Thanks Jon!

This just arrived in the mail today. Go to Jon's blog if you'd like one for yourself.

Random Stuff 05-15-09

I can't believe that I actually got to ride today! I decided to keep it relatively short so that I could spend some time with the family. 

This is a nice little creek that is home to numerous ducks and other waterbirds. The water is fresh and clear thanks to the recent rains.

Lancaster Bridge.

Now on to the random stuff:

Jon Grinder: Jon is selling some cool enamelled pins that one of his buddies designed. They're $6 each. Drop by Jon's blog for more info.

Caffeinated Wheelman Association

Rocket Fuel-Vintage Cycling Style: Not too long ago I wrote about the Tweed Ride in Eugene, Oregon.  Susan from Rocket Fuel emailed me about the Tweed Ride scheduled for June 7th in Sydney, Australia. It's amazing how popular these rides are becoming.

Susan makes some great looking cycling caps.

Archival Clothing: This blog has quickly become one of my favorite stops. The two most recent posts are about musette bags. I'm sure this will appeal to some of the folks who stop by here on a regular basis.

Change Your Life, Ride a Bike: Everybody else in the cycling/ blogging community probably already knew about this new blog, but not me. Meligrosa of Bikes and the City Fame and Adrienne Johnson have teamed up to create a blog "for people to share how riding a bike has changed how they see themselves and the world." Take a look.

This photo of Meligrosa was taken by San Francisco photographer Dustin Jensen. Check out his blog for more photos.

Adrienne Johnson

The Everyday Cyclist: Here's another cool U.K. blog that I've been following. It's news, reviews, and insights into Lycra free cycling.

Up Before Dawn

After a long delay I started my pre-dawn riding again. As much as I'd like to ride after work I'm usually worn out and looking to relax. It was beautiful and fairly warm this morning as I rolled out of the house around 5 AM. All I needed was my wool jersey to keep me comfortable. There weren't many riders on the trail and thankfully there were no stupid skunks to dodge . The only hiccup occurred when my point and shoot camera screwed up on me. The camera froze with the LCD screen on and the lens extended. I just let the batteries die as I usually only get 7 to 8 flash shots per fresh set of batteries and I had already taken several photos. I've really grown to hate this camera. 

No cars!

This is my turn around point. From here I can ride back to my house and have time for a shower and breakfast before I head off to work.

Now I wanted to take time to promote a great guy and a cool little business. Jon, the man behind Grinder Bikes,  happened to read one of my posts a while back about the stiff jockey wheel on my wife's derailleur. He contacted me and offered a replacement. We did a little trading and I ended up with an excellent Shimano 600 Arabesque long cage derailleur. 

Jon refurbishes older bikes and can do a custom build for you. He's got lots of pictures of past builds that you can check out on his website. He's having a sale in the near future so if you're looking for a bike (he'll ship it to you) or you're trying to track down some old parts be sure to get in touch with him. Here's a link to his blog. 

Jon built up this U08 for a lady that had her bike stolen.