Lawn Mower Fail « FAIL Blog: Epic Fail Pictures and Videos of Owned, Pwnd and Fail Moments

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so we had a super good turn out for the scramble.  dave got points for driving the furthest to get here.  phil got points for riding a bike that would give a cory townie a run for its money (crappynesswise).  way to many people showed up on fixed gears and kicked ass on them.  joe, jay, john (sort of) jason and phil were all punished the roads with their insanity.  there were, if i recall, 9 flats, 4 of which happened to Rob and two of which happened to Damien.  Is that right?  Or were there more?  We made it home before blinky lights were needed, but not by too much.

Dave took pictures, which he hasnt posted on Flickr yet, so did John (same thing) but Joe has some up here.

I hope everyone had as good of a time as I did, pain aside.  That said, I rode the next day and felt 90 percent OK.

I want to not feel OK next time.  I want to be groveling on the side of the road.  To that end, I propose a mega monster ride for october.  That gives you almost two months to lay off the sauce and ride a bunch.  We could split the ride over two days, but where’s the suffering in that proposal?

I’m thinking sort of an expanded dirty sugar ferry ride, to include much more dirt and plenty of more excuses to get flats.  there would be no singletrack, but just alot of farm roads and potholes.  120 miles.  It’s totally doable.  We’d have to start early, and we’d definately end after dark.

here’s a link to the proposed ride route.  

Go ahead and call me crazy.  There will mad amounts of dirt.  Or you will be mad about the amount of dirt.  Check it against the dirt road database.  There is more dirt than pavement, almost. I’d say at least 40 solid miles of dirt.  Let’s say October 26th for now.   Image from last year’s Ferry Ride here.

Maybe someone knows someone’s yard we can sleep in down that way.

Critical Mass “protests” kind of fall in that gray area of legality and results. But this is just ridiculous, other than getting on the local news, possibly causing accidents or deaths, the amount of awareness that comes out of “protests” like this is debatable.

My Hercules was all ready to go, until the pedals went wonky and dried up on me and started skweeking…I didn’t realize how easy it is to rebuild the Shimano AX-600 integrated pedals until we returned. In true Cory fashion, I rode Christines late 80’s Bianchi Strada LX which was too small for me and was geared for flying on flats…not climbing. We loaded up with gear and some bottled spirits and headed out from my house in downtown. We rode out toward the Fishing creek reservoir and headed up the gravel into the shed. We pretty much rode up the entire climb. I did need to push a couple of times due to no granny gear front ring and Casey walked with me once until he realized that pedaling his bike was easier than pushing.

Arriving at the site at the fall of night, we had a great mild night of camp fire, brewha-ha, and talk. We decided to set up the tent around 1am and were awoken the thud-thud of what was either a trail runner or a sasquatch at 5am. After the most powerful and bitter black coffee EVER brewed, we packed up and got ready to head out. BUT, of course…, Casey had a flat. We climbed up the rest of the gravel to Hamburg road and descended at MACH 3 back into the village. It was awesome.
See more of the pics on flickr.
Rob

So I reconsidered and settled for a compromise of space and functionality over pure aesthetic. Which as you can see is definitely not an issue here. An Einstein Bagels lunch box with handle removed.

Then I got working on a high-tech mounting system that will securely hold my lunch box and it’s payload while riding over bumpy terrain and not be clanky and loud…

Now the fun part….drilling holes with precision and exactitude…

I then secured the lunch box to the mounting system with superior stainless hardware for easy removal at rest stops and so noone steals it while I’m inside a liquor store shoplifting…

So now I can carry my three PB&J sandwiches and a can of Mountain Dew safely and within easy grasp while I’m riding. Plus, I can tape the queue sheet to the inside of the top of the lunch box for easy reading at busy intersections. I’m also going to trick it out with bottle cage mounts on either side for a couple cans of Sparks.
Here’s the finished product!

There’s just enough room for my hands to comfortably grab my dialed BMX brake lever in case of emergency. So there you have it. Seven dollars worth of hardware and a one dollar lunch box from a consignment shop…and I’m rollin’ deep. I tested it (with four innertubes in boxes) around the backyard and it rattles like crazy and clanks and jiggles….perfect.
Rob

Holy cow: Walking consumes more gasoline than driving! | Brad Ideas

I’m a little offended that he didn’t include segways in his analysis. I’m also suprised that he’s the chairman of the EFF.

Biking’s better. The average-diet cyclist is getting 85 miles per gallon of fossil fuel. Still better for 2 to share a Prius. The beefeater is, as before only 1/4 as good. At 21mpg he’s better than a Hummer, but not that much better.

Calfee claims its $3K bamboo bike will save the planet. Riding lugged makes mother earth cry.

Of course, this would involve server space, and alot of work on not only the web interface but also general usability.  How would roads be tagged?  Could we color code them?  Thats my choice.  Roads could even be rated, for traffic, passability, (if its a dirt cow track, maybe 23s arent a good choice) and general pleasantness.  Key features would include elevation output ala route slip, editablity ala the new google maps, terrain maps ala google, satelite imagery, and an easy to use east to print cue sheet like routeslip.

I bet it would cost a bundle to make, and to maintain.  I’m guessing that part of this cost could be offset by getting appropriate advertisers, rivendell, velo orange, ect.  I think the data compilation would be interesting.  We could have content submitted through a blog, directly onto the website, by mail.  It would be an interesting compendium of others rides, thoughts, and interests.  I have started a blog to promote the discussion of this idea, although I guess all discussion could take place right here too.  It just seems easier to move it to another forum.  For now, users could create ‘dirt specific’  routes in routeslip or bikely,or even gmaps, and link them to the blog.  We can start a database without any real work.  It wouldnt be as convient or easy, but it might get cogs turning.

Definition of acceptable road surfaces:  hard packed dirt, wide paths, bike paths, hardpacked gravel, well maintained fireroads, old wagon roads, logging roads that are passable, chip roads.  Each needs its own tag, or maybe it can be narrowed down: dirt, gravel/chip, fireroad/logging road.  Personal favorite: dirt.

Update: no blog yet, wordpress is down.  Perspective name: dirtroaddatabase.wordpress.com, or if availible: drd.wordpress.com

whaddaya guys think?

The technique is made possible by small wireless pollution sensors and custom software that allows the phones to report levels of air pollutants wherever they happen to be around town.

spoke card for the ride spoken of below.

you will be there.

nick, get your ticket. or hide in cory’s baggage.