This and That

I rode today for this first time since June 23rd. Life has been conspiring against me. I took a slow ride over to Barnes and Noble to pick up....

this months Bicycle Times. I should just subscribe.

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I've been working on my son's new old bike. I re-greased the front hub with no issues. When I got to the rear hub I decided to remove the pie plate. I was going to remove what I thought was a freewheel to get to it. It wasn't a freewheel but it also wasn't like any freehub I'd ever seen. After conferring with the guys and gals in the BABBLE group, the hub was identified as a Shimano Uniglide. According to Sheldon Brown, replacement parts are hard to come by. I just cut up the pie plate with a box cutter and moved on.

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I just heard a report on the local news that a family, mother, father, and seven year old daughter were standing on a rock barrier in the Trinity River at Trinity Park, that's here in Fort Worth. The daughter slipped and fell in the river. Her parents jumped in after her. Her father was swept away by the current and drowned. A passing cyclist, Jeff Harrison, pulled the mother and daughter from the river. He performed CPR on the mother and saved her life. Apparently there were other people present but nobody bothered to do anything. Shameful!!! Thank God for men like Jeff Harrison. Jeff, if you read this I'd be proud to buy you dinner sometime.

Here's the story in the Fort Worth Star Telegram

Photo from the Fort Worth Star Telegram.

Afternoon Ride 03-22-10

It was beautiful today, temperatures were in the high 60's with lots of sunshine. Perfect swarming weather for gnats. I realized this within the first hundred yards of riding on the Trinity Trail. My Sweaty skin insured that every gnat that hit me stuck fast. When I neared my destination I pulled over and spent a fair amount of time brushing them out of my hair corners of my eyes, pretty much everywhere. I was being really careful not to smear them on my clothing. I also relearned an important lesson, wear eye protection. Needless to say, I took a different route home.

We had some heavy rain the other day so I wasn't too optimistic about being able to cross the river. I was surprised to find the crossing was mostly dry although you can see that the water is high and will flood the crossing during the next rain.

Trinity Trails improvement progress: Cement has been poured. I'm sure that they'll be adding some form of railing soon.

I stopped at Barnes & Noble and picked up the most recent issue of Bicycle Times and enjoyed a high priced iced chai beverage at the co-located Starbucks. This issue of BT appears to have several articles on loaded touring. Interesting. You can see my new U lock in the photo. I had never used one before and I quickly discovered that I didn't know the best method for securing my bike. I thought that you enclosed the frame and rear wheel to a fixed object but I couldn't get that to work. I'll do some research.

Spring has sprung. Texas Redbud tree.

Stress Relief

I arrived home after work yesterday, hot and tired. I really didn't want to do anything physical. Having eaten a Quarter Pounder with cheese and fries for lunch that day, I felt guilty and thought that I had better get off of my rear end and ride. I'm glad I did. Work has been stressful lately and riding seems to put me in a much more relaxed mood. Unfortunately I've been averaging only one ride per week. I need to resume my 5 AM rides.

Things cooled off nicely late in the afternoon.

I'm still browsing bike sites trying to figure out just what I want to buy sometime in the not too distant future. A thread in Bike Forums brought this bike to my attention, it is a KHS Green 3 speed city bike. By coincidence the bike was favorably reviewed in the latest issue of Bicycling Times magazine, although it is also being sold as the Manhattan Green. Manhattan and KHS are one and the same. It sells for around $370 and is made from simple, low-tech hi-tensile steel. I think a beat up old Brooks would be a nice addition to this bike. I could see myself riding one of these.

The Green is also comes in a woman's step thru frame.

Sunday Morning Ride 05-03-09

We were pounded by a series of thunderstorms yesterday. The first one around noon was the worst with 60+ mile per hour winds and hail. This was the storm that a short while later destroyed the Dallas Cowboy's training facility.

I didn't see anything ominous on the weather radar this morning, so I jumped on my bike and rode to Barnes and Noble for this month's bike magazines. I didn't bother riding to the nearest B&N which is less than a mile away, but headed to the one that best facilitated my planned ride to the area of University Drive south of I-30. I was surprised at just how well our area weathered the storm. There were a few large branches on the ground but nothing like the damage I had expected.

This is what it looked like in front of my house yesterday as the storm arrived. 

The Cowboys' practice facility collapsed while the rookies were training. There were injuries but fortunately nobody was killed.

I took a short break after climbing this hill on Rogers Avenue just south of the river.

I had seen this community garden before but hadn't bothered to stop. 

This looks like a nice place to relax.

These are Bluebonnets, the "State Flower of Texas". There will be billions of these growing along the roads and highways in the next few weeks.

I was really surprised to see this. Dirt Rag has a new offshoot called Bicycle Times. This is great! I love Dirt Rag but I don't do much mountain biking anymore. Bicycle Times is basically Dirt Rag but geared towards commuters and the general riding that I, and most of the people that read my blog, tend to do. That's a great idea and I plan to subscribe. Please pick up a copy and let's support these guys.