Mountain towns, bikes, and rain

The Mountain Fair in Carbondale had lots of bikes around, and perhaps the biggest concentration of Xtracycles per capita of any place I've been.

We managed to squeeze in a little travel before school starts again, by making a (rare for us) trip into the mountains. It takes so much coordination for all of us to go anywhere that we don't often lug ourselves someplace where we're not obliged to go. It was refreshing to get away, even for a little while, though the traffic both ways didn't do much to dissuade my frustration of crowded driving in the mountains. We ended up visiting Aspen, Carbondale, and Glenwood Springs.

Mountain towns offer some great bike spotting opportunities for an aging bike nerd such as me. The bikes to be seen did not disappoint. Foremost in my notice are the many vintage mountain bikes, some of which exhibit evidence of years of heavy action, while others appear nearly unused.  I saw far more neat old bikes than I had the chance to photograph,  but here are a few that I captured.

This circa early 1950s cantilever framed Schwinn has a bent seatpost and a newer saddle, but otherwise looked to be in fine riding condition with an admirable patina.

A matched pair of retina-jarring early '90s Klein Rascals shod in old time-y Specialized Ground Control skinwall tires, now pressed into kid transport service.

Lousy photo aside, this 1988 Fisher Hoo-Koo-E-Koo was mostly original, sporting a pair of Fisher Fattrax tires. Fisher Fattrax were my favorite treads from the old days, but were discontinued nearly 25 years ago.

Aspen's bike sharing system, known as We-Cycle, appeared to be well utilized and contributed to the town's bike-friendly vibe.

Of course the girls found lots of things to experience. The townspeople were friendly and happy to accommodate, especially at the Aspen Volunteer Fire Department.

A balloon unicorn and balloon Elmo came along for the ride. 

Back at home, we've had a lot of rain since Monday. Although this is Colorado's monsoon season, it seems as though the rain has been more intense the past couple of years. I suppose that's good for keeping wildfires at bay, though I'm certainly not accustomed to overcast, wet days. I don't know how people in wet climes survive.

The view from my office window is of pouring rain.

I took advantage of a break in the weather to take a Denver B-cycle ride, and ended up riding the elusive white B-cycle.

An enterprising fellow poses with his super chopper near the South Platte river.

A little tough to see in this shot, but that's a guy on a penny farthing commuting home from Denver to Golden. He's been an icon in the area for decades. I've talked to him on several occasions, but can't remember his name at the moment. 

Cherry Creek had been flowing over this bridge along the bike path moments before, as a result of an intense thunderstorm.

To complete a trifecta of oversized bikes spotted, I waited for the train with a doused hipster and his double decker bike. 

New bike instructive stickers in a light rail vehicle.

A fairly recently installed bike box near the Webb Building in central downtown Denver seems to be well utilized. 

My intrepid aspiring photographer enjoyed shooting some art at the Denver Art Museum.

Chilly B-cycle ride this morning

The intrepid three-speeds of the Denver B-cycle system are going strong through the winter.

It's been unseasonably warm here for several days. That changed last night with dropping temperatures and several inches of fresh powder this morning. Change is good, and we need the snow.

Bike picnic at the park over the past weekend. 

Our cowgirls at the National Western Stock Show.

Denver B-cycle Broncos bike

This one's for you, JPop.

I rode one of the Denver B-cycle Broncos bikes this morning. They painted two of the 700 bikes in the system an iconic orange with blue fenders, a color combo that is popular around these parts. Although I ride Denver B-cycle frequently, this is the first time that I've landed on one of the special bikes.

183 days and counting: Bike to Work Day

A little ride with Scout following the Bike to Work Day ride home.

Those of you who live outside the Denver area know that national Bike to Work Day occurred last month. However, for some reason the City of Denver traditionally conducts its Bike to Work Day in June, ostensibly because the weather is better in June than in May. Whatever the reason, today was Bike to Work Day in Denver. As is usually the case on this special day, there were a lot more people on bikes on the streets and trails around here. Curiously, bike to work day is one of the few days that many of the bike-y people I know are somewhat less likely to ride to work, mostly because many are working at bike-related events and may be required to drive vans or other motorized vehicles to haul tables and supplies. I, on the other hand, did no such thing. I rode my bike and talked with lots of bike-y people as they worked.

Activity at Civic Center Park just after Mayor Hancock spoke.  

Many snacks, stickers and other free goodies were to be had.

Coincidentally, today marked 183 consecutive days of me riding a bike. That means that I've officially hit half a year in my current streak that began late last year with the TSBC challenge. Today, like every day during the past six months, I rode in part for transportation, in part for convenience, and in part for fun. Early in the morning I was out the door with my single-speed Bean Green Surly Cross-Check, that I recently equipped with a new-to-me 16-tooth Surly cog to replace a 20-tooth antecedent. The new 16 seems to be well matched to work with the CC's 34-tooth Surly chainring. This gear combo returns a nice gain ratio to facilitate regular around-the-town riding.

Later, I went out with two of my girls; the babbling one and the fuzzy one. Along the trail we made a couple of discoveries. First, we found that people who use chainsaws can exhibit a sense of humor:

Happy stump.

Second, we made a trailside find of the canned liquid beverage variety:

These three survivors were rescued.

While making our way along a well-traveled trail, I spotted a tall Stella Artois can in the weeds along the side of the trail. I thought that the can looked like a good candidate for a new stove design featured on Vik's blog, which, as it turns out, was retired today. I picked it up, and to my surprise it was full and apparently untampered. A little farther along, I discovered another can, then another, and another. The cans looked as if they may have been either accidentally dropped or hastily ditched, as they had a few impact dents and scratches and one had been punctured. Considering the volume of traffic on the trail, it's unlikely they could have been there for too long. In any case, I'm chalking the three survivors up as a decent trailside find and will be enjoying them at some point in the future, once they have been properly chilled. Intact trailside found beer is free beer, and free beer is a cornerstone of our culture, after all. Not a bad conclusion to the day.

Impromptu bon voyage three-speed ride

Well-traveled biking couple, Gypsy Nicholas and Globe Lael, hit town today on their way to another adventure, after spending the last half year in Albuquerque. I first met them last year on their way through to ride the Colorado Trail. This time, our fair city serves as launch point for them again, though the trails they'll be hitting are half a world away.

As I write this, they're headed to the wild and wooly continent of Europe. There, they plan to rewrite the book on what it means to do a European bike tour, by seeking out off road and mountain bike routes wherever possible. I, as an avid armchair traveler, am eager to follow along. I've already put in my request that they sample pickled herring sandwiches (or any other interesting local cuisine) wherever they go.

I met up with them long enough to get a glimpse of their updated touring equipment and to have an impromptu three-speed ride aboard a few of the bikes of the Denver B-cycle fleet. As card-carrying members of the Society of Three Speeds, we called to order the ride and commenced forthwith. The ride objective was lunch at the Butcher Block Cafe, a nice little hole in the wall eatery that came recommended by Phil of Denver B-cycle. It didn't disappoint. If you go, don't miss out on a cinnamon roll.

Nicholas' new ride is an impeccably outfitted, geared Raleigh XXIX. Very nice. I don't need another bike. I don't need another bike.

The two were busy fitting their bikes into luxuriously huge Trek B-cycle boxes when I encountered them. 

He's ingeniously installed a dynamo light by drilling and tapping the crown of the Raleigh's suspension fork. 

Lael was sporting a new pair of her iconic Clarks cycling boots. Perfect footwear for the tour.

Happy trails, you two. You're welcome back any time.

Other people's bikes: Unexpected Bridgestone edition

A 1993 Bridgestone MB-1. Crappy phone-cam pics to follow, this one with the saddle artfully cut off. 

Fair warning: the following may only be appreciated and/or comprehended by extreme bike nerds. Proceed at your own risk.

Few bike brands stoke devotion to such a rarefied degree that a loyal following remains dogmatic nearly two decades after going defunct. Indeed, it may only be Bridgestone that fits this description. I admit that I have long been within the spectrum of Bridgestone devotees, though certainly not as close to ideological purity as I once may have been. Yet, I still have an ingrained ability to spot and identify a Bridgestone bike with even a fleeting glimpse.

At the Wellington E. Webb Municipal Building today, a 1993 Bridgestone MB-1 drew my focus from a block away. In its day, this was the top of the line off road machine Bridgestone offered, during its penultimate year. As I approached, it was clear that this particular bike had few, if any, parts original to the frame. In fact, the bike exhibited many of the characteristics of a cast-off frame turned ignominious workhorse; a semi-abused daily commuting mongrel, cast to a lot in life more typically assigned to much "lesser" models and/or brands. Such bikes often have the outward appearance of having been flogged to within an inch of life, but are generally in fairly honed operational condition. In an urban setting, such a bike is not appealing enough to steal, but well suited for transportation.

Please note that the following comments are not meant to be disparaging, but are merely a processing of the incongruity of the sighting with which I am apparently still struggling.

Its solitary shifter predates the bike by about a decade: a Shimano Deer Head (XT) unit, circa 1984. The circa '88 Ritchey stem looks to have been painted with bronze-colored nail polish.

A rider too tall: the modern cheap-ish saddle is jacked up high on what I'm estimating to be a 49cm frame. The bike is locked with a cheap cable lock, almost as an afterthought.

Inexpensive chromed replacement fork with ill-fitting fender, sans brakes. Originally, the bike would've had a revived Ritchey biplane fork; bewildering to all but the devoted during the suspension boom of '93, but now highly sought.

Off-kilter rear rack and fender with a custom mounted rear light, courtesy of about half a roll of tape.

Neglected drivetrain features an era-inconsistent XT derailleur, a 7-speed freewheel, and a yellowed pie plate.

While the case is strong that Bridgestone made good bikes, in a time of explosive technological bike development, the company seemingly became too esoteric for its own good. Exhibit A in this argument are the company's entertaining, yet increasingly ethereal catalogs. That's not to say that many of the concepts embodied by Bridgestone weren't correct, as many of its best ideas have found renewed, strong affirmation since the company's demise. However, as a too-small-to-be-large-but-too-large-to-be-small, and perhaps too fundamentally serious bike company, it couldn't control the growing industrial beast that its innovation initially helped to create. In the end, Bridgestone's undoing was its dependence on the stolid rationality of its artisanal analog instruments, in the midst of an increasingly disposable digital world. Though the model didn't work at the desired scale, its proponents, most obviously Grant Peterson, have established residence in more viable climes.

It is within this context that I was oddly struck with the application put to this particular MB-1. I'm not exactly sure why I perceived the encounter as being so strange, as within my own general philosophy, a bike serving a useful transportation purpose is the best kind of bike. The cumulative nonchalance of the construction of this brute indicates a utilitarian survivor in the most positive sense; the polar opposite of a garage queen. Yet, my gut reaction reveals something about my psyche. To see a revered upper-echelon Bridgestone frame so mundanely and apathetically outfitted is unsettling, regardless of its usefulness. Something to ponder.

Congrats if you've made it this far, bike nerd. Continuing gratitude to Shawn (who also happens to be a newly minted Bridgestone owner) for putting the term "other people's bikes" out there, aptly describing the bike gawking activity in which I have been participating for decades.

For the record, only trace amounts of snow from yesterday's storm remained in the basket of this Denver B-cycle during my evening commute.

Spring break

Little sister is happy about her first real ride on the Big Dummy.

As per usual, we didn't end up going anywhere for spring break this year. We had some tentative plans for a quick trip, but the girls of the household each ended up getting sick, so we decided to take it easy and stick close to home. The week started out similarly to many past spring breaks of my experience: with a snow storm. Though the storm was heavy at times, the snow it left was typical wet spring snow, and melted quickly. This has made for copious mud, which kept us off dirt trails for the most part.

This snow fort had a well-constructed foundation, but was no match for the onslaught of the sun. 

For a time, it was chilly enough to warrant the boots, but the snow didn't stick around long.

We stopped in to see some people at Denver Bike Sharing, and she sampled some of the newest members of the Denver B-cycle fleet. Those with a tri-geared fetish may be happy to know that all B-cycle bikes are 3-speeds.

At the History Colorado Center museum, she took me for a drive in a Model T Ford. It was the best type of car: non-emitting, simulated, immobile, and with spoked wheels.

Experiencing what it might be like to be a clothing-challenged super fan, also at the museum.

We did a little hiking at Daniels Park to enjoy the view.

Today, the weather couldn't have been more perfect. After a nice meal, we all saddled up and took a ride through the neighborhood and local park. It was lil' sis's first real ride on the back of the Big Dummy, and she seemed to enjoy the experience quite a bit. She spent much of the time giggling and babbling, while intermittently drinking from her new water bottle and pointing to scenery along the way. I have a few modifications in mind to revamp my homebuilt Xtracycle-based kid seat, which are of high priority in order to meet the needs of upcoming rides. I'm starting to piece together an overnight bike camping trip to include all of us; kids, dog, and parents.

Getting the hang of drinking on the move.

Oma was along for the ride.

Back seat passengers on my Surly Big Dummy.

Scout, my faithful riding buddy.

By midway through the ride, she had mastered the use of the bottle cage.

We took a riding break for some waterfowl spectating and walking practice. 

Proud of her newly installed BaileyWorks handlebar bag. It's pink, of course.