Out Riding. And Building.

I've been so busy with everything else bike related in my life, I've been neglecting this poor little blog!

Geez, over the past three months a lot has happened.  Lets see...

- I have a frame currently being painted.  Another is almost ready to go to paint.

- I found a lovely Takhion Aero that's actually my size!  I tore my quadriceps tendon, so I'm off of fixed geared bikes for a while, but once it's healed I can take it to the track.

- I attended NAHBS, which filled me with inspiration and where I got to meet so many wonderful people!  

- I met some other local framebuilders, who are rad and wonderful people.

- I met some other local cyclists through LA's Bikes and Coffee Camp, who are also rad and wonderful people.  

- The shop got an overhaul, and now it actually looks like a proper shop.  

- I did the Solvang Century, which was my first century ever.  My knee held up just fine, I kept a decent pace, and I love my bike more than ever.  

I'm in the shop a lot these days, which I'm loving!  If you're in LA and want to stop by, please let me know.  

Kids Bike Day

I know it's been a bit quiet here recently, since I've literally been home only to sleep (and maybe scarf down some cereal here and there) I haven't had a chance to update what's new in my little world of bikes.  This event happened a few weeks ago, but it was a lot of fun and I wanted to share it here.  

These kids were having such a blast, that they kept riding even when we started getting rained on.  

Young bicyclists got the opportunity to test their skills and learn new ones this past Saturday at the Kids Bike Safety and Skills Workshop held at Pacific Community Center.

The event was put together by Walk Bike Glendale, a local nonprofit that advocates for safe walking and biking in the city, according to Nathalie Winiarski, community liaison for the organization.

Full article here:

Walk Bike Glendale is a great organization that I discovered on Bike to Work Day this year - I asked if they needed any volunteers, and I was called regarding this event.  They needed someone who could do simple mechanic work, to which I said "absolutely!"

Though most fixes were simple, it was a lot of fun and a good learning experience for me, all of the kids, and their parents.  I explained what I was doing every time, and was able to fix just about everything that came my way.  

I set up a bike stand and just brought the basics with me, which was perfect for this event.  Ninety percent of "repairs" were just simple seat adjustments and demonstrating a proper bike fit.  I also pumped up quite a few tires - all by hand!  There were a few oddball fixes here and there, like truing one wheel and turning handlebars and forks around that had been installed incorrectly (just...yikes).  The thing that really got to me was the poor quality of the brakes that I worked on, as many of these bikes had brakes that didn't touch the rims at all, and I feel bad for these kids learning to ride on something that can't stop properly!  

This little boy was awesome, though I felt terrible because that seatpost bolt was completely stripped and was just spinning in place.  I didn't have the tools to fix something like that, and it was the only thing that slipped through the cracks.  I'm sorry awesome little dude!  I hope you were able to get it fixed and get back on your bike ASAP.  

It was non-stop chaotic work, but it was amazingly fun and I can't wait to do it again.  The kids learned how to signal, dodge obstacles, stop at signs, do an ABC check, use lights at night, and much more.  There were also lights and helmets given out, so everyone was riding safely.   

I'm glad to see more community events like this going on, both for kids and for parents.  So many parents told me that they want the streets to be safer for their kids, and that they want to ride more with them - and many families rode to the event together, which was awesome.  

I have to say though, that the best part of my day was when kids would come up to me and proudly ask if I could remove their training wheels, and then fearlessly tear off back to riding around with their friends.  Ride on, little cyclists!

Amgen Tour of California

I'm still learning my way around my awesome little neighborhood, and it seems like every day I find something fantastic: The Flying Pigeon, Spoke Bicycle Cafe, Coco's Variety Store...there is a thriving bike culture here, and I love it.  

But something I wasn't expecting happened earlier today - Stage 8 of The Amgen Tour of California happened steps from my front door!!

My camera and lenses are meant for capturing still objects, and I don't have autofocus (I'm a few years behind in non-bike technology), so I didn't get any amazing shots.  But that said, here's a bit of what I saw this morning!

Pretty inspiring to watch these guys - they're ending this stage and the tour today in Pasadena.  Good luck to all of these extremely talented cyclists!

The Bikes (And Bike People) of Maker Faire

Maker Faire has been described as many things, and it's tagline "The greatest show and tell on earth" is pretty accurate.  Today I also heard it as a "Burning Man for tech people," which is also spot on.  

What surprised me about Maker Faire was the prevalence of bicycles, bike powered objects, and bike related exhibits.  I tried to grab as many photos as I could, starting with the valet bike parking that was almost completely full when I arrived.  There were thousands of bikes!

Big thank you to the Silicon Valley Bicycle Coalition for organizing this!

This was organized and managed by the Silicon Valley Bicycle Coalition, an excellent organization that I've worked with before.  The fair was located along a bike route and bike parking was free, so people of all ages were riding in.

Parked and ready for the fun!

Parking was a short walk away from the entrance to Maker Faire, where a fire breathing octopus greeted everyone, and many bicycle related contraptions were being demonstrated.  This guy below was using this machine to do really cool geometric chalk drawings.

Many contraptions and robots had bike parts.

Next I met the awesome folks of V-Lock, who showed me their prototype lock and bicycle storage device.  It's beautiful, efficient, really well made, and I'm excited to get in on their Kickstarter when it launches!  I also got to speak with one of the designers who also builds frames - check out how beautiful they are.  It wasn't until after that I realized I was so excited talking about the V Lock that I didn't manage to get any of my own photos, so here's one from their site!  

Bike lock and bike rack - how cool is this?!  Via VLock's site.

Another booth was displaying frames made locally and advertising a summer course to build your own.  Hopefully I can have my frames at a booth next year too! 

Student made frames.

Right then, I found the Whiskeydrome: a mini velodrome where you ride single speed cruiser type bikes.  What a blast!

Everyone was curious to either watch or ride.

Inside the drome!

Now that's a steep bank.

We're rooting for you, Larry.

There were a few bikes, races, and events being put on by the Fun Bike Unicorn Club.

I would very much like to join this club.

These were some of the bikes that they had on display.  I'm not sure how functional these particular bikes were because they weren't being ridden, but there were many that were much more ridiculous that were being ridden.  

Wandering into a nearby building, I ran into the MonkeyLectric booth!  They were having a deal on one of their models and had many others on display, including an activity where you could draw something and transfer it to one of their wheels.  I really want to get one of these eventually.

Here's what they look like off the bike.

These thing are bright!  And they're becoming more affordable.

Impossible to miss this on the street at night.

And everyone knows that a VR exhibition wouldn't be complete without a bicycle simulator.  There was a demo of a bike controlled sim/video game that I watched for a bit.  It reminded me a lot of Mario Kart!

It was a single speed, but the brakes did interact with the game, which was pretty cool.

Riding the streets of Italy in your living room.

Bicycles were also *powering* some of the exhibits - there was a smoothie booth where you had to bicycle-blend your own drink, and of course the pedal powered stage, where the audience rides bikes to power the instruments!

Bikes of all kinds - even a cargo bike!

I wandered around a bit more looking at all of the bikes and contraptions.  There were so many, with bikes made of wood, electric bikes, burning man bikes, and sometimes things that were completely different, like this interesting take on a spokeless wheel:

Never seen anything like this before!

A close-up.

On my way out, I found a few of the electric bikes were grouped in the electric vehicle section, like these two!  I was really hoping to get a demo, but things were winding down and I had to leave.  

That wheelbase...

If you're in the Bay Area, Maker Fair is going on through this weekend, so I highly recommend you bike over and check it out!  There is way, way more than what I was able to feature here, and many interactive exhibits.  They have robots, 3D printing, mech battles, Game of Drones, and an agricultural exhibit where they were giving out baby plants.

Made it home in one piece!

Thanks to everyone who made Maker Faire possible - I'll update with any bike related Kickstarters as they launch in the next coming months.

It's Upon Us Yet Again

Bike to Work day snuck up on me this year - I thought it was next Thursday, but as I learned yesterday next week is Bike to Work Week, but only in some places.  So Bike to Work Day technically falls outside of Bike to Work week, but the entire month of May is Bike to Work Month.  Got it? 

I had my usual planned: leave at the buttcrack of dawn to avoid the crowds and make sure I get a goody bag, and then stop at the Oracle Station which has the best food (as far as I've discovered).  

But I ended up trying something a bit different this year...I took the train.  And while I was bracing for crowds at the train station, I somehow managed to get there early enough that I missed the first wave of cyclists entirely.  The lovely volunteers for the Caltrain Bike to Work Day Station were just setting up, and of the people that were already there on bikes half seemed like they had no idea why someone was offering them muffins.  

Leaving work was a bit of a different story, as I rode the whole way home and definitely saw some people who had no idea what they were doing, blatantly breaking laws and endangering themselves.  But on the other hand, there were ten times as many more riders being friendly, waving, smiling, and enjoying yet another day riding to work.

Plus, I got my goody bag.

It contained a Cliff Bar, a headlight, and some local bike info.

If you were one of the volunteers who helped with Bike to Work Day, kudos to you for getting up early and putting on an awesome event!  Hopefully some of the riders that chose today as their first day will stick with it...as long as none of them almost slam into me because they're running a stop sign.  

To learn more about future Bike to Work Day events in the Bay Area, check out their site here!  May is Bike to Work Month nationwide, so many places might not have had their official day yet.  

Bring Your Own Big Wheel

Technically Big Wheels aren't *really* bicycles.  

It's an Easter tradition in San Francisco for a bunch of adults (and some children) to dress up in costume and ride childrens' toys down one of the steepest hills in the city.  Though it started with just big wheels, the event has evolved and warped into bringing whatever you can get wheels on to get down the hill.  There were office chairs, skateboards, trash cans, and some bicycle like objects.

So, it's a bit outside of the norm for this blog, but here are some highlights from BYOBW 2014.

BART cars, horse masks, and someone chugging wine.  Happy Easter!

Team Tron riding their modified big wheels.

These gentlemen were riding a trash can with a Razor scooter attached to it.  An a headless mannequin, of course.

It is Easter, after all.

Every war has its casualties.

San Francisco has a huuuuuge bicycle culture, and it was awesome to see how many people biked to either participate or watch the event.  Many of the big wheels themselves were made out of old bike parts or welded from scratch completely.  

As for me, I managed a few runs down the hill without crashing too terribly.  Maybe next year I'll bust out a custom steel big wheel to blast down the hill with.

SF Bike Expo

There was a pretty good turn out at the SF Bike Expo today, and even though I arrived before it opened it was still packed to the brim with cycling enthusiasts, part seekers, and curious onlookers.

The best was the endless amount of parts everywhere - you could probably find just about anything that you were looking for.  Someone could easily show up with nothing and leave with a whole bike made of parts they purchased just from the show.

Cupertino Bike Shop was there!

Can't forget the classics!

There were some local favorites there - Soma's booth had some beautiful bikes and goodies, including a belt drive prototype that was constantly crowded with people so I couldn't get a good photo.

A lovely slice of this copper and sky blue ride, made locally!

And as far as belt drives go - there were a lot there, and all were drawing a crowd.  There was even a trainer set up so people could test ride to see how the belt felt on an internally geared hub.  

I think a belt on a fat bike would be a blast.

There were a ton of beautiful bikes there, but the star of the show (at least in my opinion) was a stunning Hetchins.

It was cleaned up and in gorgeous condition!

I'm digging these chainstays!

And of course, no Hetchins would be complete without stunning, intricate lugwork.

Last but not least, there were some incredible "art" bikes floating around.  As monstrous as they look, I got to ride the smaller one, and it was a blast!  Not difficult at all, though probably not the best thing to commute on.

They were definitely the tallest bikes there.

Those are some insane spokes.

I had a good time, and while I didn't buy anything, I enjoyed walking around and seeing such a thriving bike culture.  My only wish is that it's bigger next time!

Guys. GUYS. It Was Bike To Work Day

Love it or hate it, it's happening today.  And seeing that this is really the only day a year that I get food, goodies, and lots of friendly greetings on my ride in, I'll take it.

Plus I get to hang out with other bikes.

Speaking of goodies, I was a bit bitter last year when I rolled up to an Energizer Station only to find that I was too late for anything except one of those overly crumbly granola bars.  It was at that moment that I wished those of us who biked to work every day got some sort of special recognition, but with sadness and crumbs I accepted my loss and vowed to get something cool next year.  Which is why, with much protest from my sleep deprived body, I set out at about 6:15.

I GOT ONE. Worth it.

Despite the fact it was too early to function properly, I saw quite a few people heading north.  I had a bit of fun playing "spot the regular" - and it seemed to be about half and half in terms of daily commuters and those that were just out for bike to work day.  There were far fewer people heading south though, and I was one of the very few.  The early morning cloud cover and fog probably didn't help get people out of bed to ride all that much, but I love it. 

Stopping by the San Mateo Bridge to shed some layers.

I reached an Energizer Station located near Oracle and was shocked.  Usually, these stations are little white tents set up with a volunteer or two and some bagels.  This station was multiple tables with a full breakfast spread, tons of fruit, coffee, orange juice, hot breakfast, and lots of goodies.  I got my swag bag and spent a few minutes there with people, of which there were all kinds.  It was nice to see the die hard roadies mingle with the classic commuters - everyone was enjoying themselves, taking a quick break from their rides to talk bikes over a glass of orange juice and going through the various gadgets in the Bike To Work Totes that were handed out.  

Bags!  Each tote contained a Caltrain Tag, Chico Bag, various cycling brochures and information, and a few other things.

Quite the spread!

This area near the Oracle Bridge is a major hub.  Many thanks to the volunteers for putting this together!

Continuing on, I only saw a few more people on my ride in, but it was still pretty early.  I arrived to work just as the gym was setting up their special event for Bike To Work Day, complete with free bike tune ups, more food, and massages.  I was one of the first to get there, and spent a bit of time talking to the mechanic there and eyeing the Felt bikes for sale (nice marketing strategy!) and also talking to the few people that were trickling in.  Some were regulars, some were not.  Some did this ride every day and were happy to offer advice to the newer riders, and others who'd never ridden in before were trying to figure out if they were really going to ride home. 

Bike demos and free tune ups.  Great marketing strategy!

Hanging out with some cool people and pretty bikes.

All in all, there were lots of people out there.  While I can't speak for how packed the trains must have been, the Mayor of Mountain View definitely made it out, and the people at SV Bike Style got some good photos of a few riders.  Hopefully some of the newer riders will stick with it!

But wait - the Bike to Work Day Afterparty is also happening.  And, there are prizes being awarded for a few lucky people registered on the Bike to Work Website.   The night is young!