I'm Back.

Once again, things at the RTP household have been a bit hectic, and once again, I have neglected by blog friends. Sorry about that. Here's something I meant to post last week but wasn't able to get around to it.

Sometime early last week I made my way over to Trinity Bicycles and asked if they had any touring pedals on hand. I walked out of there with a pair of Grip Kings. So far I like them.

I've been needing a pouch for my Kindle. I've got some left over cotton duck that I though would work for the exterior. I just needed some padding and a soft fabric for the interior of the pouch. I rode over to the closest fabric store to pick up the materials.

I forgot my lock so I leaned my bike against the window where I could keep an eye on it. I then shoved my jacket through the spokes between the fork and basket stays in the hope that it might slow a thief down long enough for me to run outside and grab hold of him.

I took my time browsing through the sewing gadgets and accessories (I believe they are called notions but I refuse to use that word, it's kind of girly).

I laid everything out and got to work. It didn't take long for things to go down hill. Sewing padding between two layers of fabric is a real pain in the rear. Everything kept bunching up no matter how many pins I used. I ended up with a pouch but it can't be described as attractive. I will make another attempt at producing a functional and presentable pouch this weekend.

I picked up this sewing awl at Tandy Leather Factory after reading about a similar item here. It should come in handy for repairing all kinds of gear.

Afternoon Ride 12-23-10

I let Bernie replace the bent axle on my rear wheel rather than handle it myself. I'm glad I did. Bernie ran into some problems obtaining the right part. It was a minor annoyance for him but I would have been pulling my hair out. I picked up my wheel yesterday, this morning I was out riding for the first time in a month.

It was cold, dark, and gloomy today. When I say it was cold, I mean it was cold for me. It was 50 degrees (10 Celsius).

Somebody has been decorating this little tree along the Trinity Trails for the past few years. It's always nice to see.

I really don't have much in the way of winter riding gear. I've taken to wearing pants (usually jeans), a fleece pullover, and my old yellow, waterproof-breathable Helly Hansen shell. I look rather pensive in this photo.

Playing around with the timer.

A birdhouse along the trail. That's the railyard in the background. This isn't the most scenic spot.

Snack time. My peanut butter bar didn't handle the cold too well. It was like eating a brick.

Cranksgiving

Yesterday was Trinity Bicycles' first Cranksgiving charity alleycat. The goal was to collect food for the Tarrant Area Foodbank. We were given a manifest with addresses of Fort Worth grocery stores and descriptions of the items to be purchased at each location. We were then sent out across the city. The first person to visit each location and return to Trinity Bicycles with all required items and corresponding receipts would win the one of a kind Cranksgiving trophy.

I showed up at the shop and managed to catch a photo of the two fastest guys in this event, Michael O'brien (2nd place), in the red jersey, and Jeremy Shlacter (1st place), in the white and blue jersey.

The 1st place trophy

I overheard one of the other contestants talking about the trophy. Apparently it was part of a musuem display (Texas Cattlemans Museum?). At one time there was a cowboy kneeling on the calf preparing to brand it, which is why it is in the strange position that it's in. Somehow one of the guys at Trinity got ahold of it and found a truly creative use for this thing. It will be passed on to next years winner, kind of like the Stanley Cup. It's quite a conversation piece.

This awesome piece of American machinery was parked around the corner from the shop.

Bernie and Bryan provided instructions and handed out the manifests. We were given 10 minutes to review the maps before the start of the race.

1st stop in east Fort Worth. We were instructed to pick up three cans of vegetables at this store.

I initially started the race alone. I didn't have my glasses and had trouble reading the maps. Thankfully I crossed paths with a group of three kind individuals (Keith, Robin, and Jenette) who invited me into their group. I stayed with them throughout the remainder of the event.

Jenette and Keith at our second stop, Target on 7th Street. I never did get a good photo of Keith.

Robin and Jenette

Third stop in west Fort Worth.

Reviewing the maps.

Last stop in south Fort Worth. This group showed up just as we were leaving.

This was the scene at check-in. We were finished pretty far down on the list. The Trinity guys arranged for some free post-race food at T&P Tavern. Everybody had a great time.

Awesome! Paul Moore, a.k.a. Twister, took this photo of Jeremy and his new friend. Paul finished in 6th place. Obviously his job as a Fedex driver was a benefit as far as navigation was concerned.

Sunday Afternoon Ride 09-05-10

I ordered a pair of inverse brake levers from Trinity Bicycles. Friday afternoon Bryan sent me a message on Facebook letting me know that the levers had arrived. So this afternoon I was off to Trinity.

A short delay. Traffic was backed up so I just sat in the shade and waited for things to die down.

I'm really excited about this. Avoca Coffee will be opening in the old Sundance Scooter location. They'll be roasting their own coffee on site. We've been needing an independently owned coffee house for some time

I stopped for a quick break and a photo.

Here's Bryan, one of the owners of Trinity Bicycles, and a darn good guy.

Riding through downtown to the Trinity Trails.

I've seen this cable setup for several months now and wondered what it was. I would never have guessed it's actual use.

The cable drags you through the water at a high speed towards the jump in the photo following this one. I kept thinking about the alligator gar photo I posted a little while back.

The wakeboarding business is an interesting addition to Trinity Park. I'm personally not much of a water sports guy but I hope it does well.

Trail maintenance encountered on my return trip. They added a detour that can be seen on the right side of the photo.

The dirt detour continues up this hill and goes on for about a quarter of a mile. It was actually alot of fun to ride.

I'll be installing the levers on an old set of Albatross bars which will go on my Takara touring bike. I hope to have this done by the end of next week.

Stay-cation!

I hadn't planned to take off work this week but I'm pretty well burnt out. So, I'm on vacation and true to the definition of a "stay-cation", I'm staying home with no plans to do anything other than lay around, watch the Tour, and take the occasional ride. I kicked off the week of fun and relaxation by joining in the second ever Bikes and Baguettes ride going from Trinity Bicycles to H.E.B. Central Market in Fort Worth. Here's a few photos from the fun, yet sweat drenched event (it was 102 degrees today).