Man's Best Friend?

Maybe, but not this man's, on this particular day.

"I'm so sweet. Love me . . ."



If you buy the act, you are a fool. Major con artist. Her passive-agressive true colors . . .




Our relationship has experienced some stress over the last couple of days. We've both crossed the line. Maybe she would say that I pushed and she merely pushed back. Whatever. The emotion has subsided and we're both at the stage of wanting to deal with it and move on. Forgiveness and healing are in order.

DogBike Upgrade: Goin' Fishin'

Brandy and I like to play in upper Manito Park, at the south end that borders 25th. It's close and convenient and there are no arterials to cross on the way there, so when we go to and from, I ride and she just runs off-leash. Trouble is, the soil drainage is pretty bad there and during the wetter, cooler months, it gets pretty swampy. When that happens, we like to head over to Comstock, where we have another fave runway. Problem with that, though, is that we have to cross two arterials to get there. I can't let her off-leash for fear that she'll get squashed and we're sure as hell not walking 'cause well, that's just not how we roll. So we take the truck, which sucks. We tried to solve this problem once before, but it didn't work out in the long run. What we really wanna do is take our dOGbiKe, and I've had a marble of an idea rolling around in my head for several months. I finally got around to doing something with it.

Here are the parts for the project. Yep, that's a fishing pole alright . . .



I needed to braze to the frame, so I took the torch and burned the paint off . . .



After cleaning it up, I cut a short piece of 1/2" OD x ~3/8" ID tubing, fixed it in place and brazed it on . . .



No way in hell I was gonna take the whole bike apart so that I could soak the frame to dissolve the flux, so I decided to take a very wet towel and wrap the brazed area and let it soak overnight . . .



Worked like a charm. In the morning I was able to easily brush the flux off with a wire brush . . .



Here's the end result . . .



My beloved Lifetime Member for Life decal got a little hot. I decided it's very accidentally artistic. Check out the "roots" on the 'l' and 'i' "trees". If you don't see it, you just haven't had enough to drink. Far out. Further proof that scars rule . . .



In the meantime, I cut the fishing pole in half. I can make you a killer deal on the short end . . .



On the right is a piece of 3/8" OD tubing with a piece of the same 1/2" x 3/8" tubing brazed on as a sleeve. I took the end of the fishing pole and roughed it up with some shop cloth so the JB weld will stick to it . . .



Then it got glued together, with a screw running through as a dowel pin. I'll cut the ends off later . . .



So I ended up with this . . .



And hooked it up to my spazzed-out bike like this . . .



Are you starting to get the picture?



Sorry to say, my dog is too. We took a walk, not even a ride, around the driveway and she is pretty well freaked. I think I overheard her talking to her agent tonight about what it might take to get traded. She's still under contract, but that's what lawyers are for. Crazy bastard of a master. Enough is enough.

A Place For Everything. Hopefully.

As far as kitchenware goes, Patty and I don't do much in the way of matched sets of eating-stuff. The silverware drawer is the best example . . . probably 40 forks and there are a couple that match, but you'd havta do some serious digging to make it happen. It's certain that no two coffee mugs match. I think we like it that way, or maybe that's my excuse for being such a cheap bastard. But it's strangely satisfying to plow through the mismatched inventory of bowls/spoons/knives/or whatever to find your very fave or maybe the one that soothes your mind on a particular day.

So yep, that's a long intro to another coffee cup post. Not the first, and no clue as to whether it will or won't be the last.

Anyway.

I bought this mug at a yard sale. I thought it was insanely cool and would just make such a splash in our cupboard . . .







Come to find out, it creeps me way the hell out. I open the cupboard some mornings and look at the damn thing and I have to choke back the erps, let alone have any desire for the taste of joe. I totally cannot explain it. I think maybe it's just simply that Disney and Haight-Ashbury can't coexist in my morning ritual.

Except that part of me still loves that mug.

So I've been cleaning up my shop and getting ready for rack-building season. And tonight it struck me that maybe instead of reacting and impulsively destroying what haunts me, I could maybe breathe deep and figure out how to put it to good use in the shop. I don't want my lips on it ever again, but maybe this will work out and if not, you can damn well expect another post offering this sinister piece of ceramic to the next unwitting victim.

CDANF Season Finale

As you probably know, I've gotten all enamored with riding in the C'dA National Forest this summer. Over the weekend, I had the chance to go back in one last time with John, Alex and Andre. Don't let the pictures fool you . . . these guys know exactly where they're going and what they're doing. Seriously purposeful dudes.







Okay, that didn't go so well. So let me just start over by saying that car camping rules. I mean, carrying everything on your bike that you might possibly need to make you happy is all romantic, but also totally nonsensical. To be even mildly happy in a damp and cold forest, you should be taking at least this much shit and probably more . . .



So that you can live like this . . .



Still don't get it? Look. This is one whole station for making breakfast burritos . . .



And this is another station for simultaneously making huckleberry pancakes. FRESH huckleberries, dude. Try doing that on your damn bike . . .



A third station is all about coffee . . .



I think you see what I mean. And is it just me, or do I have the biggest tent? By far? I think maybe the peasants owe me some taxes or something.





So anyway, on to the actual ride. I was gonna do this map showing all the roads I did this summer in the CDANF, and it would have been majorly epic, but it turned out to be a giant PITA, and as much as I love you guys, you're just not worth it. Just being honest. So trust me, I was all over that forest like a wet blanket.

But anyway, Friday, we did kind of the standard kill-yourself-in-the-forest-tour and it was great, and we did (kill ourselves). 50,000 vertical feet, honest. The highlight for me was road 261, which was all crazy climb-ey and scenic. John, Alex, Alex, Andre, John,(repectively) . . .









Saturday turned out to be all about crashing around in the brush. It's the logical next step in our CDANF evolution. Well-travelled roads where they can easily find your body are apparently boring, so we hurled ourselves into the abyss. Andre, rockin' the roadlessness . . .



You probably think this is bad camera work, but you are once again wrong. It's how things really look when you are short on oxygen . . .



The smile on John's face reminds me pretty much exactly of Jack Nicholson in "The Shining". The woods can mess with your head, obviously . . .



Pure glam shot, but it really is this good . . .



Oh. GPS shows a bridge across this creek. Must be the invisible kind . . .



Anyway, all kidding aside, if you wanna know why I dig it there so much, this picture says it better than I ever could. Variety is surely the spice of life, including elevation.

SpokeFest!

A crazy number of bike freaks poured into downtown Spo this morning to take part in SpokeFest. In a group this large and diverse, there's at least one of every style, size, shape and color.



Sometimes, two . . .





Justin had the whole fam out on his rad tandem-trailer combo. I've seen shorter semi trucks . . .



This low-geared young man gets the prize for most pedal revolutions on the 21-mile course. He beat second place by about 70,000 rev's. The dude had those crankarms smokin' . . .



Seeing so many people come together in one place, on bikes, in Spokane . . . damn, that's cool. I hope all the organizers, volunteers and sponsors are feeling super proud about this year's event. Thanks for everything you do to give us SpokeFest.

Bike Date

We haven't had one for a while, so we were overdue. Bike dates rule. For some reason, I was missing a rear light and her front light sucks. So we needed each other. We do in general, but especially tonight.



Hell no, I didn't take my wife to Super 1 for dinner. Don't be a dipshit. We just stopped there on the way home. Jeez. Sometimes I wonder why I even bother posting.

Drafting With The Big Boys

Rachel put up a terrific post over on Cycling Spokane about her super-scenic commute.

By contrast, mine goes through a pretty dumpy industrial zone. But it's not without it's perks.

Lately, I've discovered the absolute bliss of zero wind resistance. My new goal in life has become to find one of these going at the right speed and pedal like hell to catch up and then once I'm in the "zone", it's like riding my bike on the moon. I imagine. With the oxygen of planet earth at my disposal, of course.



I don't think there are any treatment centers yet for this addiction. I also think my boss might be starting to catch on to why I'm always late for work. Which leaves me between a rock and a hard place. Sure hope I don't lose my job.

I don't want even one call from your lawyer when they peel your face off the back door of a 40 foot trailer, so DON'T TRY THIS. It's for trained professionals only.