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Post by gpickle on Feb 9, 2005 13:32:11 GMT -5
Well, I have not ridden today, but when I do I will post something exciting or lame about it, if anything exciting or lame happens. Thanks Mark!
-gpickle
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Post by Timmy on Feb 9, 2005 19:04:15 GMT -5
Well, I did see my favorite Simpsons episode while riding on the trainer today...
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Post by the weiner posse on Feb 9, 2005 19:20:55 GMT -5
heads up mark...
it looks like guests can't view this new forum...
only logged in users...
it might be a configuration thing that needs to be changed on your part...
perhaps i'm wrong...
i was not on my bicycle today unfortunately...i had to take my cat to the vet via automobile this morning to get neutered...-=(
hopefully now the shop will stop smelling like cat pee...
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Post by gpickle on Feb 9, 2005 19:57:02 GMT -5
Don't you have one of them Campagnolo Cat Neuterers?
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Post by the weiner posse on Feb 9, 2005 20:40:11 GMT -5
nope...the campy one was something stupid...like three hundred bucks or something...it sure was nice though...
really nice...
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Post by gpickle on Mar 11, 2005 16:24:33 GMT -5
It has been a long while since I have felt Hoo-Rippee-Iffic and I was beginning to despair that I would never again feel the rush-and then it hit me. Not a car or a cold wind out of the NW but a sensation.....
I was riding down Iowa Ave in Iowa City.
Riding the line.
Traffic to the left of me. Any of those drivers going to honk at me?
Parked cars to the right. Any of those doors going to open and ruin my day?
Don't ride too far right.
Don't ride too far left.
Stay out of the road "glitter". You know the stuff. That mysterious substance made of sand, dirt, salt, broken dreams and poo, maybe? Give you more flats than a faulty rim strip or bad karma?
Something is different. Less tire noise than usual. Less stress. What's the difference? No crap on the roads? They swept it all into the storm sewers so the good people kind enough to live downstream can drink it?
Yee-haw! A sign of spring even more convincing than the first Robin!
Enjoy, my two wheeled comrades!
-gpickle
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Post by the weiner posse on May 6, 2005 21:31:35 GMT -5
here is my 'hoo-rippee...!' moment...
as i was riding up bowery on my ride home from the shop this evening...i encountered my friend luke running behind a stroller...(no...he wasn't trying to chase it down...)
a big ol' wave and a smiling 'how are you...?' then occured...
then as i approached the four way stop at bowery/summit...i turned right and waved at my friend tom the barber as he came to a stop at the intersection from the south...
i was feeling pretty full of good vibes at this point...so full of good vibes that as i approached to make a left onto sheridan...i wasn't _too_ aggravated with the truck that turned left onto summit right in front of me...i just shook my head at him as he looked right at me whilst pulling out...
then...i made it all of the way to hy-vee to grab some staples of the edible kind...not of the metal kind...and as i was leaving the parking lot i saw yet another friend of mine...zach...walking towards hy-vee...once again i offered a big slow wave of the hand and a 'hello...' as i pedaled by...
and finally...as i made my way even closer home...i ended up catching up with and passing a fellow cyclist that turned out to be my neighbour...!
hoo...
rip...
pee...
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Post by cootie on Jun 8, 2005 10:19:41 GMT -5
This very morning I came home from a road ride, and as I pulled into my yard I saw a HUGE doe making a break for the backyard, ducking out of sight and perhaps into the woods nearby. I said "Aw, neat-o" or something to that effect and went on about my day, which rather immediately involved going to the grocery store on my townie. Once again, as I pulled into the yard I saw another deer, this one not huge but very tiny. At first I thought he was a big cat. He was hiding in a rather wooly part of the yard, and when I got too close he sprang up and looked as if he were going to run two different directions. So dang cute, those little buggers.
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Post by cootie on Jun 17, 2005 16:02:40 GMT -5
Today I was riding south of IC, and I saw a fox. I heard a rustling in the ditch where he had been hiding, and I turned in time to see him trot off through the joining field. Super cool! A little later I was passed by a guy wearing a local team jersey, and he turned his face away from me as he eased on by. I said hello, but he had his iPlod plugged into his ears. I like being a part of a cycling community, and it bemuses me that some people make decisions to be so completely antisocial out on the road. And, I wonder how many amazing sights you miss when you can't hear your surroundings... like a fox in the ditch!
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Post by the weiner posse on Jun 20, 2005 8:07:28 GMT -5
it never ceases to amaze me how some people will do everything in their power to avoid having to look at someone...it often times leaves me bitter...
i'm also amazed that cyclists...who are _already_ at risk riding on public roads...will increase that risk by limiting their most defensive sense by wearing earphones...
that's awesome to hear about the fox though...!
this past week i have noticed a lot more roadkill than normal...and i've thought about how the likelyhood of a bicycle killing an animal is pretty low...i've hit a squirrel on my bike out at sugar bottom before...but he certainly didn't die...
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Post by Timmy on Jun 21, 2005 21:23:47 GMT -5
I sure can't beat a fox, although I did have a possum run alongside me for a while a few years back as I returned home from a late night ride.
As for the antisocial rider, that's one thing about riding in Iowa City that continues to perplex me. There seems to be much more fragmentation here than, for example, the Des Moines area.
All I can do is say that all riders are welcome at the Re-Cycler Lounge.
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Post by cootie on Jul 10, 2005 14:32:10 GMT -5
Eh? What's this you speak of, Timmy? A place for cyclists to hang out that is in-of-doors? Please, share the details!
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Post by Timmy on Jul 11, 2005 17:51:03 GMT -5
The Re-Cycler is simply the name of my home tavern, so namd for the presence of bicycling in the decor and the overall recycled nature of the bar and cooler.
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Post by cootie on Jul 19, 2005 14:44:46 GMT -5
I'm sitting here stuffing my face with kale salad and basking in the afterglow of a superb ride. I rode approximately 25 miles out to a friend's farm near Cedar Bluff and worked in the sun for a few hours. I then rode the same route home in a certain state of bliss that can only come from satisfying manual labor. The bliss turned to giddiness as I snapped and popped my way home... this is the season in which those chip + seal blacktop roads bake under the sun. The asphaltum tar below bubbles to the surface in tight little domes that pop like bubble wrap under your tires. My obsessive compulsive streak loves it!! And, it helps make the road smoother by some minute fraction, allowing me to suspend my white liberal guilt... mmm, is this some sort of American Zen Buddhism?
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Post by gpickle on Nov 29, 2005 21:39:24 GMT -5
Today I was a depressed Little droopy pickle. I had a chat with Cootie about it and how I thought that riding a bicycle might help me cope with my feelings of inadequacy and RAGE. I have not been taking any pleasure rides for the last few weeks as I have been either sick, tired, or working on my house. All in all it has been a long summer and fall of not riding my usual miles and I am longing for my old routine. When I got home from work Cootie was there and she pulled out a pistol and forced me to ride!
I went out on my Motobecane which is having shifting trouble and is in need of a good lubricating of its moving parts and has a very low front tire and a loose bottom bracket that is starting to clunk with every revolution of the crank. It was great. The weather was cold and windy and snow was blowing about. It was great.
I quickly found my happy pace and wandered the familiar bike paths, alleys and roads of Iowa City. My mind wandered as it often does as a I ride and I wondered if I should start a bicycle advocacy group called Iowa Bicycle Riders Advocacy Group (I BRAG) or if I should just change my IBC sign on to Iowa Bicycle Rider Advocacy GPickle (I BRAGPickle) or if I should just incorporate this hilarious idea into a future IBC post. Stay tuned on that one!
Eventually my ride took me north over the interstate and onto the trails by the Iowa City water plant. It was super quiet there except for the interstate. I rode a loop around the ponds and listened to the ducks quack. I was riding toward home with my lights off and enjoying the tailwind I had earned when I heard a dog bark close by on my right. I was surprised because I was quite certain that there were no other people in the park so I turned to look and the Coyote howled. My skin prickled, it was really close. I did what any sensible cyclist would do, I turned on my lights and hauled ass home. I could hear the howling for quite a while as it was carried by the wind. It was great.
When I got home Cootie pointed out that I had ice in my beard. It was great.
gpickle
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