Friday Afternoon Grab Bag

Pretty cool stop-motion film.

Where does the money go?

Ride On.

R.I.P.

Rest in peace, J.D. Salinger.

Ride On.

Hot Swapping Action

Here's the poop:

Snakebite’s 2010 Sioux Falls Bike Swap Information

Greetings!

Here is the pertinent information regarding my second annual Bike Swap.

This Bike Swap is to buy and sell anything bike related. It could be bikes, bicycling apparel, bike parts, bike posters – anything bike related. Anyone can sell stuff at the swap. Tables are $25 until February 21st and then $35 from February 22nd up to and including the day of the event. If you want to sell some stuff but don’t have that much you are welcome to find others to team up with. You work it out amongst yourselves.

Your table registration gets you a 8 foot x 3 foot table, some chairs, and two admissions to the event. You may get as many tables as you’d like – sorry, no discounts for multiple tables.

If you have complete bikes to sell, they will be sold from the Bike Corral. The Bike Corral will be just that - a corral in which you’ll put the bike. YOU must keep an eye on it. The $10 fee for the Corral gets your bike in there and one admission. Each additional bike to sell will be an additional $5. NOTE: IF YOU HAVE A TABLE, YOU DO NOT HAVE TO SELL A COMPLETE BIKE IN THE CORRAL. YOU MAY SELL IT FROM YOUR TABLE.

If you have any questions, feel free to contact me at your convenience. My email address is fearlessdiamond69@gmail.com. I can shoot you a registration form.

Ride On.

Light, End Of The Tunnel, Not A Train

We FAST types are still moving forward. Last week we had another meeting with the Parks and Recreation department. We now have a target date.

It looks like there will be another neighborhood meeting in February. It is my understanding this will be to inform everyone of how concerns will be taken into account as we move forward.

The following month (March) the Parks and Rec DEPARTMENT will take this to the Parks and Rec BOARD. There is likely another such activity in April. From there it goes to City Council so they know what’s going on.

In early May this would get announced in the local paper. And THEN…

A mere twenty (20) days after that, we’d be allowed to dig! The target date, if everything prior falls into line, and it should, is May 27th, 2010. Whew! It was a long, hard road, but, completely worth it.

In this journey FAST has sent in papers to become FAST, Inc. Bylaws are underway. Non profit status will be sought. And, we’d like to have all this done by dig day. Once the digging has started we won’t want to be messing with paperwork.


Ride On.

Friday Afternoon Grab Bag

A “how to.”

Another “how to.”

Ride On.

Time To Build

For X-Moose I got some of these:


Which I plan to lace to these (Velocity P35 rims):


With some of these:


The end goal is to build one of these


As a single speed, fully rigid, mountain bike. The pictures? Scrounged them from the internets. Click them. They get bigger, I think


Ride On.

What Is The World Coming To???

I’d mentioned I’ve taken to riding fake bikes in the name of training. My boredom is saved by timing my “rides” with The Daily Show and The Colbert Report playing on the TV in front of me.

Back in 2007, September to be exact, I sold my vehicle. I vowed to go it without one. I rented cars when I needed to go far out town. I used mass transit occasionally as well.

The planets are now completely out of alignment. About one (1) month ago I leased a vehicle. For any of you who’ve been vehicle free for an extended time and then have gone back, you know how hard it is to sign your name on the dotted line. Crap.

For reasons that are my own I’ll say that it was fairly necessary for me to do so. And I’ll admit I’ve driven the thing when we’ve had our two shots of very crappy weather.

The hardest part to stomach, for me, is as the weather improved and will continue to, the thing will be sitting much, much more than it is going to be used. It will get used on the necessary things. And, since I plan to do some races and / or rides far away in 2010, I’ll use it to get to and fro.

I should note I’ve leased the vehicle and not purchased it. My need for a vehicle expires just before the lease is up. I’ll turn it in as the cosmic forces re-align the planets and once again, I can be righteous.


Ride On.

Cultural Revolution

Not so many years ago there was one (1) bike club around here. It was primarily roadie serving. Membership numbers went up and down. Leadership changed hands now and then. Eventually it had run its course and fizzled.

Another bike club started up a few years ago. I was privileged to be part of the start up process. It was fun and exciting to be part of the start up stuff and watch it flourish. It continues to go very strong. I’m a dues paying, card carrying, member. I lead one of the more social rides.

A little more than a year ago some rollers were sitting around during winter feeling bored. It happens these rollers were dirt riders. Word got around, a few got together, and FAST (Falls Area SingleTrack) materialized. I’m also part of this endeavor.

FAST is centered on riding bikes with knobby tires in the dirt. It is currently focused on working with the City to get some singletrack built within City limits.

Another group sprung up last year as well. The Sioux Falls Bike Collective appears to be a group of hipsters content with urban riding. This group members are not so much dirt riders and likely don’t care to participate in longer roadie type rides. They tend to be younger, ride fixies and / or singlespeeds, and carry messenger bags. You know the type.

So what does this all mean? Not much, really. A roller doesn’t need to belong to an organization or be stereotyped into a category to ride (Badges? We don’t need no stinking badges!). Just ride, man. If you need meaning or explanation for everything then I suppose you might conclude our fair city now has a bike culture. And, with the burgeoning list of formal entities, you might even call that culture diverse.

Diversity is good. More organizations could mean more advocating and such for all bikers. Embrace the diversity. The term “versus” need not apply. Don’t make it.


Ride On.

Gettin’ ‘Er Done

If you recall, I’ve mentioned there’s a group of us working with the City to get some singletrack built here. Our group, FAST (Falls Area SingleTrack), is closing in approval.

We will have another meeting with our local Parks and Recreation Department very soon. We need to go over a few details to make sure the neighborhood’s residents concerns are taken into account.

Speaking of FAST, we’re formin’ up all official like. It had to be done. There are insurance issues, donation things, and unicorn slayers we need to deal with.

We’ll be comin’ at cha hard in 2010. Prepare to rock out with your cock out.


Ride On.

Friday Afternoon Grab Bag

How’d they do that?

A practical use for legos.

Ride On.

A Karma Kick?

What goes around, comes around. Or so they say.

I’ve jested at rollers who abandon riding in the winter only to prop their bikes up in trainers for a virtual spin. “Trainers are for complainers” is what I’ve teased.

With the deluge of snow we’ve gotten this winter, in two heavy wind-blown shots, outside riding conditions are suspect. Many roads have snow extending into the driving lane leaving little room for rollers to compete for surface area with cage holes.

A while back I’d mentioned I’d thrown my name into the lottery hat for the Leadville Trail 100 mountain bike race. I’ve started training as if I knew I was going to be in it. Better to err on the side of getting going on training sooner rather than later in my book.

But, with the aforementioned crappy riding conditions I’ve decided to add some fake bike training. No, I’ve not propped a bike up on a trainer, per se, but the next best (worst?) thing. I’ve gone to doing some training on the computerized stationary bikes.


You know the ones, pedal and the lights come on, pick your training regimen, or pick “manual” and then hit “go.” Those are the ones. My gym has some. I’m now using them a few days a week to augment my training.

So, there you go. I set the thing up for a younger, lighter person and it poops out a respectable resistance induced “ride.” I’ll do this sort of thing until there’s a little melting making the outdoor conditions more suitable for safe riding.


Ride On.

Friday Afternoon Grab Bag

Metal baby. Dig the pacifier.

“”

Left over x-moose tree? No problem.

Ride On.

Finding Stuff

During the first (1st) snow storm of ’10 I was out in it searching. I have this idea for a bike event and need a venue to hold it in. I had an appointment to check out a place. Upon arrival I did my inspection. The venue would be perfect.

Meeting with the “powers that be” we searched for an open weekend. Their schedule was fully booked with the exception of a possible opening if another event decides not to go forward.

I’m being intentionally vague for a reason. I don’t want to get everyone’s hopes up, including mine, until this is a lock. I will say, if this is a go, it’s going to be great fun. I should know Monday (1/11/10) if the date will be available. On Tuesday (1/12/10) I’ll either announce the thing or post it has fallen through for this year.

In other noise, I think I got my blog roll fixed. It does need some tweaking. I’m going to scrap blogs from there that reach the one (1) month since last post mark. Or, I could pull a “Ray” and just get rid of the thing altogether. There’s a thought.


Ride On.

On The Radar

With not much shaking in the winter months a dude’s left with not much more than to be thinking about warmer weather riding. I’ve put together a list of possibilities for rides and such. A few are locks, a few more are highly probables, and at least one (1) is left up to the bike gods. I even have one (1) fall-back thing, if I so choose.

Things get rolling toward the end of April with the Fat Tire Festival in Fruita, Colorado.

Mid May brings the Almanzo 100 in and around Rochester, Minnesota.

The end of May has the Black Hills Fat Tire Festival.

It looks like the Tour de Kota is the second week of June.

Mid June is none other than The Big Mick.

Starting July 25th and running until August 1st I’m doing something called Roam – Faces to the Falls. This is an unsupported ride from Spearfish, South Dakota to Sioux Falls, South Dakota taking eight (8) days to complete. Some of the attractions will include riding Spearfish Canyon, stopping by Mt Rushmore, Wall Drug (Have you dug Wall Drug?), the South Dakota Badlands, and more!

The next weekend in August in the MS Pedal the Plains ride.

On August 14th there’s the running of the Leadville Trail 100. I’ve thrown my name into the lottery. I’ll know in February if I’ve been selected. If not…..

There’s the Highway 212 Gut Check. The Main Event runs August 13th – 15th. The Hell and Back version starts two (2) days prior.

The 24 Hours of Afton, or whatever it’s called these days, is August 28th – 29th.

And lastly, but certainly not leastly, the Dakota Five-0 is September 5th.

Those are the things on the radar so far. I’m sure others will be added. I’ve not hotlinked any of them. Why? Well, its winter, you don’t have much to do, why don’t you search them out? A fun time waster just for you!


Ride On.

Oops!

In an act of I-don't-know-what, I've deleted all my hot links to other blogs and such. I plan to re-install, or update, or add, these back in over the next few days. I had planned on thinning out the dead links and the zombie ones (ones that still exist but don't get posted to or rarely so) anyway, so there you go.

So, if you don't see yours up immediately, don't panic. I'll likely get to it soon. If you don't see it in, say, more than two weeks, either shoot me an email or comment. I'll fix your wagon.


Ride On.

New Year’s Resolution

I have one (1) New Year’s Resolution. So here it is, in no particular order – In 2010 I resolve to grow the bike fleet by a minimum of three (3) bikes.

I’m thinking single speed mountain bike, touring bike, and a snow bike such as a Surly Pugsley. That probably will be the order of acquiring as well.

May your 2010 be filled with thousands of bike miles.


Ride On.

Friday Afternoon Grab Bag

Robo stoker.

Wizard of Oz alternate ending.

Ride On.