Yellow Bike

I like bicycling videos.  There's a whole post about them around here somewhere that's been slowly falling apart as the videos disappear off Youtube.  I have bicycles I pound into the ground that last longer than some things on Youtube.  It's not a very permanent platform which surprises me, given the things I put up on it in the early days are still there.  That said, I know of at least one video I have that disappeared because there was copyrighted music playing in the background.  I never post for hits - only for a personal archive, so it's amusing how tightly fair use of whatever is just playing over a speaker somewhere, like a coffee shop, can negate your right to a video.  Given the whole microtransaction culture, you have to worry at some point you might not be able to post something in any way because it has someone's copyrighted/patented color, advertising playing somewhere, clothing patterns, or one of a million things you'll need permission to show.  Hyperbole and vaguely the stuff of science fiction, but it has parallels.

Then again, sometimes it just moves.  I think the Pushbike song is one such example - I should just relink.

Anyway, courtesy of one of the RAGBRAI groups I follow, here's Pedro the Lion singing about his Yellow Bike.

 

3-D Bicycle

My father sent me an article about the world's first 3-D printed bicycle.  I think the coolest thing isn't that it weighs three pounds, but that with the laser printing they can build it as a block of parts, not individual pieces, by melting titanium dust with a laser.

http://www.nbcnews.com/tech/innovation/fine-ride-worlds-first-3-d-printed-bike-frame-weighs-n30761

Truing

This is my bike wheel after a $16 truing from Penn Cycle in Eagan that was part of my spoke replacement.. When it slows down, you'll be able to appreciate the non-truedness of it more fully. As I mentioned before, I'm becoming very disillusioned with bike stores and their ability to repair anything. The fact that I carefully put my receipt where I could find it in case I didn't like their work speaks volumes to my growing distrust.

MS60

Unlike last week's Ironman, which was the first one I'd missed since 1998 because this year I was a single dad and I didn't want to make Eryn wear snow pants to bike, I made it to the MS60 yesterday and it was beautiful.  I told Ming I'm pretty sure I could have done two 60s.

I don't think Ming was quite as up to the distance.  But the general rule is, this year I'm on, this year you're off.  And then next year, you just reverse it.  He asked if losing 40# was having any sort of affect on me.  I'm pretty sure by the end of the ride he noticed it was.  But it was a huge difference this year not having a 4 mph rider with us, and that it wasn't 33 degrees and exceptionally windy.

Ming pumps.


Ming tires to get Logan to take a pre-ride picture.


Logan! What the heck is going on here?!!!  Someone left a message for you on the rider board.  3rd place!?  Ouch...I hope you take your dad back there and erase it.  It's probably still out there at the 3rd rest stop.  How embarrassing!

(While we were there, the guy on the bus said, "Hey, hey...what are you writing sir?"  To which I had to reply, "I'm writing a message to a kid who's not on the ride.  It's funny, not profane.  And I'm going to erase it as soon as I take a picture."  He warned me to be careful of standing where the SAG wagon would drive, just so he could chastise me for something.)

Bikes and Ice Cream

101 Frightening Ice Cream Flavors - squid, sweet potato, wasabi, curry, shrimp, chicken wing, beet and corn, fried pork ring...yes, most of them come from Japan.

Typography - Write a Bike - I think I need one.

Giant Talking Lamp

I originally saw this on The Chive (home to hover hands, pedobears, and random photos of the day) and thought it looked very cool because of the bicycle next to the giant lamp.

Then I found the lamp on http://www.odditycentral.com/pics/the-giant-talking-lamp-of-malmo.html, which includes many photos and a video.  It talks!  It's the Giant Talking Lamp of Malmo, Sweden, and it moves around town during the year.

Trainer Tire

I blew a tube on my bicycle trainer the day before yesterday. When I took a look at the tire to see if there was a problem that would lead to another flat, I noticed that the outside of the tire had actually fallen apart, allowing the tube to squeeze through a hole and pop. So I didn't just need a new tube, I needed a new tire as well. I wouldn't have minded so much, if the tire hadn't been less than a year old. So I removed the whole tire (get it, whole tire, hole tire...ahahaha. F'in bike humor. Sweet) and took it in to Erik's today.

When I talked to the bike shop clerk (and co-clerk, it was very quiet so I got to monopolize their time. The only distraction was a couple looking for a sled and hoping the bike store had one), they recommended a trainer tire. A trainer tire?! I had no idea such things existed. Apparently the rubber on the outside of a training tire is less "sticky", preventing excessive wear, allowing several seasons of use, and, as a bonus, eliminating the plastic-knife scraping I do every other month to remove a layer of rubber from the trainer cylinder. They couldn't get one right away, so I had to buy a regular tire for now and put a training tire on order, but as of Monday or Tuesday, I'll have new tech allowing me to step up my training. I can't believe I've been using my same wind trainer since 1987 and no one ever mentioned this small improvement. It's the little things in life that make me happy.

Bike Plane!

This is my bike plane. It makes me go faster. Or makes it sound like I'm going really fast if I'm riding up behind you. It makes the guy at The Cyclery laugh. It also makes it almost impossible to hear Eryn talking to me, and might actually make it more difficult to hear an approaching car. Here it is in the wind off Lake Harriet near the bandshell. For most of this video it's going so fast it looks like it's barely moving. It goes faster and makes more noise when I'm riding. I like how the sun shines off it in the video. Sometimes that glare hits me in the eyes while I'm riding.

It took me a few hours before I realized I could push it forward against the brake cable so that it could take a well-deserved rest from flying.

Bicycle Art

Yesterday I picked up two bicycle statues for the house at the Dunn Brothers in Rosemount (that's a picture of the Rosemount Cycling Club standing in front of Dunn Brothers - they have this picture of themselves over the fireplace inside. I met the guy in the RAGBRAI shirt while on RAGBRAI). The coffee shop has a number of sculptures on their walls by Jaak, a local artist, and while looking at his website, I noticed that in addition to all the guitars he creates, he had bicycles made from bicycle bits. I sent him an email, and he managed to find parts to create two of them for me. I believe I'm going to hang them in the kitchen in places that wouldn't be big enough for something else, such as over the window. There's a thin space up there, and it will look like a bike is driving across the top of the window frame.