What Saturdays are For

I Shot Myself!
Originally uploaded by Snak Shak

My re-entry to Minnenoplace was eased considerably by a kick-ass day. My writer's group met as usual at 9:00 this morning and it was good morning's work today. Some days the words flow easily, other days it's more of a struggle. Today the words came easily, which is always satisfying.

The third Saturday of the month is "stay for lunch" day to support the restaurant that hosts this group. I stuck around for that and enjoyed the fellowship, then bopped over to Midtown Freewheel to pick up a magnificent White Industries freewheel that came in for me while I was out of town. That things makes my Shimano freewheel look like child's toy. Of course, for the price of one White Industries Eno you can get about 3 Shimano units, I suspect, but true to my Taurus nature, I am opting for the unmistakable sound of all those pawls clicking - yea verily - purring as I roll around. We'll pop that on a bike this week at some point and see how it feels.

After that, I meandered over to the Triple Rock for discussions of bike advocacy and other topics of interest. Unless I get called out of town or something, I am planning on making a day of it at the Bike Alliance of Minnesota's Bike Summit on Capitol Hill of Feb. 28. It will be interesting to give that a go and learn more about BAM as well.

The weather today was wonderful for riding, so I took the long way home from Triple Rock, running into a friend on the River Road in the process. Between the fellowship, the sunshine and the miles, it did wonders for my mood.

Every now and then I have a million dollar idea that I inevitably fail to act on. Therefore, I periodically give these ideas away free of charge in the hopes that in some small way, I will help to make the world a better place. No need to thank me - it's just a little thing that I do.

I had one of those ideas today on the ride home. Someone needs to make balaclavas that are printed to look like the chainmail hoods knights wore in the middle ages. The first person to do that will inevitably suck a lot of money off winter bike riders and the role-playing Rennie crowd. All I ask in return is that whoever actually implements this idea send me one of the first prototypes, which I think is a fair trade for this concept.

The weather is supposed to turn for the worse tonight, so if you have not made it outside yet, by all means do so. Ride safe, have fun and be well.