Nice Handlebar Bag...But Can You Carry a Tune?

I find that Non-Randonneurs tend to appreciate my front handlebar bag. Not accustomed to front bags, other cyclists seem instantly drawn to its combination of utility and style. At least that's how I prefer to interpret their comments. On yesterday's ride, I heard more of the same.

I was invited on a ride around the South end loop of Lake Washington by my friend Vésteinn (he did his first 200k with me last December) and his pals from Seattle Pro Musica. If you aren't familiar, Seattle Pro Musica is a world-renowned choir. I mean they are excellent vocal musicians. There are 70 in the choir, and four of the 70 Seattlle Pro Musicites rode yesterday. Our fifth was a friend of theirs, and I made it six.

What was different for me about yesterday's ride was that we took our time, stopped frequently, and basked in the warm sunshine. No time deadlines. In fact I was getting so relaxed I was reminded of that game from the Church Summer Camp of my youth: the Lion Hunt. The idea of the Lion Hunt is that you tell the tale of your journey by making pantomiming movements to depict all the highlights of the adventure. I always liked swishing your hands and  forearms together in front you to replicate swishing through the tall grass. Remember?

If you don't know what the heck I'm talking about, here's a version I found online:

I’m goin’ on a lion hunt (march in place)
But I’m not afraid.
Got me shotgun (pretend to hold a rifle)
Lookin’ for a lion (make gestures looking around)
But I don’t see no lion (hold hands up and shake head)
Come to a river
Swim the river (make swimming gestures)
Lookin’ for a lion (make gestures looking around)
But I don’t see no lion (hold hands up and shake head)
I’m goin’ on a lion hunt (march in place)
But I’m not afraid.
Got me shotgun (pretend to hold a rifle)
Lookin’ for a lion (make gestures looking around)
But I don’t see no lion (hold hands up and shake head)
Come to a tree
Climb the tree (make gestures climbing up and down)
Lookin’ for a lion (make gestures looking around)
But I don’t see no lion (hold hands up and shake head)
I’m goin’ on a lion hunt (march in place)
But I’m not afraid.
Got me shotgun (pretend to hold a rifle)
Lookin’ for a lion (make gestures looking around)
But I don’t see no lion (hold hands up and shake head)
Come to a swamp
Through the swamp (make gestures walking on tippy toes)
Lookin’ for a lion (make gestures looking around)
But I don’t see no lion (hold hands up and shake head)
I’m goin’ on a lion hunt (march in place)
But I’m not afraid.
Got me shotgun (pretend to hold a rifle)
Lookin’ for a lion (make gestures looking around)
But I don’t see no lion (hold hands up and shake head)
Come to a cave
Through the cave (crouch down and walk in place)
Lookin’ for a lion (make gestures looking around)
There’s the lion! (point into the group)
Aim that shotgun! (pretend to aim a rifle)
Fire that shotgun! (pretend to fire a rifle)
BOOM!!!!!!
I missed him, I missed him!!
Back through the cave (crouch down and walk in place)
Back through the swamp (make gestures walking on tippy toes)
Back down the tree (make gestures climbing up and down)
Back through the river (make swimming gestures)
I’m goin’ on a lion hunt (march in place)
But I’m not afraid.
And ya wanna know why?
‘Cause we’ve been a-lying the whole time!!

So, ready for a South Loop of Lake Washington Ride Report...Lion-Huntin' Style?

Goin' on a Loop Ride (arms form big loop)

We are not afraid (pushing chests out with bravado)

We got us our water bottles (glugging from a bottle)

And we got us our bars (pretend to eat a bar)

We stop for photo ops (some pose/preen, others snap photos)

While half of us are lost (as if your searching)

One grabs a cell phone (dialing motion)

And the another answers quick (answering in haste)

Reunited at the tower (looking way up)

We greet each other (happily embracing)

One stops for lunch (eating motions)

The rest charge forward (half starting yet really wanting to linger and lounge and eat)

And so we pedal on (pedaling motions)

Till the spooky swamp (looks of dread)

We bumpy bump on baordwalk (as if cycling over very bumpy ridges)

Hoping trolls are fast asleep (like a fast asleep troll)

Cross over high bridge (looking way down)

While boats sail below (be a sailor)

Over to the Island (be an island!)

Need another break (looking tired)

Crash an outdoor wedding (look exceedingly happy)

Groom sweeps up the bride (sweep her up!)

Lays a big kiss on her (big fat betrothal kiss)

All start to cry (dab a tear)

Come upon a playground (play and laugh)

Kids swing back and forth (swing!)

Scraming at their parents (scream!)

Higher! Higher! (gesture for higher)

Gliding onto floating bridge (be a floating bridge)

Flying fast and free (coasting fast)

Cars go zipping right by (cars whip by)

Clouds just float along (clouds barely float along)

Looking back where we've been (wistful gazing)

Ride is nearly through (sigh)

Saddle up and go home (climb aboard)

Some of this was true (shrug)

And for the record, I carry alot of stuff when I ride cause you never know what adventure will come our way, but I cannot carry a tune. I'll leave the singing to Seattle Pro Musica folks, but maybe I can pantomime to the lyrics at their upcoming performance May 14 and 15 at St. James Cathedral?!

Keep it in tune,

CurioRando

Get the Skyhook for a Spatially Aligned Randonneur Front Rack

Tony Pereira designed and built this adjustable Front Rack Jig so he could place the rack in spatial relationship to my bike prior to building/affixing the stays for my front rack. He said the time it took to build the jig was saved just in building my rack.

See the pear logo?

The Jig fits onto quill or threadless steerers.

Curvy chainstay.

Back in my marble mason/bricklaying days, we used to joke about getting the skyhook to come lift up something we were stuggling with. Tony built his own skyhook! I just looked it up, and I'll be doggone if Wiki doesn't have a definition.

For comments from other builders on Tony's jig and other work, go to Tony's Flickr site.

For more posts about this buildup, choose the "custom bicycle" topic in the right sidebar.


Keep it spatially aligned,

CurioRando

Choo Choo Ch'Boogie!

Ever get your bicycle wheel caught in the groove next to railroad tracks?

I have, and I know lots of experienced cyclists who have also even though we know better.

On a recent 300k, I saw a rider Karl who was always ahead of me by a kilometer or so for much of the day. Occassionally, I'd see him up ahead on a flatter, straighter section of road. At one point I saw him riding way ahead in the distance. Then I saw what looked like something in the middle of the road. A cow? No. It was Karl, broadside to the road.

As I got to him he was dusting himself off, inspecting his ripped clothing and taking an inventory of the condition his condition was in. He seemed OK excepting the ripped jacket and general banging up one gets from getting one's wheel stuck in the gap between the rail track and the pavement.

He said he just kept going too fast. The track also intersected the road at an oblique angle, and it required an especially cautious approach.

My fall came on a morning commute to work a few years ago. How many times had I crossed those very tracks? Countless.

One side benefit of wider tires is that they don't get caught as easily. That's a benefit I'll have with my new ride with its 650B tires.

In thinking about this post I got this old song stuck in my head: Choo Choo Ch'Boogie. Heard of it?

Written by Darling, Horton and Gabler according to Wikipedia, I first heard it at State College, Pa during my college days. It was performed by our local bar band, Tahoka Freeway. I loved the song, but never fully got the lyrics. 

The song was first performed by Louis Jordan in 1946, and it tells the tale of the returning GI's from WWII. They returned home (once they hit the coast) by train. The song recounts their high expectations for employment opportunities only to find the opportunities not so much. It tells this tale through the refrain of the clickity clacking train.

My Dad came home from the war the same way. My Mum tells the story of how she was in a cab on her way to pick up her returning GI-husband who she hadn't seen at all for the two years he'd spent in Europe. The cabbie figured out that she had asked to go to the wrong train station (imagine more than one train station in any town today!), and he told her she had it wrong! He then took her to the right one where she indeed met my Dad. 

Today, they'd have texted one another that evening and of course would have emailed all along any way. Far cry from the occassional letter over several years!

Since my Dad had worked for Westinghouse before the war and such companies were required to take back the soldiers, he returned to his old job.

Before I veer off further from the subject of getting thrown by the tracks, here is a link to Louis Jordan's version. I prefer the Tahoka Freeway version, a little wilder and with slide steel guitar and beer. Here are the lyrics of Choo Choo Ch'Boogie:

Choo Choo Ch'Boogie

Headin' for the station with a pack on my back

I'm tired of transportation in the back of my hack

I love to hear the rhythm of the clickety clack

And hear the lonesome whistle see the smoke from the stack to pal around

With democratic fellow named mac

So take me right back to the track, jack

Choo-choo, choo-choo, ch'boogie, woo-woo

Woo-woo, ch'boogie, choo-choo, choo-choo, ch'boogie

Take me right back to the track, jack

You reach your destination but you don't go back

You need some compensation to get back in the black

You take a morning paper from the top of the stack

And read the situations from the front to the back

But the only job that's open needs a man with a knack

So put it right back in the rack, jack

Choo-choo, choo-choo, ch'boogie, woo-woo

Woo-woo, ch'boogie, choo-choo, choo-choo, ch'boogie

Take me right back to the track, jack

Gonna settle down by the railroad track

Live the life o'riley in the beat down shack

When i hear a whistle i can peep thru the crack

Watch the train rollin' when it's ballin' the jack

Love to hear the rhythm of the clickety clack

So take me right back to the track, jack

Choo-choo, choo-choo, ch'boogie, woo-woo

Woo-woo, ch'boogie, choo-choo, choo-choo, ch'boogie

Take me right back to the track, jack

Take me right back to the track, jack

Keep it right back to the track,

CurioRando

Custom Frame Build, More Photos

Extension being ground clean, I think.

Unfinished fillets.

All photos courtesy of builder, Tony Pereira of Pereira Cycles. His Flickr site is here.

For earlier build-up photos and my reaction, see Frame takes form...beautiful, curvaceous form.

For an earlier visit to Tony's shop for a fit and such, see My randonneuring Bicycle, Part 4, Let the Build Begin!

For more posts about this buildup, choose the "custom bicycle" topic in the right sidebar.


Keep it recorded,

CurioRando

Frame takes form...beautiful, curvaceous form!

What is it about a certain bend or curve?

Of a bicycle lug or along the flanks of your lover? Why do we sigh at the gracefulness of a glance, a purse of the lips, the sway of those hips?

To be sure, I didn't need lugs. One could argue that yes, theoretically a tube could be replaced on a lugged bicycle, but that's just not the answer. Choosing lugs was a flourish that cries out: we need beauty--of curves, of a cut-out piece of elegant fruit, of a glint of chrome--in our lives. For while bicycles are near the epitome of practicality in their workhorse, straight-line propulsion, they are also a canvas on which to display our dreams.

It's also true that grace is an indulgence. I am blessed to be able to indulge my curvaceous desires, and I know it. My rationale is I haven't bought a new bicycle for 35 years, so my pent up demand is honestly come by.

And what of the builder, Tony Pereira? Poor Tony is stuck with matching my desire for curves while satisfying my demand for randonneuring practicality. I have fairly badgered him about this dimension or that application.

And Tony is doing it. Even while fussing with 650B tire clearance, he is bringing to reality those curves, those sways.

This is why I went for a custom bicycle. Tony is brazing together proper fit (he is very knowledgable in this, I've never had it, and I'm a bit of an unusual build), randonneuring specs, and artistic sensibilities. And Tony is also a cyclist's builder. He rides hard and clearly loves the act of cycling even as he's got a tinkerer's mind.

Simply put, Tony's job is the alchemy of transforming my persnicketyness into function formed from often conflicting notions.

I took my first lesson on bicycle maintenance this week (all to be told in a future post), and each in our class is working on clunky, mass-produced, plastic-rimmed, tassled children's bikes. And yes these fat-tired, funky-saddled, little bicycles are beautiful too! Every bicycle is a beauty for all that it represents and does.

But hand craftmanship is too rare today. Thanks, Tony.

For more photos of the actual lugged frame, see Custom Frame Build, More Photos.

For my visit to Tony's shop for fitting and such, see My Randonneuring Bicycle, Part 4, Let the Build Begin!.

For Tony's Flickr site, go here.

For more posts about this buildup, choose the "custom bicycle" topic in the right sidebar.

Keep it curvaceous,

CurioRando

I love this...but don't quite get it

I found this framed print outside the bathroom at the Potbelly Sandwich Works restaurant during a recent visit to our nation's capital. I understand the stove symbolism (Potbelly), but what's with the dueling high wheeler dudes?

I've always liked high wheelers so that's good enough for me, but any guesses?

If you like them too, here are a few previous posts having something, anything to do with highwheelers:

The Prisoner and the High Wheeler

I Went to the Town Hall Meeting on Health Care and Found...a High Wheeler!

Jan Heine Interview, Part 1: Personal & Social History

Riding Around the World...on a High Wheeler

Colorado: Cycling culture and other fun

Bunnies on High Wheelers Video

Bunnies on High Wheelers

Celebrating the Bicycle is Fun, Fun, Fun! (You Tube Video)

Of course, you can always find posts focusing on a certain subject (perhaps very loosely focusing if you kind of squint and cock your head!) by searching the "Topics" section in the right margin, or by using the "Search" function at the very top left of the blog page.

Keep it high,

CurioRando

My Randonneuring Bicycle, Part 4: Let the Build Begin!

Tony Pereira sizes up the old Fuji to get a take on my bike fit.

DartreDame and I visited Portland a few weeks ago to visit with Tony and Dartre's sister and family. It was great to connect up with Tony. He is very knowledgeable; that comes through. He's a good listener, and his bikes are beauties.

He also discovered something about my old Fuji. What was it? That's another post. For now...the build begins. Hot Diggity Dog Diggity!!

Tony has moved to his new shop, and we got to peek at old builds, different paint schemes. Fun.

See also Part 1: The sum of her parts, and Part 2: More than the sum of her parts, and Part 3: First Tease. Also, Wanna Help Build the Randonneuring Bicycle of my Dreams? Also: Frame Takes Form...Beautiful, Curvaceous Form!

For more posts about this buildup, choose the "custom bicycle" topic in the right sidebar.

Keep it true,

CurioRando

I was going to ride the Granite Falls 300k Brevet this weekend, but...

I got a better offer!

I'm traveling to Portland to visit with the builder of my new bicycle, Tony Pereira. Dartre and I will also visit family there. Sounds like a great weekend!

He's ready to draft up a design. Hot Diggity Dog Diggity! Couple weeks to build up the frame, couple more for paint and such. Yippee! If I sound excited, keep in mind I haven't bought a new bicycle since 1975.

I'll post details on choices and such soon.

The pic above is a close-up of some of his previous work.


Keep it building,

CurioRando

Seeking Cherry Blossoms...I Found FDR!

My rented bicycle in front of the Washington Monument flanked by blossomless trees.

Sent by my union to a legislative and political conference during the waning days of a truly historic, Congressional health care debate, I had three hours to kill before my return flight. The temperature approached 70 degrees, so I sought out the cherry blossoms.

Heading to the rental shop that abuts the Old Post Office Tower, I passed this rack of at-the-ready bicycles designed presumably for residents, not toursists like me.

Lincoln Memorial behind my rented bicycle.

Seeking blossoms at Haines Point, I came across this monument to the "BRAVE MEN WHO PERISHED IN THE WRECK OF THE TITANIC APRIL 15, 1912. THEY GAVE THEIR LIVES THAT WOMEN AND CHILDREN MIGHT BE SAVED. ERECTED BY THE WOMEN OF AMERICA"

But as I came through West Potomac Park it became clear there were no blossoms anywhere, only promising buds.

So, I wound my way back around the Tidal Basin toward the Franklin Delano Roosevelt Memorial. The weather was sublime, and I was ready to head back to my hotel, grab my luggage and head home. I'd be taking with me the experience of lobbying Congressmembers. I found champions of health care reform and scaredy cats both. But I was there as the ideals of caring for one another were solidifying again in America. Striding past "Kill the Bill" placards, I could feel that once again we were standing up for others and not just for selves. The cherry blossoms weren't out yet--perhaps appropriately--as health care hadn't yet passed, but I was hopeful as I pedal into the FDR Memorial.

Below is what I found. At first underwhelmed, I soon wanted to spend all day there. The sculptered relief wall moved me deeply and instantly. Were my tears for what we did under FDR's leadership, or for what we were about to do today in my adulthood under President Obama's leadership?

I'm not satisfied with the health care bill; I want a single payer system. But I am thrilled to be present when our country once again reaches out to those in need. While not the bill I'd write, it is one I embrace.

Here's a montage of the FDR Memorial:

"MORE THAN AN END TO WARS, WE WANT AN END TO THE BEGINNINGS OF ALL WARS"

Eleanor, and friends.

"THE ONLY LIMIT TO OUR REALIZATION OF TOMORROW WILL BE OUR DOUBTS OF TODAY, LET US MOVE FORWARD WITH STRONG AND ACTIVE FAITH"

Fireside Chats.

Timely Today.

Bread line.

An homage to dams. Great public works, but unfortunately fish-killing projects.

But then I came across this set of sculpted relief panels that just blew me away. Below are some close-ups of what I only at the end realized was a monument within a memorial. This was a monument to the Works Progress Administration (later renamed Work Projects Administration), the largest of the New Deal agencies.

The WPA.

Thank you, FDR.

When A. Philip Randolph met FDR in the Oval Office and asked him to desegregate the Armed Forces, FDR said he agreed but wouldn't do it. When Randolph asked why not, FDR replied that Randolph had to force him to do it with 10,000 protesters outside the White House so that Congress and the President could witness the demand. And so Randolph did, and FDR desegrated the Armed Forces. It is indeed up to us.

I pedaled back to return my bicycle and fly home, past cherry trees about to burst forth in blossoms.

Keep it blossoming,

CurioRando