Wednesday, July 29, 2009

but it creates jobs

If you read from the pages of the liberal media, texting while driving is 23x more likely to get you into an accident, as compared to not texting. I'm in the belief that any extracurricular activity while driving should be illegal until proven it's at least as safe to do without; not like there are lives at risk, right?


more from Mike Lockovich

Sunday, July 26, 2009

bad news cycles

So I ride up to the Rainbow grocery in the Uptown district. I dismount, note the new bike rack, and also note there are more bikes in the rack than it's designed for. So I stand back a minute, as no fewer than four people are unlocking their bikes; two of these people are men, men who introduce themselves to each other and quickly take the small talk to that of bicycles and what an amazingly sweet shop re-cycle is up on Hennepin. These guys are in such agreement they decide to engage in mutual masterbation while furthering their positive discussion of this shop known to the rest of the city for their ridiculously over-priced bicycles as well as their unsafe and uneducated maintenance practices. The younger reddish bearded guy with the piece of shit yellow 1980's 10-speed says he paid 200-bucks for it at this shop; I try with all my might not to cough up my right testical in the notion that not only did he pay that much for what was clearly 20-dollars worth of 75-pounds, but that someone else is balsy enough to ask that much for it; something I'm obviously not able to get away with, what with my near loss of a gonad and all. Not surprising is that he quickly mentions that after plunking 200-clams for this jalopy, he had to go back 2-days later to get it adjusted, as none of the gears worked. No shit?

So when the intimacy dies down a bit, re-cycle guy #1 finally moves his bike out of the way, undresses me with his eyes, before moving himself out of the way. I walk in, the lines are 15+ long, I go back out and ride my elite ass to Lunds, wishing none of this ever occurred. Then I went home and wrote about it. Sad.

Seriously, stay away from this place; should have mentioned it sooner. And while we're at it, stay away from the Rainbow too.

Installation art, I suppose.

from thereifixedit.com

Saturday, July 25, 2009

Magura HS77 - hydraulic

My buddy Christof has Magura hydraulic rim brakes on several of his bikes; his single-speed road bike is the latest to see this hydraulic upgrade.

Wednesday, July 22, 2009

high maintenance and espresso

Like this guy doesn't have a big enough head already, Emily Utne photographs him and gets published in the City Pages fashion something or other:


Look carefully and you'll even find the camera elusive but always fashion savvy Tammy - okay, you've been outed, time to get on the facebook.

Switching topics; I've got a nice long list of places I don't order espresso from, but a very short list of where I find it acceptable; my own house included, of course. One of the good ones is Dragonfly Coffee, on 50th and Penn; talk to Larz, he's off to a great start.

Wednesday, July 15, 2009

Freeride 4; 29 August 2009

Don't pay attention to the flyer; it's the 29th.

shootin it old school

These are from the Rose's 4th of July freedom party. I had to develop and scan them, so get over the wait, whydontcha.

3-speed Dunelt.
Dunelt

The Peacock Groove GNR edition. This thing is fast fast fast; a note to Noren, add a dang brake!
Peacock Groove / GNR

Let's wrap up this trio with a shot of a classic Le Tour deux.
Le Tour II

That was nice.

Monday, July 13, 2009

Joe Novotny, RIP

I just learned a friend and workmate was killed this weekend while riding his bicycle with his Santa Clarita Velo team in southern CA; hit and run by a drunk driver.
Joe was a hell of a good man. I worked with him quite a bit on a project when he was living in Belgium, and I always looked forward to seeing him several times a year when he came back to MPLS from his new home in CA. You are missed.

updated with photo and news link.




Update:
Motorist from Canyon Country gets 26 years to life in prison for killing Stevenson Ranch cyclist
A Canyon Country man who was on probation for two underage drunk driving convictions when he drove into a group of bicyclists, killing one, was sentenced Tuesday to 26 years to life in prison.
Marco Antonio Valencia, now 22, was found guilty in April of the July 2009 death of Joseph Novotny, a 43-year-old bicyclist from Stevenson Ranch.
Valencia, who was 20 at the time, drove his Ford F-150 pickup truck into a pack of four cyclists on Bouquet Canyon Road in the Santa Clarita hills. Novotny was killed and the other three riders were injured.
Valencia fled the crash scene and was arrested 90 minutes later by the California Highway Patrol. Three hours after the crash, his blood alcohol level was at .17 - more than double the legal limit, according to officials, who pegged his BAC at .23 at the time of the crash.
Valencia was convicted of second-degree murder, gross vehicular manslaughter while intoxicated, leaving the scene of an accident and driving with a .08 percent blood-alcohol level causing injury.
At the time, he was on probation for two misdemeanor DUI convictions, including one from a 2008 crash into a power pole in Canyon Country, which knocked out electricty to nearby homes.
Novotny had been riding down Bouquet Canyon with about 30 other bicyclists from the Santa Clarita Velo cycling club about 11a.m. on July 11, 2009.
The Minnesota native, who had moved to Stevenson Ranch the winter before to work as the general manager of a liquid-filtration company, was in a smaller group of bikers when Valencia came barreling down the two-lane road.
The truck threw Novotny about 20 feet, according to a witness.
"There was just this carnage of bikes," Bob Santaella, a fellow biker who came upon the group soon after, told the Daily News in 2009. "Joe was the first guy I saw. He never said a word. I knew he could hear me because I could see his eyes moving and he was breathing. I just asked him to hang on and wait for help.
"Joe took his last breath right in front of me."
A witness reported seeing Valencia's truck weaving up the road for several miles, crossing over into the opposite lane, running into a chain-link fence, and nearly sideswiping a car.
Novotny has since been honored with a cross that the cycling club's members placed at the crash site.
http://www.dailynews.com/20110628/motorist-from-canyon-country-gets-26-years-to-life-in-prison-for-killing-stevenson-ranch-cyclist

braaap!

Gene

More from Saturday night.

Friday, July 10, 2009

melee in Murrieta

Drinking, skateboards, the sight of a bicycle, water catch basins, the 24500 block of Calle San Vicente, and the po-leece. All I'm sayin' on the matter is I've got an alibi, not that it's likely to stick mind you, but it's an alibi nonetheless.

Thanks to John at Calhoun Cycle for fixing the spoke machine and cutting me a fresh set for the wheel I just built.

The weekend is near, you've earned seeing this one again - turn up the volume real loud so the other cube dwellers can fully appreciate your lack of participation in the task that is your life:


God Came From Space; Saturday night at Stasius. Get outside and be there.

Tuesday, July 7, 2009

Summer, 2009


So it's the start of another year of the Bicycle Film Festival. I think I'd prefer if Brent lined this up in MPLS so it hits when it's -20F outside; I'd be more likely to go sit in a theater that time of year.

I put a 30 lb bag of dog food on the front rack of the Glove Live tonight and it rode wonderfully. A side note, are aerobars really necessary on the bikeways around MPLS? I say probably not, but that's just our (my) opinion.

And finally, though it hurts me to break this to you, I just heard Michael Jackson passed away. I know, I know.

Monday, July 6, 2009

Slotown Monday

You're trying to tell me the 4th weekend has come and gone, already? Well if that's the case, a big thanks to the Rose's for inviting numbskulls like me to their usual gathering and to Bender for supplying and putting on the best fireworks show in the neighborhood.

Got a ride from Peterson's Pedicabs this weekend; flag him down and catch a ride.

Like to watch bicycle races on the teley? This fresh in from Linden:
For the 5th year, the Riverview Theater will again be offering viewing of select stages of the Tour de France. The Tour will be shown live on the Riverview's big screen for six of the stages. Four of the six stages will be mountain stages, and the final stage will be the finish in Paris. This year, for the first time, it will be presented in HD.
Doors will open at 7am on Saturday and Sunday mornings July 11-12, July 18-19, and July 25-26. Coverage each morning will last until 10:30am. Admission is free with a donation to the local food shelf; either a non-perishable food item or suggested $2 cash. In addition to the regular concessions menu, bagels and cream cheese, muffins, juice and coffee will be available. Please be advised that no other food or beverages may be brought into the building, as per our usual policy.
Like folk music? Then check out Brianna Lane's Porch Light song; it's on the Let You In album, which deserves a purchase:

Thursday, July 2, 2009

photo pholks

Many memories for me of this film and its vivid results; I've got 6 more rolls to load and shoot before it's gone. No, I'll be okay.


Any photo peoples out there? Check out this review of the 1200mm 5.6L EF lens; only a few in the world, no longer in production, available used at 120k USD.

3 down; don't rest up just yet

Boys arrested for throwing rocks at cyclists in Minneapolis


For all of us who've had shit thrown at us while riding the assaultway over the years, this is a small token of justice.