Ride Lugged

Not really sure what to say about this one. weird?

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Just posted on cycling news.com(and not even on April 1st):

“the big news: Campagnolo will apparently make the jump to an 11-speed cassette for its top three groups which will now include a modern revival of the Super Record nameplate.”

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

so here is my super quick guide to bike lighting, not really for you to read now, but more so you can ref it later, when i link to it and yeah.

our rambles end in the dark or the dusk, as a rule. people dont believe me when i say a ride is going to last 7 hours, even if it is only a 45 mile ride. you see, we eat, pant, bitch, get flats, warm up and freeze, and all that takes time. plus we are all slower than a potatoe growing spuds in a paper bag, so, we ride along at 6.2 mph, on average.

so: lighting. i think i am going to require it. because if anyone got smooshed on one of my rides i’d feel bad. and i’d have to scrape your brain up and put it in my sigg. and siggs are pricey.

next ride we do, you gotta have a head light and a tail light. one that you can actually see with. that means not a light that you cant see with. whats that mean? you need more than 1 watt o’ power, led or halogen. Also, tail lights. get a big bright one. those little watch battery ones dont crank out the jams.

what works? on the cheap and crappy end, those cateye halogen joints that eat batteries (the HL-MC200 is 2.4 watts and costs less than 20 bucks. get two?) on the high end of the led world, b and m’s new ixon light looks ugly, but is reportedly quite bright.  i have ridden with the cat eye el 50o, its better than most, but you need two to really see.  also, eats batteries.

up front, if you make, say 75000 dollars a year and have no constituents, and say, need a new front wheel, get a generator hub and halogen headlight.  super bright, on when you need it off when you dont.  90 for the hub, 40 for spokes, 30-90 for a rim, 30 for the headlight.

right.  so around back…  cat eye’s TL-LD1000 is retardedly bright, ask rob.  not that he uses one.  but his wife does.  cheaper but still good is the hasselhoff approved tl ld600.  its half the cost but bizarrely ugly and bulky.  which would explain why mark uses one.  planet bike also makes the ugly but brightest of the bright ’super flash’ supposedly the only tail light visible in the day time, and at night visi up to a mile.  30 bones to not get run over not bad…

if you do the generator thing, i can help, i’ve set up half a dozen different styles.  leave a comment and i’ll help you out.

No diggity.

freezing rain sucks.  so does wind, slippery roads, ect.  if this is the weather of the tomarrow, we will meet same time same place, corys house, 12ish, start drinking, maybe ride around town a bit, maybe maybe do a short ride sub 12 miles.  more drinks will be followed by more drinks, food of some sort, drinks with drink chasers.  there will be drinks, drink drink drinks.  then there will be drunks.

call me T.S.  

so we have reached that time of year. the time when the students go out into the world and make environmentally based installation art.

we start with a fine piece about “The chosen artwork the object being a yellow towel did not belong.” Enigmatic, sure. But “In my work was an outdoors scene was captured.” Ah yes. Do tell us more. “The towel is not a part of nature and does not belong the fall colored leaves make it less of a nuisance.” Right. Now i am getting it. “There is INTERPENETRATION in my work as the towel and tree are interlocked. ” OK now I truly understand. “My work in particular I had to physically put the towel in the tree. ” and hard, diligent rewarding work it was! Good job student o’ mine. Furthering the misery er i mean mystery, the student submitted the work upside down.

The next entry I read was about an altoona artist. We knew he was from altoona and painted scenes about altoona because the student mentioned altoona 16 times, perhaps 14 more times than it has ever been mentioned in print. To give you a taste: Altoona Altoona Altoona Altoona Altoona Altoona Altoona Altoona Altoona Altoona Altoona Altoona Altoona Altoona Altoona Altoona. makes my eyes go funny.

choice quotes: “To the Mr. Goldsworthy and myself the power of nature, is endless cycle and unpredictability is a continuous driving force.”
“I created my art piece after a large amount of contemplation.” Read: I created my piece after drinking copious amounts of cheap rail drink, pitchers of margaritas, and a half a case of amstel light. Andy Goldsworthy is crying his eyes out as we speak.

nothing says super hero like a penn state brand blanket draped over and octogenarian’s shoulders. no, seriously, that was the premise of this art project. shoulda kept that one in the oven, student o’ mine.

Boing Boing continues to evolve into a kind of Johnson-specific masturbatory dream site:

Post on wool hat that makes it look like you have a beard and mustache.

Post on leather satchel made from olde timeye beltse.

Post about reflective ankle wraps that make you look like a cartoon super hero.

here it is in all its glory. one per customer.

spoke card for the ride spoken of below.

you will be there.

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

So this guy wanted a shitty bike to commute on so that he didn’t mess up his “good” bikes. Then he made a blog about it.

But what if I owned a bike I didn’t really care much about? A disposable bike in a way. Something I could run into the ground, and not get upset about when it was stolen, that I could replace every season reasonably cheaply, if I wanted… cheaper than replacing one of the wheels on my good bikes?

So, I bought the Bike of Doom. This blog is about my adventures in commuting, riding a $99 department store bike.

I think it’s kind of funny that at one point he replaces his rear wheel and tires for $110 instead of throwing out his “disposable” bike and buying another one.

sice?