Food Not Bombs

Food Not Bombs is getting started in Huntsville. There is a coordination meeting on January 5 at 4pm on the loading dock of Lowe Mill. Hopefully we can use bikes to get the food. www.myspace.com/fnbhuntsville

critical mass tonight

6:30 pm SE Corner of Courthouse down unless it is raining *"nukular" warheads from pakistan. then we party!

*nuclear

Stupid Idea of the Day Year: License to Bike

from podium cafe

Obviously lots of bad ideas get floated publicly and go nowhere, so I'm not going to be turning pedals in anger on the trainer tonight. Not yet. But if either Seattle or Washington decides to start requiring bike licenses, on the phony premise that cyclists devour public resources and need taxing, my response won't be merely blogging aimlessly about it. I may have to get politically active.

Seriously, does anyone think my riding to work, instead of driving some smelly car that grinds away at the road surface and contributes to gridlock, actually costs the city money? And do people really think that painting little biker-guy stick-figure symbols on the road is what's blowing a hole in the state budget?

Also, if you're ignorant enough to believe such things, why stop at bikes? Why not go after those evil pedestrians? Sidewalks cost infinitely more than the bike lanes that don't even really exist. Worse, sidewalks have the gall to exclude cars, in turn narrowing the road! So pedestrians not only devour space that God reserved for His chosen motorized transportation method, but when you feel justifiably angered and moved to take matters into your own hands, you can't even splatter one of those selfish sidewalk-dwelling pedestrians without ruining a wheel or two. Is this fair?

OK, I broke my promise from back in the first sentence. But seriously, I feel like I understand car people pretty well, so why is it that they don't seem to know the first thing about bikes?

On the flip: Want some numbers? [If you dare...]


Car people are apparently angry about spending $240 million (proposed) on a network of bike lanes around Seattle. Here are a few other statistics, from the state and federal highway agencies' websites, to chew on when contemplating arguments about costs.

So far this year, there have been 432 deaths in Washington State caused by cars; recent annual averages are about 550 or so. Of those 432 people lost, 12 were on bikes, 315 were in a car, and the rest were bystanders of one kind or another. Roughly 10-15% of fatalities and accidents in Washington happen in King County.
The most recent economic impact of car crashes was that, in 2000, motor vehicle accidents cost the state's economy $5.3 billion. A conservative estimate, then, is that in that year alone the cost to King County was $530 million.
Some points about economic effects:
1. This is a single year, not 30 years or whatever the lifespan of the bike plan is.
2. These are 2000 dollars; that number is surely up in 2007.
3. Not sure how this estimate is made; does it include hidden costs? Such as increased insurance premiums? Did everyone who took out a guardrail pay the state back for the damage? etc.
4. These are just the costs of reported accidents; what are the costs of unreported accidents? of congestion? of parking lots? road repairs? road signs? man-hours devoted to maintaining the road network? environmental costs of the network being there? How much was spent cleaning up spills from leaky gas pumps and carelessness around the refineries in Anacortes? I could go on and on and on...
5. Conclusion: society pays madly unquantifiable amounts of money for the sake of cars. Way more than any number you can find on the books.
And that's before the onset of global warming, which is predicted to upset the economy of the entire world. So cars are only a part of the problem, and King County is only a part of the car universe, and bikes are only a part of the solution in King County... but is that $240 million looking pretty small yet? Small enough to make people here consider being part of the solution for once?

Why people believe weird things

liz ride tonight

call or email tyler for directions. everyone else we are going to meet in front of bistro du soliel in front around 6 - 6:30pm

Suburbs turning more bike-friendly

Steve Buchtel knows you can't turn around a culture of car dependency overnight. That's particularly true in Chicago's ever-growing suburbs to the west and south where bus and train schedules are erratic and well-defined bicycle routes scarce.

So when Buchtel's hometown of Homewood recently landed a $114,000 federal grant to improve its bicycling amenities, there was no shortage of ideas on how to spend the money. The plan is to buy 100 parking racks, install signs along bike routes, paint new bike lanes on major roads and produce a villagewide map of connecting routes to show cyclists the best ways to get from here to there.

These might seem like small changes in the village of nearly 20,000 in southern Cook County. But for cycling enthusiasts such as Buchtel, they are steps toward solving a big problem in the suburbs: Residents are more likely to hop in their cars and not on their bikes for even the quickest errands.

The glut of traffic clogs roads through quaint downtown centers and jams parking spaces at the neighborhood supermarket. It creates long lines at the gas pump and in front of schools. While traffic hassles are not unique to the suburbs, they are exacerbated in sprawling bedroom communities that are not designed for pedestrians and have limited public transportation options.

"In Chicago, public transit can get you pretty much anywhere anytime. In the suburbs, it can take you some places some of the time," said Buchtel, a lifelong cyclist and project coordinator for the non-profit Chicagoland Bicycling Federation. "Bikes can help fill that void."

Slowly, small towns growing in the shadow of Chicago are getting the message. Like Homewood, communities such as Oak Park and Hinsdale have crafted comprehensive bicycling plans to improve safety, upgrade bike routes, establish new ones and drum up interest in two-wheel travel.

Blue Island held its first pro-am bike race in July to promote the sport and has since installed 30 parking racks downtown. Palos Heights held a Shop by Bike promotion last summer and invested in more parking racks downtown.

"There's kind of a perfect storm right now of traffic concerns, climate concerns and health concerns that has kind of rekindled interest in cycling," Buchtel said. "The suburbs largely grew up and developed without regard to these things and have fewer tools to combat them than the city does. So it's vital that communities that do change show others how it can be done."

In 2006, Chicago unveiled an ambitious plan to complete a sprawling network of 500 miles of bike routes on-road and off by 2015. Work is also under way on the $20 million Calumet-Sag Trail that will ultimately connect five regional trails and stretch for more than 150 miles through forest preserves and along the Calumet-Sag Channel.

Many see the suburbs as the next frontier.

"It's not about forcing people to change their behavior and give up their cars," said Tim Gustafson, a transportation planner with T.Y. Lin of Chicago, which has worked on bicycle projects in Hinsdale, Naperville and Evanston. "This is about giving people another choice."

It's possible because there is more state and federal funding available for alternative transportation projects, Gustafson said. Homewood, which launched its bicycling project more than a year ago, will pay less than a quarter of the cost, or about $30,000, for its improvements, said Village Manager Mark Franz. The remainder of the bill will be covered by the $114,000 grant from the Congestion Mitigation and Air Quality program of the U.S. Department of Transportation.

"We don't have grandiose plans that these will change overnight," Franz said. "These are baby steps on a long road to get people to understand you don't need to take your car everywhere. We'd like to think that attitude will be the wave of the future."

Buchtel knows this "bicycle movement," as he calls it, will take time. But as more people leave the comforts and convenience of the city for more space in the suburbs, he is hopeful a few will look to retain their independence from cars.

"As I look at the region, there are so many towns that are just a plan away from being bicycle-friendly," Buchtel said. "That's where we have to start."

thanks nolen

Dekochari: Art bikes of Japan

Check out this awesome nighttime video of Dekochari — Japanese art bikes (Deko = decorated, chari = slang for bicycle). The bikes are ‘dressed up’ to resemble Dekotora, highly stylized trucks popular in Japan in the mid 1970s. Loaded down with flashing lights, boxes, mirrors, cup holders, hi-fi systems, everything — these bikes (and their bigger truckier cousins) are particularly impressive at night. There are several active dekochari fleets in Japan to this day.

This is another great example of bike culture evolving from established trends in the existing culture, promulgated by youth. (Yes, that’s a double word score if you’re keeping track).

As the great wiki explains:

Unable to drive the giant chrome-plated flashing trucks they coveted, children instead built plywood boxes around their bikes and attached chrome plating and lights. Almost all current Dekochari’s have elaborate light displays and many include hi-fi audio systems and cup-holders.

The Dekotora were popularized by the Torrakku Yaro (trucker) movies of Norifumi Suzuki starting in 1975. A great set of galleries from Japan here (most links are below “2006’N — explore a little, it’s worth it.). Night time galleries from Pink Tentacle are here.

The Dekochari are often difficult to recognize (big gallery at that link) as bikes in photos due to the huge amount of decoration. I can only imagine that these beasties are mostly popular in the flatter regions of the island nation.

Gears to gigabytes

A new world record in human powered computing has been set by MIT students who used bikes to power one of the institute’s supercomputers for 20 minutes. As part of the Innovate or Die pedal-powered machine contest a nuclear fusion reaction was modeled by the sweat of the students’ brows.

A CHRISTMAS EVE STORY

Story from James Kuntsler

Two things happened to me over this weekend before Christmas that jarred me a little. One was when an old friend said I sounded crazy, and the second was when I read the galley proof of Dmitry Orlov's forthcoming book, Reinventing Collapse (New Society Press, Spring 2008). read more here

merry fucking xmas

from our friends at the drunkcyclist

Stumbled upon a good, if infuriating read in the online Vanity Fair about Bush’s economic legacy.

The administration crows that the economy grew—by some 16 percent—during its first six years, but the growth helped mainly people who had no need of any help, and failed to help those who need plenty. A rising tide lifted all yachts. Inequality is now widening in America, and at a rate not seen in three-quarters of a century. A young male in his 30s today has an income, adjusted for inflation, that is 12 percent less than what his father was making 30 years ago. Some 5.3 million more Americans are living in poverty now than were living in poverty when Bush became president. America’s class structure may not have arrived there yet, but it’s heading in the direction of Brazil’s and Mexico’s.

Yeah, you read that right. Mexico and Brazil. Read the whole article, it’s worth it. Some finer points are the author points out that Clinton didn’t do everything he could have due to being fixated on eliminating the national debt and how Bush was in the position to reenforce out infratstructure to help prevent the recession we are heading invariably towards. (New Orleans levees anyone? Bridges that need repair or replacement? Anyone???)

Yup. Worth a coffee-break to read it.

—bikepunk

yo where is liz?

hey are you out there? whats up? have you decided to avoid landing here at all costs:?)

Critical Mass Roma Ciemmona 2007

eye of the tiger, ala the pedal pusher society

The best of the best, BAGeL style

Today, my friends, is a big day it is the day the best DJ on the planet, our very own Ted, reveals his picks for the best songs of 2007. Yes, were talking the CMJ award winning Ted. Yes, were talking the best IndieRockNoisePop of 2007. Yes, I am home and able to tune in to the whole extravaganza!

The countdown from #50 starts at 10 a.m. Pacific time (do the math for Eastern etc.) and the #1 BAGeL approved song should be revealed around 1:45 p.m.. Afterwards starts the honorary mention hour, and then the Best Bay Area songs follow right after. My ears can't wait.

And, remember, if you miss anything Ted will be posting his "best of" lists tomorrow.

Enjoy and happy Friday, everyone.

Oh and Ted rides too.


Sing more, because if George Bush listened to BAGeL Radio the world would be a much better place.

Bicycle Bandit update

Thats right I believe thats 10 banks now.

BUFORD - The FBI believes a bank robber known as the "Bicycle Bandit" has struck again--this time in Buford.

Special Agent Stephen Emmett says the man robbed the BB&T Bank on Buford Drive Thursday morning and left behind a bicycle nearby.

"That indicates to us that this is most likely the 'Bicycle Bandit' known as an individual responsible for an upwards of nine bank robberies," said Emmett.

He described the man as a white male, in his late 30s to early 40s, wearing a gray sweatshirt that had “Carolina” printed across the front, and a blue baseball cap with a white logo on the front.

Emmett said the "Bicycle Bandit" has also robbed banks in Alpharetta, Roswell, and Cumming.

you think a polo lane is high viz?

How about the middle of The Parkway?

Okay marshmallows and sheepmolesters, There is a place on the parkway we need to play polo/hang out and be manly or girly with our bikes.

The old north end of the parkway has a 200' stretch of fairly decent pavement that is 2 lanes wide with ditches or barricades on either side. Lets seriously try to play polo before x-mas on this pavement.

So if you are interested post a comment and lets do it, if not go back to surfing the internet for advanced games of sudoku.

lets try to get together.please, i beg you. i will pay you to play. God i love the game. If polo was a body organ, I'd exchange it for my beating heart.

jock strap jimba

polo lanes

urinal art

Stop (Even) Big(ger) Media

The FCC approved new rules that will lead to further media consolidation across America. As if Rupert Murdoch's empire isn't big and poisonous enough. The new rules will further consolidate local media markets -- taking away independent voices and programming in places already short on local news and investigative journalism.

Congress can overturn these rules, but only will do so if We The People demand it. If 100,000 people sign a petition saying no to further media consolidation, Congress will have to listen. Sign the open letter to Congress urging them to stop the FCC and stand with the public interest.

Thanks Spag and Ted

HOW TO - Make DC Bicycle pedal power generators

Here's how to make DC Bicycle pedal power generators from the folks as Science Shareware -

Here you can learn to create your own green power electricity using a pedal power bicycle generator. We setup the 24 bicycle power generators at the 2007 Coachella Music and Arts Festival, 60,000 people a day for 3 days in the desert - Indio California. The bike generators were used for charging cell phones.
DC Bicycle pedal power generator - Link.

coffee anyone

girls and boys there will be a winter solstice with a spot of good cheer. oh and love peace and all that crap. wow I feel like I ate a box of refined sugar and now I want to vomit.

forget all that hippie dippie crap and come out weds. am for shots of espresso @ sterns then once we reach caffeinated nirvana or the shakes, we RIDE.

A Copenhagen Yule

Now here's a shot that really hammers home a Copenhagen Yule moment. Dad transporting the family tree in his Danish cargo bike - in this case a Christiania Bike - on a lovely, wide bike lane.

The Danish [and Swedish and Norwegian] word for Christmas is 'jul' which morphed into 'yule', etymologically speaking, in English. It's the name of the original winter solstice festival that had existed for centuries before the Catholic church moved Jesus' birthday to Decemeber in order to trump the celebrations of other cultures and faiths.

Ironically, the word for wheel is 'hjul', pronounced just like 'jul' - both of which are pronounced much like 'yule'. [Are you really still reading this?! :-)]

So it is only appropriate that we wish our readers 'Glædelig [H]jul'! - meaning all at once, Happy Christmas and Happy Wheel.
:-)

The dad in the photo above was followed by his two kids and wife - a happy family heading home to decorate the tree:

those who buy those cheap xmas gifts rejoice!

If you shop at walmart which I can not understand why you would, think about this from adbusters.

Annie Wells / L.A. Times Wal-Mart fired my mom because of her bad hip. At least, that’s what she believes. Originally hired for desk work, she was eventually asked to perform duties that involved walking the sales floor most of the day. Management did not appreciate her reluctance. Then, after several long weeks of recovery from hip-replacement surgery, she returned to the store only to be told that her position had evaporated. So these days, my mom hates Wal-Mart. It wasn’t always this way. Years back, she fell in love with their prices, their smiling greeters, and their homey, family-friendly image. When she learned that a massive Wal-Mart was coming to town, she immediately rushed out to apply for a job; within a week of the store opening, the grandkids could already sing the company song. Before long, however, her love affair showed signs of faltering. Brought up frugal, Mom watched with disgust as hundreds of mildly-damaged items were crushed to bits in the store’s industrial compactor. She bristled at the constant employee surveillance in the name of theft prevention. After several competent, agreeable co-workers were let go for insufficient smiling, even the daily team-building exercises that she initially enjoyed took on a threatening quality. She knew they were being strong-armed. She didn’t feel much like a valued associate, and certainly not part of any family. Soon after her dismissal, I returned from a year living in the UK to find my hometown dramatically yet predictably gutted. My mom was left with one last bitter pill to swallow: although she had sworn off Wal-Mart, there was scarcely anywhere left for her to go. How many more ruined small businesses and barren Main Streets before the bloom comes off of Wal-Mart’s family-friendly rose? How much union busting and employee intimidation before repeating “Our People Make the Difference” is no longer enough? If the currently panicked pace of Wal-Mart’s corporate spin is any indication, we’re fast approaching that watershed. The fact is, Wal-Mart has always had its opponents – activists who resent the ecological consequences of big-box retail, labor organizations critical of the company’s dubious manufacturing practices, and tight-knit (usually well-to-do) communities that fear for their small businesses. But these were never Wal-Mart’s people. My mom, on the other hand, definitely was, and she’s joined a growing constituency that has seen some very ugly guts through all of Wal-Mart’s folksy window dressing. Mikhail Onushko

Climate Plan Looks Beyond Bush’s Tenure

NUSA DUA, Indonesia — The world’s faltering effort to cut greenhouse gas emissions got a new lease on life on Saturday, as delegates from 187 countries agreed to negotiate a new accord over the next two years — pushing the crucial debates about United States participation into the administration of a new American president.

read more if you dare here

Vintage Ride Today @ 2:30

Leaving at 2:30 pm from the front entrance of Huntsville Middle School on Adams Street (near/behind the Woman's & Children's hospital). Lowe & Adams in the nearest cross street, school is south of intersection.

Cruise the downtown, historic areas & around the Thrasher Fountain at Big Springs Park for a hour or so, then off for malts or to a nearby coffee shop. Sometime we break-up there or sometimes continue onward-- it's a do as you like option.

moving to denmark

Danish Traffic Safety Board - here's one of their initiatives to encourage people to drive slower. Yes. Seriously. The Danish Traffic Safety Board.

I love this country.

Bike commuter benefit does not survive Senate vote on Energy Bill

Posted by Jonathan Maus (Editor) on December 14th, 2007 at 3:35 pm

Congressman Earl Blumenauer introducing the
Bike Commuter Act on Capitol Hill last March.
(Photo © Jonathan Maus)

An effort to give bike commuters the same tax benefits as transit users and car drivers — which was introduced to Congress by Earl Blumenauer last March and passed a House vote last week — has been stripped out of the Energy Bill by the Senate.

The U.S. Senate passed the Energy Bill yesterday, but not before removing several “green initiatives” included in the bill by the Blumenauer-led Ways and Means Committee.

Along with removing Blumenauer’s effort to close the “Hummer tax loophole” (which sought to end the additional tax incentive for business purchases of luxury SUVs weighing over 6,000 lbs), the Senate removed the part of the bill that would have expanded the existing transportation fringe benefit to include bike commuters.

The bike commuter provision was based on The Bike Commuter Act and would have given a benefit of $20 per month to employees who biked to work “for the purchase, storage, or repair” of their bicycles.

Addressing National Bike Summit attendees on Capitol Hill last March, Blumenauer said the bike commuter benefit was simply a matter of equity and it would have stopped, “The discrimination against people who burn calories instead of fuel.”

Meeky Blizzard, who works in Blumenauer’s Portland office told me today that, “The House Leadership is committed to bringing the tax portions of the bill back in another form early next year, and I’m sure Earl will be working to make sure that the bike commute benefit is in there.”

The bill will now go back to the House for approval (Blizzard says it will pass as-is) and the White House is expected to sign the bill into law.

---

Here’s a little bonus audio from Rep. John Boehner (R-Ohio) taking a pot-shot at the bike commuter provision of the “Pork laden” Energy Bill. (I recorded this from a YouTube video of comments he made on the House Floor on December 6th.)

Are American bike commuters big wussies?

Interesting article from pinchflatnews

It's a question that finally has to be asked, since our friends in Copenhagen have been insinuating it for some time now. We gather that in Denmark bike snobbery is sort of the mirror opposite of American bike snobbery. Fine bikes are looked down on as extravagant and unnecessary. Chainguards are celebrated with open admiration. Lycra and spandex are strictly reserved for Cirque du Soleil. Fixies are pretentious, unnecessary, dangerous, and an affront to the social order. And helmets are for the dim-witted and softheaded. Yes, it's probably true that Americans are too concerned about our gear. Being a culture of conspicuous consumerism, it is our general MO to find the best tool for the job, buy it, and then occasionally use it the wrong way, and more than likely replace it as soon as a better and shinier one is dangled in front of our noses. This is not something to be particularly proud of, but there it is. My personal philosophy is ride whatever and however you like. Whatever bakes your brownie, as they say. I should buy a boatload of cheap, crappy Danish-tailored suits that I can ride in to work, so that when the ass is blown out of them after the first week, I can throw on a new one. And the day they invent a chainguard that doesn't rattle until my fillings fall out of my head, hey, sign me up. But lookit: nothing will ever get between me and my top-secret cycling-specific underpants -- not you, not my wife, and certainly not a self-righteous and oversexed Danish bike commuter.

Copenhagen Bike Rush Hour

Peace Transit
Energy, War & Global Climate Change
Baton Location: Duck River TN - mile marker 403 on the Natchez Trace
Next stop: TN/AL line - you can join the team of cyclists taking the baton to Alabama (and beyond)
http://www.bikedepot.org/PeaceTransit/

controlli questo fuori gli amici

The Story of Stuff

Last week, Kent's Bike Blog posted on Annie Leonard's Story of Stuff. From its extraction through sale, use and disposal, all the stuff in our lives affects communities at home and abroad, yet most of this is hidden from view. Check out the 20 minute video and see what you think.

SAN FRANCISCO - Bicyclists to protest delay for bike plan

Seems like the people over at SCCCCCCCCC could learn a bit from this. If Nolen were allowed to speak:) Go get em Nolen!

Bike activists plan to rally on the steps of City Hall at 1 p.m. today to protest what they view as official foot-dragging in completing a court-ordered environmental review of the city's bicycle plan. Until the review is done, the city cannot enact the plan. That means, for the time being, there will be no new bike lanes or new bike racks on public property. The long-planned pilot project to allow two-wheelers on the Muni streetcars also is on hold. The projects were frozen in 2006, when a Superior Court judge, responding to a citizen's lawsuit, granted an injunction against implementation of the San Francisco Bicycle Plan until the effects of the proposed projects are more thoroughly scrutinized. The study originally was anticipated to have been wrapped up next year, but now may not be done until 2009. "The delay in action on the bicycle plan is unacceptable for a city that calls itself a green leader. ... We urge the mayor and city leaders to commit every available resource toward getting this bike plan on track," said Leah Shahum, executive director of the San Francisco Bicycle Coalition, who also serves as an appointee of Mayor Gavin Newsom on the San Francisco Municipal Transportation Agency Board of Directors. A spokesman for Newsom said the administration also is eager to see the environmental review wrapped up, but noted that the court-stipulated analysis takes time.

FBI on the trail of a bicycle bandit

The FBI are reportedly on the trail of a serial bank robber who makes his getaway on a bicycle. They claim that the man, who changes his appearance, has so far robbed nine banks across Atlanta. The bicycle bandit never uses a gun but passes a note to tellers demanding cash before escaping on his bike. More

Bike polo

Bike polo is only the most awesome sport ever. This week we are going to play a real game, we just have to decide on a day.

The "hardcore awesome cyclists all-american elitist destroyers club" have convened over the matter and decided that bike polo is better than sex on shag carpeting, therefore it is law, sorta like circumcision.

So come play polo and receive the following:

Scars
Broken ball sack and bleeding testes
Swollen labia
blisters on your hands
gravel in your shoes
broken toenails
beer-sweat
nipple pasties
skid marks in your underpants

but most of all the boos of confidence that comes with playing the greatest sport all of creation and beyond (that means bike polo cannot be overruled by any future thought, idea or act of divine creation)

Bike polo is greater that the sun...in fact if the sun burnt up bike polo would replace to visible light spectrum.

So I think I (jim spagg) can do it Friday night, would be nice it that was the final destination of the ride! Besides I'm busy with work and school until then..oh yeah i'm also bust misspelling words and misusing the English language.

Until then, be nice to each other because we all need a little love.

yours truly,

jim 'pansy annihilator' spagnola

Day at the Races

CHUNK 666's very own Big Bear has been moonlighting on the Team Beer cyclocross squad for over a year now, always, 'course, on a muhfuggin CHUNK bike. He has built several cross-choppers in this time, the weekly races exerting an almost tidal pull on his creative faculties, like the urge to migrate in whales, or the super strength bestowed on oneself by PCP.

B. built the cross bike and aerodynamic helmet featured above from absolute scratch less than 24 hours before his race - it was oh so many small pieces at 3:00 pm on Saturday and the next thing you knew Big B. was riding to a house party later that night. It purportedly possessed the quietest, straightest drive chain ever to roll off the CHUNK 666 factory floor, in spite of its seat and chain stays which approached a mind-blowing 3 feet long.

And then the Bear RACED it. And then he raced it AGAIN! He was hauling! It was INSANE. Totally and utterly insane. But then again, Big Bear can ride anything, so he rides everything.

sunday happenings

so some one had the bright idea of having a alley cat today. I guess it is at 3pm @ house of brews. unless you all want to postpone it till next weekend when we can plan it.

There is also going to be bike polo afterwards.

Leave it in the comments if this is going to happen or you all want to postpone it.

Also tonight is the Posey Peep Show @ Lowe Mill 7pm see you there.

have a wonderful day

Just a reminder to Tyler to have a nice day.

Today will be filled with kisses blown to you by motorists.

Today will be filled with complemlemets on how sexy you are on your bike

Today will be overflowing with love from engineers who marvel at the spectacle that is your Bianchi

You will be personally visited by Jesus, Allah, Buddha, Krsna, Mother Teresa, Gandhi all at the same time, and Alla will bring the 10,000 virgins with him just as and added bonus, why, because they all love you Tyler, thats right, they came to your rescue that one balmy night as you lied on the concrete in front of habitat.

So have a good day,

yours truly,

J Smoka

to the fixed gear riders

Has your lockring ever come loose? Do you want to make sure it doesn't? Has it been a couple of weeks since you tightened it or you just want to make sure it's tight? I recently got some Hozan lockring pliers:



I had my lockring about as tight as it would get with the Park wrench, but the Hozan pliers offered about another 1/6 to 1/5 of a turn. I will hopefully bring it on the next Critical Mass. I will be in New Hope this weekend and hopefully in town after that if you want to borrow it.

friday night ride

unless it is below freezing:
meet at vodoo lounge 5:30pm ride to botanical garden then to big eds for pizza.

Scottish man caught having sex with his bike placed on probation

As we previously reported, the Scottish man who was caught trying to have sex with his bicycle in a hotel room has been sentenced to three years on probation.

Robert Stewart, 51, admitted a "sexually aggravated breach of the peace" by doing the business with his bike.

Stewart is now on the Sex Offenders Register for three years.

Mr Stewart was caught in the act with his bicycle by cleaners in his bedroom at the Aberley House Hostel in Ayr.

Gail Davidson, prosecuting, told Ayr Sheriff Court: "They knocked on the door several times and there was no reply.

"They used a master key to unlock the door and they then observed the accused wearing only a white t-shirt, naked from the waist down.

"The accused was holding the bike and moving his hips back and forth as if to simulate sex."

Both cleaners, who were "extremely shocked", told the hostel manager who called police.

Sheriff Colin Miller told Stewart: "In almost four decades in the law I thought I had come across every perversion known to mankind, but this is a new one on me. I have never heard of a 'cycle-sexualist'."

Stewart claimed he had too much to drink.

parade photoz

Here's the best one, it kinda gets us all in except the pedicab person and the guy with the kid on the tandem. just click on the strange white bar...im no compu-geek sorry.

Jameson Ford II

Alley cat this sunday

So, this next alley cat is in Dustin and Tyler's hands so it was last said. Is this true?

Also Vic and I want to do bike polo afterward as well.

Sunday at 2 sound good...or at 3?

This Wednesday and Saturday are bike fixin' at the co-op FYI. Starts at 6 PM. Last week there were 6 people who showed up...2 kids, an engineer, Duane, and this amazing homeless guy Robbie, who fixed more bikes that anyone, using his own tools none the less. The guy loves bikes and rides a GT, so he aint foolin'.

The place is spotless and is getting cleaner, so for the tall bike builders and small bike builders, I'm giving away frames, my old parts bikes are going bye bye, so come Saturday to take some off my hands if you want.

I'm going to try to get some parade pictures and post them on here!

jimbojonesssss

check these out

http://velorbis.co.uk

critical mass pics

nice bikes

http://www.myspace.com/bikecalendargirls