UP-n-COMING: An art show on Friday Jan 7th, and out of town today

Hey gang, just wanted to let all of you in the Portland area know I will be having an "art show" at Oregon Bike Shop. It's part of the First Friday in Montavilla celebration. I'll be showing some original bicycle related art, mostly my pages from Momentum magazine, but there will be other stuff thrown in. All the original art will be reasonably priced, and there will also be the posters available for sale. It should be fun, and Sue and Jim at Oregon Bike Shop are nice folks. Come and check out one of the best shops on the east side!
Friday Jan 7 2011
6-8pm
Oregon Bike Shop
7918 SE Stark St
Portland, OR 97215

And today (that'd be Thursday Dec 30th), me and my sweetie will be heading out to Stub Stewart State Park to spend the New Year in one of their cabins. Tonight we'll be alone, tomorrow a gaggle of folk are coming up to party for the holiday. Should be a lot of fun. See you in the New Year!

Wool Crazy The Making of the "Fancy Bicyclist" Part 2

Before I became an "everyday" bicyclist, I never gave any thought to what materials my clothes were made of. I knew that my t-shirts were cotton, my pants and jeans were generally cotton, and plasticky material made decent raincoats. That was about as far as it went.

When I started to cycle daily, I had no intention to swaddle myself head-to-toe in spandex. I would just wear the same clothes I wore everyday. And that worked mostly. Until the rainy season. If I wore those cotton pants, they would get soaked in the rain and stay cold. If I put waterproof stuff over them, they'd get wet and stinky from sweat. This wasn't working.

After several years of trial and error, experimentation, and a side-step into synthetics, I've come to the same conclusion that most Retro-Grouches come to: wool is the answer. Wool is natural and stays warm when wet. Sure, it's not going to help much in a downpour, but most of the rain that happens in Portland is hardly a downpour. If it's really raining, I'll throw a rainjacket on top.

Wool outerwear is pretty easy. Hit up any thrift store and you'll find scads of sweaters, coats, and slacks. And thrifts are cheap! But my bicycle fanciness has hit a new level in the past year, and with fanciness comes expense. And that fanciness manifests itself in wool baselayers.

"Wait a sec!" you exclaim. "I get the wool sweaters. But wool underwear? Won't that be...itchy? What about washing?"

Ha! You wish! In this brave new world of technical wool baselayers, you really have to forget about that itchy sweater your gra'mma knit for you when you were seven and your mom made you wear it all winter. This is different. The new wool is soft and comfy. And the best part is that it doesn't stink like synthetics. As for washing, these baselayers were designed to be washable. You'll have to be a bit more careful than you would be with your BVD's, but it really isn't that bad. Besides, you won't need to wash them as much.

So theoretically you can get by with less wool baselayers than you would cotton or synthetics. If you were to say do a week-long bike tour, if you had two sets of wool baselayers you can alternate each day and be fine by the end of the trip.

But didn't we say wool baselayers are fancy, and fancy means not cheap? Yes we did. But there are ways to be frugal about it. Like the Icebreaker warehouse sale last week, where April and I loaded up on a ridiculous amount of wool for not a lot of cash. And since wool can be worn again and again between washes, you don't need a lot. A couple t-shirts, some longjohns, a few pairs of undies, and some socks will get you through the winter. And I got all that, and still want more.

Of course there has to be the ultimate in fancy when it comes to wool bicycling clothes, the one item that may be considered one step beyond. It's not wool jerseys, since these are considered by many to be retro and classy (especially when you compare them to the common synth jersey of today.) No, it's wool bike shorts. The only people I know who make them are Ibex, and they ain't cheap. But someday...maybe...

The Making of the "Fancy Bicyclist" The Brooks/Carradice Paradigm Part 1 (of possibly many)

One of the big reasons I can be such a curmudgeon and resist the temptation of nice things is that I know if I like it, I won't like anything but that. I will obsess over these particular nice things and rearrange possessions/lifestyles to accommodate. I can be cheap. And nice things are usually not cheap.

A case in point: Brooks saddles. For years, I was totally content with riding "whatever" saddles. You know the type: fully synthetic, moderately comfortable, not really "stylish", and are seen on practically every modern bicycle. During those blissfully ignorant years I only thought about my "bike seat" (gosh, I didn't even call them saddles back then!) when the thing broke or was tearing, which a year or so after my constant riding they inevitably will.

Then a few years ago I obtained a Carradice saddle bag. (If you don't know what they look like, click here.) I liked the look of these classic British canvas bags, and thought it would work good on my Univega basket bike, since the bike wasn't going to have a rear rack. The main problem with the Carradice is that is indeed a fancy bag. So fancy that it's designed to mount on a Brooks or similar traditional leather saddle, using the two loops that are on the rear of the saddle. And I just had the "ordinary" bike seat on the Univega. I didn't feel like springing (ha, ha) for a Brooks because they weren't cheap (fancy and cheap go together like oil and water), and besides, aren't they supposed to be uncomfortable? I mean, look at them! There's no squishy padding anywhere to be found!

The other options were to by a special rack type of mount for it from Carradice (meh), or make my own jury-rigged mounting configuration, of which instructions were obtained online (ed note: can't find that page right now.) And I did. And I was happy.

I brought the Univega-with-basket-and-Carradice to Victoria, where as always I hung out with the Recyclistas bike shop crew. Since the Recyclistas kids are certifiable bike geeks, we started talking about my bike, the bag, and the Rube Goldberg-esque way the Carradice was mounted. I rather casually mentioned that it would mount easier and look better with a Brooks saddle, but this was not in my possession.

"Eh?" said Ryan, one of Recyclistas owners. (ed note: when talking about Canadians, you must always make sure they say "eh".) "Well, I have an extra Brooks that I don't need. And we need a new ad for the shop. I'll trade you my Brooks for a new ad."

And in less time that it normally takes me for these type of things (read: a long time), I had drawn Ryan a new Reyclistas ad.

And I had a new (to me) Brooks saddle! The Carradice mounted beautifully, and the saddle/bag combination looked gorgeous, looked natural, looked meant to be. And the best part: the Brooks saddle is comfortable!

Now I don't ride anything but Brooks. I've purchased quite a few recently through Craigslist. And as long as the leather and rail stay in good shape, I can resell them if I don't need them. I can't even imagine an ordinary "bike seat" now.

Sheesh.
Honestly, I don't want to be this way! Being a fancy bicyclist wasn't the plan!

And don't get me started on how I covet the Carradice. I picked up another one recently. And there will probably be more down the road.

Stay tuned for Part 2: my wool obsession.

The Wayfarer Mystery

A short while back in the post "Bike Crazy", I talked about my latest acquisition, a blue Raleigh Wayfarer. It's a classic British 3-speed bike, a type known commonly as a sports roadster in the UK, but also known rather inaccurately as a "British Racer" this side of the pond. Raleigh was thee major British bicycle manufacturer, so a Raleigh in itself is common.


But the Wayfarer? It's the first time I've seen this model. And I'd love to figure out more! Searching ye olde internet brings up scant information. Most of it is in the form of photographs, as seen here and here on niniferrose's flickr account. Even "the bible" on bike info, Sheldon Brown, does not mention the Wayfarer model in his Retro Raleigh page.

I've also asked people who are more knowledgeable about British bikes. Todd Boulanger hadn't heard of it, so he speculated that it might be a Canadian model. Good speculation, but if that's the case, then Keith in Edmonton should've heard of it. And he hasn't. In fact, every mention that I've seen of it online has been from the UK. Could it have been a model only available in England?


The only other interesting lead is here, depicting a BSA Wayfarer. BSA was one of the bike manufacturers gobbled up by the great Raleigh machine. My very uneducated guess is that the Wayfarer was originally a BSA model, then whenever Raleigh decided to drop the BSA badge (as the UK bike market shrunk in the '60's, even in the face of the burgeoning bike boom), it "took over" the Wayfarer model for a while, until maybe the mid-70's, when the 3-speed sports roadster started to fade away. It also looks like it might have been subsumed by the Traveller model in the later '70's, as they look pretty similar. I'm also guessing that it may be a lower-to mid-level model, as it lacks the distinctive Raleigh "triple crown" front fork (but still has the herons on the chainring.)

Does anyone have information on the Raleigh Wayfarer? Please leave a comment if you do!

Zine-O-Rama December 2010

Back in the dark days before "blogs", there were these printed pamphlets called "zines". Zines were self-produced mini-magazines (or chapbook, if you are that classy), usually filled with one persons stories, rants, political musings, drawerings, and vegan biscuit recipes. They were sort of like the blog of their time. But just as telegraphs and telephones literally shot the last passenger pigeon out of the air in 1914, blogs, tweets, and the book of face have made printed media redundant.

But just as the cycling world is full of retro-grouches (thank you, Grant Peterson!) who refuse to let perfectly functional yet outmoded technologies and styles die, there are a die-hard group of folk who will keep on printing zines, even after they embed Kindles literally into our heads. Part of the appeal to zines is while anyone with spare time, a computer, and internet (read: everyone except my mom) can make a blog, webpage, or what-have-you; it takes more effort to lay out a zine (with or without the aid of computers), print said zine, and then get it out to the world VIA POST (those stamps actually COST MONEY!) So nowadays the world of zine has eliminated most of the chaff, leaving the wheat.

Today's entry will talk about "the wheat", four zines that have come into my post-box in the past few months. All of these zines have something to do with bikes, exploration, or urban areas (sometimes all three!)

A note about buying zines: the "old school" way is to send well-concealed cash (bills, not coin) in an envelope. Include your name and address inside the envelope, and if you want a specific issue, note that too. DO NOT SEND PERSONAL CHECKS. I know that sending money through the mail goes against "what your mom taught you", but believe me, it works. If the money somehow gets lost (rare), then, it's only a couple bucks.

First off, zines that came out on a regular schedule were even an anomaly back when it mattered, (the '90's, when you can get a book deal from writing a zine. See, just like blogs!) so it's always cool to see a publication stick to a schedule in the post-zine age. And Fred Argoff's zine WATCH THE CLOSING DOORS arrives every other month, on schedule, which is more reliable than the subject matter: subways. Fred mostly writes about New York's subway system, as it's what he's most familiar with, being a life-long Brooklynite and a former employee of the MTA. The pages of WTCD detail its many lines, through detailed descriptions, photos, and folklore. Fred also "branches out" (ha, ha!) and covers rail transit all over the world. The latest issue is 53. Copies can be obtained for $3 each, or $10 for a year subscription (4 quarterly issues). FRED ARGOFF, Penthouse L, 1170 Ocean Pkwy, Brooklyn NY 11230

For our next zine, we'll go all the way to the Atlantic reaches of Canada for THE MOTIVIST. Published by Sarah Evans and Alan Barbour, this zine documents their explorations (usually by bicycle) of the areas around Halifax and Nova Scotia in general. The most recent issue (#6, Fall 2010,) titled "Natural Paths", details a couple rides on rail-trails. While they like the idea of a separated, mostly-flat, and car-free bike route, they mourn the trains that used to ply these corridors. Earlier issues explored the area around Sackville, New Brunswick and the Bay of Fundy. Send them a couple bucks (or a "toonie" I guess) for an issue or $25 (or "equivalent") for a full year subscription. 2649 Fuller Terrace, Halifax NS B3K 3V8

Now let's head to the heartland! Iowa City contains my favorite bike shop that I've never been to, 30th Century Bicycle. Proprietor Cody G. has been involved zines and their bastard second-cousin, "mini-comics," since before the shop opened in '09. She has put out a collection of her illustrated musings, AWKWARDLY PUT, for many a moon. The latest issue is a departure from the diary-styled format she's employed. This issue (#14) talks about the black walnut tree in her yard. You can pick up a copy for, oh $4 or $5 I guess (no one puts prices in their zines anymore, so I'm guessing). Cody can be reached courtesy of 30 Century Bicycle, 310 E Prentiss St C, Iowa City IA 52240

And back to Portland, where Elly Blue has out a fresh issue of TAKING THE LANE. Volume 2, titled Revolutions Every Damn Day, is a "collabo" featuring the thoughts of many women on the issue of "women and bikes". It runs the gamut, from Citybikes co-owner and former Biker Pride contributor Beth Hamon's war against womens-specific "sport" wear, to experiences working in bike shops in the '80's, to wheel building. Pick up an issue for only $3 (I guess). Email her at eleanor.blue at gmail dawt com or order a copy via Microcosm Publishing.

And I'm sure there will be more zine reviews to come! If you have a zine or comic you'd like me to see, whether you think it's "Urban Adventure League appropriate" or not, please send it to:
URBAN ADVENTURE LEAGUE
P O BOX 14185
PORTLAND OR 97293-0185

Happy Xmas
2010!

(note: there is no snow on the ground. This is from last year. And not on Xmas.)

The Half-Assed Artist
or, Posters for Sale!

Yeah, I really need to get better at this artist biz-ness and get a "real" website for my art and maybe an Etsy shop.* But I should let everyone know about the 2 posters I have available right now:



Cycle Portland: Union Station
This one measures 11"x17" and is screenprinted.


Cycle Portland: Steel Bridge
This one is 8"x18: and is also screenprinted. I have also made a postcard of the bicyclist only, this measures 4"x6".

The posters are available for $15 each, $25 for the pair, plus shipping. Postcards are $2 each. If you are interested in purchasing, please drop a line: urbanadventureleague ----{ at }---- gmail ----{ dawt }---- com


*I promise this will be my last "I need to do this better" type post of 2010.

Big Plans for 2011

As the year closes, it's time for me to think of what I'd like to do in the auspices of "The Urban Adventure League" for 2011. It's pretty obvious that I haven't done any rides or walks in a long time. This is due to various personal reasons (read: I'm busy and/or slacking) and the change in seasons. But we've passed "the hump" of Winter Solstice, the days getting longer, and the promise of spring not too far away. And this invigorates me! I've already mentioned my annual Palm Tree Ride for January here. So what else do I want to do?

1. Well, I'd like to bring back the popular Dead Freeways Ride. Not sure when, maybe February or March.
2. I haven't done a "walk" in awhile, so sometime soon would be ripe for a Council Crest Climb.
3. I'd also like to pull off a three-speed themed ride AND a Sans-Derailleur tour. "Mr. Dutch Biking of Vancouver, Washington" Todd Boulanger and I have been talking about a SD Tour for the last couple years (Todd even pulled one off during PedalPalooza 2009,) but the planets never aligned for a repeat. The concept is a short, overnight tour on non-derallieur geared bikes--fixie, single speed, or hub gear. The three-speed themed ride would be a variation concentrating on the hub gears, and a day "romp 'round town" that wouldn't involve camping. (Yes, these rides are in the same vein as the Tweed Ride, but more on bikes/riding, less on clothing.) Tentatively looking at three-speed in March, SD in May.
4. National Train Day is Saturday, May 7th, and I'd like to do a Portland railroad themed ride, possibly titled "The Portland the Railroad Made".
5. And spring means bike touring season will be upon us! Ian Stude and I will probably do another Bike Touring Workshop in early spring.

It's turning out to be quite the full plate! Check back here; I'll have more details when they become available.

Portland, you wish. More like Edmonton. Thanks Keith!

Blink and You'll Miss It
A story of Snow (and bicycles) in Portland

As most folks know, winter means rain in the West-of-Cascades region of the Pacific Northwest (or to some of us living here, Cascadia.) Now that's to say that snow doesn't happen around here (see "The Great One Week Snow and Ice Storm of January 2004" or "Snowpocalypse 2008" for proof), but snowfall is infrequent, insubstantial, and pretty unpredictable. If we get more than two substantial snowfalls a year (and by "substantial" meaning "2 or more inches"), it's a big frikking deal.

And for me, a winter of drizzle/rain, high temps 40-50F (that's 4-10C for you metric kids), and mercury rarely dropping to or below freezing is better than snow and real cold. After all, that's the type of weather I got away from. But I still like seeing snow from time to time, so that's why it's special to me when it happens. But it hasn't really happened yet this year. Around Thanksgiving we were promised a "real" snow, which turned into barely a dusting (which stuck around longer than it normally would, due to sub-freezing temps.) And it was also supposed to snow last Friday (12/17), but we got little more than a super-duper-light-dusting that only stuck to a few cars, and was gone in a few hours.

So it was a surprise to get some snow this past Sunday (12/19) as I was leaving work around 4pm. I would say "pleasant", but I was riding my bike home that night. Now I do have a snow/ice bike setup, a studded front tire and a cross-style rear that I put on my Surly Long Haul Trucker when the forecast calls for winter weather. If I lived in a truly winter climate like this guy I would have a bike set up exclusively for snow in winter, but right now I install/de-install the setup on the Trucker when it's needed. And since this snow was NOWHERE IN THE FORECAST, I was riding the Trucker with normal tires.

"Oh well," I thought, "the snow is actually mixed with rain and isn't sticking." Which was true at SE 30th and Hawthorne, but as I started to gain elevation going up SE Lincoln towards Mt. Tabor, around 50th I noticed that there was a small layer of slush on the road. Geez. Besides walking or busing home, there was nothing more I could do than press on and hope for the best.

Crossing 60th into Mt. Tabor Park, snow was sticking to grassy areas and I braced for the worst as the road steepens to go over the south shoulder of Tabor. Thankfully there wasn't much traffic (except for two other bicyclists!) and when I reached the summit I took a few photos of the winter scene:






The rest of the ride home was uneventful. The slush and slight snow wasn't bad, and within a couple hours it was totally gone. Now when can I actually get a day or two of decent snow?

April's got a blog!

My sweetie has a new blog about bikes and stuff. You should check it out!
http://aprillikesbikes.wordpress.com/

Announcing...
THE SEVENTH ANNUAL PALM TREE RIDE!

Sunday January 16, 2011
10:30am
Bi-Partisan Cafe 7901 SE Stark St

Here's a bicycle ride to prove that winter in PDX ain't so bad! Come along for a tour of the multitude of palm trees and other tropical and evergreen vegetation growing in the city. We always do each year's ride differently, this year exploring some untapped regions of the east side. Flat-ish terrain, with the possibility of a hill (no shame in walking it!) Plenty of stops and a refreshment break. UNLIKE PAST RIDES, this one will actually be (mostly) a loop (no, I'm not going to leave you in Gresham.) Rain or shine!

This ride is possibly the most fun ride I do all year!

(Don't worry if you run a little late, we won't actually leave the Bi-Partisan until about 11 am.)

Bike Crazy

When April and I decided to move in to a fresh new apartment for our cohabitation experiment in April, we decided to "whittle down" our fleet of bicycles. This was a "crucial" "sacrifice" since the apartment is small and neither of us wanted to store bikes outside, etc. I was up to three (aughts Surly Long Haul Trucker, 70's Univega Safari road bike converted to 3-speed with large Wald basket, and a 70's Centurion Super Le Mans road bike converted to single-speed.) April was up to three as well. April decided to give up her beloved Carabella mixte since she cannibalized it to make her Miyata 210 workable. I opted to sell the Univega since I barely used the unwieldy beast since I built up the Centurion. 

So we were down to two each. And that lasted until November.

First to break was April, who found a sweet 90's Novarra Randonee that was a better fit, size-wise, than the Miyata.

And then, through the magic of Craigslist, I found this baby:

A Worksman Cycle Truck! I've been fascinated by these bikes since the first time I saw one on Hawthorne many years ago. It's the original, American "cargo" bike that has been in production since before World War II. The design and concept hasn't changed: a heavy duty cruiser style frame, with a 26" rear wheel. The basket sits on a platform connected to the frame, not front fork, so the front wheel can move independently of the basket and the basket can hold more weight (up to 150 pounds, so I've been told!) The front wheel is only 20" with motorcycle-gauge spokes, so there's more room for the front basket. These are the same bikes seen delivering pizzas around New York City (with a specialized pizza rack in front instead of the basket.)

Schwinn made a highly-collectible version of the Cycle Truck from approx. 1938-68, as did some other American (and British!) bicycle makers. Worksman is the only American company* that has been making them continuously since the Interwar years. You can go to their website and buy a brand new one, the design the same as it always has. Worksman doesn't have the cache that Schwinn does, but that means their cycle truck is cheaper to find used.

And what a bike it is! It can definitely handle a good load in the front. It is not a light and nimble bike by any means (this won't become my regular commuter any time soon), but it's a cargo bike! It doesn't have to be! And it's a bit better at climbing hills due to the time and generosity of Roger Noehren, who installed a 3-speed coaster brake wheel on the rear (the base model is only a single-speed coaster brake. A front drum (hub) brake is another add-on option that I will pursue.) I've always wanted a cargo bike, and this is the most inexpensive option besides an Xtracycle conversion.

To test out its awesomeness, April and I mad a pilgrimage to the big box store one goes to when you need to furnish your apartment: IKEA. The bike loaded up well, and didn't do too shabby on the long hill on the I-205 bike path between Maywood Park and Gateway.

(The Cycle Truck is also useful for carrying April around if I need to.)

And because I'm insane, I decided to get YET ANOTHER BIKE (yes, this brings the count up to four!) I found this Raleigh Wayfarer on Ye Olde Craigslist for a sweet $30:

It's a classic British 3-speed, and I've been looking for an affordable one for a while. The Raleigh Sports is the most common model found, but the Wayfarer is a rarity. In fact, internet info is scant (yes, I've looked at Sheldon Brown) and my British bike expert friends are scratching their heads. We're guessing that it's an early '70's vintage, the last gasp of the classic three-speed before the 10-speed replaced it in our collective hearts and minds.

It's definitely a "project bike" that will take some restoration effort. The bike is remedially rideable right now, but the hub needs work, cables/housing replaced, tires replaced, paint touched up, etc. (And that hideous 70's white saddle is out!) But once it's done, it'll be a fun addition to the stable.

(The herons! The herons!)

(The Sturmey-Archer! The Sturmey-Archer!)

Now I just have to find time to ride all these bikes, let alone where to put them all...

*Portland framebuilder Joseph Ahearne has been making a new Cycle Truck since 2009 that is a more modern update on the Schwinn/Worksman design.

UPDATE 30 NOVEMBER 2011: Besides the Civia Halsted cycle truck, local framebuilder Huckleberry has their own version of a cycle truck.