May was, far and away, the biggest cycling month I’ve had. The stars really did align in terms of great weather, not too many “business casual” days at work, getting the bike situation straightened out, and a couple of opportunities for longer weekend rides. I also did my first metric century (100km) in May, and it wasn’t that bad at all. Stephanie and I are talking about doing a 100 mile ride in September and are doing 90 miles for the Livestrong ride in October, so that’s something to work towards.

This was my first full month on the Surly. It really is a great bike. Riding it feels like driving a giant Caddy with big comfy bench seats, but still a good suspension and a reasonable-enough gear box. I was a little worried about moving up to 700×37 tires as opposed to the 700×25’s I’ve been riding for the last year, but if anything that seem to roll better than what I’m use to. I am also slightly ashamed to admit that I quite like the indexed shifting for the rear derailler. Sure, it lacks the flexibility of friction shifting, but man is it a lot easier. (I’m not changing out the silvers on the Bstone, though.) Perhaps most importantly, I bought the biggest frame that would plausibly fit me. This, more than anything, is likely why it feels quite so nice to ride. I recommend buying big to everybody. Anyway, I’m quite happy with it. If you’re looking for a commuter bike or an around-town bike or a touring bike (which is what it’s built for), you’ll be hard-pressed to do a lot better than a Surly Long Haul Trucker.

If it’s like every other June, next month should be pretty ideal for riding as well. Fletcher’s scout troop has a couple of rides planned for the month, and Stephanie and I really want to find time to ride out to Claremont for lunch at the Back Abbey. Should be another great month!

I rolled in to the REI-sponsored stop at the Allen gold line station at about 8:30. They said that they had talked to a lot of riders today.

Gift bags and free mechanical checkups were the order of the day. Also picture taking, it seems. I declined the checkup, but gladly accepted the gift bag.

Quite excited about the REI coupon — new helmet? wheel truing stand? — and the water bottle/patch kit/sun screen. We get out to Claremont often enough that I’ll definitely be able to use the Jax coupon. Those Clif bars look yummy as well. I’m not at all sure what to make of the TMZ-branded combination pen/bottle opener.

The Pasadena city hall pit stop looked pretty mellow from the street.

Inside, though, it was much more of a scene.

They seemed much more geared towards letting city and other very local employees know about alternative transit options. Metro and Fuller had tables set up. I think Pasadena Cyclery was holding a drawing for some sort of Gary Fisher city bike. I really wanted to hit the South Lake pit stop before it closed, though, so I grabbed the nice shopping bag they were offering and was on my way.

Unfortunately, I couldn’t find the South Lake stop. I rode up and down the street from Colorado to just south of California and back. Nothing. I guess it was getting on towards the end of the time they were to be there. Perhaps they packed up early?

Most disappointingly, this is what I saw when I got in today:

Oh well. I guess we won’t be getting those new bike racks after all. (We were running out of room pretty regularly last summer, and “there isn’t enough space” is a much more compelling argument than “these are crappy stands and they scratch up my down tube so I don’t want to use them.”)

Either way, though, a fun ride this morning. There were definitely more bike commuters than usual out on the road today, and it’s nice to see the city and local businesses help out cyclists. (Even if it is just marketing.)

April was a rough month, riding-wise. My commuter finally bit the dust, and I was without a bike for the better part of two weeks. After that we were out of town for spring break — we had a lovely trip to Monterey — during which I picked up an ugly head cold that kept me off the bike for another week. Good times.

Either way, and despite missing the troop ride, I was able to make it to within 1/10^th of a mile of my monthly goal. Which is pretty spooky if you think about it.

I’m set to get back on track in May. I finished the Bridgestone, and Stephanie bought me a new commuter bike. (More on that later on this week.) So even if I completely destroy one in the name of “fixing” it, I’ll still be able to ride to work.

My other big cycling acquisiting for April is a Road ID, also courtesy of my loving wife.

The general idea is that if I get hit by a bus and can’t account for myself, the EMT’s or whoever have a few people they can call to figure out who I am. Given that one of Stephanie’s riding buddies was in an accident and was only identifiable because of his Road ID — his bike was crushed under a bus and the EMT’s cut his jersey away (he came through everything just fine and is back on his bike again!) — it seems like a more than fine idea. (P.S.: Carter: if I get hit by a bus and they can’t get a hold of Stephanie, expect a call.)

When I looked in to how much they cost, I was shocked to see a huge difference between the UK prices and the US prices. The Guv’nor, for example: GBP795 (USD1167) in jolly old, and USD1795 here in the states through Gold Country Cyclery. (And nobody else seems to carry them.) That’s more than a 50% markup. I can’t imagine that shipping cost makes up all of that. Maybe there are onerous import duties on British bicycles? Who knows.

Either way: amazing looking bikes.

Here’s the original, for compare/contract purposes:

A quick note regarding the name: Riv sells decal sets for old bikes made new. There’s lots of resurrection and phoenix motifs in them. Here’s a closeup:

And the seat tube decal:

I quite like them.

For the final push of getting it from assembled to “no really: ready to ride”, I had some help from Ken down at Stan’s Monrovia Bicycles with the bar tape. I wasn’t sure how to wrap the end of the bars such that the shifters would still fit in (turns out that you just don’t tuck the tape in to the bars), was impatient, and knew that Ken help me put a bullet in the project.

The blue tape is, I think, an extra-nice touch. Thanks, Ken!

The other thing I’m rather happy about is finally getting to use the saddle that Stephanie gave me for our anniversary last year.

Overall, I’m just really, really happy with the way the bike turned out, and I’ll probably do another sooner or later. (Definitely not until I get the garage cleaned out and tools organized such that I can avoid taking over the entire garage. No really: cars go there. It’s true.)

Building up a bike from parts — especially an old bike — was a really educational experience. I got to learn all about the difference between 27-inch and 700c wheels, and between recessed brake caliper mountings v. nutted mountings, and which parts screw in left-handed, which parts really, really need grease before you install them. Etc. It was a lot of fun, but I think I’d do a few things differently next time. (In particular, I’d not paint it until I was 100% sure that all the components fit. Trying to MacGyver in brakes on a freshly-painted frame is more angsty than I’m down for.)

I was able to take it for a short ride this afternoon. You know, shake down the components, make sure it’s adjusted correctly, etc. The seat is angled a little far forward, and I’m going to have to make a new shim (the first one is too thin) for the seat post. Also, I really don’t need a 52t chainring. I’ll never use it. So probably I’ll swap it out for the 42t “small” chain ring and put a 34t or something on as well. (I know that I forfeit any roadie kred by doing this. Oh well. I can still hang out with the touring crowd.)

Without question I would be remiss if I did not thank the people who helped me out with this project:

• New Belgium, for the best seat-post shim stock on earth
• Rivendell Bicycle Works, for a gang of parts and inspiration
• Sheldon Brown, for an endless stream of maintenance and repair tips
• Stan’s, for more parts, advice and making Monrovia a cool town to ride in
• My parents and in-laws for helping me avoid tragic technical errors along the way
• Fletcher, for being a shop hand without comparison
• Stephanie, for limitless inspiration, creative consultation, support and that just-right amount of ass kicking to get me to finish the damn thing. I love you!

Top Six Gender-Appropriate Outfits I Wouldn’t Be Caught Dead Wearing In Public (pics required)

Ok, this one I think I could do. First off, I can’t see myself wearing a dashiki.

I don’t know. Just not my thing. For similar reasons, the Canadian tuxedo doesn’t really work for me, either.

Sorry, Jay.

Since I’m not European, I’ll say that the speedo is right out as well.

I’m beginning to think that the Euro Speedo Dude is a myth, as they only Euro Dude beach frolicking stories I’ve every heard involved beachgoing au natural, which in its own way is better than the speedo. More honest, at least.

I can never remember the Safe Word, so the Gimp look is out.

Perhaps the most regrettable look ever — that I would not for a moment consider rocking, unless it was really, really funny, in which case maybe — is the frat-boy multiple collars, some popped, some not look.

What on earth are those guys thinking?

Finally, I’ll call upon the good doctor to let me know what not to wear:

“I’d like to get hold of some priests’ robes,” I said. “They might come in handy in Las Vegas.”

But there were no costume stores open, and we weren’t up to burglarizing a church. “Why bother?” said my attorney. “And you have to remember that a lot of cops are good vicious Catholics. Can you imagine what those bastards would do to us if we got busted all drugged-up and drunk in stolen vestments? Jesus, they’d castrate us!”

So I’ll not be dressing as the Pope, either.

Top Five “Top Ten Lists” That I Found Outrageously Wrong

No. Just… no.

Top Four Things I’m Really Bad At Doing

1. Golf. Lord almighty am I bad at golf. Often I give up scoring with numbers and use symbols. One time I made the 7th hole in lightning bolt after making the sixth in pentagram. I attribute this to the fact that 95-99% of the time I’m golfing is at bachelor parties and I’m three or five beers in to things by the fourth hole. Or at least the fourth hole for me. I usually hit six or eight or whatever the maximum is on at least half the holes, so it takes me eight holes to actually sink four. Anyway, yeah: I’m awfully bad at golf.
2. Corresponding. You’d think what with the email and the basically free VOIP and the atomic hover video chat, it’d be easier to keep up with the people I’d like to keep up with, but I just don’t do it. So everybody who doesn’t live in Southern California who wonders why I never write/call/atomic video yell, it’s just because I’m bad at that sort of thing.
3. Crossword puzzles. I just don’t have the patience/mind for remembering trivia.

I’m tired this evening, so I’m not really going to try. Sorry.

1. Rockport
2. Vasque
3. Adidas

Wow that was lame.

Top Two Pets I Won’t Let My Children Have

1. A cat. I’m violent allergic to cats. Plus I just don’t like them. Sorry, Fletch.
2. A parrot. This aversion is probably shared by much of the San Gabriel Valley. We’ve had a feral parrot problem for at least ten years. The damn things set up shop in a tree outside your window — dozens and dozens of them — and just squawk and squawk and squawk…. I hate them. I really do. I’m not a fan of guns at all, but I’d be all for issuing a shotgun to every home in the SGV that agreed to shoot at these damn birds whenever possible.

Extra bonus question: What one animal would I definitely let my child have?

A falcon, to hunt the parrots.

Day one:

Top One Vacation Destination to Visit If I’m Confined To A Wheelchair

I’m going to break Pat’s rules right out of the gate and answer twice: Once for the relative sedentary vacation — i.e., both of my legs are very and recently broken and it hurts to move them even a little (or if you just feel like being sedentary) — and one for a more active vacation. It’s the only fair way to do it, I think.

For the laid-back vacation, I’d say a film festival. Lots of sitting to be done, which would suite a wheelchair just fine. The question of which film festival to go to is important, though. I doubt France as something akin to the ADA, which would make getting around a pain in the ass, so Cannes is out. Sundance is in Utah, and they have those messed up blue laws (although I hear they’ve gotten better), so forget that. I’d probably say that Toronto, given that it’s in Canada, which is exclusively populated by the most polite people on earth, would be a pretty perfect destination. You could probably get perfect strangers to wheel you from theatre to theatre there. Yeah. So the Toronto International Film Festival it is.

If I’m shooting for action, though, I think the only way to be sure is to find some sort of Murderball/Thunderdome-style wheelchair basketball camp. I don’t know if one exists — as a vacation destination, at least — but I think that’d be the way to go.

Well, I’m a quarter of the way through the year and about a third of the way to my goal. Pretty pleasing.

I rode much, much less than I wanted to during March. (I had to go out for a ride on the last night of the month just to crack 200.) There were the (for me) pretty standard mechanical difficulties. I say “standard” and “for me” because I still haven’t gotten over the whole “tinkering with the commuter” thing. This would be tantamount to deciding on Sunday evening to put a puffer on the Civic that you take to work every day. Needless to say, it ends up with the bike in more pieces than it would ideally be on a lot of mornings. There was also a certain amount of work angst that lead to either late nights or martinis, both of which make riding in the morning pretty unappealing. That seems to be clearing up, though, so no more excuses.

Well, except for the whole “while attempting to fix my bike, I’ve pretty well destroyed it” part. A few weeks ago I broke a pedal. In replacing it, I broke the crank arm it was attached to. In replacing that I ruined my bottom bracket. Got a new one in place there, and now the replacement crankset — which, admittedly, is very very cheap — is warped beyond recognition and hitting the chainstay with each and every revolution. So, yeah.

I’m damn, damn close on the Bridgestone restoration I’ve been working on since last year. The frame is out at the powedercoat shop right now and should be done by tomorrow. When I get that back, I’m pretty sure I have all the parts I need to put together a really nice weekend bike, so I can ride that while the commuter is dead. All there is to it is assembling a bike from parts. Which I’ve never done before. But I have a copy of Zinn and Sheldon’s always there on the internets. What could go wrong?

The riding highlight of the month was, without question, a bike camping trip with Fletcher’s scout troop. Glenn Trail Camp is an amazing place to camp. It’s ~6.5 miles up a road where only handicapped fishermen can drive. The camp is huge, usually empty, (on account of having to bike there, which most people for whatever reason won’t do) and immaculate. After we got to camp, the boys did another quick five mile ride up and down the trail (for a requirement for the cycling merit badge) and Stephanie and I got to tool around without our bikes loaded, which was wonderfully relaxing.

I’m really interested in doing some more bike camping. You can get away from civilization quickly, and camping just with your own group in the middle of nowhere is infinitely better than camping next to 30 people’s parked cars. Anybody interested in joining me?

February worked out pretty well in the bike department. Even counting a nine day stretch when I only rode once — for which my excuse of “it was raining” is super weak considering that I went to the trouble to put fenders on my bike — I rode in to work more often than not. I even got a few longer weekend rides in: one about 18 miles around the neighborhood, another 26 to and from the arroyo/Rose Bowl where Stephanie and Fletcher were taking an archery class and the USMC marching band was playing. (The band was very cool. The silent drilling group was impressive, but I guess not my thing.)

The SGV continues to be a wonderful place to ride. Cars are, for the most part, cooperative. The weather, absent the rain, has been perfect. Also, thank god for casual dress codes at work.

One thing I’ve definitely learned is that not a lot of people around here go out for weekend fun rides with fenders and a rack trunk. Clearly what I need is a Serotta with SRAM Red, a Sella San Marco, and a pair of Zipp 808’s. Otherwise I’ll never be cool. (Or broke.)

In riding news that doesn’t involve me going very, very slowly to and from work, I went out to see the penultimate stage of the Tour of California last weekend. The stage in to Pasadena has ended with a crit around the Rose Bowl for at least the last two years. I had an odd day with some weird schedule constraints, so I drove out to see it. The pictures of the race are on Flickr. Here are some of my favorites:

I didn’t get there early enough for a spot by the finish, so I settled for a corner on the bottom of a hill. There was a pretty good crowd there, including a gaggle of MTB’ers.

Astana — race leader Levi Leipheimer’s team (also that Armstrong guy) — was pushing the pace of the main peleton all day. It was impressive that they were able to keep the pack behind them so effectively.

George Hincape was in the break. He won this stage in last year’s race. I was really rooting for him to win this year’s, but he got edged out at the very end.

I was able to get a shot with both Armstrong (first in this shot, with the yellow helmet) and Leipheimer (third, in the yellow jersey) in it. Also (I think) Christian Vande Velde just entering the frame on the left and <insert name of Astana domestique here> up by Lance.

The race organizers said that 2,000,000 people came out to see the race in person. (Counting all eight days, I imagine.) They said that it was the best attended sporting event in California history, which I find to be a somewhat dubious claim on account of we had the Olympics not too long ago. Either way, the little crowd at my corner was certainly enthusiastic.

As soon as we got there we were knees deep in the awesome. It being Presidents Day and all, the library was waving the entrance fees for everybody. Of course this meant that it was an absolute zoo — we had to park in the overflow lot across the street, which is the exact opposite of how parking usually is at these places — but it also saved us $24. Braggable.

Further — further! — there was a gang of presidential impersonators hanging out in the lobby, including but certainly not limited to my all time most favorite president ever, Mr. Harry S. Truman.

Being a fan of the former president, I was very, very excited to whip out my “let’s mess with the impersonator” science and ask him to say hello to Tom Pendergast for me. But wouldn’t you know it, the second I told him that I was from Kansas City — an inexcusable rookie move on my part — he brought it up himself! Which was pretty cool, but less fun for me than him trying to make some assertion that he didn’t owe the entirety of his (character’s) career to the mob. Oh well.

Since Stephanie and I were last at the Nixon museum it’s been turned over to the National Archives and Records Administration (NARA). It was formerly run by the private “Gosh Golly we love us some Dick Nixon Library Foundation” or something like that. I think NARA has done a really bang-up job with some of the other museums it runs, and the Nixon museum has always been a little less of a museum and a little more of a shrine, so I was really excited to see what NARA had done with the place. They mentioned in the (formerly mandatory) intro film that their mission was to modernize the museum and make it more interactive, which would be a big, big step forward.

From there they launched in to the same film that they old Nixon Library Foundation folks put together, that glosses over Watergate, Cambodia, etc., and highlights Dick’s missions to China, which is well and good. But then it went on to glorify his time at HUAC, which strikes me as kind of crazy, as that’s perhaps the least-good thing he ever did to our nation. Oh well.

Much of the first section of the museum is about Nixon’s political campaigns, as is pretty customary for these museums. You can find the customary array of pins and buttons, all of which I think are great. They also have some pretty wonderful letters from dignitaries and celebrities to the Representative/Senator/Vice President/President available. Fletcher especially found the letter from Dr. King to then vice-president Nixon interesting.

The whole time we were there, I had a really, really hard time keeping my inner-14-year-old in check. Seriously. How can you not laugh at something like this?

From the campaign years we moved on to Nixon’s foreign policy. Like any president, he had his ups and downs, but it’s really hard to ignore him opening a dialog with China. Even though we don’t really agree with them on all so much, it’s useful that we talk to them. You know: keep them involved in the world’s conversation. (If only that weren’t such a contentious notion today.)

Of course, as every cold-war presidential library does (and should), Dick’s museum has a chunk of the Berlin Wall.

Maybe now that NARA is running things they’ll find a better way to display this. Reagan has his mounted outside overlooking mountains and what have you. (Where’s my picture of that? I thought I had one?)

Probably the most unfortunate thing about the RMNM&L is that it really gives short shrift to some of Nixon’s truly great accomplishments. For example, Nixon established the Environmental Protection Agency. Here’s the sum total of the mention it got:

Further, the reading of Miranda Rights became compulsory on Nixon’s watch. That didn’t even get a full display, instead just getting a blurb in his “tough on crime” display.

I think the contents of this are worth repeating:

When President Nixon took office, the cop on the beat had to carry an extra piece of “equipment” besides his gun and badge: the Miranda rules advised suspects of their rights. Richard Nixon changed the focus back to the victim’s rights

If you were Richard M. Nixon or his estate, wouldn’t you want to play that up?

Another brief 14-year-old moment. You all know the game with Spiro Agnew’s name, right? About how you can rearrange the letters? Yes, I’m aware that Dave Barry has been all over that one for ages.

Now, on to the Watergate room. Perviously this was a long, dark corridor with really small, dense and horrible white-on-black copy describing the events of watergate and “white house recordings” cued up to static. Now it’s not even that.

NARA is renovating the room, hopefully to include something that doesn’t make you want to leave as quickly as possibly, as was the intent of the previous exhibit. Notable missing pieces from the former exhibit: a letter from Ben Stein positively gushing about what a great guy Dick was. Notably still there: the best resignation letter, ever. I’ve patterned all save one resignation letters after this.

Rather unfortunately, it was raining and the birthplace museum was closed. This was certainly for the best, as tracking mud through a museum is rarely a win. A short recap, as I’ve seen the place before: it was really small. A bunch of folks lived there. Nixon played the piano.

New since I was last there is the Marine One that Nixon used. I heard from a family that was very excited about all things Nixon that George W. Bush himself rode in on the chopper when it was delivered to the museum. Mission Accomplished, I guess.

I would be remiss if I did not mention that neither Stephanie nor Fletcher are crooks.

Although Fletch is apparently a Vulcan.

Nixon’s final resting place is indeed on the grounds of the museum. It’s easy to bag on the guy, but at the end of the day he was still our president, and if you’re going to leave the world with a parting thought, it’s hard to beat the one on his headstone.

There was one drawback, though. I never really felt like riding on the weekend or just around town or whatever, because it “wouldn’t count” in some odd, self-imposed way. This is a crying shame, considering both that I live in Southern California where the whether is perfect for cycling 99 days out of 100 and that cycling just for the fun of it is damn fun.

For 2009, I’ve set a similar goal but without the silly “It has to be going to/from work” provision. I’d like to ride at least 2,000 miles before the end of the year. That’s still not a crazy amount of riding — I’d hit that if I just rode to work twice a week — but it’s still a pretty good amount for me, and it’s realistic even if I have to take a few weeks off for whatever reason.

Here’s where I’m at so far:

January Miles: 212.66
Percentage of monthly goal: 128%
Percentage of annual goal: 11%

Of note is that there was almost a week where I was completely out of commission due to a ruined wheel. Something that will probably help me a lot is getting on the ball as far as maintenance is concerned. (Also finishing the Bridgestone so I’ll have something else to ride the next time I do something horrible to my commuter.)

Along similar lines, Stephanie and I have signed up to do the Livestrong Challenge ride in Austin this October. Briefly, this is a charity ride put on by the Lance Armstrong Foundation to raise money for cancer research, screening and survivor programs. We’re signed up to do the 90 mile ride, which is more than either of us have ever ridden at a go. It should be fun working up to that.

Shameless plug: as with any charity sort of ride, there’s a fund raising component. If you like what the LAF does and want to support their efforts by way of sponsoring us on this ride, you can donate via the interwebs. Here’s a link to my donation page, and here’s Stephanie’s.

It’s a bit of a schlep down to San Clemente, but oh my was it worth it. Their beer selection was right up my alley — they seem to focus on hoppy beers — and the pie was something else. Ours had grilled chicken, artichokes, feta, and (hopefully I’m remembering this correctly) sun-dried tomatoes.

After lunch we wandered around town for a bit. It was an absolutely beautiful day down there and a great little town to walk around in. If you have a spare Saturday afternoon and you enjoy beer and pizza, you really do owe it to yourself to give it a go. (Thanks for the tip, Russ!)

It just snapped while I was getting started in to an intersection. I can still pedal the bike, but there’s a lot of give to it now, and I’m not entirely sure how hard I can push on it before it breaks further, which may make the last two blocks of my ride home (which is the only part that’s up-hill in a meaningful way) interesting.

The funny part is that on Sunday when I got my wheel back from the shop, I thought for a bit about putting the 20-year-old, aluminum (and completely bomb-proof) platforms that I took off the Bridgestone on to my bike. I guess I’ll be getting to that tonight.

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