I'm Hip, Not a Hippy

My daughter calls me a hippy. I'm not sure why, I shave my armpits and I don't wear Birkenstocks or whatever. However, I have been comtemplating soy burgers recently...

I found a podcast/website that describes what I am..I'm more Hip than Hippie. I'm not sure how accurate their tips are, but they are environment friendly tips and certainly can't hurt. This week is on reducing pollution from letting your vehicle idle. They get a little "soccermom-ish" and I am no longer in that stage of my life, but I still like them. They also feature a different BEER weekly! My kind of girls :).

My dad was standing in line behind a guy wearing a biking event t-shirt. My dad asked him about it, the guy rode in it. My dad then told the guy that his daughter (me) was an addict. The guy was a little confused, topic jumping from bikes to drugs, so my dad explained I was a "bike addict" and had at least 5 bikes and a shop. The guy agreed, I'm addicted.

So I have been "labeled" twice this past week: hippy and addict. I don't mind, as long as it's kept in the correct context. And no, I DON'T need an intervention.

China is trying to clean it's air for the Olympics by banning a million cars. It's just a test. It worked before, the air was cleaner and congestion was down, maybe it will work again....doya think??

My commute this moring was pretty good, except for sucking in exhaust from dump trucks at the construction site which dug up my bike path. They just spew gross, black exhaust. I was wishing I had a mask. I think this was the 1st "warm" morning, 55 degrees at departure. Short sleeves and shorts temps! WaaaaaHOOOO!

My 1st Day as a 40 Yr Old

Has been rather mundane, but that's ok, we are all recovering from the past week.

The backpacking trip down the Iditarod trail in the Eagle River Valley was good. I really love it back there, it is SOO BEAUTIFUL! It's different than the valleys here, more wet, different vegetation. We saw only 1 black bear on the hike in, it scampered away quickly when we started telling it to go away.

It was gently raining on the hike in, which was fine because it helped keep us cool. Muddy trail in spots and slick rocks, I was glad I had my new hiking poles (an early birthday gift from Capt'n Balance). After settling into the Yurt, we continued on a nice 5 mile hike down the trail, we decided to go off the main trail onto some smaller trails and found some really beautiful spots along the Eagle River. I didn't get may pictures because I forgot to put the memory card back into my camera before leaving, I only had room for 12 pictures on the camera's internal memory. I bought myself an REI Venus backpack, it's great! Much better than the pack I used last year. I think I could get into backpacking a bit more but Capt'n Balance isn't for it. Why walk and carry a load when we can ride? This trail doesn't allow bikes so hoofing it is the only way.

Friday night we went into Anchorage and had dinner with my parents at the Snow Goose Restaurant and Sleeping Lady Brewery. Good food, beer, views of Cook Inlet and wonderful Alaska themed quilts and stained glass.

After dinner, we are driving down 9th Ave and we see a guy walking is reindeer. Yep, a reindeer, that's life in Alaska


We stayed at my parents house that night and after breakfast we went for a ride at Hillside park. The bears and spruce hen's are out and about







Last night after getting home we started finishing up Capt'n Balance's new road bike. He found a pretty nice road bike in the dumpster where he works, he got it out and it looks exactly like Bike Boy's Navara. This bike didn't have any labels on it so we don't know what the brand is but it has all top quality components for it's day. It also had tubeless, sewn tires. I got new rims as we just didn't want to mess with sewn tires and the freewheel was seized up anyway. Capt'n Balance stripped it all down, it had red paint flaking off, underneath it on the fork and chain and seat stays were nice, shiny chromed metal. He then repainted the frame using a paint that looks purple or green, depending on the angle you look at it. Really pretty. He then had a friend make him some label. He has named the bike after his favorite drink. It is now the Crown Royal Duck Fart Limited Edition. I got it all back together last night and all that is left is to wrap the bars. He couldn't wait until the bars were taped to test ride it. He's happy with it! I have 2 new commuters in my family, Bike Boy rides his Navara road bike to work at the golf course and Capt'n Balance plans on riding the Duck Fart to work. I knew I would get them into it sooner or later. They are both new to road bikes and are amazed at how fast road bikes are compared to mountain bikes on pavement. Yeah, baby!




And if you are interested in trying a Duck Fart, this is how to make one. It is a layered drink, in a big shot glass, gulp down as a shot.

1st layer: Kahlua 1/3 of shot glass
2nd layer: Bailey's Irish Cream. Pour slowly over the back of a spoon to layer it on top of the Kahlua
3rd layer: top with Crown Royal whisky. Again, pour slowly over the back of a spoon to layer on top of the Bailey's.



The best thing about my actual birth day was spending it with my family (minus my daughter in Montana, of course - I miss her greatly!). Capt'n Balance, Bike Boy and myself spent the evening hours in my bike shop, all of us working on one bike or another, talking and joking, then all going out together for the Crown Royal test ride. I thought to myself that biking is such a great family activity and thank God that cycling came into my life or none of the day's events would have happened.

Eric and the Broken Chain
Kincaid Park/Coastal Trail Ride Photos
Sleeping Lady Mountain

Recent Rides

Good rides last weekend and this weekend.

We have a friend, Eric, who is visiting on 2 week off hitch on the North Slope. He works 2 weeks on, 2 weeks off and lives in Flagstaff, Arizona. Eric bought my 1st mountain bike from me last year, a Cannondale F300 hardtail. He keeps his Cannondale here in Alaska and when he is here, off we all go.

Last weekend we took the motorhome to S. Rolly Lake campground and spent the night there. As there were wildfires in the surrounding area, we weren't sure if there would be a lot of smoke but the air was clear. Next morning we headed out to Red Shirt Lake. It's a nice trail with lots of ups or downs, not too far but a nice workout. The day warmed up and became humid, by Alaskan standards.

Eric ended up snapping his chain power shifting up a big hill about a mile away from the trailhead, it was mostly downhill from there so he was able to coast most of the way back.

We loaded up and continued on to Talkeetna, the town that the TV show Northern Exposure was rumored to be modeled after. We had a good time like always. There was a church group with a guy dressed up as a cow, he didn't seem to know what to do with his udders.

We were planning a overnight mountain bike/camping ride to Snowbird Mine and then hike to Reed Lakes but it started raining down here in the Valley and looked rather stormy up there in the mountains so we loaded up and headed into Anchorage to ride the trails at Kincaid Park, an old Cold War Nike missile base, converted into trails for cross-country skiing and riding in the summer. I had never been there before, even though I was raised 2 miles from it, it was still a missile site back then. We let Eric take the lead, the map was just a mess of trails, unreadable. We ended up on the Coastal Trail and just kept going. I don't think my mountain bike has ever ridden so much pavement before. We ended up stopping about 9 miles down the trail, were the Anchorage International Airport runways are, giant jets taking off overhead, really pretty cool to watch them as they are pretty low still. It can get pretty loud though. Everyone was hungry by this time and the wind was picking up, rain moving in, so we headed back to Kincaid. We will need to research the trail system at Kincaid better, the trails we were on were mostly grass with occasional tiny narrow strips of hardpack.

Eric wanted to ride again today, but we just have to get some everyday living stuff done before the work week starts, thinks like paying bills, grocery shopping, laundry, etc. It's raining again anyway. We also have to start shopping and packing for our 4th of July hiking trip to the yurt in Eagle River. Then on the 7th I turn 40!!! I'm not yet sure what I want to do to make it a memorable day. 40 on 07/07/07...can't beat that. I know a lot of people are getting married on that day but it's a heck of a lot harder to turn 40 on that day than get married.

I'm watching a show on the history channel right now on Alaska and the 1964 earthquake. My mom, dad and oldest brother were in Anchorage when it hit. Quite devastating. I grew up with the stories of the quake and the ruins. It's interesting the comparing the stories my family tells of living through it and seeing it on TV.

Bike boy got his 1st job! He will be on the grounds crew at the local golf course a mile down the road. 40 hours a week of yard work. He's going to be tired for the 1st week or so until he adjusts. My daughter has finally found a job down in Montana with the Parks Service, making reservations for the National Park Lodges. Full-time, year-round with benefits. She's happy about it. Now if I could only figure out how to retire....

Hope everyone has an enjoyable and safe 4th of July!

Wildfire Time

Several wildfires are burning around where I live in the Matanuska-Susitna Valley. The skies are smokey. We live near the airport where the air tankers, which drop retardant, take off. It's quite exciting when they take off, fully loaded, over my home. Everything shakes and those tankers are SOO LOUD! It freaks my dog out, he barks and chases them through the fields. Makes him feel tough, he thinks he's chased them off.

We are at 24 hrs of daylight now. Alnight parties and BBQ's!

We had a nice bike ride, bon-fire and all-night croquet tournament for Bikeboy's 16th birthday. The fire pictures are taken sometime after midnight. The sun still shining! We saw a porcupine on the ride along the Matanuska River. They sure are cute. The river is eroding the banks and getting close to the trail at some areas. It freaks me out a little to be riding along at a good pace then coming to a corner which is just about 2 feet away from a dropoff down into the river. Go over and chances of getting out alive can be pretty low. The river is deep, super cold, fast moving and full of silt which permeates clothing and shoes and drags a person under.

We were planning on going to Whitter
this weekend and go sea kayaking but the weather is bad so it's no-go. Whitter is an interesting little town. The tunnel is pretty cool as long as you don't driving under a mountain.

I am back to commuting again, it is soo nice. The gashes will definitely be scars, pretty good ones at that. One got a little infected, no thanks to Drunk John and his medical advice (for some reason this makes me think of of Midnight Rider...:)

The bike path is still torn up in a few spots but it's fine going slow over it. It seems like I see less commuters now than I saw in the spring, which is strange. Yesterday the weather was soo warm, in the low 80's. I wore a light pink jersey rather than the hi-vis long sleeve jersey I normally wear. The drivers did not notice me as much as when I wear the hi-vis,with the exception of the guy who did a cat-call at me. 2 drivers tried turning while I was crossing, both of them were on cell phones. I have ordered some hi-vis short sleeve and sleeveless shirts so I will be visible and cool.

Scarred for Life

I was out riding my Zing last Sunday with Capt'n Balance and Drunk John. We were going along a new bike path that was just laid down. The guys were in front of me, I was just following along.

One of the guys yelled out that the bike path just ended. Sure enough, it did. I didn't see that it was ending because the guys were blocking my view and I wasn't really LOOKING for the path to end. I didn't clip out in time and wiped out.

It wasn't a bad wipeout, I was just a little suprised by it all. I had some roadrash on my left knee that hurt a little but other than that, I thought everything was OK.

The ride continued on, then Drunk John said I had blood running down my right calf. Sure enough, I had some pretty good gashes which I guess were from the Zing's chainrings.

One in particular look like it could be stitch-worthy, but it had stopped bleeding and the guys said it was fine. The gashes really didn't hurt so I figured they were right.

Monday I rode to work and was doing fine, a little sore but no big deal. I was wearing capri pants (short pants, just below the knee, for you guys that don't know) and my friend saw the gashes and immediately got me to the break room and brought out the 1st aid kit and butterfly bandaged up the gashes. Then she scolded me for listening to a guy called Drunk John regarding medical advice and there is no excuse for Capt'n Balance except he doesn't get medical help unless it's life and death.

I only rode to work on Monday, the gash tended to open from the movement of pedaling. So I am giving it time to heal. Also, a portion of the route I ride to work is under construction and all ripped up. Hopefully it will be repaired by next Monday.

Bike Boy turned 16 yesterday!!! I'm feeling old...:). Hopefully we will get a nice ride in this weekend. I got the poplock installed on his new fork and so he will be testing it out. I got new rims, tires and brake shoes on the Novara, it just needs a front derailleur adjustment and it's good to go.

The sun is shining, my leg is healing, life if good!

Beer, Hammer, Bikes, Farm Animals and Gold Mines

A few days ago, I mentioned to Capt'n Balance that I needed a bottle opener in my bike shop and kept forgetting to get one. Capt'n Balance was all excited when I got home from work the other day. He told me to go look in my shop because there was a surprise waiting for me.

Surprised and excited, I went into the shop and there it was, waiting for me on one of my work benches....The BEER HAMMER!!! Wow, every shop needs one. I didn't know what I was missing. I went to my little shop fridge, grabbed a Kona Fire Rock and went to work with the HAMMER. It works great. My beer was open in a flash with no foam from my normal decapping procedure with a screwdriver. I took a drink, sank into my chair, let out a big sigh and silently thanked the HAMMER and Capt'n Balance for making that little part of my life easier.

The HAMMER can also be used lightly as a actual hammer. Can't beat that...get it???

I am restoring another Schwinn Varsity for another friend. He is paying for all the parts and gave me a Novara road bike for my labor. Sweet deal. It's a 80's Novara but it's in new condition and just needs new tires and tubes. Bike Boy will like it.

Capt'n Balance also came home with a nice road bike that someone was throwing away. All the stickers have come off but it has a Norco seat. He wants to fix it up for himself and he might start riding it to work. He also wants to strip it and paint it. The freewheel is seized and it has sewn tires. Bike Guy can replace the tires and mount them but I don't' really want to mess with them so he gave me a good deal on some inexpensive wheels and freewheel. I will move the down tube friction shifter to the stem also.

So my boys will be riding the roads a bit. I think dirt is embedded in them and that will remain their main preference for riding but now they will have more options.

We have 5 Merino lambs on the farm now...sound familiar? The wonderful, high quality, non-itchy, non-smelly wool sports wear is made out of. They were sheared before they arrive, they are sporting pretty bad haircuts and are a little embarrassed.

We also have a new calf, born just yesterday. It was about 4 hours old in these pictures and after I took these pictures it started to jump and buck, as much as a 4 hour old calf can, which isn't much, but it's a good sign it healthy and strong.

Capt'n Balance and I went on the 1st mountain biking ride of the summer up at Hatcher's Pass. We road up to Snowbird Mine, had to hike-a-bike over the 1/4 mile rock garden. It's still winter up there, ice on the water. Marmots (ground squirrel) were screaming at us, we were getting too close to their nest in the ruins of the mine. I backed off rather than get my throat ripped out by a 15 pound squirrel.

The winds are back and stirring up so much glacier silt it's obscuring the view, can't even see the mountains to the north. Yuck.

Off She Goes

My little bird has left the nest and has taken a part of my heart with her.

She had trouble in Seattle, all of her money was stolen at her hotel, but was recovered a few hours later...I suspect it was an employee. I got a call from her crying in the middle of the night. The whole ordeal lasted until about 2:30 a.m. She had to get up at 6 a.m. so she hasn't had much sleep. The hotel did give her a free breakfast for her troubles.

The high temperatures here have been below 60 degrees, she is going into 90+ degree weather, yuck.

This is our last picture together at the airport. I miss her so much already.

Random Happenings

The weather improved for a few days and we had nice weather for my daughter's going away parties. Shiskabobs and a pig roast, yummy. Now it's back to cloudy and rainy, there is even fresh snow on the mountains. We got the garden planted and school is out. Bike boy is in Florida, my daughter will be leaving on the 31st. So I will be having extra time on my hands. What am I going to do with myself? I don't know yet.





My new truing stand :)



My new bike, rescued from the river behind my home by Capt'n Balance. I don't think I will be restoring it. It looks like it originally was a women's bike and then someone welded a galvanized pipe toptube to make it into a boy's bike. It appears they lengthened the entire bike by also cutting it apart just in front of the bottom bracket and welding in an additional 3 inches of steel pipe. The welded galvanized toptube says "mercer". Interesting. I will make it into a planter for flowers or something. It has a great chainring on it, I love the design of it.



Family (some of the family, not all) picture at the family going away party for my daughter






Pig roast at one of my daughter's going away party

Sometimes, I can be a real BONEHEAD

Today was SPC. John Barbonus' memorial service. The roll call, when they call the fallen soldier's name and there is no answer is heartbreaking. John is a hero, his actions saved may other soldiers.

My daughter is moving to Montana at the end of the month. I am really going to miss her. She reminds me of myself at that age, independent, thinks she is more mature than she really is (she is a mature as a 19 year old can be, but how mature CAN a 19 year actually be?) and ready to take on the world. I feel odd inside about it; sadness, hopefulness for her future and I don't know what else. I will miss her. I tell her she can always come back...and I hope she does.

My son will be going to his dad's for 6 week visitation and will be going to Florida to see his grandmother, who has terminal cancer and is expected to live only a few more months. That will be difficult for him. I remember how I felt when my grandmother was dying from cancer when I was 12 yrs old. She asked to see me 1 more time but I was too upset and just couldn't do it, she was soo ill. She died that day. I have always regretted not seeing her that last time.

Tuesday evening, I did the ultimate bonehead move on my ride from work to my truck. I live too far from home to ride almost 18 miles one way and there are no bike paths or sidewalks the first 9 miles. I am not brave enough to ride on the side of the highway.

Normally I park at the PARK and RIDE parking lot (for share-a-ride people who work in Anchorage) and I pedal from there to my office, a little over 8 miles, at least half of it is uphill. This day I was feeling tired so I parked at Lowe's, 4 miles from my office, which turned out to be a very good thing.

Tuesday morning was nice but by the evening, the wind was back and blowing with it's now usual force. I was in a hurry to leave work because I still tired and just needed to get out of there (I work the government welfare programs...I'm sure that gives you an idea what I'm talking about). Happy to leave my day behind, I get on my bike for a nice ride back to my truck. It was all going great - people in the cars and trucks are all being nice, I fight the wind all the way and finally get to my truck.

I then realize I'm feeling pretty light...oh crud...no backpack...no keys...no drivers license...no credit card...no cash...no cell phone...nothing except my work clothes which are packed in my rack trunk....HOW COULD I FORGET MY BACKPACK????? I search under the truck for the magnetic key box then remember the key was too big for the box so we never hid a spare. Sheesh. No good going back to my office for it, I have no keys to get in. The garden center at Lowe's is open, so I ride in there and borrow a phone. Capt'n Balance is really busy but I have no way to get home.

He comes 30 miles round trip, out of his way to bring me a key, then takes off. The plan was to fill up with gas on my way home but since I have no credit card or cash, no gas. I had enough to get home, questionable if I will have enough for the drive the following morning to make it to my office to get my cash/credit card and then to the gas station. So yesterday morning I drove as far as I safely could without running out of gas and rode my bike to work. Fortunately, there was my backpack with all my important stuff in it, sitting on the floor where I had left it.

Yep, a major bonehead move...The lady at Lowe's who let me use the phone wasn't impressed.

This is a picture of Wasilla Lake, the ice is finally totally gone and I love the smell of the water as I ride by. It's good for my heavy heart.

I Almost Forgot WHY I do it....

The wind just hasn't quit blowing. Yesterday it was blowing quite hard. It is also a cold wind, wind chill down to just above freezing in the mornings.

My commute to work yesterday had me wondering why I am doing this. Yes, I enjoy it...most of the time, but I forgot that yesterday.

It was blowing soo hard that I couldn't ride straight. The wind would catch me, my backpack, rack and trunk. Capt'n Balance called me at 3:30, asking if I wanted him to drive out to where I work (30 miles out of his way) and pick me up so I wouldn't have to ride in the wind. He was estimating gusts up to 35 mph.

No, I said, it doesn't look that bad here. So off I went, the 1st 2 miles were alright. Windy but not the FREEZING cold wind of the morning. Then came the start of mile 3, up a hill, which is normally enough to get me breathing harder but no big deal. The wind was SCREAMING down that hill. I was burned out by the time I got to the top of it. I wondered at one point if I was moving at all. I had to drop into the granny gears. My eyes were tearing up from the wind and I couldn't see very well. It took twice as long to get up that hill and my legs were burning, I was out of breath.

This morning, I almost didn't ride. I looked out the window and there it still was, the WIND, blowing just as hard as the night before. I crawled back into bed. I got up at my normal "vehicle-drive time" and I checked outside again. The wind had calmed down and the sun was shining a bit. I decided to go ahead and ride, even if it may me late for work.

I'm glad I did. It was cold and still windy this morning but not as bad as yesterday. I enjoyed my ride. The sun has come out a little more and it is still breezy but I think today's ride home will be a good one. Now I remember why I ride!

My Heart is Full of LUV!!

I just had to get that out. I took my Santa Cruz out for a spin and my heart swelled with love and joy. Then my dog KC and I took a rest on the sort of green grass, soaked up the sort of warm sunshine and tried to avoid the decidedly cold wind.

Then we sent to say hello to Lil' Humpy, the calf. Just like any baby, he wants to taste everything and started licking my bike. Licking the tires was fine, then he moved on to the saddle and that was enough bike sharing with a cow. Baby cow spit is just impossible to clean off leather. There's also something sort of twisted in that... he may end up being a saddle or some other leather product someday.

Bike Boy's fork didn't get fixed. The seals were replaced but it still leaked. The air chamber was replace and it leaked even worse so off to RockShox it goes. For an early birthday present, Bike Boy ended up with an awesome RockShox Reba U-Turn (adjustable travel) with remote Poploc. I'm jealous!

I have finished my friends bikes and may have 2 more to do. Then that's it for now. Last week I fixed up a vintage Schwinn Varsity for a friend who bought it at a pawn shop, for his adult daughter who wanted a road bike to ride in a triathlon in Anchorage. This is not my idea of a triathlon bike. It must weight 40 pounds, it's a kid bike with 24 inch wheels and built in the 1970's. BUT all I am doing is getting it rideable, not giving opinions. So I pulled cables, cut housing, greased, adjusted, lubed, repacked, trued, etc. I took it for a spin, my knees hitting my ears, but the baby just goes! There's just something about the feel of an old steel bike that I like. Then Capt'n Balance and Bike Boy took rides on it and we all enjoyed it and it is working great. I had the girl come over because she had no idea how to use the friction shifters and to take it for a test ride. She is a few inches shorter than I am and she said she really liked the size of the bike. So off she went with her bike. It's a great color also.

The last bike here is ready to be released to it's owner. I didn't do much on it because this guy is a cheapskate. It's his wife's bike, a 20 year old Schwinn with the semi friction/index shifters on the bars instead of the frame. He blew the tubes trying to inflate it and just wanted new tubes. I said I wouldn't do it unless he got new tires, it still had the original tires which were pretty weather cracked and I didn't feel it would be safe for her to ride. So he agreed on new tires. I also had to steam clean it as it had 20 years of WD40 and glacier silt coating it so thick it was too dirty to bring into my shop. I tried scrubbing it with Dawn and hot water but that just smeared the goo around. So used a commercial steam cleaner on it. It is much cleaner but it still didn't get all the gook off. The front brake cable was shot, the brake wouldn't release so I had to fix that or his wife was going to do an endo. He is too cheap to pay for all new cables and housing, so the old ones stay. $20 more but he won't do it and I'm not donating my time and supplies. He said if it's over $90 then he will just go buy a Walmart bike. I tried to explain that this bike is much better than ANYTHING he could buy at Walmart but whatever.

This bike also has the funkiest seat I have every seen. Very uncomfortable. I'm not sure the correct way to sit on it, I don't think it's made to be straddled, but sat on more like a chair, which a person's legs coming off the front of it. But that doesn't allow my legs to extend out fully. I tried it with the seat all the way down but it still interfered with leg movement. I don't think I have enough "junk in the trunk" for this type of seat. It also has pretty interesting roller cam brakes, The stick way out but are very effective.

Bonus' memorial service is next week. I get a horrible feeling in my gut when I think about it. Another of my daughter's friends is being deployed next week. This girl called my daughter up last week, drunk and crying. She is very scared. She has had only 1 week of combat training. I don't think she will be deployed into an "official" combat zone and pray she, and all our troops, will be ok.

Working on Weekends, not my thing...

Word has gotten out about my bike shop.

I have been approached by lots of friends who would like their bikes tuned up and a few have dropped off their bikes.

Saturday was busy with Cinco de Mayo party, drawing for a trip to the Police concert in L.A. (I didn't win), Capt'n Balance's birthday bon fire, visits from parents.

All day Sunday I replaced cables, repacked hubs and headsets, changed flats, adjusted brakes, un-siezed seat posts, etc. I made a few bucks.

Sunday also was the nicest day we have had yet. I missed the sunshine and spent my time cursing dirty, greasy bikes in poor condition. I got them done and outta there. But I missed my sunny weekend day.

Now I have a week of work, grease stained hands, sore fingertips, I'm tired and it's raining.

Was it worth giving up my Sunday for a few bucks? Nope. Am I going to continue to work on other's bikes? Maybe, but I am going to be much more selective with my precious free time.

This Week's Rides

The mornings are still cold, barely above freezing. The afternoons are in the low to mid-50's. My head and hands are pretty cold in the mornings, I'm starting to get too warm in the evenings while I commute back and forth to work. But I LIKE it!

There are many more bicycle commuters this year than last. I pass 3 other's, all men, who are decked out in hi-vis, freezing in the mornings, sweating in the evenings. Hopefully drivers will continue to see us and get used to us.

Yesterday on the ride home, I was at a crosswalk of a busy intersection and another cyclist was on the other side of this 5 lane road. We were waiting for the crossing sign when a guy pulled up and stopped RIGHT into the crosswalk, directly in the path of myself and the other cyclist. The it was our turn to cross, the other cyclist decided to go around the car, but he had to go all the way out into the oncoming lane of traffic. I decided to wait until the yahoo in the car when on his way. The driver appeared to have no clue of what he was doing.

Today I didn't commute because Bike Boy's fork is finally fixed. Bike Guy fixed the blown seals then found problems with the bushing. It was clunking and the fork would basically free fall or free play about a 1/2 inch when it reached what was supposed to be maximum rebound. Bike Guy called Rock Shox and it appears to be a known problem with this shock. So it had to be dissassembled and an entire new air chamber portion replaced, not just replacing the seals.

I bought the Zing to work and road at lunch. It was an interesting ride. The inbred's are coming out of hibernation. I had a conversation with a pretty rough looking older guy on the bike path. Judging by the vapors coming off of him when he talked, his waterbottle did NOT contain water. He was telling me he has a Raleigh and seeing my bike makes him want to start riding it again. He was riding a mountain bike. Then he lit up a smoke and I was wondering if the vapors would ignite. He was friendly enough. It was time to get back to work so off I went.

Lots of Canadian geese and snow geese fluttering around. There are tiny bits of green here and there. We got some rain last night. 2 cows are pregnant, more calfs on the way.