An inevitable post about bicycle logistics

So, if I haven't blogged about this, up until this point, I apologize. Facebook has monopolized about 85% of my online habits, and taken that rare naivety I possessed which may have been charming in small doses, but at 85%, gets a little nauseous.
This Centurion bike frame, the tan bike seen in seven of these nine photos, is a late model Centurion Le Mans, with a lugged frame and original components. I rode it from Mid-December 2010 until last week, mid-August 2011. for the Marvel and DC crowd, and for the sake of preserving naivety as generic innocence and not malignant ignorance, I'll offer a quick creation narrative: I'll admit I saw the frame, and stripped its parts about 6 years ago, thinking I could make it into a single speed, "Horizental Drop-Outs". However, that never happened, and I was left to pursue other courses of action.
the bike was re-assembled in Mid-December of last year to use as a getting around town, commuter bike that could also be willingly sacrificed if one were to be chased by wolves. As one of the the baddest snow seasons in history descended on the Metropolitan Twin Cities area, large roving gangs of wolves were rumored to have made the journey from the Northwoods to feast on slow cyclists caught in the mountains of snowbanks lining the sidewalks.
The original parts included Suntour Barcons, which held throughout the eight months of riding, despite having never been cleaned or adjusted. Parts replaced on the bike started with the wheels, then on to the rear derailleur, the headset, brake cables, chain, (x3), tires, new lights, handlebars, crank and on the barcons themselves, a lost washer and spring.
After being told the frame itself was a salvage, and rendered unusable by damage done in a previous accident, I was told by a mechanic that riding the frame was a bad idea. Such a bad idea that he would not work on the frame, in lieu of feeling responsible for my imminent destruction, I assume.
I proceeded to make my face recognizable, albeit more recognizable, at a variety of local bike shops who specialize in used parts, used frames, experienced mechanics and knowledgeable service. I had been down this road, last year, at the same time, and would have liked to avoid following my own footsteps, (although, as the unfortunate sand people can attest, storm troopers are really good at hiding their numbers by doing just that), but found myself again navigating the waters of the used steel frame marketplace.

*Editors note- last year I went to a bike shop with specifically used, re-built and re-cycled bicycles, looking for a bike that could last through the winter and maybe perform as well as the SlushPuppy did. I put money down on a frame, wheels, components and had a completed, vintage, Specialized Allez, steel frame, build-up, singlespeed. However, the tight geometry of the cockpit, the small size of the frame and the inflated tires rubbing on the frame itself determined that the bike was not for me. I went through the ringer with the shop owners and a couple of said shop's employees to get my money back, ("NO BIKE RETURNS" was printed in block letters on their sign, somehow, I managed to swim upstream on that one), because, frankly, I couldn't afford to have a bicycle that wouldn't work for specifically what I had paid for. The completed project failed that standard. Back to present day.

I found the replacement frame quickly enough, and was indecisive as to the next course of action- re-build from my own components and the new frame, or leave it in the hands of somebody who knows what's what? I went with the latter and found time to write this amazing blog post. Pictures are all property of me. Enjoy.
As I sit writing this entry, the bicycle is a work in progress, in a local shop, nearing completion. The new, (used) frame is a Schwinn, steel lugged, the right size, with clearance in the frame for knobby winter tires, is a deep blue color, has the right geometry and lacks only a few hours with a good mechanic.

Bicycle shops vaguely connected with this blog entry:

Art Doyles Spoke and Pedal
Express Bike Shop
The Hub
One on One
Re-Cycle
Sibley Bike Depot
Freewheel
Sunrise Cyclery
Now Sports
Boehm's Skate and Cycle

Big thanks to all who helped make it possible.

Learning to Fly

Rewind about 5, maybe 6 years. I bought a kite from REI on a whim, thinking it would be something to do on those days when I wanted to play pick-up ultimate, but nobody showed up.

Spoiler alter- that actually happens.

Anyway, I got a couple good flights. One good day, in particular was flying in Lowell Park in downtown Stillwater. I used to think windsurfing on the river near Stillwater would be a great statement about how enjoyable it would be to have a non-motorized area of the river...but it would also be a great way to get run over by any number of speed boats. Plenty of sailboats down near Lake St. Croix and the west lakeland area, and I know Bayport has a history of being windsurfed.
Anyway. Kites, not boards.
So, what happened? I sailed / flew this kite from REI a few times, found out it was called a Nexus from Prism, a Washington based company that specializes in foils and stunt kites, and eventually returned it to buy a pair of pants.
I got to thinking, not long after that, that flying a kite was going to be as close to windsurfing as I was going to get for a while. If you've never windsurfed, try it. Once you get going a couple of times, and lean that sail back, it's all you'll think about. Flying a kite is a little like that, and a little like pulling in a heavy fish across a river current. It's probably as close as I'll come to fly fishing for quite awhile too, so having access to a new kite, I splurged and bought a Prism Quantum from Into the Wind, a kite and toy store in Boulder, Colorado.
Awesome store. Fell in love with it back in 1985 or something, when I visited my uncle who lived in Boulder; Pearl street, the Flatirons, the National Center for Atmospheric Research and Into the Wind were all etched in my memory as worthy reasons to rapidly resume anything that would possibly include a return.
Well, fold all of this in with moving to a new city, and finding my footing after not working for 18 months or two years or however long it's been, and you've got me, ready to try flying my kite at the first breath of wind I feel. Yes, I like riding my bicycle, and yes, I got plenty of things to keep me busy, but why not fly a kite instead?
I had a familiar experience however, flying this new kite. A couple of good days, and then an accident- the kite went up into strong winds and got pulled apart- both lines were broken and the center spar bent, leaving the new kite damaged and in need of repair. I sent the kite back to Into the Wind, and although their repairs were very prompt, I was not able to afford them for a number of months, during which time the wind seemed constant, even and consistently between 15 and 19 Miles Per Hour.
Anyway, to keep the story from being too lost in further segues and ramblings, "...Marge you got a butt that just won't quit....pretzels five bucks??", I got the kite back this week, re-attached the strings, did some measuring and cutting and some more measuring and cutting and re-sleeved the spectra line...and....despite not having enough wind today....managed to spend some time with the Kite in the air.

People keep getting hurt...except colonel Manuel Bendiras, (Sanders)

Beat-CounterBeat.

Turtle Island by Gary Snyder

My rating: 4 of 5 stars


One of many, many under-mentioned, under-appreciated texts of the Beat generation's impact on writing. Burroughs, be he successful, enigmatic and insanely smart, had too much self-destruction and hatred in him to consciously benefit anybody besides himself. I read some of his novels and just didn't appreciate the sarcasm, irony, cynicism, anger, spite, whatever you want to call it...Burroughs shot his own wife. As a bar trick. The fact that he got away with it, I think, is what makes a lot of people respect and fear his writing.
Here I am, writing about Burroughs in my Snyder review...weird. I should have read Gary Snyder a long, long time before reading Ginsberg, Bukowski, Burroughs, Kerouac, Tom Wolfe...I'd guess there were a lot of other writers working during that time. I'd recommend almost anyone besides the names you most commonly hear in association with the Beat movement, in order to study the beats- it helps to know what they were writing against.

Fresh air has a value you can not quantify.
Sunlight has a warmth you can not explain.
wind has a strength you can not identify.

Snyder knows all of these things...Burroughs, Kerouac, Ginsberg...I don't know.

I thought, after re-reading this, I would add a rebuttal to my rebuttal, from Wikipedia:

Several literary critics treated Burroughs's work harshly. For example Anatole Broyard and Philip Toynbee wrote devastating reviews of some of his most important books. In a short essay entitled "A Review of the Reviewers", Burroughs answers his critics in this way:

Critics constantly complain that writers are lacking in standards, yet they themselves seem to have no standards other than personal prejudice for literary criticism. (...) such standards do exist. Matthew Arnold set up three criteria for criticism: 1. What is the writer trying to do? 2. How well does he succeed in doing it? (...) 3. Does the work exhibit "high seriousness"? That is, does it touch on basic issues of good and evil, life and death and the human condition. I would also apply a fourth criterion (...) Write about what you know. More writers fail because they try to write about things they don't know than for any other reason.
—William S. Burroughs, "A Review of the Reviewers

Zing!







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Fish Tacos and Greek Yogurt.

Saturday, August 8th, I went on a bike ride with Paul, his wife and kids, and Maureen and her kids. I mapped the ride on mapmyride.