Weekend in Reverse

Mt Dew & Peachie O's on the way home.

NBA Wufs v Jazz - NBA game #1 for The Boys - the Boy 6 likes the Howl-o-meter. I'm skeptical. Wufs win. That wasn't the point.

Woodland Hills Church - listened to a sermon that may preclude me from being President later.

Wake/check out.

Sleep.

Dinner @ Town Talk Diner w/ Transit Librarian and his lovely wife. I had the brat burger. The Boy 6 had tapioca loaf.

The Wedge - food co-op. Either because we love visiting food co-ops, or because The Boy 6's tapioca loaf got soaked in the ice cooler. Or both.

You take the skyway, high above the busy little one-way.

Hard Rock Cafe

LegoLand purchase. Apple store walk through. See 15 minutes at MOA, How to...that MacBookAir is THIN!

Green Day: American Idiot for possibly the 20th time.

REI - because The Boy 10 might try climbing...but a Friday playground injury precluded him from trying the monolith. Darn. Then got kicked out because we didn't meet minimum requirements. 1 (one) North Face logo per group.

Hiawatha Cyclery - for reelights. Opens in 30 minutes. Bummer.

Wake up in Cycle City. Where'd all these bikes come from?

Sleep. Midtown Sheraton.

Drive. Audiobook - "Into the Wild" by either Jack Krakauer or Jon Kerouac

SDBC Score #1

This from the Rapid City Journal:

"In fact, the South Dakota Bicycle Coalition helped persuade the state Rail Board to seek bids to make minimal repairs to the Milwaukee Road railroad bridge over the Cheyenne River. The state had intended to tear it down, Cole said. 'If you lose that bridge, its value as a trail would be gone,' he said."

Congratulations South Dakota Bicycle Coalition!

Now, somebody please tell me I'm wrong here. The South Dakota Bicycle Coalition appers in the Rapid City Journal, KX TV in Minot, Black Hills Pioneer, the nationally known BikingBis website, KMEG in Sioux City, and The Daily Republic in Mitchell.

The South Dakota Bicycle Coalition doesn't appear in the Argus Leader.

UNL Lectures

"Only puny secrets need protection. Big discoveries are protected by public incredulity.” - Marshall Mcluhan

The quote was dropped by Amory Lovins at the end of his presentation last month at the University of Nebraska-Lincoln. He participated in the E.N. Thompson Forum on World Issues. He's been travelling with his "Winning the Oil Endgame" presentation for a few years now. This is actually the third time I've heard it (updated of course), and I never get tired of it. This guy is VISIONARY!

If you haven't heard it - come on! Hear it. Get the current iteration through iTunes U or download the (I guess) 2007 version from last year's archives.

Or catch another version from the TED Conference (with video!):

I also listend to National Evangelical Association VP Richard Cizik at the same forum and the same month. I've written about him plenty but I haven't heard him speak at length. He's not nearly as polished as Lovins, I like my religion/climate change argument better but nonetheless I got 90 minutes uninterrupted from him today too. Again, available from iTunes U.

I almost forgot - my college classmate the Infidel Cowboy (I like to think of him as Fidel) would like you to know that "Global Warming is Bullshit." As I read back through his blog though it didn't take long (no time at all actually) to restore my hope in his humanity.

Coffee And (not a very good) Microwaved Burrito

I know I'm late to this party but, this week I discovered MapMyRide.com. Love it!



This morning I woke the the promise of tasty coffee and a bike ride. I met Mr. Bite at the official starting point with two words - Dunn Brothers. Off we rode in some of the neatest weather conditions - little wind, 32 degrees, snowflakes big enough to knock you off your bike if they catch you wrong.

Hey CycleSD, the woman who made my coffee asked after you!

My therapist was enjoying coffee. I haven't seen him for a few years. He knows enough to say he'd parked his car and walked the rest of the way just because it was so beautiful out. He's down with The MCP.

We departed The DBC. Roads were a little more wet and for the first time ever water entered through the bottom of my Lake winter boots. Hmmm...

We stopped off at Leaders Park to catch a visual of what the place might look like with urban singletrack.

We stopped off at Falls Park to see water falling.

We stopped off at the Museum of Visual Materials to imagine what it would look like to have 150 bicyclists there on Bike to Work Day. That's May 16 by the way. This year the most important thing is to NOT RUN OUT OF FOOD. This might mean not running out of PANCAKES.

We stopped off at Thee Snakepit to fetch a rather large Ellsworth dual suspended 29er frame. He strapped it to his back and...

We stopped off at The LBS where I departed to home and he began to attach parts to said frame.

It was a 25 mile day. As the image barely shows I rode from the extreme west edge of The City to the extreme east edge. And back. I like that in a bike ride.

Large Fella

In case you missed it when you read his blog...the Star Tribune has published a feature about the Large Fella on a Bike. Turns out he only used to be large.

Daylights

There was a murder in my happy little burg over the weekend. Apparently it went down in an apartment parking lot just before noon. By the mall. Yes the mall. That's sorta like killing someone just outside the temple!

One headline noted the hour as "broad daylight" which got me thinking...does anything good ever happen in broad daylight?

Does anybody every help and elderly woman cross a busy street in broad daylight?

Why is it that things that occur in broad daylight are almost always crimes?

HPD

Lots of people beat me to this but at 1:59 I too wish you a Happy Pi Day.

Priceless

glumbert - Anchor vs Reporter

Tomato/Tomato

Some say this is a vehicle that accidentally crossed the center line...

I don't recall the last time I knowingly or unknowingly made a centerline angry but I do know this looks more like a vehicle that crossed the centerline, at least one lane of roadway, jumped a curb, went up an embankment, killed two, injured one...and then the driver may have woken up.

Let's call the whole thing off.

More bike lanes!

Cars People People Cars

Another terrible cycling death (or two) another set of headlines to help determine whether people drive cars or cars drive people. In Cupertino two cyclists are killed by either a sheriff's vehicle or a sheriff's deputy.

1:15pm Monday.

Cars drive people:

1. Sheriff's patrol car hits bicyclists, kills 2
2. Two bicyclists killed, third injured in crash with patrol car
3. Sheriff's Vehicle Strikes, Kills Cyclists
4. Deputy’s Car Hits Group of Cyclists, 2 Dead, 1 Seriously Injured
5. UPDATE: Sheriff's deputy patrol car strikes three bicyclists
6. 2 Cyclists Killed In S.Bay Crash With Deputy's Car
7. Two bicyclists killed, third injured in crash with patrol car
8. Two bicyclists struck and killed by sheriff's vehicle in Cupertino
9. Santa Clara deputy sheriff's car hits and kills 2 bicyclists
10. Two bicyclists struck and killed by sheriff's car on Stevens ...
11. California Police Car Hits And Kills Two Cyclists In Cupertino

People drive cars:

1. NorCal Deputy Crashes Into Cyclists, Kills 2
2. Deputy Crashes Into Cyclists In South Bay, Kills 2
3. Police report an officer accidentally killed 2 cyclists. No ...
4. Cupertino officer plows cyclists, two dead
5. Deputy hits cyclists, at least 1 dead
6. Sheriff's deputy hits cyclists, killing 2
7. Two bicyclists killed in crash with sheriff's deputy
8. California Sheriff's Deputy Kills 2 Bicyclists during Patrol

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Thanks Google News.

Report: February 4 – March 2

A few nights ago I dreamed the roads were clear and I was riding my single speed road bike. I welcome March, but I’d rather say good riddance to winter. It’s snowing as I type.

For the sake of brevity I’m putting the whole month of February in one abbreviated report. I didn’t ride much. The cold. The snow. The city plowing budget seems to be used up. I'm a beaten man. Still, I was mostly conscious about my driving.

Thanks to a very good January I remain on my best car mileage pace yet.

January/February 2006 – 481
January/February 2007 – 407
January/February 2008 – 397

And I'm surprised to find I'm ahead of last year in bike miles.

January/February 2006 – 258
January/February 2007 – 72
January/February 2008 – 113

Two more months and winter will be over! Woo hoo!

PS. Don't forget to ask me how The MinusCar Project can promote and support a statewide organization that will give people yet another reason to travel across the state once or more a year.

The Summit & The Coalition

The South Dakota Bicycle Summit was today. The South Dakota Bicycle Coalition is tomorrow. Here are the pictures that prove it.