Lights, Insulation and San Francisco!

Electric all hooked up, ceiling and walls all insulated! Now interior sheeting, furnace installation, some painting and it will be ready for my bikes to MOVE IN!!! I keep trying to upload a picutre, but Blogger won't cooperate.

I'm am going to San Francisco next week, my daughter and I will be having a 3 day fun trip, just the 2 of us. She works for Alaska Airlines, so we get free flights and good deals on hotels/cars/tourist stuff. She is barely 18 yrs old, so she still needs Mom, who has a credit card, to reserve hotels and whatever. We decided against renting a car, doesn't sound like it will be necessary with the public transportation and the close locality of all the places we want to go.

I tried talking her into renting some bikes and checking out the local mountain biking scene. She is not into biking so that is not something she wants to do. She's sort of an indoor girl, I don't know how THAT happened. Maybe I accidentally traumatized her at some point in her young life by dragging her into the wilderness with no way to plug in her curling iron, calling it "fun". :)

We are going to have a good time though, 1 full day of shopping at Union Square, Alcatraz, Golden Gate Bridge, trolleys, etc. The architecture is always pretty cool also, Alaska seems to favor box style building = ugly.

There is a Critical Mass going on the night I leave, I sure wish I could ride in it, that would really be cool, I think. I don't know if there has ever been a Critical Mass in Alaska...So, who wants to start organizing one?

Toyo heater! It's cold already, winter is almost here. This will keep me toasty! The cold temperatures is causing my shoulder to really act up, stiff and sore.  

Side view 

Ramp instead of stairs, porch roof on, temp poles holding it up 

Bike Shop: Milling the lumber earlier this summer 

I'm done commuting. It's too dark and the bike path is full of rocks again, my light isn't bright enough to see very well. I have been looking into the TurboCat lights.  

 

 

Clicking

Bike Boy #1 has a loud click noise when his Rock Shox Tora 302 Solo Air fork is heavily compressed. I have searched, I can't find anything on it. I wonder if it is a blow off valve or a real problem?

Lookin' GOOOD!

Bike Shop all shelled in! Bikes will go along the back walls, lots of windows in the front. Now the interior work begins!

Quote of the Day

“Whatever you can do, or dream you can, begin it. Boldness has genius, magic, and power in it.”

Johann Wolfgang Von Goethe

 

Go Joe! 

Joe Bender

I went to Anchorage yesterday, to kill some time. I figured I would check out REI and some other stores for a mid-weight coat, maybe the North Face Denali coat. So I looked and looked, decided the Denali wasn't really what I was looking for as it doesn't seem to be as wind resistance as I am looking for.

So after wasting gas and fighting crazy Anchorage traffic, This is what I came home with:

Mountain Biking Joe Bender and cinnamon bread from the Great Harvest Bread Co. REALLY GOOD! That's all I've eat today...i'm so naughty!


So now I don't feel like riding, just gorging on the bread and lattes. I should include some real food and water in there somewhere.

Bike shop has a roof, most walls and windows! Post another pic soon.

Here's my bike shop! Getting the metal roofing/siding tonight! WooHoo! 

Always Remember

As I was riding my bike home from work today, the weather was just spectacular, just like 5 years ago.

And I remembered.

9/11, a clear sunny day, just like today.

Here is a memorial quilt I made, I keep it up all year-round.

The 4 "propellers" represent the 4 jets
The 2 rows of triangles represent the 2 towers
The overall Flag design represents the Pentagon
The white fabric has tiny stars on them, representing the number of lives lost.

It's hurts to remember,
but I will never forget

Another one goes down.  

Cycling Road Rage

I flipped a guy off the other day on my ride to work. I don't normally do that sort of thing and I feel bad about it.

I find I'm getting angry during my commute.

I have to cross an intersection where I wait alongside vehicles going the same direction as me, waiting at the red light to turn right. I am waiting for the green to go straight across. I have almost been hit a few times by these right turning drivers.

It's not because they don't see me. I look like a frickin' irradiated carrot, lit up for Christmas.

I have my blinky lights blinking, my dayglo orange reflective vest reflecting, my headlight shining and I also stand a bit further UP than the vehicle I'm next to.

The light turns green, I go, the vehicle goes into the turn also.

The brakes squeal as they hit them so they don't hit me.

I point to the green light, I point to the "walk" crosswalk indicator, I point to myself and then point straight ahead of me. Hopefully the driver understands this simple sign language and is aware that next time the light is green, I am going to GO as I have the RIGHT OF WAY, just like a pedestrian.

Correct me if I'm wrong.

I looked it up in the state laws. It's not legal to ride IN the roads here, either have to be on the bike path, on the shoulder of the road or as far to the right as possible if there is no shoulder.

I am riding on a bike path that leads up to the intersection and is then shared with pedestrians as it joins up with the sidewalk.

Also, bratty teens who block the bike path and will not move over also pisses me off. At this point I am supposed to yield to the pedestrians but those little shits deserve to be run over.

Good thing cycling burns off the negative energy. The rage is usually neutralized by the end of my ride. Besides, guns are too heavy to carry on my bike.

View of the tundra from the plane 

Our ride home this morning, glassy water