Annual firetruck muster

This firefighter's helmet weighs a lot more than you'd think.

This is the second year that we've ridden down to see a few dozen fire trucks and emergency vehicles gather to show their stuff. Kids of all ages climb into seats, try on equipment and cool off a bit from the spray of the water that is always abundant around such vehicles.

This truck pumped out a couple thousand gallons of water in about a minute.

The Flight for Life helicopter was impressive, but it's a lot smaller than you'd think.

One of my favorite emergency vehicles was this early 1960s Chrysler station wagon, which was some sort of support vehicle. With about eight feet of cargo room in the back and a full-length roof rack, I can imagine how the civilian version of a car like this would've been a great family camping mobile. Perhaps my interest stems from the fact that in the old days my family only ever had two-door muscle-ish cars and never a practical wagon.

The car version of a Big Dummy.

Sleek relic of the space age.

I know this is a bike blog, but I admire well designed machines, with or without engines, based on their own merit. Apparently there are other mechanically like-minded people out there, as the Big Dummy was admired by several, mostly older guys who enjoyed examining how I was able to carry my daughter and her bike aboard without difficulty.

With any luck, we'll be back for more next year.

Beware of the brush axe!

On the toasty ride home, looking forward to a cold drink.

Magnetism of pink

A pink wildflower spotted while riding is reason enough for a stop and a smile.

A ride on the Pedal Hopper

Andy is ready to venture off into the wild blue yonder.

My friend Andy, the most connected guy in Denver, is heading to the West coast after a long stint here, and as a sendoff his friends booked passage on our fair city's newest pedal powered entertainment platform, the Pedal Hopper. Bike geeks of international prowess may have seen similar machines plying the streets of foreign locales, such as Amsterdam or exotic Minneapolis. Some of those other pedaling platforms are rolling bars with drinks served on board, however this one is not, at least at the present time. What the Pedal Hopper does well and extremely enjoyably is get you and your friends from one place to another, and if the places you visit happen to serve adult refreshments, so be it. All you do is supply the power for forward motion.

This is the business end of how you supply the power. Het Fietscafe means "The Bike Cafe" in Dutch, if you're wondering.

I can vouch for the fun of the experience of pedaling along at slow speed with fellow revelers. This machine is a terrific way to experience the night life of the city. It's destined to be popular and to contribute to Denver's growing bicycle culture.

For your enjoyment, here are a few photos of the ride.

The guy on the left is Jeff, the multi-talented driver and Captain of this vessel. He did a terrific job and is well worth requesting on your Pedal Hopper ride.

Most of our party aboard. The vehicle can carry 16 at a time. Ten seats are equipped with pedals to propel 2,400 pounds of machine in addition to the weight of the passengers.

On-board entertainment.

The crew post ride. Fun was had by all.

Geluk, Andy!

Summertime and the livin' is easy

The chair test pilot enjoying a popsicle.

Although it's not technically summer yet, traditionally the summer season is book-ended by Memorial Day and Labor Day, so culturally we're safely into summer. In the spirit of relaxation, and on the spur of the moment, I decided to build an Adirondack chair. The inspiration came jointly from a pile of reclaimed lumber that used to be the subfloor in my kitchen until I installed tile a couple of years ago, and a fancy recycled plastic slab Adirondack chair I sat on at the local library this past Saturday. By Sunday evening I was actively constructing, armed with a sketched design and a cell phone pic of the library's chair.

Monday evening I worked a bit more on the chair, and by Tuesday it was ready for paint. However the evenings have been too nice to be totally committed to a construction project, so we logged some more time on dirt trails.

Singing while riding through the cottonwoods.

Dirt machines taking a break at the park.

The chair is now complete. It would benefit from an accompanying footrest of some sort, but that will have to wait for later. Apparently the chair has met the approval of the other members of my household, as there is a request for a couple more. However, I don't have enough wood left for even one more, and I'm too frugal (cheap) to buy it. In the mean time, I plan to use the chair for its intended purpose. Now all I need to do is to air up the mini pool to stick my feel in while I relax.

Why yes, that is a Park BO-2 ready to open a frosty bottle of New Belgium Blue Paddle pilsner. You're very observant.

Rubber swap for the Panasonic; dirt bike summer school

1988 Panasonic MC 4500, before picture. I've always liked the dual water bottle mount on the down tube design of the old days. It's a shame bike builders don't seem to use that placement anymore.

I've been riding my old Panasonic MC 4500 a lot more, as it's been my most accessible mountain bike of late at a time when I'm instructing a little Dirt Riding 101. This is a bit of a change for the Panasonic, because for the past couple of years it had been my office bike, parked next to my desk, patiently waiting to shuttle me to meetings or errands. However, I now primarily use Denver B-cycle downtown, so a while back I brought it home for a new duty assignment.

After several evenings of service on the dirt trails in its urban commuter kit, I decided to swap the Ritchey Moby Bite 2.1 slicks for something with knobs. The Moby Bites are among the best fat slicks I've ever had, and actually do fine on hardpack dirt, but I own a variety of good knobbies and I'm not afraid to use them. So off with the smooth and on with the tractor tread. I popped the fenders off while I was at it, because it just seemed the right thing to do.

It's a big boy. The 22 inch frame is now sporting some different rubber: IRC Mythos XC 2.1 inch meats.

I've been happy with the result. There's a reason why mountain biking caught on in the mid 80s. These old steel bikes from the golden era are just plain fun to ride off road. I previously built this bike up as a geared mountain bike and it was just as good to ride, but something about the current single speed setup brings me back to riding BMX bikes on dirt hills in vacant lots around 30 years ago.

The bike itself started life as a good honest mountain bike, akin to a Specialized Rockhopper or a Bridgestone MB-3, all of which were built in the same factories in Japan. Curiously, the MC in the bike's name inexplicably stands for "mountain cat." The original gray paint has seen better days, but is still adorned with pink, yellow and white moniker decals. For those whose hobby is time wasting, I'll tempt you with the future possibility of a soliloquy regarding this bike.

On to the dirt bike school update.

Had to tie up the princess dress for the demonstration.

In the photo above, notice a fine demonstration of the the standing with feet level while coasting technique. This technique is used to cushion the body against bumps while off road. Our girl has been learning and working toward mastery of many riding techniques, and this is one of her latest.

Yesterday, she had the opportunity to learn through some first hand experience with recovering from a crash. Nothing serious, just a moment of inattentive steering on the roll out following a downhill that led to a fall to one side. That's the good thing about crashing on grass and dirt: it doesn't hurt too much. However, a while later she made too tight of a turn on some loose gravel and ended up with a scraped palm that required a band-aid. There were no tears with either crash, and more than a bit of pride for good recoveries from both student and instructor.

Dirt bike fairies like to have their dress match their bike.