Other Stuff I've Been Up To

Haven't been doing too much riding as of late, but still getting out there some. Rode out through Jordan and south to the county line last Tuesday. Around through Ledges and back. I couldn't believe it but I found another old country church East and South of Luther. Never would have had any idea it was out there if I hadn't decided on this route. And this one crept up on me so stealthily that I didn't see it until I was half a block away! It's like a message from Someone!

I made this all-purpose carrier the other day after realizing that a cold beer would be really tasty in the middle of a ride, DUH! So I took a $10.00 gift card that my sons gave me for my bday and went to Ace Hardware. Bought a small assemblage of PVC and some brass screws, nuts, and washers. In total a cost of $10.41. Assembled the ends to the tube, drilled out some holes to mount the strap, screw strap down (brass will hopefully not corrode) and add every sticker I've been hoarding for the last few years. What to call this new invention? I thought of BRUTOOB and Beer Quiver, but BRUTOOB won out. Now I haven't really tested this thing yet but it rests quite nicely on my back and is not very heavy at all. I used thinwall PVC to save some weight. It will hold 5 cans of beer and a 44oz. cup of ice, any bottle of wine and some bread or cheese, Most Whiskey bottles, and I'm sure some Fat Tire 22s would slide in there easily too. I could think of a hundred other uses for this thing and I bet I could sell them if I wanted to. I have a way of inventing things and sitting on them, only to see them marketed later and kicking myself for it! So I'm claiming the name "BRUTOOB" and the concept of a PVC carrier worn messenger bag style. Make your own if you want to, but you saw it here first.

Also, I am making this bike into a ski bike. I dumpster dived the bike from Bike World Ames and sat on it not knowing what I would do with it. I wanted to make a junker singlespeed, but it has a high forward pivot and I didn't think that would work for the chain tension. So I pumped up the tires and did some ghosters off of it! I haven't done that for 30 years! I quit after almost hitting my own car on the third one. Then it struck me to make a snow bike so I scrounged up some skis from a co-worker and am in the process of sourcing some free garage door hinges to mount on the skis and run an axle bolt through. I hope we actually get some snow this year so I can go out to Murder Hill and shred it! I will post a few after shots of the finished bike and maybe a few action shots. Better teach the kids how to run the camcorder so I can maybe win some money on AFHV or Country Fried Videos! Later! I think I am riding the CYCAT Sunday, anybody else?