Winter Project

Among the things I want to do this winter is to build, or at least source all materials and ideas for, a conversion of my old Burley into a bike camping trailer. I have seen a lot of ideas so far and the concept is quite intriguing to me. The Burley will serve as an excellent platform to build on as many have proven. I'm not going to aim for carpeted sleeping quarters or a gas stove, but it will be a nice little spread. I'm thinking screened windows, awnings, and a sky light so far. Heck, maybe there will be enough siding and roofing materials from our current house update to do a mobile home of sorts! I have an idea for chopping and channeling the frame to a narrower profile, then cantilevering a platform out over the wheels, and walls/roof from there. A sketch will be up in a few days. Then I'll see what changes/additions anyone wants to suggest. Later!

Occupy Third Street

In an attempt to acclimate myself to the harsher side of "recreational homelessness", I have been field testing some of my gear by sleeping out on the deck. As the weather began to cool this Fall, I started with a fleece blanket and overnight lows of mid 50s F. Over the weeks the temps dropped and I broke out my zero rated bag. Mid 30s were no problem. I think I actually slept better, and felt better all day, from the mid 30s nights. So naturally, once I had set a new low temp. mark, I wanted to go lower. My current low is 15 degrees F, and it was actually pretty comfy too. I used a double bag system (one inside the other) and the only thing that was cold was my nose. I had a scare in the night though. I put the bag up over my head to warm up the inside, fell asleep that way, and woke with a gasp! I think I had depleted all of the oxygen in the bag and nearly choked myself out.
Temps will continue to drop as Winter comes, so the records will keep falling too, until there is nothing to prove. But not until then. I see a drift-based snow cave in the not too distant future! Here's a picture of my last Hooverville. Later!

All In A Day's Work For...

Bicycle Repair Man! Did your neighborhood have a guy who could always fix your bikes? You and the guys would do something stupid on a bike, and after picking up the pieces, bee line right for the guys garage? We had one such guy. Jerry Grady. He had tons of old Schwinn parts (old by today's perspective) and would just knowingly set about repairing or replacing anything we had destroyed. Not big on lectures or demanding to know what we had been doing, just a great guy who would fix your stuff. He even helped us jam one set of forks into the top of another set to make a chopper fork! Welded? Well, no, but we didn't know that welding existed so... I took my awesome Yamaha Motobike apart once, too far apart, and he helped me get it back on the rode, (alley actually:)
Well, it seems that yours truly has acquired the cape and unitard of Bicycle Repair Man. You see, there is a family who have relocated their lives from Detroit to Boone, and their bikes came with them. One of the boys, 15 years old, has been riding around with:
-No drive side bearings in his rear wheel
-Seat post slammed all the way down
-Back break only, shoes worn down to the studs
-Cable housing taped with electrical tape, no ends
-No shifters front or back
-It's a girl's bike!!
Well, he came to the door one day, and asked, as best he could, if I had a wrench. Before I knew it I was 10 minutes late for work. Most of the problems were fixed though, so win/win! He's been coming back any time he sees my car out front, asking if I know how to fix this or that. It's a good feeling to be able to help someone out. (I look like a master mechanic from the other side, just doing the basic stuff that keeps a bike rolling.) Also good to realize that gifts are given to us for sharing. On any little level. The first day that kid rode away with a functioning bike, I can't tell who was happier, me or him. The smiles were ear to ear for both of us. He said simply, "Thank you," and rode off. I think that my time spent hunched over all my old janky beat up bikes has found a purpose for someone other than just me. All in a days work, all in a days work. Later!

Photos de Randome

A few random pictures to post, just to keep stuff on the blog. These are from the car show/shine in Stratford, and the "Big Show" burnouts from the Lehigh corner (punch up 491437 on a calculator and look at it upside down) and a few from Don Williams Lake in Boone County. I had a chance to share with the boys something I have ALWAYS wanted to do! We walked on the spillway and down to the basin at the bottom. Since the earliest days that I ever went there with my Dad, it was such a strong draw to want to walk on it. Actually, in the skateboard craze of my youth, I wanted to ride it. Now in my "mature" years, I would rather ride a bike on it or slide down it on a sled, or my ski bike! Hurry Winter, a middle aged man needs your magic! And lastly, a weird looking bug from the trail to Ankeny, and a fox right smack in the middle of Ankeny. He tried to hide from us, but I got a distant shot. We rode Slater to Woodward today, gorgeous weather. Kelli even rode 2 miles of gravel! I'll seduce her into the dark side yet, mwah-ah-ah!!

High Trestle Love Affair

I have spent the last 4 Tuesdays riding my bike, and have barely ridden 4 miles of gravel during that time. I have been riding the now famous High Trestle Trail! The last 3 Tuesdays were with Kelli. We rode Madrid to Woodward, Woodward to Madrid, and Woodward to Ankeny (each round trip) Kelli was a goer for trying the big day, given the stiff South wind, and made all but the last 8 miles before asking for a bailout. No problem, she rode 4 times further than any of our previous efforts. So this week I was by myself and rode Madrid to GRAVEL, down to the river, and back. I rode the bike I call Karate Klunker, a campstove green Hawthorne with 2.3 Tioga downhill tires on it, skip tooth drive train, super short stem, and a goofy Troxel seat that is amazingly comfortable. A fun bike for sure. More like a tank! Here are a few shots from my solo day:
Senior Citizens taking in the views in a horse drawn wagon.
The Karate Klunker looking studly in the foreground, HTT bridge looking mighty in the background, God's creation dominating all ground!

Yes, this is a multi - user trail! This guy leaves much smaller droppings than some other users.
Klunkers on Chunkers - sounds like a good name for an organized ride...Hmm?

Also recently spent a few Sundays on adventures with the boys. One was our annual trip to Stratford for the stopover/show and shine of the cars in Run To The Woods. The burnout corner was moved to Lehigh, and the drivers were there to please the crowd that had gathered. Even saw a Lamborghini Countach, in Stratford Iowa! More pictures to follow on that. Last weekend we went to our favorite fishing hole, Don Williams Lake. It is being lowered by about 12 feet to allow repairs to the spillway, so the lake bed is exposed and full of mysteries and treasures of all kinds. More pics of that later too. TTFN my friends!

What Is Freedom?

I was watching the news earlier this week with my sons (Marshall and Mitchell) and a thought struck me as they were showing footage from Libya. I know they're fighting to remove Ga-Daffy Duck from power and gain their freedom, but think about how much freedom they have that you and I don't. Could you take a clapped out old truck and mount an anti aircraft gun in the bed? Go driving at whatever speed you and your friends want and shoot at whatever you see? Cut the roof off of a Taurus and mount a bazooka on it? Don't like some guy?, shoot him. Some guy doesn't like you?, shoot him first. Out of ammo?, steal some from the government. Don't like the government?, steal more than you need. Gun metal AK47 not blingin' enough? Steal a gold plated one from the boss. When do these people find time to ride?! I thought MY schedule was full...
They showed a CNN reporter hunkered down beside a compound wall, gunfire and rockets everywhere. She looked scared witless, while Libyans were calmly strolling down the plaza, not a care in the world! How would you like to ride gravel over there? Not so much! I would, however, enjoy the challenge of mounting an RPG launcher on my top tube ;) Incoming!

Day Three

My third day of this year's ride was a real switch up for me. I rode the entire paved route! As I lay in my impromptu "tent" on Monday night, listening to the previously mentioned Hair Metal/Oldies band killing some good old music (think Skid Row covering China Grove and you're getting an idea) I crumbled to the sense that I really did need to get home in one piece, and had nothing to prove to anyone else by riding off-route again. Mix up a hot cup of troublesome bottom bracket, a dead cell phone, heat index of 110 plus, (for any British readers, the plus here is humidity in the range of tropical areas, which adds to the misery of the heat) and an original plan to ride only gravel all the way back to Boone, and I had to reach the conclusion of riding the route to home. How, and who, would I call if I heat bonked or had a mechanical?
"911, what is your emergency?"
"I'm too hot...."
"Sir?"
"I'm too hot?"
"OK, so is everyone else in half of America. What is your location?"
"I'm riding my bike on a gravel road somewhere East of Carroll."
"Good luck with that sir. Have a nice day." Click/death/decay.
So I just rode along with the herd and took advantage of the food and beverage accommodations that come every 5 miles or so on RAGBRAI. I kid you not, I have never felt like I needed to drink water as much as I did on this last day. I drained my 3 litre Camelback, a 1 litre bottle, and several Gatorades. As I approached the infamous Twister Hill on the edge of Boone (so named because it was used in the filming of the movie Twister, and infamous because it is unrelentingly steep and long!) I thought it was going to be easy to get home. I resigned my pride and decided to walk the hill since my bottom bracket was crunching even on flat sections. I sat down at the top and had a couple of bottles of ice water from the family that was selling them in their yard. When I was done and thought I would be home in 15 minutes or so, I noticed that I had stopped sweating. Strange, I should be pouring out sweat today, hmm. Body shutting down perhaps? Pushing the envelope? NAHHH, I'm invincible, right? 45 is the new 20 man!
So it was back on the bike, take it slow, and just get home! And to my absolute delight, my wife and sons were waiting on the edge of town for me to come in. They had been sitting since mid-morning watching the droves of people come in, shouting out encouragement, and even helping with traffic control! There were some ice cubes in a cooler, which I held to my scorched melon and blissfully realized that I was home again. Ahhh, Boone Iowa. Home. Family. And as it so often goes, I said to myself, "I don't want to ever do that again!" only to realize 20 minutes later that I can't wait for next year. Keep your knees in the breeze! Later!