This is such a beautiful bike, and the more I look at it the more I want one! I waaannt it, I waaannt it!
Churchill Balloon
Wednesday, March 19, 2008
Old Is New!
This is such a beautiful bike, and the more I look at it the more I want one! I waaannt it, I waaannt it!
Sunday, March 16, 2008
Saturday, March 15, 2008
Veloquent
There's a new cycling blog in town and thankfully it's a socially motivated one.
Veloquent, a term originally coined by Bruce A. Mol, is a blog started by Kent Peterson of Kent's Bike Blog (one of the first bike blogs I started to read) and a few of his friends. It promises to be an interesting but multi authored blog using "good writing about good riding" and they "will post... technical articles, tidbits (they) find interesting, obscure bits of nearly forgotten cycling lore, and tales from the road and trail." Sounds like a great read and wonderful new blog.
From "The Social and Emotional Aspects of Transportation Cycling"
Veloquent cyclists have both the physical skills and a high regard for the social responsibilities of cycling in traffic. They are motivated to develop their own skills and social responsibilities as well as help develop other cyclists, and society at large, through cycling advocacy, courses, reading and riding with others. ~ Bruce A. Mol (www.gonecycling.com)
Veloquent, a term originally coined by Bruce A. Mol, is a blog started by Kent Peterson of Kent's Bike Blog (one of the first bike blogs I started to read) and a few of his friends. It promises to be an interesting but multi authored blog using "good writing about good riding" and they "will post... technical articles, tidbits (they) find interesting, obscure bits of nearly forgotten cycling lore, and tales from the road and trail." Sounds like a great read and wonderful new blog.
From "The Social and Emotional Aspects of Transportation Cycling"
Veloquent cyclists have both the physical skills and a high regard for the social responsibilities of cycling in traffic. They are motivated to develop their own skills and social responsibilities as well as help develop other cyclists, and society at large, through cycling advocacy, courses, reading and riding with others. ~ Bruce A. Mol (www.gonecycling.com)
Friday, March 14, 2008
My mother read my earlier post and emailed me with this comment:
"I know we used the water from soaking the fleeces in the garden since there are frequently urine, feces, body exudations, etc. that are protein based and high in nitrogen so help the plants nicely. Plant fibers from flax, ie linen, use water in streams to "ret" (rot) the stalks and break down the cellular structure so the useable fibers are freed up... growing flax also is hard on soils and needs good crop rotation to keep the earth fertile. Stinging nettles can produce fiber comparable to linen by similar methods but I think is not nearly as hard on the ground. Raime fiber is a type of stingless nettle from the tropics. Don't know how it's prepared. Banana also produces usable fiber as does bamboo and the varieties of hemp. Animal fiber (including silk) is warmer, for the most part, than the plant fibers so each has it's place in the scheme of things. I suspect that yearning for novelty, newness, (read Toffler's *Future Shock) drives the use of much synthetic fiber. If it takes several years and hours of labor to produce garments of the natural fibers, one wouldn't be too inclined to toss them when new styles became popular. The term "heirloom" derives from the woven fabrics that were passed to the next generations. Much time and effort were invested to create them and they were treated as objects of worth. I wonder how many PETA folks are still using the sheets that great grandmother wove? *re Toffler, straight line cultures seek novelty, circular cultures recycle EVERYTHING, generation after generation; hence my habits of shopping at thrift stores. I do not wish to drive the straight-line culture's economy that thrives on throw-away products, or at least pretends to thrive while gutting the earth's resources. There, I DID end up on a soap-box... I can feel my face redden with the heat of my ardor. Ma Ma Yo"
My mum is a smart lady
"I know we used the water from soaking the fleeces in the garden since there are frequently urine, feces, body exudations, etc. that are protein based and high in nitrogen so help the plants nicely. Plant fibers from flax, ie linen, use water in streams to "ret" (rot) the stalks and break down the cellular structure so the useable fibers are freed up... growing flax also is hard on soils and needs good crop rotation to keep the earth fertile. Stinging nettles can produce fiber comparable to linen by similar methods but I think is not nearly as hard on the ground. Raime fiber is a type of stingless nettle from the tropics. Don't know how it's prepared. Banana also produces usable fiber as does bamboo and the varieties of hemp. Animal fiber (including silk) is warmer, for the most part, than the plant fibers so each has it's place in the scheme of things. I suspect that yearning for novelty, newness, (read Toffler's *Future Shock) drives the use of much synthetic fiber. If it takes several years and hours of labor to produce garments of the natural fibers, one wouldn't be too inclined to toss them when new styles became popular. The term "heirloom" derives from the woven fabrics that were passed to the next generations. Much time and effort were invested to create them and they were treated as objects of worth. I wonder how many PETA folks are still using the sheets that great grandmother wove? *re Toffler, straight line cultures seek novelty, circular cultures recycle EVERYTHING, generation after generation; hence my habits of shopping at thrift stores. I do not wish to drive the straight-line culture's economy that thrives on throw-away products, or at least pretends to thrive while gutting the earth's resources. There, I DID end up on a soap-box... I can feel my face redden with the heat of my ardor. Ma Ma Yo"
My mum is a smart lady
Thursday, March 13, 2008
Which is Greener: Wool or Cotton? : TreeHugger
Which is Greener: Wool or Cotton?
"Water, the world's most precious resource, plays a big role, too, from raising the sheep to cleaning the fiber; it takes approximately 500,000 liters of water to manufacture a metric ton of wool, though cotton requires 2,500 liters of water for just one t-shirt, and that's just for its growth."
Started this post after reading over at Bike Commuters and their new column Wool Wednesdays which as turned into a very informative discussion.
Wool interests me as I grew up with a lot of it around. My mother, a teacher and textile artist, always had bags and bags of wool in varying stages of the textile process. We had old bathtubs outside with newly sheared fleeces soaking or dying, card drums on the living room table, a loom that lived in the living room, a variety of spinning wheels made from a variety of objects and of course rows and rows of wool already spun into bundles and balls of beautiful wool yarn. Of course my mother mastered spinning and won lots of awards on the yarns she perfected on and off the wheel.
What I'd like to see would be a good comparison between natural organic fibers vs synthetics with all the pros and cons including land fill waste issues. Though vague, I recently read an abstract that synthetics fibers account for a very large part of sludge coming from landfills. Another argument I just read from the PETA website Save the Sheep is over the ethical consequences of livestock farming siting animal abuses over Australian sheep exports. Of course they have all the routine inflammatory one sided videos of those abuses.
"Water, the world's most precious resource, plays a big role, too, from raising the sheep to cleaning the fiber; it takes approximately 500,000 liters of water to manufacture a metric ton of wool, though cotton requires 2,500 liters of water for just one t-shirt, and that's just for its growth."
Started this post after reading over at Bike Commuters and their new column Wool Wednesdays which as turned into a very informative discussion.
Wool interests me as I grew up with a lot of it around. My mother, a teacher and textile artist, always had bags and bags of wool in varying stages of the textile process. We had old bathtubs outside with newly sheared fleeces soaking or dying, card drums on the living room table, a loom that lived in the living room, a variety of spinning wheels made from a variety of objects and of course rows and rows of wool already spun into bundles and balls of beautiful wool yarn. Of course my mother mastered spinning and won lots of awards on the yarns she perfected on and off the wheel.
What I'd like to see would be a good comparison between natural organic fibers vs synthetics with all the pros and cons including land fill waste issues. Though vague, I recently read an abstract that synthetics fibers account for a very large part of sludge coming from landfills. Another argument I just read from the PETA website Save the Sheep is over the ethical consequences of livestock farming siting animal abuses over Australian sheep exports. Of course they have all the routine inflammatory one sided videos of those abuses.
Friday, March 7, 2008
New road bike!
Well actually I'm "borrowing" a vintage (1970s) Olmo with many Campy components including Record while I wait until mid April for my Olive colour Surly LHT (not sure Paul knew he was lending the bike to me for that long... or maybe "lending" wasn't the plan)
A very nice old bike!
A very nice old bike!
Now cyclists will be targeted
Bike Ridden by Bomber Recovered, Police Believe - New York Times
This is bad news for cyclists who maybe target, much like people of Middle Eastern dissent are at airports, for not so random but spontaneous searches and harassment as a result of Thursday mornings Times Square bombing.
I ride across the Canadian boarder with my wife on tours a couple of times a year and historically it's always been much easier than crossing with a car because cyclists aren't usually expected of being a terrorists (not much of a place to put a bomb I suppose) but after yesterday's unfortunate event I imagine searches conducted of cyclists at boarder crossing not only will become routine but a targeted practice from now on.
tdp
This is bad news for cyclists who maybe target, much like people of Middle Eastern dissent are at airports, for not so random but spontaneous searches and harassment as a result of Thursday mornings Times Square bombing.
I ride across the Canadian boarder with my wife on tours a couple of times a year and historically it's always been much easier than crossing with a car because cyclists aren't usually expected of being a terrorists (not much of a place to put a bomb I suppose) but after yesterday's unfortunate event I imagine searches conducted of cyclists at boarder crossing not only will become routine but a targeted practice from now on.
tdp
Monday, March 3, 2008
58 cm Surly Long Haul Trucker F-R-A-M-E-S-E-T for sale $375
Yup, you heard that right! Sadly after thinking and thinking on it (and a little asking the professionals about it) I've come to the realization that my frame is too big for me. So I've put the frameset (frame and fork only) up for sale on Craigslist and am hoping for the best so I can get a smaller (54cm frameset). In fact I've already ordered the new 54cm and it should be here early next week. This time I'm going with the new Olive colour as the blue was getting me a little blue. It also reminds me too much about the problems I encountered yesterday on the Surly LHT & CC board I belong(ed) to. Man! Some people have to stick their fat little grubby fingers into everyone's business.
Some schmuck who was probably raped by aliens, appointed himself forum patrol to smite any ad he didn't agree with. After dogging me about my price, I confronted his assholeness and WHAM! He was on the rampage like a lumbering elephant! He even went so far as to go to my local Craigslist and put up a counter ad warning of the impending evil I would inflict on the person if they dare bought my frame from me instead of Jensens (as my pro bike friends put it, "the bane of all small bike businesses"). But I really don't think this guy cares at all about that, in fact I'm sure he's one of those guys who lies to play one dealer against another and then gets something different from somewhere else. He's the guy who keeps kids in third world countries working and out of trouble at school, the playground, at home, or anywhere they should be besides working at six years old.
I even think he responded to my ad with a couple of fake email addresses, one saying he was from San Juan Island. I think he though he was getting my hopes up so that at the last moment he could drop me thereby teaching me a valuable lesson not to ever go against him again because he RULES! When he ventrually broke the news to me that he wasn't going to get it from me after all but from Jensens (for $400) I told him to at least get it from his LBS for the same price thus helping to support the local economy. He didn't email me back to at least say to eff off... oh well.
The whole ordeal only got me a little hot but mostly because he lied on the Craigslist ad saying that everyone was telling me to take a hike and that I had posted my scam ad all over the internet... Scam all over the internet! Yea he got me there bud! I started selling the frame for $50 under MSRP (now $75 under) on Craigslist and posted a link to the ad the site where I met him and mentioned it to one other guy from another site who was looking for a frame. But other than that the only other people I told were by brothers the Devil and Osama. I couldn't tell my dad Saddam as he was out with Satan doing my harasser's wife.
I did sent him an email educating him that his ad was in violation of Craigslist's TOU rules and broke the law on both federal and state level (defamation, slander and harassment are illegal). He emailed me back with "Don't email me or contact me again you nutcase." Wow he's a poet of irony! Anyhow, as the great philosopher would say "what doesn't stick to me, sticks to you, I'm over it and you eat poo"
Some schmuck who was probably raped by aliens, appointed himself forum patrol to smite any ad he didn't agree with. After dogging me about my price, I confronted his assholeness and WHAM! He was on the rampage like a lumbering elephant! He even went so far as to go to my local Craigslist and put up a counter ad warning of the impending evil I would inflict on the person if they dare bought my frame from me instead of Jensens (as my pro bike friends put it, "the bane of all small bike businesses"). But I really don't think this guy cares at all about that, in fact I'm sure he's one of those guys who lies to play one dealer against another and then gets something different from somewhere else. He's the guy who keeps kids in third world countries working and out of trouble at school, the playground, at home, or anywhere they should be besides working at six years old.
I even think he responded to my ad with a couple of fake email addresses, one saying he was from San Juan Island. I think he though he was getting my hopes up so that at the last moment he could drop me thereby teaching me a valuable lesson not to ever go against him again because he RULES! When he ventrually broke the news to me that he wasn't going to get it from me after all but from Jensens (for $400) I told him to at least get it from his LBS for the same price thus helping to support the local economy. He didn't email me back to at least say to eff off... oh well.
The whole ordeal only got me a little hot but mostly because he lied on the Craigslist ad saying that everyone was telling me to take a hike and that I had posted my scam ad all over the internet... Scam all over the internet! Yea he got me there bud! I started selling the frame for $50 under MSRP (now $75 under) on Craigslist and posted a link to the ad the site where I met him and mentioned it to one other guy from another site who was looking for a frame. But other than that the only other people I told were by brothers the Devil and Osama. I couldn't tell my dad Saddam as he was out with Satan doing my harasser's wife.
I did sent him an email educating him that his ad was in violation of Craigslist's TOU rules and broke the law on both federal and state level (defamation, slander and harassment are illegal). He emailed me back with "Don't email me or contact me again you nutcase." Wow he's a poet of irony! Anyhow, as the great philosopher would say "what doesn't stick to me, sticks to you, I'm over it and you eat poo"
www.bluesteelroads.com
Finally www.bluesteelroads.com is now up and running! Yea!! The first time I've figured out how to get my own domain used.
Saturday, March 1, 2008
Sign the petition asking Google to add a "bike there" option to Google Maps.
Google Maps 'Bike There' Feature Request Petition
I've wondered so many times why this feature isn't a part of Google Maps yet as it seems like a no brainer and a natural thing to do.
One signer writes: "This is a total no brainer promoting greener modes of travel, living, and thinking all the while highlighting Google's 'do no evil' mantra. I believe it would be a smart strategy while strengthens Google's relationship with intelligent and progressive thinkers" while another writes: "In the Seattle metro area there are hundreds if not thousands of bicycle commuters. I am 32 years old and have never owned a car. I have been commuting by bicycle for the past 8 years. Having a "Bike there" feature on google maps would definitely improve the quality of my transportation life. Thank you for your consideration."
Adding extra features like a "bike there, walk there, or hike there" seems not only to be a wise and social next step but also a smart financial move. Yesterday I thought (again) that out of all the cyclists with whom I've spoken to, read forum threads and blog entries from and gotten emails from as well, besides two wheeled human powered machines being a common thread between them all of us, that almost all were very computer and internet literate and a powerful collective force online.
And while so many technology companies miss making a positive role in social and environmental issues Google has often started down that dark path only to remember their mantra and do an about face. They sometimes seem to be often willing to say that a change course is needed while other unmentionable companies forget why they exist. I hope Google sees the light as they often have and adds a greener message to their business model.
Cheers!
tdp
I've wondered so many times why this feature isn't a part of Google Maps yet as it seems like a no brainer and a natural thing to do.
One signer writes: "This is a total no brainer promoting greener modes of travel, living, and thinking all the while highlighting Google's 'do no evil' mantra. I believe it would be a smart strategy while strengthens Google's relationship with intelligent and progressive thinkers" while another writes: "In the Seattle metro area there are hundreds if not thousands of bicycle commuters. I am 32 years old and have never owned a car. I have been commuting by bicycle for the past 8 years. Having a "Bike there" feature on google maps would definitely improve the quality of my transportation life. Thank you for your consideration."
Adding extra features like a "bike there, walk there, or hike there" seems not only to be a wise and social next step but also a smart financial move. Yesterday I thought (again) that out of all the cyclists with whom I've spoken to, read forum threads and blog entries from and gotten emails from as well, besides two wheeled human powered machines being a common thread between them all of us, that almost all were very computer and internet literate and a powerful collective force online.
And while so many technology companies miss making a positive role in social and environmental issues Google has often started down that dark path only to remember their mantra and do an about face. They sometimes seem to be often willing to say that a change course is needed while other unmentionable companies forget why they exist. I hope Google sees the light as they often have and adds a greener message to their business model.
Cheers!
tdp
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