I took the KM out to Scappoose today to clear the head and get a little dirty.  I got up and tossed everything in the Element.  One of the good things about breaking the roof rack (twice) is the bikes now go inside.  This is the way it should be :)

All packed and ready to go.

Here is the deal with Scappoose: I get lost there every ride.  I should know the trails pretty well by now, but everytime I go it is a different season and every trail looks different.  I would say that I spend about 60% of the time wondering if I made the right turn, 15% walking or turning around, and 25% actual riding with intent. I love it though because every time I go I find a new route.  One day I will learn to link them all and flow.

There are white markers that sort of point you in the right direction and they help out tremendously. Just look for them at trail intersections and go.  I would like to thank the blessed soul that put them up over the last year or so.

One of those white markers

Playing find the Monkey [hint: standing in the dark]

I have come to the conclusion after riding today that I am not satisfied with my technique.  After watching countless MTB movies and instructional videos I realized that I have become a lazy rider.  That is probably the reason why I don’t crash as much as I use to when I first started Mountain Biking.  In the late 90’s when I started I would come back from the trail every time either bloody or bruised.  I think I need to step up my game a bit and take the next step.

After I fix my style issues.

@cyclechick and @croitabhaile have some good responses to the bad cycling kit i posted Friday. I won’t link to it, I’m glad it is off the from page. [TMS= Too much sausage]

@cyclochip - You win. That would have sealed the deal. Can you imagine?

Carbon: check
Bamboo: check
Fat Bike: check
Belt Drive: check
Lefty Fork: check
IGH*: check 
Monster Cross: check 

And there you have every niche in one bike. I hope you are happy now! 

Found via BikeRumor

*IGH = Internally Geared Hub

Gardening today. Part 2.

I finished the U-garden dig and was able to get the sod flipped.  I have compost, but didn’t have a chance to mix it in.  We had a foot injury to deal with.  [She’s ok]

As we keep experimenting with things that grow in your front yard I drew up the full plan. We are tearing up more sod and putting in more little garden beds.  One of the books that inspired this monkey business is Four-Season Harvest: Organic Vegetables from Your Home Garden All Year Long by Eliot Coleman  It can be picked up at Powell’s or Amazon.  The idea for the front yard is “less mowing, more eating”. I am hoping this season turns out better than last year. 

spudzmonkey:

Sleepy time with the kids.

Easily in the running for my favorite picture of the year so far.

spudzmonkey:

Playtime.

I took this about a week ago. Logan playing. 

[cropped and added B&W filter]

Gardening today. Part 1.

After a stop at the Portland Nursery we got the 4x4 box prep’d and ready. We also started digging the horseshoe garden.

Our experiment in becoming farmers is moving forward.