Staring at the Moon

Last Night's Moon
Originally uploaded by Snak Shak

I tried to capture a decent photo of the moon last night. It took many, many attempts before I got a shot that I thought worked, and I was not even sure I captured that until I went through the shots on the computer. I finally gave up and sat on the front steps next to my tripod, staring at my photographic subject for awhile.

Staring at the moon unplugs thoughts; it taps into the subconscious - much like gazing into a fire does.

For my moon-gazing, I was rewarded with an insight. It occurred to me that "moving forward" requires "leaving behind".

That sounds pretty bloody obvious when you type it out, but if you stop and think about it, there is quite a bit there to chew on.

BEER ON!

Velocipete has polled the masses and concluded that Thursday, June 9 (Bike/Walk day) will be next Beer for Bloggers day! Ride your bike to work, then toast your sustainable lifestyle with a cold one at Sea Salt.

Hooray! Thanks, Velocipete.

Sea Salt, 5:00ish. Be there or be square, Daddy-O.

48th and Chicago Bike Parking Update

The ride to support better bike infrastructure at 48th and Chicago went very well! My comrades at MPLS Bike Coalition ran a summary of the event on Coalition blog today, so rather than rehash it here, I'll post a link and let you read it over there.

2F4L took some good photos of the prep, ride over there and the 48th and Chicago scene (including the one with this post). Those can be viewed on his Flickr site. Thanks for snaps, 2F4L! And again, a big thanks to everybody that helped out with this event as well!

Now we'll just to follow up and see if anything happens...

The Things I Carry - Part II

I posted previously about the miscellaneous and assorted gear that I carry with me on commutes and rides and such, but today, as I bombed down a steep hill with a stop sign at the bottom, I realized I neglected to include one small but important (to me) piece of equipment.

This item is not a tool - it's more of a talisman, albeit a traditional Catholic talisman.

About six years ago now, my Mother gave me a St. Christopher medal for Christmas. Her rationale at that time was that I was either flying all over the world or riding my bike around the lawless streets of Anchorage, AK. Given that reality, a St. Chris medals seemed much, much more appropriate than, say, a Salad Shooter or Chia Pet.

I love my St. Chris medal - for those that don't know, St. Christopher is the patron Saint of Travelers, and by extraction, the patron Saint of People Who Ride Bikes or Drive. I've worn this religiously (no pun intended) since I got it, and despite a few close calls, nothing Bad has happened.

Recently, the clasp opened and my wife went to work to close it up again with her jewelry making tools. She got the clasp fixed and added a little silver heart, to remind me that I am loved. Shucks... That's been hanging around my neck for the last year or so now.

For whatever reason, this little talisman makes me feel protected and cherished.

Superstition? Faith? I am not sure I know the answer to this. You can call it what you will.Whether it's a placebo or divine intervention doesn't matter to me.

A Good Old Fashioned Get Together

And like that, it's summer...

Velocipete has been so moved by the onset of summer as to declare the next meeting of Beers for Bloggers! I love this event; it's a fun to actually meet the brains behind some of the local bike blogs I monitor, and we always have a good time and lively discussion that comes from getting a bunch of smart, funny people together.

Perhaps my brother and sister authors at Cycle Twin Cities can join as well? Velocipete is running a poll to determine the specific date, so check there for the latest news...

This shall be the official kick-off to my summer bike social scene, I think.

Ride Your Way to Better Parking and Have Fun Doing It

Tomorrow (Sunday, June 5) a group of concerned cyclists will be meeting at noon at Midtown Freewheel and organizing for a fun and casual ride to the 48th and Chicago business node. Come early for lunch if like - they have very good soups and other things at Midtown these days as well as ample parking. I have not decided on a route to 48th and Chi yet - maybe we'll take the Parkway or perhaps we'll check out the 17th Ave. Bike Blvd (still only "planned", I think).

Once at 48th and Chicago, we'll engage the merchants in friendly dialogue asking for improvements in bike parking. I have talking points developed and will have enough copies for leave-behinds as well. I'll need a few volunteers to accomplish this, so hopefully I'll get some extroverted (or at least motivated) people.

With this little chore completed, we'll saddle up and meander on to 42nd Street and 28th Ave. to thank Angry Catfish, Baker's Wife, Buster's and the other local merchants for their ample and secure bike parking. I expect coffee will be sipped, beers will be raised and bakery appropriated during the after-party.

Hopefully, this will be a really good time, and just maybe it will get at least one more rack installed at 48th and Chicago. More discussion on Bike Love here.

If you can't make the start at noon, you can look for us 48th and Chicago from about 12:30 to 1:00 or so and then at Angry Catfish/Buster's/Baker's Wife by about 1:30 or so. Who knows how long some of us might be at Buster's?

Grease Rag Adds New Night and Location

Grease Rag announced this week that they have added a new night and location. They will be getting together on the 2nd Tuesday of the month at Recovery Bike in Northeast Minneapolis, 7-9PM.  Please come and show your support at the NE Grease Rag, June 14th.  And/ Or show your support by attending the...

Grease Rag NE Kick-Off Ride and Party

Meet at Sunrise Cyclery (901 W Lake St) at 6PM, group ride at 6:30PM to Recovery Bikes (2555 Central Ave NE) to check out the new space.  We will take a meandering ride back with a couple of stops (BYOB), ending up at Sunrise for a party!  We have some food planned (feel free to bring yummies to share), and music!!  Stay a little, stay awhile- we'd love to see you.

Please invite your WTF and ally friends!  This event is open to everyone.

Here is a link to the Facebook event so you can RSVP.

Congratulations, Grease Raggers!

Let Me Tell You About the Ride Home

Here is the quick summary of my ride today from downtown MPLS (north of where I live) to far southern Minneapolis:

TC3-SAS Comes to St. Paul

Those mysterious people behind the Twin Cities 3-Speed Adventure Society (TC3-SAS) have emerged from their top-secret Skunkworks to unveil the next 3-Speed Adventure: an invasion (albeit a slow-moving invasion) of  the lovely and essentially defenseless City known as St. Paul.

We will begin our exploration of this mysterious realm by meeting at 10:00 AM at The Cross (otherwise known as the scenic overlook of the Mighty Mississippi on East River Road at Summit Ave) on Sunday, June 19.

The ride promises to deliver the architectural stylings of Cass Gilbert as well as site seeing and photo-ops at some of the haunts of St. Paul's own F. Scott Fitzgerald. There may very well be an eatery thrown in for good measure...

Like all TC3-SAS adventures, the pace will be leisurely, the fellowship companionable, and the focus of the ride on experience of Place and enjoyment of cycling rather than "personal best" or "most expensive kit". Despite our dedication to planetary gearing, TC3-SAS celebrates diversity of drivetrains, and welcomes riders of any bike suitable to English Roadster pace. After that, minor things like race, creed, gender, age, sexual preference, degree of bike-culture coolness and anything you else you can think of is an after-thought in my book.

We aim to win hearts and minds first; we'll go after the gearing systems later.

I have it on good authority that there might be a little extra treat for those that show up, too. Photo credit to Cycle Twin Cities.

The Next Grease Rag is Tomorrow!

Thursday, June 2 is the next Grease Rag event at Sunrise Cyclery. If you are not familiar with Grease Rag, their mission is to encourage and empower women/ trans/ femme (WTF) cyclists in a collaborative and fun learning environment through rides, discussions, shop nights and educational seminars in a safer space.

My take on Grease Rag is that it is a good place for women to learn bike repair skills and make contacts in the bike community without the testosterone that sometimes comes with the cycling scene. Being a self-sufficient rider makes one a lot more confident and willing to venture further afield, and prevents problems as well. So what's not to like about that?

Grease Rag has a blog that can be found here and they also listed on my site in the "Friends" feed at the right of my page as well. If you are a WTF and need to get some new tires mounted, want to learn to change a flat or have more ambitious maintenance plans, this would be a great place to start!