TSBC/Randi Jo Fab cap

First ride in the cap, on the Dummy with my chipper copilot. Still learning to work the new phone camera, but it is much better quality than the old one.

Waiting for me in the mailbox today was a tidy little package with some hand-drawn decorations outside and some handmade finery inside. Tarik and Randi Jo, you've outdone yourselves. Very cool hat with top notch workmanship and design, and it fits great on me golova*.

Spectating some ducks and geese.

*Somewhat subtle A Clockwork Orange reference. The cap is orange, after all.

Snow-dog-fatbiking

Cruising along at a good clip.

I wasn't quite sure the best order to put the words in the title, but our ride this morning incorporated all three. Though, the salient item here is snow, as in it fell for the first time in what seems like a long time. As strange as it sounds to say it, I was getting a little tired of 65 to 70 degree F days, so the 3 or so inches of snow we got last night was refreshing.

Scout and I made the most of the snow on our morning ride. In some places along the way, foot tracks and even a bike track or two had already been laid down, but in most of our familiar haunts we were breaking trail.

That is decidedly not a fatbike track. Goes to show that just about any bike can be a snow bike.

The storm was accompanied by some wind, which embedded snow in the bark of this tree for an artistic effect.

Breaking trail in an open space area. 

Paws left, fat tires right.

While riding, I realized that I have liked at least something about every bike I've ever had. However, the more time I have with the Pugsley, the somethings that I like about it just keep accumulating. It rolls so incredibly well of road, and the tires make a huge difference in not only snow, but everything else. The Pug is now hovering around a similar internal ranking as my incredibly useful Big Dummy, and is even more fun to ride.

On another note, I'd been on the lookout for a lightweight down jacket/sweater as an insulative layer in winter and an easily packable jacket for the rest of the year. Most that I'd found were nice, but a bit rich for my blood. Then, one day at Costco, I found a Kirkland Signature microdown jacket that looked just like the Patagonia version. It felt of good quality and was only $70. So I thought it over and did a little research. It seems as though Costco is sourcing a few high quality outdoor items these jackets as a fairly new offering. Costco has a nice return policy, so I bit.

So far, so good. The jacket is great for layering, and is all I need down to about freezing. I don't really review things, but my impression after the first few weeks has been entirely positive. It fits well, with long enough sleeves and waist (I wear size large), and it's only a little larger in girth than would be ideal for me. All the fabrics and stitches are good, and the down feels evenly distributed. No frills, no extraneous colors or patterns; just like I like stuff to be. It would have been nice for the inner pocket to be an integral stuff sack, though. Small quibble.

In any case, I thought I'd put my two cents out there in case anyone else has stumbled across a jacket like this at Costco. It may be the case that I'll get what I pay for by going cheap, but that's not the feeling that I've had to date. Knowing a little about how Costco works, I wouldn't be surprised if the jacket were made in the same factory as the Patagonia version. If my impression of the jacket changes, I'll post it here.

Kirkland Signature down jacket.

Size large. 

Back in the saddle again

Our little cowgirl with Starlit, her newest horse, who was fabricated at school from one of Daddy's old Smartwool socks and a yardstick.

An astute reader may have noticed that this blog has fallen fallow for the past couple of weeks. Rest assured, there has been plenty of Big Dummy Daddying going on at the old bike ranch. However, time, an essential ingredient of blog posts, has been in short supply. Today a modest block of time became available, so here is a post to end the drought.

The before school photo. Matching boots, belt and hat set the stage for a western shirt with embedded silver thread. Bob Wills would have approved.

Today was cowgirl day at school. That's not its official designation, but for our purposes it will suffice. She is an enthusiastic cowgirl, owed in part to her parental roots in Wyoming, but more substantially to her enduring fondness of the song Rhinestone Cowboy and wearing cowgirl clothes, especially boots.

In snack mode on the Big Dummy. Daddy happened to be wearing an appropriate western shirt too.

We had a great ride home, taking a bit longer route than usual for enjoyment. When it's 65F and sunny on a day in late January, a person would have to try hard not to have fun being outside. We've had a very mild winter here with only a couple of snowstorms and minimal snowfall, but the heat of the sun on bare skin is still a welcomed luxury at this time of year.

After arriving home, we continued to capitalize on the weather with a long session on the swings. The evening light now lasts noticeably longer than a month ago, which helps tremendously in reducing the midwinter blues, and it certainly doesn't hurt that today is Friday. In all a good day living life the cowgirl (or cowboy) way.

Working up a full head of steam.

She always sings ragtime music to the cattle as she swings. With apologies to the author of Ragtime Cowboy Joe, who probably had some other type of swinging in mind.

I am aware of no brand of jeans other than Hello Kitty that features pink stitching. Little details like this truly pull the ensemble together. It is obvious to anyone who knows me that I can't claim to be the source of her sophisticated sense of style.

Western Welcome Week and rack mount mod

Yesterday was the parade for Western Welcome Week, the big annual community event of our little suburb. Our girl is a big fan of parades, and as it turns out this parade was a big fan of hers. Many parade participants complimented her on her coordinated outfit including matching cowgirl hat and boots.

Howdy pardner

When the parade was finished, we toured the sites and the food booths. Somehow she ended up simultaneously consuming a Tootsie pop and a root beer float courtesy of our fine and honorable State Representative Joe Rice. This just after a snow cone. Needless to say, she had plenty of energy on the ride home.

Contemplating what is sweeter: the good themselves or getting away with such an obvious overindulgence of sugar?

She calls her bike "Rosie" and refers to it as her horse

When we got home, I decided to pare off the excess length of roof tray from my kid bike carrier project. First a little miter saw action...

A little more urbane than a hacksaw

Then a little time with the drill press...

Off camera is a peach daiquiri. Remember to practice power tool safety.

Followed by a little finishing work to make the new end have the same fitting holes as the old end...

Old end (left), new end (right)

And voila! No more extra rack tray sticking out for someone to trip on. Nice and tidy.

Just the right length now

The whole rig rides like a champ

A final addition to the Big Dummy was a new sticker courtesy of the Vote Hick for Gov float in the parade.

Our girl on a fixed gear bicycle

This title won't necessarily lead to a story quite along the lines about what you might be thinking, especially you Fixed gal, but it does indeed feature our girl on a fixie.

Last evening, after our adventures with kindergarten we went to the Littleton Historical Museum, which was celebrating its 40th anniversary. The museum is always an interesting place, as it is a working farm depicting agrarian life in the settings of the 1860s and the 1890s. Because of the celebration the museum brought out some items and exhibits I'd not previously seen. Something that immediately caught my attention was a vintage safety bicycle ridden by a woman in period costume.

Early bicycles and bloomers were an escape from the tyranny of corsets

Of course we quickly sought out the bike for a closer inspection. She bubbled right up to the woman who was riding it and made a friend. As promised, this is where we get to the her on a fixed gear bicycle part of the story:

She'll be able to reach the pedals in in a year or two

According to the head badge the bike was a Romona, built in Indianapolis in 1897. It featured wooden rims, a skirt guard and coasting pegs on the fork crown. The bike apparently came from the large collection of Victorian era bicycles at Golden Oldy Cyclery.

It's too bad head badges aren't still a central fixture of a bike

Looking over the bike up close I began to ponder, with exception to some materials and manufacturing techniques, how little in bicycle design has really changed with the passage of 113 years. Since the time this bike was built, subsequent bikes have been tweaked for lower weight or higher speed, but have never really been fundamentally altered. Right now with the reemergence in popularity of utility bikes and fixies, this bike wouldn't look out of place parked in front of any coffee shop in 2010.

In the past as now, bikes are the perfect way to enjoy a summer evening following a hot day. We took advantage of the cooler air with a slightly extended ride home. 

Aglow in the twilight

Elusive bike fairy sighting

I know what you're thinking. Like other fanciful creatures, the bike fairy is just a myth. A little pixie who spreads two-wheeled cheer while sprouting magical bike lanes from her tire tracks seems a little ridiculous, right?

That's what I thought too, until recently. As luck would have it, I had my camera at the ready and now have evidence to the contrary.

I'm sure those magical bike lanes will materialize any minute now...