Encounter during an evening grocery run

Lost in contemplation of the snacky goodness we just purchased.

This evening we made a quick trip to the grocery store for a few items, which is not so consequential in itself. What was unusual about the trip was something that we experienced on the way home.

We were at a traffic light on a small street waiting to cross a large street. There was a large SUV in the left turn lane on the large street, positioned to turn onto the small street toward the side opposite of where we were. Then I noticed that although the driver had a green light and that the road was clear for the SUV to turn, it didn't, but rather stayed immobile in the turn lane.

After several seconds, the passenger side window rolled down and a woman yelled something at me. My years of riding in traffic has conditioned me to the occasional, often unintelligible message yelled in my general direction from a motor vehicle, which I mostly ignore or dismiss.

Tonight was a bit different. Following a couple of repetitions, I realized that the message was in the form of a question: "Who made your bike?"

I shouted back, "Surly. Surly Big Dummy." The passenger repeated "Surly" to the driver and yelled "Thanks" to me. With the exchange complete, off motored the SUV.

Perhaps the occupants went home to order their very own Big Dummy. Perhaps they left with more nefarious motives. Who knows. Only later did I realize the unfortunate positioning of the model name of the bike in my response, which may have been received as a personal epithet following the name of the manufacturer. If you were in a gold Suburban and think a guy on an oddly long bike called you a "Big Dummy," I assure you that's not the case.

This encounter was a bit puzzling for me, although in retrospect it probably shouldn't have been. Quite different from my personality preferences, the Big Dummy wants to get noticed. During the nearly three years that I've been riding this big distinctive bike around suburban Denver, I can recall only a handful of trips during which no one has eagerly asked me about it. Even just a few minutes earlier when leaving the grocery store, I had talked with a bicyclist who wanted to check out the Dummy and the load it was carrying. It stands to reason that some people who happen to be in cars may be just as curious.

This bike induces a stream of questions from nearly anyone within sight of it, and has forced me to become a bit more of an extravert by way of explanation. In fact, the people who have asked and received information from me about the Big Dummy, sometimes in depth and at length, easily number in the hundreds over the past few years.

I don't know what effect these sort of encounters have had on Big Dummy sales. However, in my mind's eye, the people in the Suburban are presently making plans to upgrade from a large capacity GM machine to a large capacity Surly machine. To them I say you've made a great decision and I look forward to meeting you on the trail to hear of the fun you will have had.

If anyone from Surly ever reads this, you're welcome. My commission can be set straight by hooking a Daddy up with an "I'm with Big Dummy" t-shirt, size large. Maybe one in size extra small too, for good measure.

We love you, you Big Dummy.

Windy Saturday

Yesterday started out as a gusty, yet warm ride to the post office. We meandered along a familiar route through a neighborhood where houses within the non-grid oriented streets serve as windbreaks. Eventually, our course took us to East-West streets on which we faced the brunt of the wind.

Battling the wind head-on.

Riding in full on wind can be challenging. Even going downhill, the wind can negate gravitational advantage and necessitate strong pedaling just to get down. After about a mile and a half of pushing against the wind, our girl opted for the SAG wagon. I had anticipated this, and had installed my hacked rack mount on the Big Dummy.

Posing by the Big Dummy with her Electra aboard.

Enjoying a celebratory lollipop on the ride home.

After successfully reaching the post office, we decided to capitalize on the wind with a kite flying session in the park. The wind was almost too strong for the kite, which zoomed up high then down low, tempting catastrophic encounters with the ground. On frequent occasion, impacts were unavoidable, but the kite seemed to take the crashes in stride.

Daring one-handed maneuver.

She found a cozy place to conduct her flying.

The ladybug kite and flight crew.

After a time, we sought the wind-free shelter of home, but not until we had put a fair amount of flight time on the ladybug kite. It has held up well and looks to have a bright future on many more windy days.

Saturday errands

Snow capped peaks in the distance on a beautiful Colorado day.

It's always a treat to have a few errands to do by bike on a warm, sunny day. It's even better when the whole family is along for the ride, and time is no issue. Today was one of those days. We started off with some books to return to the library and took the opportunity to ramble past the museum farm along the way. Next, we took a familiar route to the center of town, taking in a spectacular view of the Front Range at the top of the hill overlooking the local business district.

Longtail family: Xtracycle and Big Dummy with Electra Hawaii stowed aboard.

We participated in a little bicycle enabled commercial activity, in particular to buy some tikka masala spices for some terrific Indian food Julie has slated to make for tomorrow. Our long tail bikes always seem to draw attention whenever we are out, but today the frequency of stares, questions and exclamations of interest by passers by seemed of even greater quantity than usual. Much of the time that the girls were inside shopping I spent talking with people who happened to walk past as I was locking up the bikes.

Apparently I emit a genial vibe, as people don't seem to be shy about approaching me when I'm around the bikes, and I always take the time to answer any questions. Even those people who appear unlikely to ride bikes seem genuinely interested, if only in that "Hey Honey, guess what weird thing I saw today?" kind of way. In any case, I feel as though I'm serving as a social intermediary, modeling good behavior while promoting bicycle diplomacy.

Bike riding is fairly good here, even on the street. We're fortunate enough to live in what was an actual small town long before it was absorbed as a suburb. This pic is for Jennie in chilly Minnesota.

While riding on the street several people in cars passing by eyeballed us, I'll assume in wonderment of seeing a small pink bike and pink clad girl riding on the back of an odd, elongated bike. This sort of attention is not an unfamiliar phenomenon for me, and likely not unfamiliar to anyone who rides a cargo bike. Even when riding on trails, only the most intensely focused weekend warriors lack exhibiting a puzzled look followed by a grin as we pass.

It was great to see the quantity of activity on the Platte River Trail, with no shortage of bicyclists, runners and walkers taking advantage of the day. However, the best viewing was of the wildlife on the river. She spotted a goldeneye duck, and there were also several widgeons and mallards feeding and bobbing around in the current. Flocks of geese flew overhead and alighted in fields nearby. Even though I didn't manage to get any wildlife photos today, upon reflection it's easy to forget how great the wild scenery can be even in a major metropolitan area.

Bikes patiently waiting while their riders fuel up.

At the apex of our ride, we stopped for an early dinner. For years Julie and I have lamented the apparent lack of a reasonably good, non mega-chain burger joint in our vicinity. It's not that we often eat burgers, but it's nice to have the possibility. While this is not a food focused blog and I'm certainly no connoisseur, Freddy's seems to fit the bill. Their burgers and fries are about the right size, aren't too greasy, and as a bonus they have great frozen custard. It also doesn't hurt that they are located just off the Platte River Trail.

Our little big girl almost finished a whole burger by herself. The photo on the wall is of Freddy as a kid with his bike, from sometime in the 1930s.

Even as the possibility of snowstorms always loom well into March and April, days like today are a little reminder that Spring is just around the corner. I can't wait.

Sub zero

Warmed up to about -2F, from an earlier -12F.

Today was a little chilly around here. So chilly in fact that school was canceled even though we only had a couple inches of snow on the ground. This situation is a bit odd for me because I don't remember school ever being canceled for low temperatures as a kid. In fact, I vividly recall walking to and from school, as well as being outside at recess, in extremely cold and windy Wyoming weather.

Now, I know how this sounds. Implying that kids in the present day are somehow softer than kids in my day makes me sound like a stereotypical old guy. Perhaps not coincidentally, a concerned member of my household reminded me of my old guy status when I decided to make a trip to the post office this afternoon on the Big Dummy. Something along the lines of, "it's cold outside and you're not young anymore." Call it what you will, whether steely resolve or stubbornness, at that moment I was compelled to make the 2 1/2 mile round trip.

The post office journey passed without incident and I returned home no more worse for wear than having red cheeks and cold fingers. While it's true that I may not be young any more, I don't exactly feel old quite yet. What's more is that I'm happy for kids not to have to weather this kind of cold if it can be avoided.

At the post office. The Big Dummy rode perfectly, although its cyclocomputer refused to work properly.

A little art and science from the saddle

Just like a cowboy riding into the sunset

Art presents itself in everyday life all the time; often it is just a matter of looking for it. However, some days art unmistakably engulfs you. Today was such a day as we ventured to pick up the last of our CSA fruit. While on this errand, our girl and I took a detour to make the most of the light of this seasonally shortened day. We have ridden this particular route many times in varying weather, but there is always something new to see. As a reward for taking the long road home, the few minutes preceding the sunset intensified the visual distinction of the features of trees and plants, and the colors of every pebble and fallen leaf were much more rich and vibrant.

Mastering the windswept look

Science is the inseparable companion of art, but instead of discussing how polarized light might have contributed to the phenomena of the sunset we experienced, I'm thinking of a more applied subject. During the ride, I took the opportunity to further test the route tracking ability of my Garmin FR210 GPS watch.

The well-calibrated Cateye cyclecomputer on the Big Dummy and the FR210 registered nearly the exact same distance, with the Cateye logging 4.50 miles to the FR210's 4.49 miles, a difference of about 0.2%. Quite excellent agreement, considering the difference in measurement techniques between a rolling mechanical wheel and consumer-type GPS, rated to be accurate to within about 10 meters. The instant speed feature of the FR210 also seemed to agree with the speed displayed on the Cateye, although there was apparently about a second or so of lag time with the GPS when pedaled speed changed. Not a big deal for me.

Garmin FR210 faithfully interpreting satellite signals to register a blazing 8.24mph

I also used the heart rate monitor to gather data, although I'm not yet sure what to do with HRM data that are not generated as a result of a workout. Any physical activity, not just that which is structured can be beneficial, so it will be interesting to see in which zone this flavor of transportation-related physical activity falls. However, as this blog is ostensibly about the art and science of Daddying from the saddle of a Big Dummy, and not so much about data dissection, I digress. Without further ado, I present the following image evocative of the former.

Glowing in the fading light of day

CSA apples and cherry wine

Excited about a seed she picked out of an apple core

After school on Wednesdays for the last few months, my daughter and I swing past a pickup spot for our CSA fruit share. The share has mostly been apples of different varieties for the past several weeks. Outcomes of having all these apples around include apples for snacks, lunches, and a lot of apple pie and apple crisp, all of which I enjoy. However, this week we got some cherry wine in addition to the apples. I'm eager to drink the wine, but I'm not sure what foods go with cherry wine. Apple strudel perhaps?

Halloween ride

Sugar-fueled greeting from the back seat

We had some errands to do, so we decided to squeeze in a slightly extended bike ride while we were at it. We picked up a few things from the grocery store, including pumpkin pie making materials, then ventured through the bucolic suburban landscape.

For those with sharp eyes, yes, that's my Wrangler western bike riding shirt

The objective was our own local miniature run of singletrack. The trail is only a few hundred feet long, but satisfyingly bumpy, swoopy and crunchy, with a carpet of fallen leaves.

Raring to go around another time

Since we first started riding the Big Dummy nearly two years ago, she has asked to go on the singletrack whenever we're within several blocks of the park. I usually try to oblige if time allows. Today, the trail was one of the main purposes of our ride, and we took the time to make several circuits. It's great to have such a nice day on Halloween. I know the years with bad weather tend to stand out in memory, but it really does seem that there have been far more snowy and cold than pleasant Halloweens around here.

Yahoo! Blue tongue courtesy of a blueberry lollipop

Action shot following a short downhill

Gettin' some eats

We took our longtail bikes out for a Friday evening trip to the grocery store for dinner and some Labor Day weekend supplies. This was Julie's first cargo hauling trip and she did a great job.

A bike pixie vamping in front of two cargo bikes all loaded up and ready to roll

The cooler is for the cold stuff, of course

On the way home we went past Doctor Who's house where the TARDIS was hidden in plain sight

Yes indeed...