Tuesday, September 30, 2014

A rough Day on the Road



 I am a daily bike commuter.   I ride from east Nashville, along Davidson, over the pedestrian bridge, through downtown and then take Church St. through midtown then through the medical corridor to my destination on West End.   I’ve been doing this for about five years now.   I know my route, its quirks and the little tricks to make it safe and enjoyable.
            Today I was riding in the morning rush at about 8:45am.   I was waiting at a red light,   (I know, crazy right?)  I was actually waiting behind the 3rd car back.   The reason is, those cars may be planing on turning right onto the interstate ramp.  I don’t think it’s fair to make driver to have to navigate around a bike who wasn’t there before they came to a stop at the light.   If I were to pass them on the right and then block their path; I would be creating a hazard that wasn’t there before they came to a stop at the light. 
            And then, here comes a no-helmet, pony-tailed, bearded dude riding a fixie whizzing past me.   He whizzes through the light.   He goes up to next intersection where he is forced to stop by the traffic coming from the other direction, off the interstate.   My light turns green and I catch up to him where he is waiting. By this time I’ve hopped up into the sidewalk as I cross the overpass, because it’s a tight squeeze.   I say “what’s up" to dude and he asks me how things are on the sidewalk.   I sort of shrug and tell him "it is what it is".   Then the light turns green and we both proceed.   Now I cross the intersection and head for the sidewalk again, right in font of the Hustler store.  This is a busy stretch of road with four or more lanes. There really isn’t room for cars to pass and stay in their lane. I’m turning right real soon to get on a less busy side street.     I’d rather just stay out of traffic, rather than force the issue.  My new buddy then points to a newly installed sign that reads “Cyclist May Use Full Lane”.   He was trying to tell me that I was in the wrong by not taking the lane.
             I tried not to be pissed.   I mean, good for him, blaze a trail.   Fight the good fight.   Block a lane of traffic during morning rush hour and feel that you are standing your ground.  But, where I’m coming from, I’m trying to act as responsible as possible.   If there were pedestrians on the sidewalk I wouldn’t ride there.   If the street is crowded and the sidewalk isn’t then that’s where I’ll ride.  I think the policy should be ride in the road when practical, ride on the sidewalk when sensible.  
            If we really want to be taken seriously, as a mode of transportation that belongs on the road with motor vehicles, then we have to make sure that we do not make a nuisance of ourselves, anymore than necessary.
Where it all went down
            Okay, second part.   On my way home I noticed that my rechargeable light  was running low on juice.   About halfway home it gave out completely.   Then a car drove at me and tried to run me off the road Rob Bironas style. 
I was kind of freaked out.  I mean either dude was fooling with his phone and just forgot where the road was for a second, or he was seriously trying to mess with me.  Maybe he was trying to teach the scofflaw cyclist a lesson for riding at night without a light  The problem was he came really close to hitting me head on at a high rate of speed.   He came across the middle of the road and made me leave the pavement to avoid him. 
            It’s enough to make me want to give up.   Maybe I should just drive a car everyday.   No, screw that.   Even with douche-bag cyclists giving us a bad name, or idiot drivers trying to kill us, riding a bike to work is ten times more fun and healthier than being stuck in a car everyday of your feaking-life.

Monday, August 18, 2014

Some buddies of mine found an old Razor scooter in the trash, so they made some custom wheels for it.   Out of scrap wood.   Like they say, "What is round, can be no rounder".   Sweet ride

Tuesday, May 20, 2014

The New Wheels Roll ...

 I took my flatbed with the new 20" twankies for a spin yesterday.   Worked like a charm.


In this photo you can see that there is plenty of clearance for the neck of the bass.
I just found a awesome page on treehugger.com about bike trailers.   Check it out.

Sunday, May 18, 2014

I upgraded the wheels on my flatbed trailer, by stealing the bigger 20 inchers off my canoe/kayak hauler. 
You can see how much bigger they are.   I once saw a custum auto place called Twinkie's Twenty inch Twanky's; so that's what I'm calling this, the 20 inch twankies.
   To make it work I had to replace the axle with a longer pin.   The one I had was too long so I just slammed a bunch of washers on there.   Works pretty well.  Theoretically ...
These sweet new rims ought to make the bed of the trailer more level.   Plus, with it being about 3' higher off the ground it should give the neck of the upright more clearance.  
  The old wheels made the neck drop down a little too low.   Never was a problem, but looking at it, you'd think it was a little precarious.  The twankies will lift the headstock up off the pavement.



Saturday, May 17, 2014

The cat digs the bike.   I tried to ride with her on the rack but we didn't get far.

This is my electric bass rig, on the gig at the Farmer's Market

My hero, dude hauls his piano behind his bike.   French Quarter

Thursday, May 15, 2014

The canoe trailer works great, but the entrance to the park is just a little too narrow.   I can just barely squeeze through.

See the Wike Kayak traier in action


Go Pro time lapse + Wike Trailer + perception kayak = pedal*paddle youtube


  Here is my BOB tralier loaded with guitar, amp and music stand for a gig.   I like to take the bike downtown because I don't have to worry about the parking.
A homemade recumbent.   Looks like someone bolted a car seat to a huffy.   Saw this on my way to work one day.


That's my upright bass on a flatbed trailer.  I want to swap out the tires for a larger size, to get the neck of the bass a little bit higher.

I scored this sweet road case for a pro video camera.   Strapped it to my flatbed trailer for a waterproof trunk.   Not too heavy.  I used it to haul a Power Mac G5 through downtown during rush hour.

Update!

After years of no blogging, I am considering making the leap back in the pool.   I mainly want to write about my hobby of pulling things with my bike.  and here's some pics.
 This is a Wike Kayak/Canoe trailer.   I'm using it with a Perception Andes sit-on-top.   I wish there was some white-water nearby but, alas it's just flat.  Still nice to go for a pedal-paddle in the A.M.

Wednesday, August 20, 2003

What's goin on? It's been a long hot summer. I finally got a canoe and I've been hitting all the streams around Nashville. I did the red river the other day. It was swell. That's right up there by Adam's TN. Home of the Bell witch. We were hoping to find the witch but she wouldn't come out. It's kinda scary going out to these little out of the way town and parking your car on the side of the road next to a bridge and then leaving it there for a couple of hours. It always brings to mind, scenes from deliverance.