Working

Working. I work to much.

Man its hard to start a hobby

Well, I really wish I could commit to at least weekly writing on my blog. I have been having trouble riding to work. Between horrible weather and busting my knee it looks like I might be on the bus for a couple of weeks.

On the plus side I got a new phone. Cell phones sure are remarkable. Not just for calling people but the way you can interact with the world from the palm of your hand. I love the little guys. Its like a little extension of yourself.

You can take pictures, keep notes, surf the net, check the weather, do complex math, listen to your favorite song, and send a quick message. I still remember when it was cutting edge to have a pager that would take a 18 digit numeric message. I am sure some people are still in awe of the postal service.

Can we please get some consistant weather!

I was lucky enough to take a little ride yesterday. The weather was great. It seems that you really need to preplan bike routes before you take them.

I thought it would be nice to ride to Parkville on this new trail system they just put in. Its called the Missouri Levee Trail and there is a little info on it online. Recently they also put in a trail near my house that goes from Briarcliff to Riverside. And from what I have learned I thought they all connected. And I thought the levee trail connected to the English Landing Park.

Well none of them connect. And what the county parks website describes as a hard surface trail I would describe as gravel. It is a very smooth gravel trail but I thing of the work hard to descibe something like asphalt which it is not. And had I known this or if it were described better I would have not road my road bike to it or on it. If I had wider tires it would have been just fine though.

It is a nice trail. But it doesn't really connect to anything. That is something I really hate about the city's trails right now. We have all of these trails and none of them seem to connect. It would be fantastic if we could have this trail connect to the riverfront park trail system south of the river. And it would be even nicer if we could connect to the Mill Creek Trail system through Johnson County. We can call it wishful thinking but it would be nice.

So, the ride was great except for the part where we walked one mile along train tracks trying to get back on the road(my fault). And the times we turned around because the sign on the trail said no trail users beyond this point(trails fault). I still do not know if I misunderstood the sign. We saw another trail entrance past were we turned around. I wonder if they are working on it.

My wife was with me on the ride. And she really did great. She doesn't ride as much as I do so this was a challenge for here. Next time we will do more research before we ride somewhere scenic. Our real goal for her was to stay away from hill and we did well with that.

I also rode to work this morning. It was colded than I wanted but it was better than it could have been. Nothing special happened on the ride in. I noticed a lot of extra cars on Swift in North KC. I wondered how many people took taxis home after getting drunk for St. Patrick's day. I also noticed a lot of trash. Good luck cleaning up that mess.

Why I drove to work yesterday!

Well, the 5 inches of snow didn't help anything. Neither did the fact I had to pick up some stuff to take to my work. But the main culprit is Sunday in Kansas City. When I get off work Sunday morning there is no way for me to get home.

I could ride my bike but not well. I don't own a mountain bike or any bike set up for snow. So my last hope is the bus. The Metro runs on Saturdays up north but on sparingly. But this is what it looks like on Sunday.
This is pretty sad. Maybe the city should de-annex the Northland since it doesn't do much for us other than collect our taxes. But, there are two routes that do run up north on Sundays. They don't do much for working folk like me but here they are. North Kansas City who uses our metro system really takes care of its citizens. They will even come to your front door and pick you up.
Isn't that so nice for the city to provide for its citizens!!! Oh, and that other route for Northlanders. The one that really is great.



The CASINO CRUISER!!! Great, now I can gamble all my money away and the city will even help me do it. Go KC!!!

Thanks for using my taxes wisely. I love those million dollar statues on 169 that don't work. I really love that Sprint Arena we voted against. I even love that some other company is making millions on running it for us. I even love that light rail plan we voted for and you rejected.

I even love the fact you are humoring laying off fireman and police officers. Whats even better is you are now mowing grass once every three weeks this summer. The parks will look great with 12 inch tall grass. And I can't wait till you blow up the old Paseo bridge. Its not like commuters could have used that.

Back in the Saddle

I was lucky enough to have a nice ride to work today. Sunday mornings are great in Kansas City. Traffic is light, the sun was up, the only people awake are usually in no big hurry.

Now, if it wasn't 25 degrees and windy it would have been better. I really don't care for the people who claim if you dress for the weather you can ride anywhere. Cold is cold. Your face is always exposed.

I have two other gripes that are my fault.

1. 175mm cranks are perfect for me but to big for my frame. My feet ran into my front wheel twice and my pedal scraped the ground on one turn.

2. When you don't ride consistently all winter my 10 mile fixed gear commute really seems to drag on.

I can't wait until shorts and t-shirt time.

Sorry, been a little busy

Well, my bike is all nice and put together. When I got the new wheels I noticed the chain line was way off. I had a coworker at a local bike shop hook me up with some used Dura Ace's. Sometimes I just get lucky.

This week I will start trying to ride to work again everyday. It has been hit or miss this month. I also lucked out on headphones. I religiously listen to my ipod on my way to work. But, sometimes the cord can get in the way and becomes bothersome. I bought some used bluetooth headphones. They won't work with my ipod but I can use them with my phone. They are truly great. I have played with them for the last couple weeks. Now I can talk on the phone while I ride.

I wonder if I would get a ticket for that in California.

The new wheels

There are so many wheels to choose from even after you narrow down the type of bike you want to ride. So many people ride hybrids, mountain bikes, and road bike to get around town. I have even seen people use full suspension mountain bikes to ride in the city.

I prefer a road bike design. My previous frame was more of a racing frame and it broke(and it was 25 years old). This frame is a more sturdier touring frame. It is probably better for daily commuting. I would ride a hybrid but I think it is better served for shorter commutes.

But, all that aside it was time for the new wheels. The old ones served me fine but I was having them trued every two months, more my fault than the wheels. But, as time goes by I have found that the wheels need to change because my riding is not.

The wheels I have picked out are the deep v design type made by Mavic. More specifically they are the CXP-33's. The deeper aero design is what cyclist call "bomb proof." A lot of people prefer the Velocity Deep V rims but I think that they tend to be more trendy than just plain out great rims. The Mavic's are better built. Their rims are also lighter and welded at the seems as oppose to being pinned like the Velocity Deep V's. This gives a seamless construction that doesn't seperate are the joint over time.

The hubs are made by Surly but I do not see any clear cut difference between them and some of the others in that price group. Maybe because I am not an expert but I can say that most hubs do very well when taken care of. Right now I have what some would call crappy hubs(Suzue Basic). I would say they are great for the money. I rode a 102 miles on them in one day and over 1000 since I have had them. Furthermore, I bought them used.

The last point is when you buy something like this try to use your local bike shop. You might be able to save 20 bucks online but when they fail you will look like an ass when you want your local bike shop to fix them. Especially if you asked their advice on what to buy in the first place. Plus, developing a good relationship with your local bike shop will probably save you tons of money and time in the long run.

Well, they come in next Friday. See you on the road.

Not much to say

I have had a rough week. My wife has been looking for work for a month now and nothing is going on.

As a birthday present I am getting some new wheels. I will post a pic this week.

My internet was broke for a week. I will start blogging more consistently now that it is up and running again.

My Bike and cross training

This is my bicycle. It is always evolving. I am hoping for some new wheels with my tax return. The carbon fork is a new addition that was picked up a couple of weeks ago. The bike before this was was tragically broken and the frame was replaced. Its a great commuter bike.

I ride fixed for the most part. For the next two weeks I will be riding single speed due to a leg injury. I hurt my leg riding fixed. Which leads me to the next part!!!

Cross training is very important. I didn't realize how much your muscles develop unequally when you do not workout other than riding. When my leg started hurting I went to the doctor and he said that my tendon was irritated. So I went to the bike shop to see what they thought. The first thing he asked was what kind of cross training I was doing. I said none and he laughed. So, in short the problem is slowly and painfully being corrected.

Now I am stretching after rides more consistently and concentrating more on my core. If you pick up any Bicycle Magazine you will see a whole section every month talking about different exercises to do. Its a good place to start. I would also talk to your Bike Shop and ask what they do. If they ride they will have all the answers. If they don't ride you need to find a new bike shop with actual cyclist that work their.

New Blog for KC

With Inauguration Day around the corner, the city falling apart, and another year amongst us I thought I would try my efforts at a blog.

Not much to say about me. I am very opinionated and I like to cycle. I know Kansas City is a horrible town for cycling. But, in its defense it has some of the best cyclist, die hard commuters, and greatest bicycle shops in the country.

It has the worst schools and some of the most one way city leaders but it has some of the kindest people too. Maybe this blog will be an outlet for something outside of Tony's KC and for something more positive. Maybe someone will even read it and say something I said was a good idea. Or...at least help me figure out where I am wrong.

One thing I hope to do is at least show the city like I see it. Outside of the confines of the cozy downtown office or from your car on the morning commute. And not from what you hear from the sometimes disconnected Kansas City Star. One thing I am lucky for is in my profession I get to see a lot of people in the city. So, this is how I see it on the street and in first person.