queasyfish

2012-01-29T01:10:00.000-06:00

2012-01-27T23:53:00.000-06:00

2012-01-26T21:17:00.002-06:00

I've never heard these guys but I like the picture.

2012-01-20T23:44:00.000-06:00

2012-01-17T21:40:00.000-06:00

2012-01-15T17:29:00.012-06:00

It's kind of a lie though - It's not dialed in and ready to go. Nothing is torqued to spec except the disc rotors. The shifting is not set, the brakes have not been adjusted, I haven't touched the fork dials. It is completely together though and the light was right so here it is.

It does feel very balanced, - it feels firm and responsive and noticeably lighter. I was questioning the hundreds I spent souping it up but then one morning as I drifted back to consciousness I realized I had just been dreaming about swooping turns and finessing rough sections and flowing down, and I lay there with my eyes closed and smiled.

2012-01-15T00:24:00.006-06:00

Pumped the flat shock tonight and took the maiden voyage on Silver-bike V2. Worried about slipping at first, then it became clear that I could ride it like a mountain bike so I sprinted, sort of. After not slipping my first thought was OMG BFFs this fork is way fucking better than my last one. It matches the rear now, it feels like floating. That's my review after 50 feet of winter alley at least. Brakes felt awesome too. Very happy. Pictures coming.

2012-01-15T00:23:00.006-06:00

X is a cool band you've never heard. 80's LA punk (-surf-pop) band. Check em out now, funk soul brother. I learned about them from a random borrow from the Duluth library. Yes the one that looks like a lake-ship. Under the Big Black Sun. First listen, first song. The Hungry Wolf, when the drum lays back and the riff grinds that was it, I loved these guys. They have many other awesome songs too.

I watched a doc about them tonight that they themselves made in 1986. No shit. It's great. I was kind of blown away at the end because it seemed like a 20 year perspective. They were musicians and songwriters.

2012-01-14T21:05:00.000-06:00

2012-01-12T22:13:00.003-06:00

2012-01-10T19:45:00.015-06:00

2012-01-06T19:44:00.001-06:00

2012-01-01T23:35:00.000-06:00

2011-12-30T21:02:00.001-06:00

2011-12-29T22:01:00.005-06:00

Azonic PDW. Black. Two inch rise. Uncut. Got one to sell me?

Ghost bike. Franklin and River Road

2011-12-29T18:48:00.008-06:00

I go through this intersection several times a week. I heard about it when it happened and I can clearly picture how it must have been, with the aggressive engine racing around the slowing cars and the crossing biker turning to see the truck closing in slow motion. A week later the ghost bike appeared. It makes me feel sad but it also makes me feel... comforted.

2011-12-28T20:42:00.000-06:00

2011-12-22T21:56:00.001-06:00

2011-12-19T21:07:00.001-06:00

2011-12-18T01:31:00.002-06:00

2011-12-18T00:24:00.000-06:00

Master Snickup's Cloak

2011-12-17T01:13:00.003-06:00

2011-12-17T01:10:00.001-06:00

Modern Fork

2011-12-15T20:18:00.004-06:00

Check. Scored a sweet Rock Shox Revelation XX (2010) for an amazing price. With 5 kinds of adjustability, Air springs, 32mm stanchions, 20mm through-axle, remote lock-out and 140mm travel it's over a pound lighter than the old Psylo and 100 pounds better.

LuLu

2011-12-14T20:47:00.008-06:00

From the what the fuck were they thinking file. I've listened to this one-and-a-half times - yes, the whole thing. I think the Pitchfork review nails it. It literally sounds like you're playing two albums at the same time.

2011-12-10T08:11:00.003-06:00

2011-12-08T19:57:00.002-06:00

So a week ago I went in for my every-so-often physical and to investigate why I've been extra winded for the past week whenever even slightly exerting. Did some testing, went to the ER and did some more testing, then checked-in overnight to start medication for the large blood clots on my lungs. Pulmonary embolism that's called and since it didn't instantly kill me, I'm guessing it's going to make me stronger.

Yes, yes, it's all too bad, and I'm so young and healthy. I know. Sounds like I'm going to be fine in the long run, perhaps even better than fine - I wonder if I've had this to some degree for a while, perhaps years? There's gotta be some reason I'm always gasping when we ride, other than hard pedaling then and laziness before, right? (I think that's a joke) Well, whatever.

Examining my thoughts as I always do I realized a couple things. I felt very calm about the prospect of dying (I don't know that I was, but it sounded like one of the options on the table - the ER doc looked me in the eye and said that her friend had just died of it). There was a sad shadow for my kids and their lives, but for myself, it was acceptance and calm. It's what you do after living I guess. The other thought was that It didn't seem to have taken very long to get to here, at least from the point-of-view of this moment. It's always a continuum, so there isn't really an end-point to see the perspective from, but in that pause I could see it, and it seemed to have been pretty short. I remembered a lot of things I'd done, but they all seemed to blend together into last week and last year. And it was "now" and it was done.

So, that being said, I feel pretty good, possibly better than I have in a while. The only downside is that alcohol is also a blood thinner and I could really go for a beer or six.

2011-12-01T19:54:00.000-06:00

2011-11-26T10:52:00.000-06:00

Free Bikes 4 Kids

2011-11-23T00:57:00.008-06:00

This is a good thing - a volunteer program that seeks bicycle donations, to fix up and redistribute for Christmas presents to poor kids. This year they have apparently received so many donations that they are reaching out to the public to come help them tune and clean to have their stock ready for the big morning. I'm not really a joiner of anything but I have done this for the neighborhood kids where I've lived for years, and one of the locations is the midtown Freewheel/Nice Ride which is convenient, so maybe it would be fun to get involved.

Even considering that many if not most of the bikes will be immediately trashed or stolen (and trashed) - or most likely: didn't get pumped up and got a flat tire and were never used again as no one is spending $5 on a tube, if even ten percent were appreciated and used that would be good. Imagine a city where generations of children, if they had nothing else, had access to a working bicycle.

2011-11-23T00:46:00.002-06:00

2011-11-23T00:46:00.001-06:00

2011-11-23T00:45:00.001-06:00

2011-11-23T00:44:00.011-06:00

Long long long overdue overhaul. Six years to be exact. Some of that stuff has never been changed or cleaned since the Green bike replacement was first built - gulp, could that be right? I had to cut the grip-bolts with a Dremel wheel, found the bars under powdery with corrosion. I bought my own Xmas presents this year I guess, in the form of that sweet XT above and the matching trigger shifters, as well as the variety of other parts (they add up fast) that were scheduled for replacement years ago.

I'm pretty confident I found the source of the funny ghost-shifting plaguing the last couple rides of the season; the derailleur hanger was loose, and when I took it off to clean it, discovered that it was cracked-through at one of the bolts. The cables were sliding in the housing as smoothly as sex at the beach too.

Going to start with a complete suspension tear-down and cleaning - as well as flipping the link back over to make the BB higher and the fork-rake steeper. The lower-slacker-stabler mode has been good, but I do hit my pedals noticeably more and don't get that aggressive stand-over stance as much as I want when I want it either. I think I may try clipless again too.

I've been having that conversation with myself for quite a while about fixing up vs buying new - but the reality is I can't afford to buy new, and Sean's example of building up and eventually swapping in a super-cool new frame has been pretty inspirational. This is the bike that takes the most beating - and gets the most use these days. It's also by far the one most due for upgrade. When first built, it was a mix of green-leftovers and hastily-sourced mid-line parts - that were not necessarily a quality-match for the sweet frame, and really of all the bikes, this is the one that will benefit the most from performance-light parts.

Stiff light cranks - check. Strong light wheels - check. New - Perfect sensitive shifting - check. New - Modern platform air fork... Um, nope, no new fork, but summer is still six months away.

2011-11-18T23:13:00.000-06:00

2011-11-12T17:15:00.001-06:00

2011-11-10T23:19:00.001-06:00

2011-11-10T23:17:00.001-06:00

2011-11-10T22:31:00.000-06:00

2011-11-03T22:35:00.000-05:00

2011-10-28T23:44:00.000-05:00

2011-10-28T06:49:00.002-05:00

Burning From the Inside

2011-10-21T22:39:00.004-05:00

Seventh Dream of Teenage Heaven

2011-10-21T22:27:00.010-05:00

This was a cool thought and sound tonight. These are consecutive albums. Dream is three of the four from Burning - this was their next recording. Transitions can also be great.

2011-10-17T21:09:00.001-05:00

2011-10-13T21:30:00.000-05:00

Ti

2011-10-13T21:29:00.001-05:00

2011-10-07T21:42:00.000-05:00

2011-10-05T19:29:00.006-05:00

Thank you

Doomtree are Minneapolis-based hip-hop artists

2011-09-29T20:58:00.007-05:00

I don't listen to much rap actually but Doomtree is getting me into it. I especially like Paper Tiger (which is glasses-guy apparently) his False Hopes album is great. The woman is Dessa of course, really like her. It's cool to hear places you know name-checked in the songs.

2011-09-21T20:01:00.001-05:00

2011-09-17T23:48:00.000-05:00

2011-09-17T01:18:00.000-05:00

2011-09-17T00:46:00.000-05:00

2011-09-15T20:12:00.001-05:00

2011-09-10T16:21:00.002-05:00

2011-09-10T16:13:00.006-05:00

2011-09-10T16:12:00.001-05:00

2011-09-09T23:09:00.000-05:00

Vacation starts now

2011-09-05T22:07:00.005-05:00

Going here tomorrow - Itasca State Park, for the rest of the week. It's MN's first state park, (and the nations second I learned tonight) it's old school. It's got decades of WPA-CCC work including the Old Timer's Cabin above made out of then-available gigantic logs. See you all when we get back on the grid.

2011-09-05T22:00:00.001-05:00

Sunset

2011-09-04T21:54:00.002-05:00

Maiden Voyage

2011-09-04T01:17:00.012-05:00

(pun intended)

We're liking this bike. Talked him down $200, turned around and put most of it right back in. Reports are positive.

See how the stoker has pedal-blocks? - last night I reinstalled the "helper crank" (a clamp-on BB with chainring and shorty crankset) onto the seat tube with a chain down to the main crank, raised the seat and bars (with a longer reach stem - see that? - it's just a regular 1 inch quill between the adapter and the handlebar) and voila; no more pedal blocks. Maeve could be the stoker if she wanted, that's cool. I love the flexibility.

I've been noticing tandems much more now and most are relatively low-end tank-like park-cruisers, or ultra-high-end lone-wolf-mobiles, I really appreciate the high quality and detailed engineering of this bike. Probably nearly 20 years old and seemingly ready for another 20.

2011-09-03T23:53:00.000-05:00

2011-09-02T23:58:00.001-05:00

2011-08-29T20:00:00.001-05:00

2011-08-29T19:51:00.000-05:00

2011-08-28T00:46:00.005-05:00

This is good.

2011-08-22T23:21:00.002-05:00

This is good.

2011-08-20T13:00:00.006-05:00

2011-08-16T22:07:00.001-05:00

Powderhorn 24

2011-08-14T01:03:00.019-05:00

So I'm standing in the alley Friday evening fighting with the grape vines and five cyclists scream up and stop, - nicely set-up city road bikes all around - looking around, looking at me, looking for something it seems. I say, hey guys what's up? They're still looking, mumbling to each other, "next block" one says and they all take off the way they came. Fifteen minutes later a solo rider pauses, and also realizing that this must not be "it", leaves. I finish and go in.

Late Friday night a rider dismounts and walks past the fire and into my garage, I tell him that the party he is looking for is a block over - he tells me it's actually a 24 hour alley-cat. Wow, really? I step out and look, and yes, I can see the riders passing through the check-point a block over in the next alley. I head over to check it out and find a small but enthusiastic group of volunteers, spectators and riff-raff including Gene-O and Marco from I bike Mpls taking pictures with a giant camera. Everyone is constantly cracking jokes and supporting the riders. Very cool.

Saturday morning I stop by again with the girls and recognize some riders from the night before, the ebb and flow of the checkpoint continues. I monitor the sights and sounds of the race throughout the day, from a block away. I go biking in the afternoon feeling kind of tired and hungry, but how can I complain? - the riders around me have been on their bikes for the last 16 hours.

This was a pretty cool thing to see and hear and have floating around in my head all weekend - these punk-rock attitude cyclists doing this mentally and physically really hard thing for the challenge and community of it. I was glad to have been part of it.

2011-08-11T21:33:00.001-05:00

2011-08-04T19:40:00.001-05:00

2011-07-25T21:16:00.002-05:00

2011-07-18T21:15:00.000-05:00

2011-07-16T02:07:00.000-05:00

Full Cycle Minneapolis

2011-07-14T21:54:00.005-05:00

Even though this shop is only blocks from my house, I've never been inside of it, they have really limited hours. I did talk to the owner/manager the day I took this picture in the empty parking lot beside the building. When he so-purposely pulled-in to the otherwise deserted area with a bike in the back and parked I figured he must work there, and he did, sort of. This shop is apparently as much a social project as it is a bike shop. He explained that he was finally able to blend his Human Services career with his love of bikes in opening this business to employ and benefit homeless youth. As I eyeballed the franken-bike he was unloading from his car, I reflected on the deeper meanings of my job, and came up empty.

They have a display window in the front which for weeks has had a sweet-looking (at least from the view from my passing vehicle) Specialized kid-sized road bike, and a chrome 24-inch-wheeled Cruiser, and another bike I never have time to look at. I've got to get there one of these days...

He's only open during business hours so I never get there. WTF homesless-kids-business-owner? That's why your bikes never sell, not because they're not awesome... He reads my blog I'm thinking...

2011-07-09T23:16:00.000-05:00

2011-07-09T22:41:00.001-05:00

2011-07-09T19:03:00.002-05:00

2011-07-04T21:38:00.001-05:00

TDK SA 90

2011-07-04T00:02:00.002-05:00

Maxell XLII 90

2011-07-04T00:01:00.001-05:00

2011-07-03T23:40:00.000-05:00

2011-07-03T23:38:00.000-05:00

Shaun Palmer

2011-07-03T19:15:00.009-05:00

Speaking of super bad-ass...

Bad Brains

2011-06-26T00:07:00.004-05:00

Indeed Sean, and I Against I, two awesome albums. Super bad-ass. I like Rise a lot too, actually.

2011-06-23T20:53:00.001-05:00

Dog is my Friend

2011-06-17T22:27:00.005-05:00

I see you looking at me. I know you just want more. No dice.

2011-06-17T22:25:00.001-05:00

2011-06-15T21:08:00.000-05:00

2011-06-12T01:09:00.002-05:00

2011-06-12T01:09:00.001-05:00

2011-06-11T00:35:00.000-05:00

2011-06-11T00:34:00.000-05:00

2011-06-11T00:32:00.000-05:00

2011-06-11T00:02:00.001-05:00

No, not my picture.

2011-06-06T21:33:00.000-05:00

Bicycle Boulevard Minneapolis

2011-05-30T12:32:00.001-05:00