Thursday, January 31, 2008

Final count for January

total counted commuting miles = 330miles
total counted offroad miles = 20miles
total counted pleasure riding miles = 10miles

total = 360 miles

and again this is after i started counting about the middle of the second week... For next month Im going to keep more of an on going tally, and hopefully ill have more off road mileage, and pleasure road miles. anywho... till February.

Tuesday, January 29, 2008

commuting mile counter... and well uhm... i got nothing

185 commuting miles so far this month... but im sure im not giving myself enough credit... the first week i was riding to carrollwood and I didnt count that, and the second week I was riding all over pinellas looking for a job so i didnt count that either... so in the grand sceme im probobly closer to 300 miles... and thats no emission, no gas, and i actually lost about 5 pounds. i still have two and a half more days. anywho. thanks for noticing me.

Monday, January 28, 2008

big yellow truck... and green batteries.


Big yellow trucks with assholes behind the wheel are no fun. I went for a ride from the appartment, down forth street, into Downtown St. Pete today to meet Christina for lunch. Some db in a big yellow dodge truck thought it would be funny to come up behind me and honk at me before his turn... which took him a total of 3 extra seconds to pull into the gas station to fill up his huge gas tank which he uses in a day or two. No wonder he was so upset. Situations like this make me smile... it takes me about half an hour to get to almost anywhere in St. Pete... it takes a car maybe ten minutes less than that when you consider the time involved in preparing for a car trip and parking upon arival, and on top of all this your car has to be filled with gas, which cost money. For me, no parking, no gas(gasoline), extra excercise, a refreshed sense of accomplishment, and a free trip down to the USF campus for a good chili dog at Bayboro Tavern. It seems to me that this guy would be a little less upset if he got out and got a ride in. Or perhaps he would know what its like to deal with people like himself...

well... now that thats over... im switching to rechargeable batteries in my camera to be more green... i should have been doing this before but with no money chargers arent easy to come by, fortunately for me borrowing is a good thing.

Sunday, January 27, 2008

Ghost bikes ...I hope i dont get one.


Check out this site http://www.ghostbike.org/


This is a neat concept... and a great way to promote awareness. This is a good way to keep people aware of the fact that bicyclists are out there... the problem is, we need to let people know we are there BEFORE this kind of crap happens. Motorists need to stop hitting bicyclists so advocacy like this becomes unnecessary.

Monday, January 21, 2008

Commuting... the friendship Trail.


My route to and from work brings me past some of Floridas finest scenery. This is the Gandy bridge and the old Gandy bridge, The Friendship Trail, which follows alongside it. This was taken yesterday an hour before sunset.


These are the breakers on the Tampa side of the Gandy.
This is a track vehicle at the US Marine detachment just to the north of those breakers.

Im at 110 miles for the month so far. Most done on the fixie, a few on my Long Haul Trucker modified for commuting.

Long Haul Trucker... sans racks... this beast pushed 39 mph on the back side of that bridge... i had a nice tail wind... and I was carrying an average speed of about 23 mph in the flats.

Sunday, January 20, 2008

Trek Store Tampa... my new job

So i started a new job about 3 weeks ago now... and im loving it... i finally got around to taking some pictures from around the shop and well... here they are.
Corner of Macdill and De Leon in south Tampa

My Office
The SSLs
Madone 6.9 Pro, my new shop bike ;)
My "in box" , better get back to work...

Thursday, January 17, 2008

Africa Bikes... and a call to aid


I read a story about some interesting advocacy efforts, in the latest Bicycle Retailer, being done for the poor of the world. Different organizations are donating bikes, parts, time, and money to the aid of impoverished nations. Organizations such as Bicycling Magazines Bike Town, SRAMs World Bicycle Relief, Konas Africa Bike, and Ritcheys Project Rwanda. Bicycles help health care workers to get to thier patients quickly, they help poor farmers transport crops more efficiently, and they help with transportation in general. A neat one I saw is the Eco Truk, the bike itself is an extended bike with a platform on the rear that can carry goods and people if needed. Eco Truk is also part of Wolffs Bike Shop(the designer of the bike) bike in a box program, where they ship 200 bikes, tools and parts to Africa to entrepenuers interested in starting a bike shop. I am really inspired by this and plan on doing something on a bit of a local level. I am planning on donating some of my time to Gods Pedal Power, and I also hope to get other volunteers to join me in this notion. Another thing Ive really been interested in is putting together a Bikes Not Bombs chapter here in the St. Pete/ Tampa bay area. this would be something on a local level that would help donate time, bikes, parts, and whatever to a needy cause... where ever that may be. more on that to come.

this is the Eco Truk... more info on this at Ecotruk.org


other interesting websites:




Tuesday, January 15, 2008

Bicycling Life... and commuting miles.

http://www.bicyclinglife.com/ I found this website that has a lot of really good information on bicycle commuting and riding in general. Lot of good insight on dealing with the hazards of commuting by bike. and it gave me a neat idea. My commute to work is roughly an hour, I ride from my appartment in St. Pete across the Friendship Trail Bridge and into Tampa to work. My total commute is about 15 miles. So im thinking of keeping a daily log of the milage i accrue through the year... as of yet I have ridden the new route to the trek store 3 times... twice i took the bus the first half so i rode about 60 miles last week and yesterday. im not even going to count the last job so as to make this cleaner in my mind... so as of my first post on this matter Im going to officially count 60 miles so far for January.

New Years Resolutions.. and last years outs

well... here it is, a new year.. I dont have much time to get to a computer lately so ill try to cover a lot in this one post. Over the last couple months a lot has happened. I have been commuting to work by bike and by bus a LOT lately, and it is a scary ride. I ride from st pete to tampa and car drivers are just not happy people... and it is downright dangerous for a cyclist out there. Ive had people yell at me to get off the road on several occasions and several honks to which I cannot say ive always reacted to in a civil way... but then why should I? I have a right to be there.
I mostly ride my fixed bike when i commute and people think im crazy for it. but ive found that when i ride safetly, in control and defensively, I feel pretty safe. If im going to get hit im going to get hit on the fixie or any bike I choose. on the occasion that i have needed to bring more things with me i have brought the Long Haul with my old trek bags... which are actually quite handy and I am starting to fall back in love with them. On that note... I have decided to make my own bags based on some information i got off of Ken Kifers page (kenkifer.com/bikepages) I am using some of the old duffel bags i got in the Army, so my bags will quite litterally be "green" bags. and I will try to document the step by step process as i move along. at the moment im so low on funds that i cant afford thread. but that will change. which leads me to another story. I got a new job... and its a move up for me, which I am very excited about. Im working with my buddy Ted(of the Single Speed Mafia) at the new Trek Store of Tampa. I am working in a service department this time instead of doing sales as well, and its kind of refreshing being able to focus on my work. I am an hour closer by bike to my appartment and the route is a bit safer. I can see a lot of opportunities for my future with this job and the guys I work with are really supportive.
On another note I have decided to start eating mostly vegetarian.. At the moment I really cant afford food so this has not been a tough process at all, but when I shop I have been buying veges. The few exceptions are hooters wings on fight nights and chicken at carrabas. Aslo I have cut out soda from my diet entirely. It has been since the last week of december and I have been running strong with no real desire to drink it. I have noticed a change in my energy levels throughout the day and I have not had a sugar crash all year.
I ride practically every work day so it has been tough to ride for pleasure over the past months but i do hope to get in some more off road riding this year. I also hope to start donating some of my time to cycling related charities like Gods Pedal Power.. and I want to do more to become a bigger influence in cycling advocacy by joining IMBA and by doing some grass roots advocacy.
Most importantly I would like to have my bags done in time to do some camping trips with my family this spring, and I hope to ride with them more in general.
well.. heres to a better year and a successful life.