Tour de Cafe in Plano, TX

At work I've committed to lead a Sunday morning ride out of the shop. It will formally be known as "Tour De Cafe." Our lead tech came up with the idea, and I'm excited to lead it. Pretty much we'll leave the shop at 11am, ride 5-10 miles to a coffee shop, get a cup of joe and ride back. This will be a great ride for beginners! Definitely conversational pace and no-drop. If you're around Plano, TX and want in, just let me know. I'll give you more details.

And while I'm on the subject of coffee and bicyles, gotta give props to this:

Film Recommendation: The Parking Lot Movie

I know it came out last year, but I just had the pleasure of watching The Parking Lot Movie this week on Netflix streaming. It's a great film highlighting some of problems with (car) culture here in Charlottesville. I saw a few familiar faces in it, including John Bylander. He designed the Community Bikes logo:

Embroidered by yours truly.

I used to lock my bike back there in the lot before the Satellite Ballroom was bought out and destroyed by Coran Capshaw. I always had the sense that there was something great happening in that lot. I remember the first time I locked my bike there. I asked the attendant if I needed to pay... he laughed and said something to the extent of: "Hell no! You're riding a bike!"

I'll be starting some bicycle maintenance & repair classes at Community Bikes sometime soon,  but they'll have to wait until the dust at work settles a bit...

A New Year's Realization for Bikes & Beer

Please read this post: Something has been weighing heavily on my mind for the past several weeks and as we've entered a new year. The more bicycle grease that I wipe on my shirt and the more my breath smells like hops, the more I realize that there is something askew with bicycle and beer geeks. This thing that's askew... it's something that's always been there, but I've begun to notice its prevalence with the more blogs I'm following, the more beer documentaries I watch, and the more I bust my ass to ride to and from work in this winter's cold & snow.

I fear that as bike and beer enthusiasts, we often forget the simple happiness that first sparked our geekeries. We're sometimes so caught up calculating gear ratios and measuring IBUs that we completely miss the simple and unifying pleasures of bicycles and of beer. These two things exist as the pinnacle of the good lives to which many of us are privileged. Please, let me explain:

I have a co-worker who often commutes via bike about 3.5 miles each way. The other day he mentioned that riding his bike to work is a "means to an end" - namely, just getting to work. And while I can appreciate the idea that a bicycle is great transportation tool, I wholeheartedly reject that over-simplification of its place in life. I believe that riding a bicycle is the greatest manifestation of a simple, yet profound, happiness. We forget that riding a bike is, in itself, a great source of joy. For those bike-commuters out there, we must see our jobs as a means to an end - namely, having the personal wealth and a somewhat legitimate reason to ride a bicycle across town every day. Even if we have to fight every car and granny-gear up every hill (with a headwind the whole way), it's always an adventure truly worthy living.

And to you beer geeks out there, don't forget to get drunk. Yes, there I said it. Sure, talk about flavor profile all you want, but don't forget that beer is brewed to create alcohol, you know... that stuff that gives you a warm fuzzy feeling, loosens you up in social situations, and makes you laugh a bit louder! We know there is good beer and bad beer out there, but that doesn't mean we need to be snobs and obsessive over it. Drink up and enjoy the simple pleasure of sharing the inherent merriment of beer with friends and family.

There's a quote that may have come across, that, with a little personal revision, sums up my little rant.

Nothing compares to the simple pleasure(s) of a bike ride (and drinking beer).

~John F. Kennedy & Thomas

Hammering Bikes & Campagnolo Keychain

I've spent a lot of time working with the general public at Charlottesville Community Bikes. The scariest thing I ever hear while I'm working there is a mechanic "using" a hammer on a bicycle part. When this situation occurs, I immediately stop what I am doing and approach the culprit for damage control. By the time I arrive at the scene of the crime, the deed has usually already been done. I once heard it described, "An ounce of technical know-how is worth a ton of brute force. When you have an itch on your ear, you don't take a sledgehammer to it."

However, there are some (albeit few and far in between) times when the use of a hammer is appropriate in bicycle repair. Today I came across the perfect use for one:

The dented head tube on my Rockfish.

The head of the hammer just fit inside the head tube.

All it took was a little leverage action from the handle of the hammer. It rounded out the head tube easily. Pressing in a headset should not be a problem now.

Right there where the dent was.

As circular as it needs to be.

Also, Do Right Fear Not's Shifty Keychain post inspired me to snap a photo of my bike keychain:

An aluminum Campagnolo toeclip that snapped. Dremeled it smooth.

Ride the Divide @ The Paramount

Community Bikes has organized a screening of the new film, Ride the Divide, at the Charlottesville Paramount. The screening is November 11 @ 7pm. Tickets are $11, and benefit the shop! So bring your grandma and her tea drinkin' cronies.