Father's Day Haulings

I spent my father's day running errands with the kids. We went to the pool and then the grocery store. The XtraTrucker handled the load with ease. The only sketchy moment was when my youngest decided it was fun to throw her weight from side to side to make the bike wobble.

When I got home I used the bike to return a neighbor's tiller with plenty of room left over.

Happy Father's Day to me!

Holidaze 2010: Merry Christmas Mutha Fuggas

Happy Happy Joy Joy!

Holidaze 2010: Holiday Zombie Tips

I know the zombie thing is a little played but this video has hot women in it, and I'll listen to just about anything hot women have to say.

Enjoy!

Holiday Music

Washington, DC Got Tweeded But Good

The first semi-annual Washington, DC Tweed Ride was a great success! Eric and the crew from Dandies and Quaintrelles really pulled it off. Thanks to you and all your volunteers, and kudos on the great piece in The Post this morning! Over 200 people pre-registered, so I imagine there were a lot more who showed up. It certainly seemed that way.

The weather was perfect and the enthusiasm and motivation were palpable. Everyone was amazed at how great the event was and how much they were enjoying themselves. The event started with some wrangling to get signed up and have photos taken but before we knew it the ride was on.

The nice part of the route is that it started in a relatively passive neighborhood on the Hill. This meant that those who were timid about riding on the DC streets started off easy before they hit the downtown traffic. Well played indeed.

There was hound's tooth and wool as far as the eye could see, or for several blocks at least.

A brief rally at the Obama's house before pressing onward.

One of the finer moments of the ride came when the main group reached Dupont Circle. As everyone entered the circle all automotive traffic came to a halt, and for two delightful orbits the epicenter of DC traffic congestion belonged to the velopeds. Also, seeing a penny farthing in the circle was quite satisfying.

Eventually we arrived at Marvin where the gin was flowing, the pipes were smoking, and the bike racks were provided by WABA...

...some needing less tweed than others. (I hope that tweed was lined, for her nipple's sake.)

It's interesting that when compared to a more serious cycling movement like a critical mass ride, a tweed ride seems to gather a great deal more people. Looking at yesterdays event I think the tweed ride might be more effective at creating positive awareness of cycling as transportation without the negative press and connotations that the critical mass gets. Thoughts?

It was the perfect way to spend a 70-degree Sunday in November. And since this was advertised as a semi-annual event the big question is when is the next one?

There are a ton of you who have great photos of the event. Please post a link to the photos in the comments section so we can all enjoy them.

Daniel sent me his flicker set this morning.

Here is a link to the pile of photos on Flickr

A video of the ride is here.

Also, I found a pump along the route, hit me up if you lost yours on the ride.

Have a smashingly good Monday ole' chaps!

Washington DC Tweed Ride Route

The DC tweed ride route has been announced over at Dandies and Quaintrelles

View Larger Map

Looks like a jolly good tour!
Don't forget to register.

I Feel The Need, The Need For Tweed!

Huzzah!

A Washington, DC tweed ride emerges! You may remember my post from late September, whining that other cities were having all the fun and DC was in desperate need of tweed. It looks like my whining has payed off. Now I don't think that the ride is a direct result of my post but I'll just pretend it may have helped things along.

Here is the info from Dandies and Quaintrelles

Washington D.C.'s first ever tweed ride is set to begin on November 15, 2009. Our reason is pleasure and style. Our cause is Arts for the Aging, Inc. (AFTA).

Some of you have been waiting for a tweed ride in D.C. Others are confused and uncertain of it's point. We'll let points be made by politicians. Style is our concern. Amusement is our desire. We saw great style and imagined considerable amusement in the images of tweed rides in other major cities. Use your google skills and see what fun has been had in London, Chicago, San Fransisco and Boston.

We'll begin our ride at 11:00 am on 8th and H Street N.E. behind the great bank. There's an appropriately appointed photo studio that has been preparing to capture respectable images of our fashionable participants.

We'll end our ride on 14th and U where Marvin will provide us with nourishment, libations and fine soul. Non riders are welcome to join us in the festivities. If you need any more details on why you should spend a fall Sunday with us in your finest tweeds, you're making too much of a fuss of things.

Leave the fussiness to us and avoid it by appearing on vintage bikes, vintage inspired bikes, fixed geared machines and dapper attire. Leave the fleece, lycra and rugged outer shells at home. This ride is for the dandy!

Don't have a bike, Don't worry! Join us for the afterparty at Marvin. There will be raffles, giveaways, specialty drinks offered by our sponsor Plymouth Gin, and wall to wall dandies dancing to the finest britpop and soul this side of the Atlantic!

Return to this invite frequently for more surprising details.

View the lovely photos below for our inspiration!

So there you are chaps. Save the date and some festive spirit.

Cheers

Vacation Lessons: Breaking And Entering

I have returned from a much needed beach vacation. There were many lessons to be learned from this, the first real vacation with my daughter. How to pack a weeks worth of baby paraphernalia into a 2 door hatchback. How to remove a hook from an angry stingray without getting the Steve Irwin treatment (RIP). The most important lesson I learned on this trip was to use caution when packing up a Yakima Skybox 16. For some reason after packing it up for the drive home, the locks on both sides of the box broke and I couldn't get the thing open. I called REI where I purchased it and pleaded my case. At first they wanted me to bring it into the store so they could check it out. I told the manager this was no good because I had baby gear in the box that I need right away. His solution was to go ahead and get into the box by any means necessary and bring in what was left of the box for an exchange. This was intriguing. I get to break the box open? Tee Hee!

With visions of circular saws, guns, crow bars, and small explosive devices dancing through my head, I hurried to the basement to choose my weapons. This is what I came up with.

After a few attempts with the mini crow-bar I realized the folks at Yakima wouldn't have designed this to be easily thwarted by a crow-bar. Next up was the Dremel Tool with cutting wheel.

The Yakima Skybox proved no match for the 14 year old Dremel. A few quick cuts around the top hinge rivets was all it took.

Now it's off to REI to get another one.

While at the beach we rented bike for the week so there was a lot of beach biking going on.

Single F*cking Speed.

Yesterday, on my first commute ride in over a week I was confronted with something wonderful, a 5 bike stack up waiting for the light to cross Connecticut.

Oh traffic light, let my people go...

The last and second most important lesson I learned while at the beach was that New Belgium's Skinny Dip summer brew is ding darn delicious!

Vacation's over, time to ride twice a day again. Freakin' Sweet...

UPDATE:

----------------------------------------------

After taking the Skybox to REI they hooked me up with a brand new Skybox 18. That's right 2 more cubic feet of storage space.

Thanks REI of Rockville.

Best Father's Day Ever

A great breakfast,

a bike ride to the Takoma Park farmer's market,

a bike ride to the park for a picnic,

a bike ride to a good friend's house,

and a bike ride home,

all without a drop of rain.

My first father's day was amazing thanks to my girls
and my trucker.

Grey Skies Are Gonna Clear Up! Oh Wait, No They're Not...

The commute in this morning was rough for several reasons; the first of witch is that it finally rained last night after a week of daily threats making Sligo Creek Parkway a tangle of road closures and downed trees. Don't get me wrong, it was fun, only because the rain is now warm enough that shorts and a jersey are all the outer protection I need. Also because I wasn't in a car! (tee hee)

The second reason is that over the three day weekend my friends and I emptied these growlers (lovingly filled by the good folks at Rock Bottom Brewery in Bethesda) twice. 

Onto other oddities of the long weekend. While out for a ride at Rosaryville I came across this scene.  A toaster and percolator from the 50's left trailside for anyone with a long enough extension cord.

This oddity truly took me (and my wallet) by surprise. The CycleLife Cafe under the bridge in GTown is something to behold. I have heard of high end bike boutiques popping up in NYC but had never experienced one for myself. Equipped with a coffee bar, an Apple Store like environment, ultra high end product line, and a ridiculous mark-up, the CycleLife Cafe will surely get the Georgetown polo circuit in a tizzy.  Not being their target demographic, I will merely windowshop as I can't even afford a Clif Bar there. ($2.63 WTF!)

Next up is the building that won the Cycle Jerk award last week for being the building that most looked like Miami threw up in downtown Bethesda, has received yet another badge of honor, this time from the city itself. Keep up the good work assholes!

And finally, it looks like the purple line project has been scrapped for the ever popular Runoff Line or the "Brown Line". This will make it possible for runoff to easily flow between Bethesda and Silver Spring eliminating back ups and log jams in local creeks and waterways, at the same time giving the area youth something to spray paint on.


May 26th, the Tuesday that's pulling double duty as a Monday as well.

Bike To Work Day: Blowing My Cover

Not only was the Curse of BTWD broken (technically), but it went off swimmingly as usual. The turn out seemed to be only slightly better than last year's, possibly because the forecasters were calling for a week of non-stop hurricanes. 

I have to give a shout out to Brian from Craigslist for his generosity. After putting out a plea to borrow a child trailer (in the non-erotic bike section), he replied and offered his with no strings, not ID request, and no collateral required. He even dropped the trailer off at my house! So hat's off to you sir, karma has a piece of cake with your name on it.

With trailer and sweet little girl in tow, I went about my usual route to Bethesda. It was my daughter's first bike ride and she loved it. When arriving at the Bethesda pit stop I stowed the bike and grabbed the girl and headed for the registration tent to see if there was still time to win some shwag. I had another reason to check in. Earlier in the week I got an e-mail from Rachel from Bethesda Transportation Solutions who told me I had been chosen for the 2009 Bike Spirit Award. WOOT!

Luckily, my daughter and I always carry
our black rectangles with us... 

And now I would like to give props in the form of the Annual BTWD CJ Awards. It was tough this year but I do believe the cream has risen to the top. 

Most Peugeotiest Bicycle

Comfiest Accessory

Coolest Throwback Bike
Makes me want to get all tweeded out.

Coolest Bell

Best Hair to Bike Color Coordination
as well as
Bike with the Most Tourqe Couplings
Congrats Tamzin!

Building That Looks Most Like Miami
Threw Up In Downtown Bethesda

Best Actually Old Bike

Furriest Accessory

And finally the Best My Bike Award
Thanks again for the trailer Brian!

So there you have it, no rain and an award enabling me to be even more obnoxious towards my friends and coworkers. I would say that qualifies as another good BTWD.

Monday Out!