Morning Ride 05-30-09

This morning I went on my first ride since I sold the Trucker. Earlier in the week I was trying to figure out how I was going to take my Nikon SLR camera along on my ride. I was going to ride my son's old Trek which is equipped with a rear rack and a trunk bag only. The camera just doesn't fit in my trunk bag with my cable lock and emergency supplies. The trunk bag is a cheap item that I bought from Bike Nashbar several years ago. I have to keep a square plastic Tupperware container in the bag so that it will maintain it's shape. There's much less room in the bag than you would think by looking at it. Luckily I've sold a few shirts during the week which gave me a little spare money. I drove over to City Cyclist and bought a Wald front basket which will alow me to carry my camera and few other items.

The Crowne Plaza Invitational at Colonial (it's a pro golf tournament) was in full swing today. I'm not a golf fan but I figured It would be interesting to roll by and see what was going on. I heard a radio interview with an official at the Colonial golf club who said that the majority of the top 100 pro golfers in the world would be playing. Other than Tiger Woods or Chi Chi Rodriguez I wouldn't recognize any of them if I saw them.

This is Chi Chi.

Here's the new Wald basket. I had mounted it horizontal to the ground but as I rode the handlebar mounts shifted downward leaving the basket slanted up toward the front.

I stopped off to replace the batteries in my crappy little point and shoot camera. I carry it in the top tube bag. It burns through batteries like crazy.

I ended up following these riders for a while.

On the trail and still following.

When I pulled up to the Colonial there were lots of people watching the action from outside of the fence.

Bike parking courtesy of Bicycles Inc.  

I found an opening in the bushes where I could see what was happening.

Traffic was very heavy on Colonial Parkway. As I rode away from the golf course I noticed that most neighborhood residents were charging people $20-$50 to park on their lawns. This made riding tricky as you had to watch people for people pulling out of the yards in front of you.  

Water slide for the kids.

Headed for home.

Evening Ride 03-17-09

I should have avoided the trail.  There were lots of families out today and I was almost taken down by a little girl on a scooter. I forgot that it was spring break. 

Lots of traffic on the trail this evening.

I bought a new helmet on my last visit to City Cyclist. It's a Bell Faction. I peeled off the Bell stickers. I wanted something a little less performance oriented for the type of riding I do. So far it's been very comfortable but the weather's been cool. We'll see how it works out when we hit triple digit temperatures in a few months. 

The rain freshened up the creek. The water was looking a little nasty a couple of weeks ago.

This wonderful artwork was provided to the users of the Trinity Trails courtesy of "Speck". Speck had been busy. Not all of this was done on the same day. There is more grafitti on the other side of the bridge. I ride this trail all the time and I really don't want to see this area trashed.

A couple of weeks ago me and my son were out on an evening ride when I smelled paint fumes as we approached the bridge. I saw a pair of legs at the top of the embankment. Speck was more than a little surprised when I walked up on him and snatched him out from under the bridge. Unfortunately a couple of spray cans flew out of his backpack and into the creek. He was in the process of creating this eye pleasing design. Speck is an unemployed, presumably upper middle class, 21 year old man. I won't use his real name but I was hoping that by this time the city would have forcefully encouraged this moron to paint over this mess. If you see this tag anywhere else around town please let me know.

I think it's a little too late to do anything about this. I'd seen this bike a hundred times but I never noticed the date. I figured this had been done about that time period as there is a Van Halen logo and and Tesla drawn in the concrete a little further down the trail. 

I had just taken the photo above when the guy in the right side of this picture yelled out that he reads my blog. That was cool! Thanks for letting me know.

City Cyclist

City Cyclist is one of the newest bike shops in town. According to their website they opened in 2007. They were originally located a couple of doors over in the same shopping center but they quickly outgrew the space. They had their grand re-opening last weekend. This new location is a huge improvement and co-owners Debbie Bartlett and Mike Nichols are proud of it. They are geared toward servicing commuters, recreational cyclists and recumbant riders which means that anybody can walk in here with a discount store bike or ask questions without encountering "attitude". The shop has quickly become the favorite of a certain infamous supercommuter/ blogger known as Doohickie (here's his commuting blog).

My son's Trek needed a derailleur adjustment so I decided to have my older son run the bike over for some professional attention. I picked up the bike this afternoon which gave me the chance to have a nice conversation with the owners. Mike gave me a tour of their new space so I took the opportunity to snap a few photos. 

Biria Classic Dutch Bike

I didn't notice at the shop but it looks like this trike is equipped with a generator hub. Pretty neat!

Mike told me that they wanted an open shop area so that customers would feel comfortable approaching the mechanics while their bikes are being worked on.

This area is going to be a bike cleaning station that will be available to customers. You can bring your own cleaners or use some provided by the shop (for a small fee). There is a drain in the floor and a small washout sink. There will also be an airhose attached to the line on the wall that can be used to dry your bike.

Owners Debbie and Mike

I may have convinced Mike to sponsor some short, easy paced rides starting from the shop and various locations around town. The guys from Bike Friendly Oak Cliff have started regular themed rides, it would be nice to have something similar. 

City Cyclist is located at 6236 McCart Avenue in Fort Worth. Take the time to stop by and visit.