Wednesday, December 20

Pidgeons

Monday, December 18

Weather has been terrific this past week. 55 today. Went to the Cyclocross National Championships on Saturday in RI with me friend JW. It was quite a revelation. Never again will I shy away from taking the Colnago off-road. Those guys were doing some pretty crazy things. The beer was good too. Today's clip is a Mem Drive Pedestrian sneak-attack.

Friday, December 8

Temperature dropped 30 degrees overnight. 22 degrees on the morning ride. Plenty of poeple out on their bikes, though. There were a few icy blasts that nearly stopped me dead in my tracks on the Mass Ave bridge.

Thursday, December 7

Here's a great clip of the Cheese Grater that I took this afternoon. This really captures the fearfull flavor 'o the Grater. As I have mentioned before, if you got doored along here, you'd be done for. You'd be a goner. Look at the black pick up truck that passes me. He's doing at least 40.Beautiful day, though - 53 degrees. Tomorrow is snow and a high of 29.

Wednesday, December 6

This is a pretty good one - this is going up First Street (dodging two POPs), and then approaching my favorite intersection, Like A Virgin (see glossary of terms if you don't know what that is). Right at the end I scrambled to apply the brakes because I was so distracted with my movie-making.

Monday, December 4

Snow this morning, low 30's. This clip is the Longfellow Bridge underpass. Right at the bridge the sidewalk narrows, but there is a small ramp that goes down to the roadway. It's tons of fun, especially if there's lots of traffic.

Friday, December 1

More great weather - 63 degrees. This clip of Kenmore is more par for the course than this past Monday - plenty of brake lights and cabs. Trouble coming this Monday, though. Snow is forecast.

Wednesday, Noveber 29

Tuesday, November 28

45 degrees today, raw, overcast. Clip below is Mass ave to the bridge. Two items to note:
1) Yes, I run the red light, but it was safe.
2) Another cyclist blows right by me. However, he was not riding with only one hand like Uneasy Rider.

Monday, November 27

Beautiful day - 56 degrees. Minimal amount of traffic. Below is a typical romp through Kenmore.

Friday, November 17

The weather continues to be outstanding even though it has rained quite a bit - temp today is 63 degrees - warm enough to ride in a t-shirt. The two pictures are of Comm Ave - a typical high-speed tight squeeze. The white van was backing up, but then began pulling out of a parking space and didn't see me. I slipped between him and the black SUV with inches to spare. And all one-handed.

Wednesday, November 3

Can't beat this weather for fall riding. 60 degrees today. Nothing of note happening. No break-downs, no one yelling at me to get off the road, no near-misses, no accidents. Nothing. Just riding to work and then riding right back. I am staying off Memorial Drive, which has definitley contributed to my well-being.

Friday, November 3

Saw this interesting scene this morning. A North American moving truck got on the wrong off- ramp on Mem Drive where the clearance under the Longfellow bridge is 11 feet. This seems to happen quite a bit on Storrow Drive, but I've never seen it on Mem Drive.

Thursday, November 2

What a difference a day makes. Temperature dropped 20 degrees from yesterday. Rainy, cold, yellow.

Wednesday, November 1

Thursday, October 26

Jeez, the weather has gotten really cold. I finally broke out the gloves - too cold to ride without them. A friend of mine just got doored last night. The attached picture is of the victim. Thankfully, she's OK. In case you're not familiar with the phenomenon, being "doored" is when someone in a parked car whips open their door right as you're approaching, or passing the car. It can be fatal, or can involve everything that comes before "fatal" (broken bones etc etc). She was lucky and got away with scratches and bruises. I was doored once, but I was going so slowly at the time that it was more of a Three Stooges move. Here's a good piece from Common Ground mag about being doored.

Thursday, October 19

Had a near miss today that goes in the top three. I was blazing down Beacon St right before Kenmore. There was a long line of traffic backed up at the light, and suddenly a car that was making a left through the stopped traffic into a parking garage appeared right in front of me blocking my path. For a split second I plotted where I would make impact on his passenger-side, then jammed on the brakes. At the last possible second, he saw me and gave it the gas. It was a very close call. The gentleman was around 90 or so, and appeared to be very surprised that someone was actually riding a bicycle on the street.

Weather has been great for riding these past couple of weeks. Front tire was losing massive amounts of air two days ago so I replaced both tube and tire in about a half-hour. No troubles at all. Now I'm all set for next week's Critical Mass ride.

Friday, October 13

Weather is getting a little nippy. 50 degrees today, but sunny.

Wednesday, October 11

Gloomy day. 56 degrees, windy, overcast. I commented to Stanley, the company janitor, that today was gloomy. He said "Why?" (as if he didn't know). I brought up the clouds and temperature and the wind, and he said "Well, you can't have the sun out every day, can you? You have to look at the overall picture...and the overall picture is pretty good, isn't it?" I brought up North Korea, thinking that I'd sink his happy-go-lucky ship with that. Nope. All he said was that he thought Iran was a bigger problem than North Korea.

Tuesday, October 10 - Monk's Birthday

Another beautiful day - 61 degrees, not a cloud in the sky. The weather has been spectacular these past few days. Blah, blah, blah.

Rode on the sidewalk down Mem drive today. Some days I get a skittish feeling if it seems the drivers are being a bit more unruly than usual. I started off on the road, but moved to the sidewalk/bike path about a quarter of the way down. You can see by the photo of the outcrop right before Land Blvd that things get a little tight if you're riding on the road. Blah, blah, blah.


Today is Thelonious Monk's birthday. He was born in 1917 - the same month and year that the Bolsheviks took over in Russia. October is a big month for birthdays. Dizzy Gillespie was also born in October 1917. My mother was born in October, my wife was born in October, my sister-in-law was born in October. It's really just a month of parties.

It's also a month of bad news. I got the news that the division of the company that I goof off for will be closing at the end of December. But as Stanley, the company janitor, says "Hey, at least your alive. You're here, and that's good." Crazy. He's always saying that, no matter what's going on. If he was thrown in a Turkish prison with nothing to eat but rats, he'd still say "Hey, at least I'm alive, I'm here, that's good." One of these days I'm going to tell him that every day isn't necessarily a good day.

Friday, October 6

Only 55 today, gusting winds in the face the whole way - a harbinger of things to come.

Friends, how do you like the new logo? I'm going to take this thing to the next level. A little ways down the road suicidebicycleride.com will be a website where ANYONE can post their own ride report for all to see. The site is in the beginning stages of development now. And, yes, there will be SBR merchandise - simple things at first, like black rubber SBR bracelets, t-shirts, and maple billy clubs for those unruly motorists. Then I'll move on to SBR sporstwear, ball gowns, formal wear etc. So until the time that you can post your own "Heston!" story, stay tuned, keep reading, and stay out of my way!

Wednesday, October 4

Beautiful morning - 67 and sunny.

Got honked at twice today. A guy honked at me on Memorial Drive and pointed out his window at the sidewalk - telling me, I gather, to ride there instead of the street. Well, as they say during the Critical Mass ride, "Whose streets? My streets." The problematic thing about harassing a cyclist in the city is that often times the cyclist can catch up to a car quite easily and call them on their bad behavior. I have done this on several occasions with mixed results. Today I was able to catch up to the fellow, and was in full swing with my U-Lock, about to take out his rear driver side window, when the light turned green and he was off. Too bad. I love it when the U-Lock hits the window and sends a hailstorm of auto glass into the back seat, while the driver stares in wide-eyed, uncomprehending horror at what you have just visited upon them.

I'm just kidding, of course. It's a beautiful day and I am not angry. Speaking of anger, it's Charlton Heston's birthday today - he's 83. I'm not going to get into the whole NRA thing, but I will cite this interesting piece of trivia I found on Wickipedia about Heston: "In Greece, his name is written as "Charlton Easton" because "Heston" has scatological connotations in Greek (χέσ'τον = 'shit him')."

So, from now on if someone honks at me, I'll simply shout "Heston!" at them. Little will they know that I am cursing in Greek.

Friday, September 29

Back on the bike after almost two weeks. Rode to work then did the Critical Mass ride. I could only ride for a half-hour, but it was a glorious half-hour. Plenty of angry motorists and pedestrians.

Wednesday, September 27

Success

Tuesday, September 26

Yes, as I mentioned, I expect to take delivery on a brand new bike tire any day now.

Monday, September 25

Bicycle? What bicycle? My bicycle is down in the basement with the rear wheel off. I'm expecting to take delivery on a new tire any day now. But it has been really nice to be able to take the train to work - the cramped trolly cars are fun. It's nice to be able to take my time, and smell the roses, as it were, to really appreciate the beauty around me. For example, I saw these flying porto-potties today near my place of employment. It's not often that you see a gigantic crane swinging a few porto-potties around 50 feet off the ground. If I had been riding the bike, I might have missed this.

Monday, September 18 Lance Armstrong's Birthday

Jeez, this tire business is starting to lose some of its charm. As Bob Marley said, "My feet is my only carriage." My feet and the MBTA Green Line, that is. I went on field trip Saturday to get a new tire and wound up at International Bike in Allston. I bought a Bontrager hard case with triple puncture protection. Yes, friends, Triple Puncture Protection.

Anyway, I'm going to try to make this short - I couldn't get the bead of the tire on the rim no matter what I tried. It was almost like the tire was too big for the wheel. It was just sitting over the tube like a hat. Then I started wondering what would happen if I just inflated the tube with the tire just sitting over it - you know, just to see what would happen - not like I'd ride with it that way or anything. I was thinking it might hold the tire in place and that it might be interesting, and then I'd get back to putting the tire on. So I started pumping up the tube and, much to my surprise, it exploded.

Thursday, September 14 - "Hosed"

What a sad story to tell. Here I am back on the Vespa, doing my Travis Bickle imitation (or Colonel Bill Kilgore) with the Randolph Aviators. I got another flat last night about two blocks from home. Luckily I had a fresh tube and I resolved that I would fly through the procedure this time.

I donned my leather work gloves, picked up my tire levers and gouged away. I had that tire disemboweled in no time. And when I say "in no time", I mean at least 45 minutes.

Then I got all Blair Witch Project on it - I donned my head lamp and reading glasses and gave that tire a thorough tire-oscopy.

You see, I was very suspicious - this was the second flat in a week and I thought there might be something in the tire that was causing the tube punctures. And when I say "I thought there might be something in the tire", I mean that I read on the side of the tube box that I should check the tire for foreign objects or punctures - a step I failed to take the first time.

Well, friends I found the problem - a small slit in the tire itself. So, I'm temporarily off the bike till I can devote another ten hours and five layers of skin toward fixing this.

Tuesday, September 12

Beautiful morning. Beautiful day for a ride behind the trash truck.

Friday, September 8

Another great September morning - 67 degrees, hazy sun. I haven't tangled with the Mother Of All Intersections lately so I took a spin up that way. It looks kind of tame in the photo, but it ain't.

I had to return to my most unfavorite bike shop last night to return one of the two tubes I purchased. The first one I put on had a small hole in it. Well let me tell you, they took that tube back and handed over another one right quick. No arguments or anything.

They guy asked if I had been using any tools to get it on the wheel, and I told him no. I said "No, I just gently laid the tube inside the tire, and gently got one bead of the tire on, and gently put a little air in it, and gently (I kept repeating "gently" to distract him from that fact that my tube re-installation method was not quite correct) listened and heard a gentle 'sssssssssssssssssss', and I gently swore." I'm sure that repeating "gently" over and over conjured up the real picture of what happened: me with the leather work gloves on, cursing and swearing as I gouged away with the plastic tire levers, hot tears of frustration rolling down my bike-grease covered cheeks, while my children whispered nervously to mommy "Is daddy laughing or crying?".

Anyway, the bike shop has definitely come up a notch in my book even if they didn't know the average weight of a Maine beaver.

Thursday, September 7

Beautiful ride in this morning - 68 degrees and sunny.

As you can see, I triumphed over the "Ordeal of the Orb" (as Charlotte Haze calls it). I was able to replace the rear tube in 1.25 hours - a record for me. My thumbs (critical tools for tube/tire replacement, as my friend JW notes) were only moderately sore after the procedure.

Unfortunately, I had to get the tube at a bike shop that I really don't like. I won't name the place, but every time I go in there and ask them a question, they don't know the answer. They hem and haw, and say "I don't really know, Dude." It's infuriating. Take last night, for example. I go in to buy a tube, and I say "What's the average weight of a Maine beaver." And the guy gives me this blank look and tells me he doesn't know. I don't know about you, but I think that if you work in a bike shop you should be able to answer the customer's questions.

Wednesday, September 5

Friends, the mailbag has been full to overflowing recently with questions regarding the bracelet pictured on my left wrist. It does indeed say "DESPAIR". It's the perfect antidote to the ubiquitous cheery yellow LIVESTRONG band. Don't get me wrong; I don't look askance at the sentiment or anything else that's behind Big Yellow, and Lance Armstrong. I just found the dull-gray band with it's dour message very appealing. It's the perfect accessory for biking through Kenmore Square during a snow storm on a February evening.

Speaking of biking, I didn't ride today. The innertube with the slow leak that I have been nursing along for a month finally wheezed out its last 120psi of breath, never to be filled again. If all goes well this evening, I should be back in the saddle in the morning.

Thursday, August 31

Friends, it seems the previous post's picture of a beaver has caused an uproar. I did not intend to pass this rodent off as anything but an image borrowed from the web. I only caught a fleeting glimpse of an actual beaver as it waddled out of the underbrush and slipped into the lake - although saying "slipped into the lake" is giving the creature more credit that it deserves, cause what really happened is that the thing's rump must have been pretty dry, cause although it was trying to get under the water quickly, it definitely had problems trying to submerge its butt. It swam about 12 yards with just it's hind quarters visible.

Anyway, the rigors of camping definitely have taken their toll. I decided I needed a day off the bike and on the Vespa.

Wednesday, August 30

Took a vacation to the Maine woods. Paddled alot. Saw beavers. Didn't ride the bicycle. Now I'm back, and riding the bicylce.

Tuesday, August 15

It was a real wet ride this morning as you can see by the photos. I haven't been on the bike for almost a week and a half, so this morning's weather was a rather rude re-introduction to the commute.

Tuesday, August 1

One of the joys of plein-air commuting is the various sights, sounds, and smells that the cyclist encounters. Today, as I entered into the smooth flow of traffic on Beacon Street on this 90+ degree day, I caught a whiff of something quite foul, and the fetid odor did not diminish as I rode on. Then I noticed that there was a trail of some kind of liquid leading all the way down the center of the right lane on Beacon Street (see photo). I determined that the scent had to be coming from the liquid, and that, most likely, some kind of garbage truck was leaking the maloderous muck as it went about its rounds. It was quite pungent, and several times I was forced by traffic to ride through it. As I came down into Kenmore Square, the stench increased. Finally, outside the Square, I laid eyes (and nose) on the culprit - a big rusty dumpster-on-a-truck contraption. I held my breath and pedaled on by.

Saturday, July 29

Went on the Critcal Mass ride last evening. This happens the last Friday of every month. This was the first time I went and it was unbelievable. The ride starts at Copley and last night there were about 200 or so riders at the beginning. The route (which I gather is not pre-determined) took us downtown, then accross the Mass Ave Bridge, up Mass Ave to Harvard Square (right before Harvard Sq there was a downpour that was about as heavy as I have ever seen, with thunder and lightening and gusting winds. At times you could barely see. It was an awsome sight to see 200 riders going through it all and shouting and yelling), around the Square and down to Mem drive via several side streets, then over the BU Bridge, down Comm Ave, outbound on Beacon St, down Park Drive to Huntington, then down to Copley again, up Newbury St, then Mass ave to Boylston to the Lansdowne St area, then up the Riverway to Longwood. There was one point along Putnam Ave in Cambridge where nobody was talking and all you could hear was a light swish of bicycle tires on wet pavement. It was a startling thing to realize that these 200 people were moving along making barely any noise. At other times a roar would erupt from the group after a particulary bright flash of lightning, or as we passed under bridges.

Thursday, July 27

Great hazy, humid Boston summer morning. I took this first picture by accident as I was going down Comm Ave - it really shows the close quarters that cyclists are in sometimes. Also, here are more detailed pictures of Betty and Tony. I guess saying that Tony was "up to his gunwales in water" was an understatement.