Long Beach, California

I've been in Long Beach, CA since Monday.

I understand why cruisers make sense here. There are miles and miles of paved walkways along the ocean. Flat, slow, pleasant. Cruisers excel in this department. There's also a ton of carbon/full kitted racer types, most going about the same pace as the cruisers. It's weird.

I've seen a few brave souls commuting.

It seems like there are two types of roads here: slow back streets and 50 mph multi-lane gashes chopping up otherwise walkable neighborhoods. The gashes create the many smaller locales in the Long Beach area: South Beach, Downey, Bellflower, etc. If you want to cross a gash you must walk to a crossing light, which seems like it's usually at least 1/4 mile or so away in either direction.

I think if I lived here I would surf. Our hotel is on the Pacific Coast Highway, which is the final gash that separates humans from the ocean. Our hotel room looks out over the ocean. The last couple mornings, Maddie and I have got up at 6 am, got a coffee and chocolate milk at Jack in the Box and sat in the sand, watching the surfers come out for their morning ride. You can tell right away that like anything worthwhile, that it takes skill to surf. Some surfers battle frantically against the waves while others just seem to work with the waves and enjoy the ride.

Anniversary

It's been a year since I started this blog. My first post on Nov 10th, 2006 is here. I've nothing deep and philosophical to say about this fact.

Check out the bike above. That bike belongs to my buddy Patrick. As far as I know, that is his first set of coroplast fenders. Nicely done. Great coverage.

You can tell a lot about a guy's patience threshold, general sense of aesthetics, and of course how he votes, by studying his coroplast fenders.

Richard Rush just sent an email asking for his campaign signs back. Sorry Richard. There are not many green/white campaign signs. I'll be hording mine for just the right bike. And I'll probably grab my neighbor's too.

The Oregon bike builders show was this weekend. My buddy Alex went. He's sure to post a blog on it. But I see he's uploaded his pics here.

click to go to James' site for more pics

Finally, in the "yet another person designing what they want and just getting it built themselves

department," here is James Black's "cargo truck" bike. It's got twenty inch wheels, removable/convertible racks. The idea is that you could have a child seat or a bigger rack with universal fittings that you can slide onto the main "mast." Dig the NuVinci hub. I like how small the bike is and I like his idea of providing two dropouts on the front fork to adjust trail for the load. According to this thread, he says that changing trail does not require a brake adjustment. Smart stuff.

The same fork concept was used on some random and rare GT bikes in the early 90's. It's a great idea. A friend of mine has one of these GT bikes. I think I want to get a hold of it so it doesn't disappear.

Ye Ol Workbike

I spied this 'merican made beauty in the passage way between Madeline's and the Pita Pit downtown. Turns out it belongs to the Pita Pit. Pita Pit delivers, but according to the woman at Madeline's, the Pita Pit person is "rethinking the bike delivery" bit.

I'd say if anyone was in the market, this bike may come cheap -- at least save shipping if you've been thinking of ordering one.

This bike is great for downtown. But since it's a single gear, any dreams of it going up and down the south hill are out -- as long as I'm the guy riding it.

However, a certain ice cream shop on the south hill is co-owned by a certain couple who happen to live in West Central, which happens to be a flat ride into downtown, where folks -- I'm sure --would love to buy locally made ice cream from a guy-or-a-gal-on-a-bike.

Preliminary Election Results

Right on. Preliminary counts suggest that Verner and Rush won. Nothing's final yet, but despite a huge infusion of money and mean jabs/ads by their opponents in the last few weeks of the election, looks like they came out ahead. The fact that voters here were not swayed by the money machine and the Rovian-style spin jobs they had to endure gives me hope.

In fact, I am downright inspired by the fact that the folks of Spokane appear to have elected these two progressives. This is not the town I grew up in. I think this is the first step to building a great city for our kids.

Now the real work starts.

Hauling to P2P

Tonight was Pedals2People garage night. I was feeling pretty good about my load: one bike stand, one half-rack of beer, and a big box of lights from the BAW Get Lit program. I only have to go a couple miles with my load to get to the garage. And it's basically flat.



After we'd been at the garage for a hour or so doing work, Patrick pulls up with a real load: a basket full of crap and two bikes stuffed in a Burely Trailer. He humped this stuff up the south hill -- from West Central to 42nd and Grand. I had to tell him to smile though when I took this photo.

Cyclocross at 7 Mile

My buddy Scott and our kids went to the cyclocross race today at 7-mile. We ran into Taylor of EPM fame and all watched the race. This guy in the picture was a lot of fun to watch. He was riding a single speed steel bike. He had the logos taped so I'm not sure what it was. But it had vertical dropouts -- he was running a chain tensioner.

I liked this guy because he was pushing hard the entire time and he looked like he was having a lot of fun. It's kind of hard to tell from that picture up there, but he's airborne. This next photo shows him taking off the other side of this road.

Cyclocross is Happening Now

Last year I went to the local cyclocross races for the first time. The last road race I remember seeing was when the Olympic Time Trials went a block away from my house back in 1984(?). They zipped past in a flash on the climb up to Highdrive. Until I saw cyclocross last year, that 20 second glimpse of bike racing I witnessed as a child was the extent of my time as a spectator to any kind of cycling competition.

Cyclocross is great as a spectator. The course is small and you can walk around in the course while the riders are grinding by. And of course it's more fun because the racers are riding on trails, grass, dirt and running up steep hills while shouldering their bikes. Watching a good cyclocross racer navigate hard spots is fun too. It takes skill to maneuver what is basically a fat-tired road bike across a challenging course.

Kids like it too. Spectators beat on cow bells. We borrowed a cow bell for this year, so that will keep Maddie occupied for a bit longer.

Anyway, the 2007 Inland Northwest Cyclocross Series event calendar is here. It's nearly over and we've not yet gone this year. There is one tomorrow at Riverside State Park - 7 mile. Another at Farragut State park next Sunday, and the finals are at Highbridge Park on Sun, Nov 18th. Races start at noon and they are free. It's a great family outing.

We plan on picnicking and hanging out at the Highbridge race for sure. I'm not sure if we'll get our act together to get out to 7-mile tomorrow.