Meet the Co-Author

In case anyone is wondering, I am no longer the sole contributor to this blog. I have a trusty co-author these days, and he's as helpful here as he is in the workshop.

No Show, No Go on the Grand Rounds

No Show
Originally uploaded by Snak Shak

Unfortunately the weather again failed to cooperate with our much-awaited 3-Speed tour of the Grand Rounds.

It seemed to be lightening up a little as I donned my rain gear and headed out the door, but literally as I was extricating my bike from the garage, I got a call from a friend telling me that "it's pretty wet out there".

I went anyway; in the unlikely event that anyone showed up, I didn't want to be a no-show. It was actually quite a lovely ride in the rain to the meeting place, minus the organized fun-run that turned Minnehaha Park into the cycling equivalent of the Gong Show.

While I waited under an eave sipping coffee and waiting to see if any intrepid TC3-SASer's would show up, the skies really opened and it was not possible to even see across the river. Sigh...

I finished my coffee, put my wet gloves back on and headed back home, shaking my fist at the bad fortune the weather Gods have been directing at me this Spring.

I am not going to reschedule this one. We'll watch the weather and put word out mid-week if it looks like the weather will allow for a lift-off.

I am too tired of writing about rides that don't pan out to keep this up much longer.

E-Bike Bills Introduced

The E-bike bills were introduced in the House (HF 1412) and Senate (SF 1136) recently. These bills would let e-bikes operate legally on all bike pathways and trails, including state trails managed by the Department of Natural Resources and paths created by local units of government, unless it is deemed that “operation of the electric-assisted bicycle is not consistent with safe use and enjoyment of the trail".

I have no idea who would deem operation of these to be unsafe - my guess is that it would come down to the entity managing each of the trails. Said deeming would probably only occur after a serious injury that results in a law suit involving that entity, I suspect.

Do we really need another law passed for what is a minor special interest? Opening trails to these seems like a bad idea for everyone in the State except the few people that have these things and live on or near a state trail (and the people that will make money off of this). These things will be popping up on City trails that are already congested with pedestrians (often listening to headphones), roller bladers, kids on bikes, adults on bikes and joggers.

I have already ranted that the industry people will tell you that the buyers of e-bikes are "cautious riders", and that they only use these things to help get up hills. I do not believe that is the case, especially with gasoline at $4.00/gallon. I think these are going to be used as cheaper alternative to a scooter by most buyers. Furthermore, e-bikes don't require a driver's license, they don't require any physical strength or stamina, and there's certainly no pre-qualification test for bike-handling skills. Anyone who can swipe a credit card can own an e-bike.

AARP will tell the politicians that these things are great because they can help keep seniors active. The bike industry will see this as a great way to suck some money off of the baby-boomers, and bike advocacy groups will nod along, dreaming of more memberships and sponsors.

This is simply another example of using the legislative process to benefit a small special interest and line the pockets of PACs, advocacy groups and businesses at the expense of the people that are using the trail systems today.

The Cool School, Beat Poets and Bike Blogging

A few years ago, I had to spend a weekend on my own in Anchorage. I had two weeks worth of meetings, and it was simply not a good use of my time or my client's money to fly home on Friday only to return to ANC on Sunday night. Therefore, I spent the weekend under my own supervision, occupying myself with whatever bohemian activities Anchorage could offer me. Coffee shops, brew pubs and movies were about all I could find despite having lived there for almost three years and knowing all the local haunts.

One thing I did was that I took myself to see the movie Cool School, which was showing at the Museum. For those that have not seen it, Cool School is a documentary about the nascent modern art scene in Los Angeles of the 1950's. In a nutshell, a group of artists rejected the "New York is the Center of the Art World" paradigm and struck out on their own, smashing paradigms, creating  modern art, stirring up controversy and having a great time in the process. In a similar fashion, Kerouac, Ginsberg, Burroughs, Corso, et al, created their own scene in the 1950's to form the Beat or Beatnik poetry school in that same era.

I have this crazy beautiful dream that we can do something similar to that with the various and assorted Minneapolis Bike Bloggers. We each have our own voice, our own reason for doing this and our own perspective, yet together we make up a common voice (or I guess... a chorus?). Build off of each others ideas, motivate each other to push boundaries and challenge our creativity and explore new material. Create our own scene.

Maybe that's a crazy dream - I do have those periodically. But, that's part of what's gotten me excited about contributing to Cycle Twin Cities. It's an open and collaborative venue for diverse voices of cycling in the Twin Cities. I've found that this has spurred on some creative energy that I've been lacking lately, and I've been recruiting a few friends to join in this scene as well.

It's an exciting time behind this computer.

Ride safe, go to the Bike Expo this weekend and/or go for a ride - the weather might just be getting a little better.

TC3-SAS: Grand Rounds this Weekend

Wobbling Along
Originally uploaded by Snak Shak

This weekend's 3-Speed adventure will be a full frontal assault on the Grand Rounds. This is the make-up ride for our first Grand Rounds attempt, which was foiled by 25 mph winds and chilly drizzle, as I recall.

We meet Saturday at 11:00 AM at the Dunn Bros./Longfellow Grill at Lake St. and W. River Road. We will roll out not later than 11:10 and will be heading south from the starting point. Heading south gives us some better lunch options and short ride option of 18 miles or so for those that might the complete Grand Rounds to be a little ambitious or more time-consuming than they want.

Despite the name, bikes other than 3-speeds are welcome - just leave the crabon fibre and lycra at home, that's all we ask. No need for tweed, either. TC3-SAS celebrates the experience and eschews the appearance. This is will be ramble rather than a race - a pace suitable to the internally hubbed bikes.

It's Time... Beers for Bloggers

Joe and Kay
Originally uploaded by Snak Shak

Despite the near-hurricane we are experiencing today and the forecast for yet more slush tonight, I feel spring in the air.

I propose an informal get-together at Sea Salt next week Thursday, May 5, to celebrate Spring and reconnect after the long winter. I'll have the welcome mat for my cyber (and sometimes real life) friends and hope to see you there if you can make it.

This means you, Brother Yam, Rueben, VelociPete, Wheel Dancer, Jim (both Jims, actually), Lowrah, CycleTC, Rigtenzen, Sigrid, et al.

Hopefully at least a few of you can make this...

Unexpected Niceness

Awhile ago, I stayed at the Jefferson Clinton hotel in Syracuse, NY. The trip was good and the hotel was lovely, and I enjoyed my stay. Some of what made the trip more than a standard business trip were the little touches at the hotel.

The icing on the cake, for me, was the "Do Not Disturb" sign. The "keys"in this hotel were electronic cards, so the DND sign was a little unit that went inside the key slot, and said "LEAVE ME ALONE (please).

I loved this, because it matched my mood precisely, Don't bother me, but I am not going to be a jerk about it. I liked this so much that snapped a photo of it during the trip. Tonight, I got a Flickr message from Jefferson Clinton. Apparently they were surfing the web and came across the photo. The message reads:

Hi Snack Shack [SIC]:

Just a quick note from the Jefferson Clinton Hotel. Came across your post and wanted to mail you one of our Leave Me Alone Signs since you liked it so much. You can send us a message through FlickrMail or email me at sb@bhphotels.com

Thanks again for being our guest and we hope to see you again!

Best regards, 

Steve Busch, Managing Partner

How great is that? Soon, I'll have my very own "Leave Me Alone" sign. I may very well punch a hole in this and wear it on my belt with my office access badge after all.

Spring Ride

Spring Ride
Originally uploaded by Snak Shak

Today marks what I can honestly call my first "spring ride" of the season.

I took the day off to recover from my Easter travels, and made good use of that time with some much-needed clothes shopping and a short spin on the bike this afternoon.

The ride was short but glorious. I have enjoyed a lot of rides already this year, but this one was different. It was the first ride of 2011 where I wore shirt-sleeves, didn't wear gloves, didn't have long underwear on, didn't think about studded tires, didn't worry if the batteries were still good in my lights, and didn't watch for icy patches in the shade.

The total and complete mindlessness of this ride was exhilarating.

I rode my 3-speed to try and diagnose an annoying drive train problem before the next TC3-SAS ride this weekend. I think it's a cone problem, and the bike is in the basement now awaiting further attention, but the added benefit of riding this bike was that unlike my Rawland, i was sitting as upright as a preacher and could ding my bell at every other like-minded soul that was coming the other way.

They all smiled and waved back. too, including this guy, which was an added bonus.

Bikeby Shootings

Miserably wet roads
Originally uploaded by lukefrancl

One of my favorite groups on Flickr was (and kind of still is) Bikebyshootings. Technically, for a photo to be a "bikeby shooting", it needs to be taken from a moving bicycle. I am a little disappointed to see that the site moderator seems to be letting people post simple pictures of stationary bikes in the group as well. While those are nice to look at, they are not bikeby shootings.

The photo with this post has not been added to that group, but it certainly should be. It captures the nasty good times of swooshing along in the wet better than any of the images I have attempted to capture so far.

Here's the link to the photo pool for bikebyshootings - add you best shots and bring the quality of this pool back up to the standards that we have come to expect from the internet.

Two-Timing on the Internets

I am very happy to report that I may be appearing now and then as a guest contributor to the Twin Cities cycling website/blog Cycle Twin Cities. I did a feature for them that may run some time next week and I'll probably continue on a few other "special assignments" going forward, if they will have me. I'll still do bikey-stuff on this site, as well as my off-topic rants and meditations. If/when I appear on CycleTC I may cross post here - I don't know, it hasn't happened yet so I'll have to burn that bridge when I cross it.

I have been following Cycle Twin Cities since its inception. The interesting thing about this site is that is seeking diversity in voice. So many blogs are somebody's soap box or a cyber-alter-ego of some sort. Cycle TC seems to be honestly getting their arms around the Twin Cities cycling scene, which is ambitious because it's so diverse. They are still looking for a female blogger to add perspective to the site, so if you match that description, you should drop them a line and let them you know if you are interested...

In other news, I was out of town this weekend so TC3-SAS rolled out without me. They rode the bridges and saw the flooding of South MPLS and St. Paul. It sounds like nobody got seriously hurt and there were no arrests, so that's all good. Next week we'll tackle the Grand Rounds, so stay tuned to the thread for the latest on that.

After my Easter weekend "off" I am exhausted. Driving, visiting, driving some more. It's enough to make a person need some time off.