Ride The Divide Monday Night

I would attend this film even if it wasn't presented by my friends at Victory and benefiting my friends at Livable Memphis.

Tweed Ride - St. Patrick's Day

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Walk This Way

Sitting in the BPAC meeting talking about pedestrian facilities, specifically crosswalks and it occurs to me that automobiles have such a sense of entitlement to the road they rarely slow down when they see a pedestrian in the street. I'm not innocent, either. I've been driving before and seen someone in the middle of Poplar and said "Hey dummy, use the crosswalk!"

And by law they should use a crosswalk. That often means walking out of your way to get to your destination; and we know how lazy Americans are.

So we can do several things:

Non-traditional crosswalks. In the same way that people often don't use the exact paved path between buildings on campus and instead make their own natural more direct path let's put some crosswalks in the middle of the block or at a three-way intersection.

Eliminate jaywalking fines. You shouldn't be punished for walking. It seems this fine only serves to make automobiles a priority.

Increase hit and run fines. I looked for statistics on Memphis fines but it proved kind of difficult on my phone. But if we really value human life prove it.

Saturday Nights

I'm past the point of going to see bands, drinking High Life or gin, staying up until 4am and annoying the servers at IHOP. But it's not like I'm in bed at 10 o'clock, either. I don't have to work until 1pm on Sunday so I can sleep late, as opposed to going out for the Thursday night ride and having to work at 9 in the morning on Friday. So what does everyone do on Saturday nights? Would you want to go for a bike ride? Here are some pros and cons:

Pros:
Can stay out/don't have to work early Sunday
More people are out so more people see us riding

Cons:
More people are out so more cars/potentially drunk drivers

Add your own in the comments. The 'more people are out so more people see us riding' seems to be one of the main reasons of critical mass which has failed to take shape in Memphis, not for lack of trying. So even though there is no rush hour on Saturday this ride has the potential to be a kind of "statement" ride (any more than riding alone on Saturday night, who's to say?). And are you already going places by bike on Saturday night? Let me know. Take some pictures and send them to me: fixmemphis at yahoo.com. I want to know who has the fullest bike rack on a Saturday night. What party were you at where there were bikes in the living room or bedroom?

I know the culture is out there and it's not just polo and cross racing and club rides.

Recent DVD Acquisitions

So yes. It's Friday night. Otherwise known as International Date Night. Homemade (my mom's home, not my home) Vegetable Beef Soup and cornbread. Staying in and watching Rad. Action, romance, and bicycles. A true coming of age story.

How do you spot a bike shop employee out riding?

He's the one with the $250 helmet and the $150 dollar bike.

It's Alive!!!

Wheel Covers: removed. Drive: fixed. Pedals: Hold Fast'd. Tires: knobified.
I've been thinking about a fixed monstercross for a while now and seeing as how my polo bike just wasn't handling the abuse I decided it was time to operate. Switched back to my Sugino crankset with a 39 ring paired with a 19 tooth cog in the back. 700 x 42 knobby tires just barely fit. I actually think I need to space out the rear hub a little bit more. Colony pedals because I needed some that are Hold Fast compatible, my Odyssey Twisted's are not. Hold Fast straps are legit. So it's been set up for about a week but today was it's first real ride.

Em and I set out on the Greenline this morning and I dipped off onto the blue trail (Wolf River Trail) as she continued straight to Shelby Farms. This was my first time riding that section of trail, my first time riding that bike on a trail, and my first time riding fixed on a trail. Perfect. Everything. Okay, there's that one narrow bridge at the bottom of the hill with that 100 degree turn leading right into it that I felt safer walking and only one of the sand pits stopped me but other than that it was way fun.


More pics on my flickr.

RIP Polo Bike

The final straw for my polo bike came last week when a dude from Richmond was riding it and the rear brake bolt sheared in two. Then I tried to play on Brett's Surly 1x1 and dipped the front shock, wrecked, and rolled my ankle sumthin' awful. I'm taking this time to evaluate the future of this bike and contemplate a more modern polo bike(?) (quill stems can go to hell). This is what happened to the brake:


...and Brett borrowed my rear tire after his flat. And speaking of Brett and Polo, he's amped about the South Central Championships in Little Rock. Though I'm sure my ankle will be rebuilt bionically by then, I'll be attending Judaism class that Sunday. It's unfortunate in that I'll miss the jaw-drops from New Orleans and Florida as they witness the superior skill level of Memphis Polo. Paul Danos, Daniel Dilberger, Adult Braces (though I heard those are off now), you guys are in for a treat.

New Skateboard

A few months back my friend PJ ran off with my cruiser board. It was a pretty sweet ride that I've had since my first semester of college which was, uh, a while ago. It was just an ATM Blank but I did some sweet tiger stripes on the grip (Memphis!), Indy trucks and 70mm Kryptonics. Heavy, but perfect for cruising to the beer store because sometimes it's more trouble to grab a bike, lock it, ride back one handed (if I don't take a bag or the cruiser avec basket). But since it left I've only had my regular board. So I totally got myself a present. Toy Machine deck, Venture trucks, 65mm Kryptonics. I went with the Venture Lows because I wanted this to be as light as I could make it and feel as much like a regular board as it could. It's nice, nice, nice.




This board is for cruising only, no fix-pushing:

Props to Cara

Big ups to Cara for representing female fixed freestyle riders in Issue 23 of Urban Velo! She rides hard, writes on Gotta Be Gritty and Candy Cranks and knows her gear. Keep it goin', girl!