Annoyed is one thing, anger is another, rage is simply lost, so a good old fashioned rant here is called for as I let go of a '93 Scott Adventure Peak vintage mountain bike.  

If there is one thing all bike folks agree with it's that bicycle thieves deserve an ass kicking.  Some bike shop owners have made it a mission to help retrieve lost or stolen bicycles and who could blame?  It's less about being a hero and more of personal retribution for healing a sense of having been wronged.  It always hurts when we feel betrayed or blatantly disrespected whether it's by someone close to us or a complete stranger.

With a complete stranger forgiveness is less likely to occur as "it's not personal".  Well shit, if it isn't personal then a good thumping on a bike thief isn't personal either.  So, when I loaned this bike out for a homeless eighteen year old girl to ride to work as she was a friend of an employee at the time and this particular bike was stolen I was indeed angry.  Not only about her blatant irresponsible behavior of leaving the bike unattended outside of a McDonald's unlocked for several hours on a Friday night, but that she had some stupidly absurd comments in her defense.  For example "it's good for the environment that the bike is out there".  Bull shit, I have no idea what the hell that was supposed to mean so upon realizing how delusional she was I kicked her and the employee off the property.  

At least I had the where with all to loan out the least expensive bike from the herd, in fact when selecting a bike for our Arizona vacation I wouldn't have minded so much if it had fallen off the back of a pretty jicky rear car carrier. I chose this old Scott mountain bike to bungee on to the cheap and flimsy bike carrier.  So, no worries , just pissed off and isn't it better to be pissed off than pissed on?  I suppose, thing is for folks who know me and have an idea of the type of substantial loss experienced when I owned my bike shop and it was robbed, certain things can trigger my anger.  Not uncontrollable rage, but not simply annoyed, I suppose it is anger.  So, why dwell on it?

I'm sure whoever stole that bike is going to have a rocky way ahead of them, that seems to be the part of karma we put to work for ourselves when we feel wronged or slighted.  It' on them is probably more accurate as they are responsible for their own behavior.  If you're a kind person in this life, if someone has ever described you as a loving, kind person then know you will never have to worry about "being wrong" and all this comes round to the idea of integrity, one of the things I appreciate most about bike folks.  

Something that plays a significant role in my ability to let this go is that some people just don't have the spiritual or common sense intelligence to value something like personal integrity.  For this reason I am grateful for my innate sense of right and wrong and realize I'm not as stupid as I might think for having loaned the bike out in the first place.  

One thing I have come to know about myself is importance of releasing the pent of frustrations, anger or whatever inner turbulence that is best to be released in a healthy way that doesn't hurt myself or others.  Hence my avid bike travels whether that be in the form of bicycle touring, commuintg or pounding out stress on the mountain bike trails.  I recognize this need when I catch myself blurting out things like "crush, smash" in boisterous loud exclamations.  I also start recollecting past hurts that may have little or nothing to do with what's really the cause of being angry.  Like my step father trying to convince me that my dad doesn't know who his father was.  Hmm, ya like an inglorious bastard and mother fucker "I want my scalps!"
Ya, that feels better.  Now, understand that about a year ago someone broke into our back yard and stole our girls two folding bikes off our back porch while we were out of town and the entire yard is fenced and locked. So, shame me once, twice, third time, oh what's the saying?  At times like these who gives a shit, not me.
Links Provided Here for Information on Bike Theft Prevention, Recovery and places to register your bike.
Bicycle Law.com    Bike Theft Prevention Checklist  Bike Shepherd   Bike Index

We look back on 2013 with some photos from our bike travels, bicycle touring and commuting build projects and other fun stuff.  Photos of our Natural Living Organic Food Co-op, my wood working projects and more.  It has been a lot of hard work and effort and we are grateful for all the help and support we have received from our local community and garden project.  Looking forward to 2014, Enjoy.

Baby, it's cold outside and as the temperature drops I can hear Ray Charles singing warm cozy songs to get me through the day. 
 
A nice winter chill is good for my soul and Lisa notices how it cheers me up and boosts my spirits to feel the dry cool air.  It's not like when I lived in Colorado choosing to bicycle commute because it just made good practical sense.  What with snow plows often times plowing the wrong side of the road thereby burying the driveway entrance in four to five feet of solid ice and snow.  One time it was so cold (several degrees below zero) when I drove my car home from work, got out and shut the door and the windshield cracked.  Yikes!  It wasn't a hard decision to commute by bike after that.  Not only did I save money on gas and other auto maintenance expenses, I didn't have to deal with costly repairs caused by such extreme cold.  

Nowadays, bicycle commuting is easy.  Here on the Texas gulf coast winter is a welcomed diversion from hot, humid, mosquito infested summers.  This winter there has been plenty of rain and with the lack of bike lanes it means that the side street dirt paths that the locals have carved out will be slick with plenty of puddles. 

Today's priority is adding a front fender to the "Rigamaroll".  Affectionately named so as it's a piecer built from some new old stock components and added to over the past eighteen months or so as a suitable commuter bike for this area's terrain.  Pot holes, old streets, brick, cobble stone paths and the aforementioned street side pathways call for a solid "all rounder" with Mavic  26" disc wheelset I'm not concerned about having to true its' wheels very often.  I had considered a fat bike but felt it was a bit redundant and simply unnecessary as I can ride pretty well over beach sand with the Rigamaroll's 2.35" tires.  Anyhow, back to the fender.  I had an old aluminum full front fender pulled from a junker with a bent frame.  Due to the rigidity of the fender material it wasn't necessary to install a full front fender and due to the suspension corrected length of the Kona Project 2 fork installation would have required purchasing or making an adapter so that an equal distance between the tire and fender could be established.  Totally unnecessary for this so I simply cut it down, screwed it on and oala!  It looks pretty nice if I do say so myself, even if the pseudo "hammered finish" gives the appearance of a garbage can lid.  It does the job and didn't cost me a penny, which is always good for me.  
Now that I hear police have been sighting bike commuters for not using a front light, that's next on the list as winter brings longer nights. Since my birthday is this week, think I will wait as I know what the girls are getting me for my bicycle commuting lighting needs.  Hoping it's the Cygolite 300 as I shared a link with Lisa while they were on sale, now there's only four left if anyone's interested.  It's an excellent front bicycle light for my bike commuting needs and for bicycle touring it can be recharged via most solar USB chargers.  Good Stuff. 

When selecting a bike for commuting here are a few things to consider for practical purposes of moving about the town and if need be, country side. Mountain bikes work very well for bicycle commuting particularly when one feels comfortable enough wearing casual clothing while riding their bike.

Mountain bikes are economical and efficient here's some reasons for that. Rather than go on about the various types of mountain bikes, reference the photo above for the rigid mountain bike design which typically weighs less than mountain bikes with suspension, cost less to maintain and service, easily install racks and fenders. "Relatively" light weight.  If I wanted to throw my bike on a bus or transit train I wouldn't want it to be burdensome.  Less weight lends to efficiency while riding, a heavy bike (without cargo) isn't all that much fun to push along or up a hill.  A bicycle's weight contributes to handling, a lighter weight contributes to a more nimble bike, which creates confidence and performance.  For the most part mountain bikes are designed to be durable, churn along through dirt, rocks, mud, water, pretty much anything a biking trail might offer.  For this reason wheels and components are plenty reliable to meet the demands for bike commuting and requires less maintenance costs, ie wheel truing in particular.