Just a friendly reminder for anyone using battery-powered lights (especially LEDs) to make late-night target practice easier for drivers: If your batteries are rechargeable, charge 'em. If they aren't, think about replacing 'em.
I got a little lazy with my bazillion-LED setup, figuring that with so many lights, who cares if they start to dim? Besides, LEDs will keep cranking out some light, even on weak batteries. So, if I turned on the switch and there was light, lo, it was good.
But something inspired me to slap the whole pile of cells on the charger this weekend, and the result was shocking. I had no idea they'd dimmed that much.
Moral of the story: Top 'em off, and let's be careful out there.
Wednesday, January 7, 2009
Saturday, January 3, 2009
My Goatee: 1992-2009
Because I've been short on the meaningless, self-indulgent navel-gazing lately...
I am now clean-shaven for the first time since 1992. Finally took a good long look in the mirror and thought, "Who exactly are you kidding? Grunge is over, you're in your late-30s, and you're a cube-jockey for a major financial institution who spends his days taking the specifications from the customers to the engineers."
Out came the clippers, and my quasi-rebellious youth became a pile of hair on the bathroom floor.
The shaved head will remain, although it's gone from "statement" (of what, I do not remember -- laziness?) to "male pattern baldness camouflage" over the last decade.
I will also continue to ride my fixed-gear in knickers from time to time, playing dress-up as a 20-something hipster, fully aware of just how pathetic that is. (Note to my one known British reader, those are 3/4-length pants, not my unmentionables. Man, it's hard to write for an actual English-speaking audience!)
On the not-terribly-bright side, at least I'm now (slightly more) respectable looking. Good thing, in case I need to hit the interview circuit unexpectedly. In my line of work, the corporate "walk of shame" is getting a little too common these days -- where you find a security guard with a cardboard box for your personal belongings waiting at your cube in the morning.
Goodbye, chin-chinchilla. You will be missed.
I am now clean-shaven for the first time since 1992. Finally took a good long look in the mirror and thought, "Who exactly are you kidding? Grunge is over, you're in your late-30s, and you're a cube-jockey for a major financial institution who spends his days taking the specifications from the customers to the engineers."
Out came the clippers, and my quasi-rebellious youth became a pile of hair on the bathroom floor.
The shaved head will remain, although it's gone from "statement" (of what, I do not remember -- laziness?) to "male pattern baldness camouflage" over the last decade.
I will also continue to ride my fixed-gear in knickers from time to time, playing dress-up as a 20-something hipster, fully aware of just how pathetic that is. (Note to my one known British reader, those are 3/4-length pants, not my unmentionables. Man, it's hard to write for an actual English-speaking audience!)
On the not-terribly-bright side, at least I'm now (slightly more) respectable looking. Good thing, in case I need to hit the interview circuit unexpectedly. In my line of work, the corporate "walk of shame" is getting a little too common these days -- where you find a security guard with a cardboard box for your personal belongings waiting at your cube in the morning.
Goodbye, chin-chinchilla. You will be missed.
Equipment Changes for 2009
I always know that winter is getting to me when I start eyeing the bikes greedily, thinking about how I want to tweak them before the snow melts and the real riding begins. True to form, I'm starting out the new year with malice in my heart and a wrench in my hand.
After a lot of fiddling in 2008, the fixed gear will get off pretty easy in '09. Right now, it's sporting 38x17 gearing (60" for anyone astride a penny-farthing), studded tires, clip-on fenders, and more lights than an airport runway. This is my typical snowbike setup -- the 38x17 fixed seems ridiculously low on paper, but it's great for speed control on slippery surfaces, making the front brake almost redundant. And who am I kidding? When it's cold, I'm not moving fast enough to spin out anyway. Once we get a permanent thaw, I'll need to de-gunk the whole thing, then I'll pop off the fenders, divide the lights between the rest of the fleet, put slick tires back on, switch the 38 to a 42 (for a 67" gear), and I'll have my quasi-urban messenger poseur ride again. I know 67" probably seems low too, but since I rarely ride in fixie groups (where there seems to be an implied correlation between the size of one's gear and the bulge in one's Lycra) and I'm kind of fond of my knees, 42x17 is plenty.
The tourer didn't see a lot of changes last year, but I think it's due. After singing the praises of Wald, I decided to put a little money where my blog is and order up some inexpensive shiny chrome fenders to replace my battered Planet Bikes. Wald doesn't make a version specifically for 700c wheels, but this photo I found on Flickr seems to show that the 89-26 "lightweight" model works just fine. (Aside: I have no idea who the owner of the photo is, but he seems like my kinda rider just based on his photostream.) For $20, I figure it's worth a try -- I'll post the success or failure of the experiment once they arrive. The rear rack will come off when the fenders change, since last year's swap to platform pedals has resulted in a little pannier interference and I'm partial to my messenger bag anyway. I'm also massaging the gearing on the tourer ever so slightly, changing the 34-42 double to 36-44 and sawing off the vestigial granny-ring mounting studs to improve clearance and fight the dreaded chainsuck. The swap is really just to a) free up the 42 for the fixie, and b) provide an excuse to use the gorgeous old Shimano 44 that's littered my parts box for years. The gearing combo sounds odd, but chart it out with an 11-28 Shimano 8-speed cassette and the nonstandard 8-tooth gap makes perfect sense. It's odd to shift in sequence (with lots of double shifts), but I never do that anyway. Most of the time, I can do a whole ride as a two-speed, slap-shifting the front derailleur between whatever that day's preferred high and low combination is.
Tandem, you're off the hook (figuratively and literally, since I don't like lifting that sucker off the floor to hang it). The big black beast reached perfection two seasons ago, so it's strictly maintenance from here on out.
Now, if it weren't so dang cold in the garage...
After a lot of fiddling in 2008, the fixed gear will get off pretty easy in '09. Right now, it's sporting 38x17 gearing (60" for anyone astride a penny-farthing), studded tires, clip-on fenders, and more lights than an airport runway. This is my typical snowbike setup -- the 38x17 fixed seems ridiculously low on paper, but it's great for speed control on slippery surfaces, making the front brake almost redundant. And who am I kidding? When it's cold, I'm not moving fast enough to spin out anyway. Once we get a permanent thaw, I'll need to de-gunk the whole thing, then I'll pop off the fenders, divide the lights between the rest of the fleet, put slick tires back on, switch the 38 to a 42 (for a 67" gear), and I'll have my quasi-urban messenger poseur ride again. I know 67" probably seems low too, but since I rarely ride in fixie groups (where there seems to be an implied correlation between the size of one's gear and the bulge in one's Lycra) and I'm kind of fond of my knees, 42x17 is plenty.
The tourer didn't see a lot of changes last year, but I think it's due. After singing the praises of Wald, I decided to put a little money where my blog is and order up some inexpensive shiny chrome fenders to replace my battered Planet Bikes. Wald doesn't make a version specifically for 700c wheels, but this photo I found on Flickr seems to show that the 89-26 "lightweight" model works just fine. (Aside: I have no idea who the owner of the photo is, but he seems like my kinda rider just based on his photostream.) For $20, I figure it's worth a try -- I'll post the success or failure of the experiment once they arrive. The rear rack will come off when the fenders change, since last year's swap to platform pedals has resulted in a little pannier interference and I'm partial to my messenger bag anyway. I'm also massaging the gearing on the tourer ever so slightly, changing the 34-42 double to 36-44 and sawing off the vestigial granny-ring mounting studs to improve clearance and fight the dreaded chainsuck. The swap is really just to a) free up the 42 for the fixie, and b) provide an excuse to use the gorgeous old Shimano 44 that's littered my parts box for years. The gearing combo sounds odd, but chart it out with an 11-28 Shimano 8-speed cassette and the nonstandard 8-tooth gap makes perfect sense. It's odd to shift in sequence (with lots of double shifts), but I never do that anyway. Most of the time, I can do a whole ride as a two-speed, slap-shifting the front derailleur between whatever that day's preferred high and low combination is.
Tandem, you're off the hook (figuratively and literally, since I don't like lifting that sucker off the floor to hang it). The big black beast reached perfection two seasons ago, so it's strictly maintenance from here on out.
Now, if it weren't so dang cold in the garage...
Friday, January 2, 2009
Changes Afoot at The Cycle
Astute readers -- like I have any other kind (he said, pandering) -- may have noticed that I'm tweaking my own little corner of Blogland like some bored minor deity. For instance, the page is now graced with an extreme closeup of my ugly mug which may be used to frighten small children, induce vomiting, or prove evolution. I've also given people the option to subscribe to this blather -- at almost half off the cover price! And, neatest of all, my blogroll now provides some context for each blog and sorts by "freshness", rolling the most-recently updated blogs to the top of the list. So, bloggers in the roll, if you're sitting in last place for too long, it means your blog has that "not-so-fresh" feeling.
New in the blogroll is Alex Wetmore Is Always Busy With Something by (logically enough) Alex Wetmore. Alex is the gracious host of the iBOB mailing list, an occasional test pilot for Bicycle Quarterly, and a bike-tinkerer of the highest order. I'm convinced the guy doesn't sleep. Lucky for the rest of us, he does find time to blog on his bikely pursuits.
Finally, you've probably noticed the return of Google-inserted spam, despite my lofty proclamation that The Cycle would be ad-free. I'm sure I can come up with some lame justification for that, given enough time. In the meantime, you may abuse me as a sellout for raking in a whole take-a-penny, leave-a-penny tray's worth of loose change for my writerly labors.
New in the blogroll is Alex Wetmore Is Always Busy With Something by (logically enough) Alex Wetmore. Alex is the gracious host of the iBOB mailing list, an occasional test pilot for Bicycle Quarterly, and a bike-tinkerer of the highest order. I'm convinced the guy doesn't sleep. Lucky for the rest of us, he does find time to blog on his bikely pursuits.
Finally, you've probably noticed the return of Google-inserted spam, despite my lofty proclamation that The Cycle would be ad-free. I'm sure I can come up with some lame justification for that, given enough time. In the meantime, you may abuse me as a sellout for raking in a whole take-a-penny, leave-a-penny tray's worth of loose change for my writerly labors.
Subscribe to:
Posts (Atom)