In terms of bikes, there are a lot of them around. Every block you travel on there’s quite a number of them locked to posts, rails, and racks, not to mention at least one or two other people riding theirs. Speaking of racks there’s seemingly quite a bit of infrastructure in place here. So far I’ve ridden on bike lanes on Q, R, 14th, 15th (with a contra-flow lane), and New Hampshire streets; there’s also the Rock Creek Park trail and in Virginia the Washington & Old Dominion Trail from the Custis Trail that I’ve explored. I’m looking forward to checking out the Metropolitan Branch Trail too. In addition to all that, I’ve also had my fair share of regular traffic lanes to navigate through—we all know the bike lane, just like the freeway, doesn’t start and stop at your front door. The regular streets are full of potholes, badly described lanes, irregular intersections, huge roundabouts, and tons of cars traveling at varying speeds; it can be super hectic—basically this kind of playing in traffic can be fun.

One other thing DC’s streets have are lot’s of statues of dude’s on horses.

I’ve found work in a pretty cool shop—this one—and again, I am seeing yet another way of running a shop. As we’re all aware of, there’s maybe an infinite number of ways to skin a cat. I’m still figuring it all out there, I have no real criticisms and not many suggestions have developed yet. Working in a variety of shops has definitely given me an education in operating in different environments. I’m glad to add to that—so far, so good. Washington, DC, as a whole will be an effort in education for me, I’m sure I’ll be learning more about the streets, trails, bikes, people, and government the longer I live here.

In the meantime, my wife and I are living as mole people in a friend’s basement apartment. The sofa bed is certainly taking it’s toll on my back. Most of our belongings, i.e. the majority of our bikes, are locked up in a storage unit. Patience is the lesson for now. Today however, we’re off to check out the big parade in Dupont Circle.

Originally uploaded by prestashrader

It’s not like I access these sites from this website, but the list to the left is just a catalog per se of websites of organizations, businesses, or people that I enjoy, respect, and agree with. Check them out sometime, I haven’t updated them in a while, and tonight it occurred to me to glance at them. Noticing them for the first time in a while I saw some gaps there. Have at it, perhaps visit some locations on the internet you’ve never visited. (There are surely some gaps remaining of sites on my RSS reader, there’s just only so much space.)

(As far as there “not being much to report,” like I mentioned above; that’s a total outright lie. I’ve got a ton of things going on, all of which are keeping me from updating this site in any other significant way beyond link updates and simple photo posts. More posts to come soon enough, thanks for your patience.)

Yeah, the long wait is soon to be over! Welcome back.

I think they left the show knowing more about bikes and bike culture than they were expecting, but they now understand, I think, that there’s more to bicycles than just recreation and repair. There’s an actual viable future with them; now they just need to get on bikes more themselves and then everything will gel!

It was a wholly tiring weekend as I’ve mentioned, I could tell the exhibitors themselves were dogged at times too. I was a little disappointed in one booth in particular, not sure if my weariness was transferring to the guy there, but his friendliness was a little lackluster, but perhaps not everyone in the bike industry is a people person (shocking!) or more simply he was just as tired as I. He wasn’t nearly as disappointing however as the guy at the Shimano booth was though. It was a little off-putting when I asked why they didn’t opt for a platform pedal on the Di2 test bike to be told brusquely and dismissively that they wanted to present their new black Ultegra pedal. Not a soul was walking around that convention wearing road pedals with Shimano cleats on them; why not display the new pedals in a case or something? Didn’t make a whole lot of sense to me, but they’re the title sponsor so they know best I guess. Most people were friendly though, especially so on Friday compared to mob ruled Saturday. My talk with Lee at Highway 2 I’m sure will be well received by the guys I work with. Grilling Tone and Ed at the SRAM exhibit was illuminating, not really sure why the hell they didn’t have their new group Apex available there to view—I guess that’s why they weren’t the title sponsor, right? Chris Igleheart was a rad dude too. Meeting John at Sylvan was memorable, he was appreciative of my comparative of his frame’s tubes with pencils. The Yipsan booth were especially friendly and helpful in enlightening my sister and brother on bikes. Their town bike was one of our favorites, described as a “happy bike” it was no wonder it won the “Best City Bike” and the “People’s Choice” awards.

These two booth’s bikes were some of my favorites; the Sylvan I think was a very unique approach to this alternative material—as he said, wood: the original composite. I like it. Other favorites included Engin especially for it’s paint being reminiscent of those old Singer’s and Herse’s. Another favorite bike was the blue town bike at Signal, his booth was especially rad too (love the T-Rex) and the overall layout’s classiness. On the whole I was pleased at having the accurate prediction that there’d be an abundance of cyclocross bikes and town/city bikes. Both are easily working to becoming my favorite styles of bike—I’m also already considering exchanging the CAAD9 road bike I’ve just gotten for something similar to my classic Italian steel.

Richmond itself was a unexpectedly interesting town. From the Jerry Springer-esque brawl between two shoe-throwing ladies at some soul-food pizza shop we ate at (Leone’s Sportsbar?!) to the ceiling tile bashing party-goers at our hotel, there was a few classy gems thrown in between. One of which was the throw-back to the eighties family restaurant Byram’s where there was piano playing amongst the tasty greek faire. They had atmosphere in spades that really made you feel at home. We managed to find an outstanding alternative to the Comfort Inn’s coffee at Lift. But the best beyond that was the breakfast we had before our departure back to Louisville: Millie’s Diner, don’t let the word “diner” belie it’s true value to you. If within a hundred miles of Richmond, take the detour and get yourself the Ben Gurion lox bagel benedict. It won’t fail to impress. Fast and incredibly thoughtful/friendly/entertaining service was a great way to start a ten hour road trip.

Millie's wall menu, bring your bi-focals.

Granted as the weekend wears on, that scrutiny of components and such diminishes a bit, but it’s one of those things I think I enjoy most about the show. Observing the sometimes curious choice the craftspeople use of components:

… a vintage XT group on this gorgeous Signal.

… unique Gipiemme shifters on this Bilenky.

… not necessarily the most up-to-date group set on Cielo.

… the pairing of XT rear derailleur, a 9-speed cassette, and Centaur 11-speed shifter at Palermo.

… Igleheart’s utilization of SunRace components was quite the exception too.

I also appreciate how cleverly the bikes are sometimes displayed. The use of one-off mounting and securing of the rig for display can be really brilliant.

… a beautifully painted old frame with mounting brackets brazed on it’s side at VeloColour.

… custom stands to clip the pedals into at Shamrock.

… elegant swoop rack at Engin. (Great paint too!)

… not to forget Signal’s custom mounting brackets.

Those that are making their own components are also not to be overlooked. High ATD (Attention To Detail) always well-received in my book.

… customizable modular hubs, brakes, etc from Cykelmageren.

… lugs and wood tubes at Sylvan. (One of my favorites.)

… sharp bullet bars at Black Sheep.

All in all, great show, greater bikes, strange town. There’s plenty more photos of items I probably missed pointing out in this to be seen on my photo set; needless to say there’s surely a ton of other photos out there of the show.

Richmond, VA—NAHBS—the North American Handmade Bicycle Show. We made it to the last few hours of day one after a nine hour or so drive across the Appalachians. So far so good—nay, so great; so here are some photos of the show so far:

Sylvan

Cykelmageren

VAR

Speedvagen

Richard Sachs

Igleheart

More to come on the flickr account as the rest of the weekend goes by….

I do enjoy this comic, I make sure to check the action everyday and am usually pretty amused. Having it in print is the next best thing to having Yehuda himself visit me in person. Now I’m going to have to get my hands on the first edition. Evidently the author, Rick Smith visited the shop where James works and was signing copies—icing on the cake.

So make sure to check out this daily online comic, it’s a good one for sure; and pretty relatable if you work in a shop I think. Also to find out more info on its creator, here’s a little interview I did with him a couple of years ago—I bet he’s been up to some new and exciting stuff since then, but nonetheless….

And James, thanks for the great gift. Cottered cranks indeed!

Here are a couple pics from year’s past:

Pegoretti @ Portland, OR

Handbuilt photos in 2008

Velo Orange @ Indianapolis, IN

Handbuilt photos in 2009

Salty. Maybe this Yehuda Moon put it together for me, but don’t we have a lot of salt on our roads? My lips are not only dry, but they’re actually salty from them it seems. How’s that for the crops? My bike has seen better—less desiccated—days.

Today’s ride home however, was a champ-fest. Rocketing across and off the 2nd street bridge was exhilarating, just pushing it! Laying it down. Where was the competition? Apart from the slavish motorists, all in my head. This is my training, remember! The ride home had one further point of awesomeness to it. No hat, first time in a long time I’ve gotten to ride with nothing under my helmet! Is it happening? Probably too early, especially considering that flea-bag Phil, I’ll take Chuck’s forecast this year.

I’ve just been loaned a book. The Wonderful Ride, the “true journal of Mr. George T. Loher who in 1895 cycled from coast to coast on his Yellow Fellow Wheel”. Sounds pretty cool, might inspire me to take that first step to ride some god-awful distance this spring I’ve been thinking about. We’ll just have to see how Mr. Loher fares.

I love those little Campy part labels

My good buddy Drew over at On Your Left suggested a good idea to me that I am real excited about. I’ve sold the wheels the CAAD9 came with and was planning on, but reluctant to, buying a set of MAVIC Ksyriums. Good wheels to have, no doubt, but I’m a fan of hand-built wheels—preferably my own. There was also a financial issue buying a new set of wheels. Settling that debate was Drew’s suggestion of the brilliance of Campagnolo—or more accurately, he suggested trying a Fulcrum freehub body on my Campy rear hub. Enter the assumed Campagnolo part number 1011225. This will allow me to keep the wheels rolling I built for my recently demised Coppi. Centaur hubs on Aeroheads; thirty-two hole spectacularness!

Oh, and I’ve got a birthday coming up, was the AARP invitation I got in the mail the other day some kind of joke? WTF?