Two years blogging

As of this month I have consistently been writing this blog for two years now, with posts initially spanning book reviews and mechanic tidbits to more of a short essay style series of posts that gravitate heavily on ideals that often dictate the marketing, attitudes, goals, appearance and overall philosophy of cyclists and the companies that manufacture cycling related goods.  Contemplating bike related design, ideology, politics and philosophy has become one of my favorite things to write about on the blog and has enabled me to develop new ideas, abandon old ones, forge new attitudes and grow overall as a cyclist, writer, mechanic and teacher.  Though not many know about or read this blog, it has served more as a personal journal that documents ideas and questions that float around as I become inspired and curious by everything spanning bike related conversation, reading online forums and blogs, observing cyclists, my own personal trial and error, mistakes and Epiphanies in the workshop, observing cycling marketing/design and mostly just going out and riding my bike.  Though a lot has come to me during my rides, it is usually slightly afterward that many of my questions and curiosity unfurl and derive themselves from personal experience and my own conjecture. 

New experiences

Over the last two years I have had a lot of new and inspiring experiences in many different contexts.  From rides with new friends to different environments in bike shops, I have met many new faces and had a lot of time to contemplate differing points of views regarding bike stuffs. From full-tilt nu-gear motivated technocrats to die-hard Vintage iconoclasts, I have been offered many different cups of kool-aid of which to taste, guzzle, and more often than not spit back out entirely.  Black and white forms of compartmentalizing seem to split the bike community fairly well into little chunks of the bigger pie and I want nothing to do with it.  As the last two years has come and gone, one of my biggest developing goals has been to disassociate myself from any "type" of cyclist (see my "Not a roadie, not a mountain biker, just a cyclist").  Regardless of what I ride, whenever I choose to ride it, wearing whatever clothes I choose to wear in the process of doing so; I hope to be seen as someone who loves riding bikes, studying its vast culture and history, advocating for its use for various purposes and being involved in the cycling community abroad.

Its time for us all to grow up and bury the hatchet once and for all...

Still learning, still blogging

I have seen, heard, and though about a lot of stuff; but it in no way rivals the amount of things I have yet to experience and hopefully learn.  Growing my skills as a cyclist, writer, mechanic and teacher I hope to move forward in a positive and progressive fashion, continuing to exercise discerning levels of skepticism, willingness to embrace new things and opening up to new dialogue.  I hope to become versed in all of the aforementioned realms and wish to do so by listening carefully, learning well from my mistakes and those of others as well.  Receiving both positive and negative feedback from my peers in a way that opens up healthy dialogue along the way are things that I will look fore more and more.  Having actual conversations as opposed to the heated, emotionally driven arguments that tend to fall flat on their faces from their own dizzying cyclical nature are what I hope to experience the most as I will do my best to foster a good sense of acceptance in being forthcoming.

 I want to thank everyone who has ever read this blog and been supportive in the process of me continuing to write.  Those of you who have taken the time to flesh out ideas, engage in intelligent discussion and make friendly, non vehement suggestions: thank you.  Those of you who don't even read my blog or care much to ponder the topics of the blog but have been friendly, supporting and loving along the way: thank you for these things.  I look forward to more of this and am excited about this crazy future of all of ours.  Cheers everyone! 

Car culture, illusions of safety and commuting alternatives

I have been cycling in a city environment now for 9 years, 6 of which has been commuting without a car.  During that time I have lived all over my city of Albuquerque and noted the differences in city planning and infrastructure, driver behavioral patterns, bike lanes and lack thereof, traffic density and overall reception to the cyclist.  Though I have had spills, been hit by cars and been harassed/threatened: I have conversely had amazingly positive experiences and been welcomed and embraced as a cyclist in various ways and places.  I have also seen more bike lanes appear, vehicular apprehension to cyclists diminish somewhat, cyclists exercising more critical thinking in behavior and the outright number of bikes on the road increase.  Though inner city cycling has taken a big leap as more and more individuals commute to and from work, school, the grocery etc; our inherent danger as cyclists has not substantially changed with the increase in the previously mentioned.  The risk factor of being an object riding on the fringes of city streets (with or without a white-line-painted bike lane or a perforated half shell of foam on your head) with 4,000 lb + boxes of steel passing us at an average of 4 to 5 times the velocity is simply dangerous any way you want to look at it.

This guy is hanging out on the razors edge of safety.  It only takes a quick distraction of a driver to cause an accident
when we are so closely married with cars for space on open roads.

Car culture

When observing the aforementioned risks to riding one can't help but ponder the options to help mitigate the danger factor of cycling.  Some say more bike lanes, others say compulsory helmet laws and some even suggest the cessation of trying to function as a cyclist-commuter in a city setting altogether.  The bottom line is that none of the above embodies the answer to our problems.  The fact at hand here is that our cities, already as developed as they ever will be for the most part, were developed by those who had interests to cater to the advent of the automobile and its predicted proliferation.  Powerful lobbying and ease the of accessibility gave rise to the perceived need for a car culture to flourish and so became the de facto mode of thinking for civil engineers and city planners world wide.  The automobile was embraced as godsend and virtually everyone who could afford one acquired one and commuted daily with it.  The car shaped the genetics of the cities that we all live in bar certain notable places in the Netherlands for example.

Fast forward to 2017 and we see a large resurgence in cycling and its use not just as recreation but as a legitimate mode of transportation altogether.  The only problem with this growing trend in bicycle commuters is that we are growing in a way that is not supported by the environment that we are a part of.  We as cyclists are something like amphibians that are longing for the ability to exercise our limbs in a more useful way that transcends the realm of water.  Though we need and want a better, safer, more consistent place to dwell; it seems to be that it is sadly not as much within the confines of these cities as we had hoped.

its time for us to wake up a bit and face reality, our almost purely car-centric city infrastructure
 won't transform into this overnight, or any time soon (Copenhagen)

Alternatives

So you want to divorce yourself from car culture and commute more by bike and foot but see the dangerous nature of this option for what it is.  You understand the implications that exist and have come to terms with the fact that there are fundamental risk factors at present when you decide to live such a life.  So whats next?  You can do one of either two things: stop cycling altogether and throw in the towel, or look for options and alternatives for sustaining a safer and more consistent method of traversing the cities that we all live in.  If you opt for the latter, here are a few of the not-so-obvious things that come to my mind when thinking of how to work with all of this.

#1 - Neighborhood Riding

To the best degree that you can, riding on smaller neighborhoods is one of the best options.  It usually takes more time and planning to devise a more neighborhood and side road oriented method of commuting, but the payoff is huge in that you are contending with vehicles that are often driving at 2/3rd the speed of those on non-freeway city roads (35-45 mph).  You have a substantially better chance of being seen by slower automobiles and if an impact with a vehicle does occur, the difference is greatly reduced.

#2 - Travel when traffic is low

If possible, try to ride when you know traffic is going to be at its slow points.  Though you may not be able to dictate the time and place of destination for your commutes, you can certainly try and get that hour head start before traffic becomes frighteningly high paced and dense. 

#3 - Get some wide tires

There are going to be times when you simply cant help but have to do everything in your power to evade an accident.  Often times that means swerving out of harms way without taking into consideration things like irregularities in the road.  With all the cracks and bumps that exist in the road it is easy to get thin tires caught in these places which can pitch you clean off your bike (I speak from multiple personal experiences).  This one isn't about personal preference for the ride quality or speed factor of skinny vs big tires as much as it is about fundamental stability and the ability to evade harms way suddenly.

#4 - Be confident and assertive

If you make it clear to motorists that you know what you are doing on the road by demonstrating assertiveness and confidence in your riding, it is my opinion that drivers will become acclimated to the presence of safe and smart cyclists.  An example being you approaching a four way stop with a vehicle behind and holding the the entirety of a one-car lain: you are definitively making your intentions clear and have every right to be doing so.  Though this is very different from deliberately blocking the flow of traffic, it does allows you to assert your presence in a much more intimate, 1 on 1 way with drivers.  Making it clear that you are just as much a meaningful and discerning part of traffic as vehicles are is massively needed and in our best interest to show it.

#5 - Unplug and open up your senses

Perhaps this should have been the first part of my list here.  Nothing hinders our ability to exercise  preventive measure more than literally stripping ourselves away from our senses.  Be it texting or having headphones in your ears during riding, you are endangering yourself and others while riding.  Though you cant always see coming whats coming you can often hear it (and vice versa for that matter) by allowing yourself to be receptive via opening up all of your main senses.  Its also never fun to have to shout at the top of your lungs at a fellow cyclist who is wearing headphones that you are passing or having one swerve into you as they are texting or stravaing, or instagrming or whatevering on their phone.

Retro geeks and carbon freaks: My experience vending at The Denver VeloSwap

The month before last my friend Jim mentions to me that he is going up to Denver again with his friend to the VeloSwap; this time to sell things as a vendor.  I ask him when it is, how long the event goes on for and if it costs much to sell stuff.  He answers my questions, and ends up alluding to me tagging along.  I tell him that I would love to drive up with him and his friend (who I unknowingly knew) and that was that.  Fast forward a month and I am back in town after having had an exciting, hurried at times, snail paced at others, delightful and informative experience In Denver, CO.  

The company

My trip to the VeloSwap was with two down to earth, friendly fellows: Mike and Jim.  Jim is a volunteer that I met and got to know fairly well at my current place of work (Esperonza Community Bike Shop).  He is a super mild mannered guy in his late 60's who is an avid enthusiast of road, mountain and commuter bikes.  His taste in bikes somewhat reflects his age, pedigree and overall attitude towards bikes; I say this with zero negative connotation.  Suffice it to say that Jim has a comprehensive collection of bikes spanning the ranks of Lennard Zin, Bruce Gordon and Ben Serotta and Fastab, to Titus, Voodoo, Ibis and Yeti; and thats just scratching the surface.  He likes bikes of all sorts, and it was undeniably evident long before I stepped foot in his bikeshop (I mean house).  Jim is the kind of guy who can share a lot of interesting, heady information about bikes and their history without coming off cocksure and snobby in even the slightly way.  We hit it off on day one and it has been nothing but good laughs, shared stories and info, and parts swapping ever since.

When Jim told me about his friend mike I didn't know much about him or what to expect.  He talked a bit about his affinity for Schwinns and Cinellis as I began to paint a mental picture of the guy.  Roughly two weeks before out trip I met Mike for what I thought was going to be the first time, only to discover that not only had I seen him around before, but I had previously sold him Campagnolo bits at a bike swap something like five or so years prior.  Never the less I got to learn about Mike and his next-lever bike lust soon after.  On the drive I was told of how he would often spend what sounds like over a year building one single bike at a time, often waiting patiently for the perfect parts for that era correct build or ultra-specific look to compliment the overall project.  He told me that he once spent over a thousand dollars on a nearly one of a kind, Handmade, glass Cinelli stem badge (yes I said stem).  The guy likes his bikes and he likes the to be very specific about what he buys (he also happens to ride a steel Ibis mountain bike like Jim).  If there was one thing that Jim and Mike had in common it was their ability to come off as being completely down to earth about their passion for bikes while being totally inclusive and cordial regardless of differences in taste.  I knew this was going to be a fun trip, and it sure as hell was.

Getting loaded up as we prepared to leave from my appartment.  A Mercian, Spicer, Zin, Bennoto and Pogliaghi
grace the back end of Mike's truck with bags and boxes stuffed in between.

The Swap

The event was broken down for us into two days; the initial entry and booth setup on Friday and the actual Swap on Saturday that was open to the public.  Unfortunately I did not have my camera with me on the day of the swap but I was able to take a good amount of photos from the Vendor-only setup day of Friday.  It was pretty incredible seeing the turn out for this event.  I was told by some and read online that this was considered the biggest bike swap in the country.  The event itself proved to be a huge with very small vendors juxtaposed with some of the biggest bicycle, component and accessory manufactures in the market.

The event was held in the huge National Western Complex Convention Center and was basically divided into two main rooms.  The entrance room had huge dealer booths selling new and discounted offerings from their company in the form of complete bikes, parts, swag and promotional handouts.
The second portion of the event had all types of vendors selling used and new everything.  Some came out with nothing but clothing and accessories and others with massive fleets of complete bikes.  There were sellers with a table full of parts and a few bikes like ourselves as well as some very eager sellers who were in buy-and-flip mode, gobbling up good deals left and right.  One guy was so caught up in his buying spree that he literally forgot his giant bag of cash on top of some old bike clothes as my friend Jim soon found the loot.  Shortly thereafter he discovered who it belonged to and made it right.  I was happy to see so many small local and domestic sellers with everything from purely modern, high end road/mtb kit for sale to old jerseys and bike parts, memorabilia, ephemera and paraphernalia.

It was a stark contrast to see many former bike shop owners selling the remaining stuff from their once-shop and share the event space with many of the proprietors that possibly helped put them out of business.  But more on that another time, as for now: a much warranted photo dump.

we sat in this line for what must have been nearly two hours just to get in, and we were
 relatively early..good thing there was a dispensary just around the corner...joking.. but seriously 
there was one right in front of the convention center 

Before we even finished setting up we were met by Mike, the owner of Boulder and Rene Herse Cycles
(maker of randonneur style bicycles frames and used vintage parts seller) as he raided
 our table with Campy boxes and small bits in hand.  Jim on the left (blue shift) and Mike on the right 

Two very friendly individuals who I discovered run a Denver community bicycle shop setup their
zone and discuss parts while some of the early vendors arrive.

before long lots of carbon begins to appear...

the guy on the right and four or so of his local, Armature Enduro-Racer friends each had their own tent, 
a few bikes to sell, tons of take off tires that were hardly used, and lots of parts. 
 At the end one of them offered me a lot of 10 or so used 27.5 x 2.6" tires for 10 dollars 
just to get them out of his hair.  I didn't have room in the truck..

a sea of moderately priced, vintage cycling caps

The loneliest bike at the show

this pooch about embodied my level of exhaustion by the end of the day.. awake and attentive, but just barely..

our zone all set up.. mostly.  The right side of the table represents my offerings as well as the bottom section
of frames, books and bits.  The bikes in the back are all Jims

A lot of early run 3-bolt White industries disc hubs.... wow

I don't believe that this guy was selling anything, but must have bought a booth
space just to get early dibs on the vendors setup day.  Doing laps around
 the event hunting those good deals

this lady came from California with her partner to sell tons of stuff.  They had multiple tents if I remember correctly

more carbon begins to appear, the boingy varietal this time

Nikki, the owner of Mobius cycles is now the owner of my once very loved Serotta 

yeti fox racing box

A coupple of gorgeous Mercian builds

someones really cool fleet of bikes for sale.. very reasonably priced

omg so much wheelz

and then this vintage Retrotec appeared that I should have purchased.
1" head tube, segmented fork... what was i thinking :(

Campy box and bike locks

Toshi, the founder/owner of Vintage Mountain Bike Project getting weird with
his unique Don McClun.. 

NOS oldies but goodies

 one of many former bike shop owners selling their remaining stash 

high dollar mtbs literally laying around

Justyne, owner/founder of Bike Recyclerly just before selling off the entire booth in one go to
a seriously ambitious buyer.  The same guy bought someone else's entire booth as well.

the second most lonely bike at the swap

Nikki at our booth again.  She also bought my Bontrager frame to build up for her own personal use.

Overall the event was an incredibly positive and fun experience for a super bike enthusiast/nerd such as myself.  I met a ton of friendly faces and saw some amazing, interesting, confusing, and unbelievably downright strange stuff.  The reception was outstanding and the buyers were friendly and willing to play ball with lots of haggle factor.  We all did some good sales and I was able to pretty much brake even on the trip.  I came back with a few extra dollars in pocket, scored a couple of very cool bits, a very unique and useful tool that I have been seeking for almost two years well as some awesome memories I wont be forgetting anytime soon.  Being a vendor was really fun but made the trips focus a lot more bike swap oriented and lacking in adventuring somewhat.  Lots of driving and repeated loading/unloading took place over the four days of our trip and had the thing feeling like half work, half vacation.  We all talked about doing the event as "buyers" next year so as to enjoy more walking around, adventuring, parts swapping and picture taking.

A special thanks to Jim and Mike for allowing me to tag along and putting up with my crazy ass!  If any of you from the swap somehow manage to read this, a big thanks for helping make the event so fun.  If so you know who you are!