Kids

Things I had to explain to a seven year old recently: the U.S. role in Nicaragua in 1984, and what a Ghost Bike (ghostbikes.org) means.

Portland vegan breakfast

It's almost like they knew I love bikes at Local Sprouts Collective here in Portland. I mean, I don't think the cashier saw my bicycle spoke bracelet, or bicycle keychain.

Unfortunately the vegan tofu scramble was kinda underwhelming. But the place is delightful.

Storage unit moving vehicle!

Also showing off my fancy new reflective tape.

This is how we roll

Another in a series of bike as multipurpose cargo vehicle.

Playa Dust:

The gift that keeps on giving!

This is the seatpost clamp on my Burning Man bike, which I need to swap the seat out on since a BRC Ranger van ran over the seat at Ranger Outpost Berlin.

Sometimes

The groceries don't all fit. Banana bread on the near horizon, due to the $0.99 manager's special ripe bananas!

More on cargo bikes. And mean, nasty, aggressive people.

So, this started out as a pretty vanilla taking cans to the recycling center trip. I was amused that the photo showed the end of a (long disused) stretch of railroad track just down the street from my elementary school.

Then, less than a block after I took this photo, on a slow residential street, a very angry woman who was having a hard time keeping her mail on top of her car screamed at me (yes: screamed) "IF I WAS A COP, I'D BE HAPPY TO GIVE YOU A TICKET!!!"

I briefly considered my options, mostly stopping to ask "Um... what would you give me a ticket for?" since I genuinely wasn't doing anything wrong, much less anything worthy of a ticket. (Side note: the only thing I could even remotely think of is that she doesn't actually know what California Vehicle Code 23115 says about "rubbish vehicles", since it was absolutely covered and secured in such a way as to prevent anything from falling. I am guessing that she thinks anyone transporting aluminum cans by bicycle is a criminal.)

But I made an almost instantaneous decision to not interact: she struck me as the type of angry nasty aggressive person who might very well pack a personal sized pepper spray.

So I rode on. And went through various possible responses in my head. And tried hard to decide if this was a #driverwhohatescyclists or #driverwhohatespeoplewhomightbehomelesswhorecyclecans sort of thing. In the end, it probably was best to ignore her.

Made me sad for Sacramento, though. Especially since, if we could have had a reasoned conversation, I'm pretty sure I could have explained what I was doing, and why, and that I've lived here at least as long as her, likely longer (p.s. I went to elementary school less than a quarter mile away.)

Bought six

But only needed five. So a return trip, also by bicycle!

Just how I roll

That's a four foot long raised bed garden. The bike cargo trailer rocked.

One last visit to the lake

This season, that is. I'll be back sometime.

I'll drive by the lake tomorrow on my way too drop off keys with the property management company, which will keep my streak intact.

Bye, Tahoe. It's been a good season.

Another singlespeed as cargo vehicle!

I love loading up bikes with random shit and riding it around.

Singlespeed as cargo vehicle!

Res ipsa loquitor, no? (Well, res ipsa loquitor if you click on the picture to see the whole image.)

Crown of thorns

Or, what happens when you decide to ride your high pressure, singlespeed tires off road along the Sacramento River. I have thorn resistant tubes and didn't suffer any flats, J's bike had both tires flat (and i didn't save the approximately 35 or 40 thorns i pulled out of her tires.)

More bike as cargo vehicle

This time the mountain bike. Just 'cause.

Hanging out

5/9 of the current posse.

Vegan Indian bike ride food porn!

Certainly not the best Indian food I've ever had, but very tasty in the middle of a 60 mile bike ride in Folsom, California.

Sitba

Sitba as multi purpose cargo vehicle!

 

Yes, that's a lawnmower. 

Bakersfield, you're all right

Ride 6 miles in 100 degree heat and a blistering hot wind to get to Lengthwise Brewing's pub, but it was flat and fast, with courteous drivers, and nice (if under-utilized) river trail. Yeah, this beer is gonna go down just fine.

Sacramento TOMORROW!

Bikes and stuff

Fantastic weekend at my fantastic alma mater, Hampshire. Not enough sleep, but zero other complaint.

A three hour layover in Springfield waiting for my connecting Amtrak to Boston, and I locked out when i literally wandered by the Springfield Museums. 

I only had time for the History Museum, but it was fantastic, with amazing old

bicycles and motorcycles.

Unknown

Where I'm headed next:

Google Maps, sometimes you're just... silly. But occasionally in a cute way.

In other activities today, I had to take a picture of our jeep to send to my mom. I went through literally thousands of images (not all of them: the "Pictures" folder on this computer has 43,140 items, totaling 100.1gb) to try to find a picture of the Jeep, and couldn't find a single one.

I found scores of pictures of bicycles. I love the balance.

Off to the airport to experience the manufactured FAA personnel "crisis"!