The Ride Of Silence was last night, May 16th in Eugene. If you don’t know what the Ride Of Silence is it a ride to remember cyclist killed or injured on the road. The ride has been going on for 10 years now, and is held on the third Wednesday of May, at 7 p.m local time all across the world.
Here is what the route looked like.
Other Coverage:
KMTR
I have had my Surly Long Haul Trucker for 2 years now, and I have never doubted myself for choosing it over a different bike. The love story between me and the LHT began long before I got her. For years I knew I wanted the bike. I would try out other bikes at shops and never be happy with how they felt or how they were set up. I knew I wanted to do long rides and touring so why not go with a full out touring bike such as the LHT? The one thing was I already had a decent amount of bikes and not a lot of money. Also, I didn’t like the colors it was offered in for a couple years. They were dull colors: Utility Blue, Olive Green, Truckaccino Tan, I wanted something brighter, and then they showed off the new color at Interbike in October 09, Blue Velvet (also known as Hill Street Blue) and I knew I really wanted it.
I moved to Oregon in late March of 2010. A month later, on April 25th, I bought my Surly Long Haul Trucker. I was so happy that day, finally getting a super comfortable bicycle to ride for a long time.
This year on April 25th I happily was able to do a nice 20mile ride with a friend in the morning. Then after he left to go home I kept going, ending up riding just over a metric century that day, 67.58miles in total.
Last year on Surly’s birthday I got him the Surly Rear Nice Rack, and this year I got him the Surly Front Nice Rack to Match. This rack is massive, and will certainly see a lot of use. Now I just need to get myself a set of Ortlieb Front-Roller Panniers to match my Back-Roller.
Happy Birthday Surly!!!
Video Caption: “BOY,’ written by British Airways Great Briton’s winner Prasanna Puwanarajah is a moving short film starring actor Timothy Spall and was inspired by the London 2012 Olympic and Paralympic Games.
Prasanna won over Richard E. Grant and the panel of judges on the BA Great Britons programme with his clear, original and moving script. The film, now complete, will also be show at our pop up event Flight BA2012 and onboard BA flights in the run up to the London 2012 Games.”
This truly is an amazingly moving short film. I hope they bring a lot of tissues on the flights they plan to show this on. Here is some behind the scenes of the shooting for this short film.
Last night was the Moonlight Mash ride around Eugene. There were a lot of great people, music, dancing, and bike riding. Starting at Kesey Square, then onto the rest of downtown, river paths, the university, and ending at Falling Sky Brewery. Hopefully there will be more rides like this in the future. Due to the fact that it was night time, I didn’t get any photos of the ride.
360 of the pre-ride roundup
Moon over the Willamette from Autzen Footbridge
Bikes outside Falling Sky Brewing
Falling Sky's Blueberry Carrot Ginger and Blueberry Pomegranate Orange Sodas
Yesterday Angel and I got a chance to hang out in Portland after taking her sister back from a visit. We started out the day by going to the newly opened Velo Cult Bicycle Shop. Started in 2006, the shop originally is from San Diego, but decided to move the entire shop to Portland, employees and all. We visited them Sunday, on the morning after their Grand Opening Party. (They were still cleaning up after it). The shop caters to commuters, tourers, randonneur riders, and other subcultures of cycling with refurbished and new bicycles, but this is not just a place to sell and service bikes, but a place where all “bicycle culture” gets to meet. There is a large and open floor plan. They have some amazing mechanic work stations, with benches for customers to talk with their mechanic right in front of them; a bar offering local beer and food, a photo booth (which sadly was shut down when we were there), and even an authentic castle drawbridge (which doubles as a stage) in the shop!! I believe the drawbridge is from Canteburry Castle, after it was demolished in 2009. This is a really cool shop and you should check it out if you have a chance. They plan on hosting shows, and screening movies there in the future, as well as putting on other fun events for cyclists.
Also while at Velo Cult I got the chance to check out the Complete Surly Troll. I wouldn’t mind getting one of these as my first mountain bike. I also think it would make a great touring bike for Angel. It would be a good companion to my LHT. If only the Troll came in some color other than orange (her least favorite).
Before we went to Pedal Nation, we stopped by the Off The Griddle food cart. With super nice staff, they offer amazing veggie burgers from their solar-powered cart. Angel went with Vegan Cheeseburger, and I went with O.T.G Burger (no lettuce, tomato) just grilled onions and added BBQ sauce; I like my burgers simple. It’s always fun waiting for your food to come out while you read through some Trivial Pursuit games.
After we arrived to Pedal Nation, I spent a lot of time talking with different people about their products and learning whatever I could. There were a lot of cool things there. The spectrum of booths was across the board, with everything from wooden helmets, a fat tire recumbent, to an upcoming indoor mountain bike park (The Lumberyard) and other great cycling groups. Full list of exhibitors HERE. One thing I thought was really cool is that Nutcase is coming out with 4 bell designs based off of their helmets, which will be available for purchase in the near future (possibly June), along with a new visors to attach to their helmets and even cycling jerseys to match the helmets. Those should all be great. I’m sure Angel will want a watermelon jersey.
Before leaving Portland we had to get our favorite pizza at Sizzle Pie. I went with 2 slices of cheese, and Angel got a rabbit salad. There was no Spiral Tap in the case, (our favorite) so we got one to go that we could eat at home. It was a super great idea. Angel wanted the pins, and I thought I might put the patch on my safety vest. This is truly good pizza.
Last week some friends and I went to the Leatherman Tool factory for a tour. All Leatherman tools are made in Portland, Oregon in this factory, and they are proud of it. Sadly, on the tour they do not allow photos to be taken. It was really cool to see how the tools are made from big steel rolls. Then they’re punched, bent, polished, and assembled into a finished product. (Parts that are forged do not get made here). I have been carrying a Leatherman Wave for the past years and use it everyday. Leatherman has this video tour on the site to make up for no photos in the factory, and it is really nice because you can see things closer up than what we got to see some of the time.
After the tour we went off to the retail store not far away. It had a case that contained the first prototype of the multi-tool from Tim Leatherman, along with a really old, giant, multi-tool made of hundreds of pieces of the tools. I picked up a new knife for Angel, and for my dad. If you ever have a chance to take a tour of the factory, it’s pretty cool, more info about that HERE.
Hot Lips Pizza
After the tour, we ate some lunch
at Hot Lips Pizza. It was the first time I ate their pizza and I thought it was great. I have had their sodas. It is great soda made with fruit from the Pacific Northwest. You can find it bottled all over the place out here. I had a Black Raspberry along with a nice simple slice of cheese pizza, and garlic bread sticks. It was all really great, and I can’t wait to have at all again the next time I make it up to Portland.
Black Star Bags
Right Down the street from Hot Lips on Hawthorn is Black Star Bags, which moved into that location a year ago. The company has been around for the past 5 years, offering great handmade and costume backpacks, messenger bags, panniers, and accessories. David Stoops (Owner/Designer) has great skills, and is capable of making all your bag dreams come true, along with his amazing freestyle embroidery skills on his machines, you can get a piece of art on the bags. Be sure to check out Black Star Bags and stop into the shop if you are looking for a new bag.
My friend who was with me in the shop was getting the design and features of his backpack worked out with David. With David & Black Star, my friend was able to get everything he wanted for his bag, and in a couple weeks he will have his own custom bag that is perfect for him. I can’t wait to see my friend’s backpack after it is finished.
Throughout the month of February I took a lot of great photos that I never used in any of my posts here. So instead of letting them fade back into the darkness of Flickrs past I have collected them all here for anyone interested. February was quite eventful this year. I ended up going on a couple good long rides with friends as well as by myself. I had some good foods I haven’t had in a long time, like a Voodoo Doughnut. And had some great finds like a compost bin and roller trainer.
Now, on to March for even more exciting new adventures for me.
If you don’t use or follow me on Twitter, or have the Instagram app for the iPhone you can always find these photos and more in my Flickr Album: Instagram.
Collin’s Cycle Shop held Eugene’s first bicycle job fair on Sunday February 26th. This might even be Oregon’s first bicycle job fair altogether. This was a great opportunity for people who could make it out to the fair to meet and great with some great company representatives looking for talented people to fill all sorts of positions. I don’t have the numbers, but a lot of people came to the job fair today. With gas prices going up, green culture is growing, and the over-all popularity of bicycling is increasing. Portland, Eugene, and other cities across the US are growing their bicycle industries from small bikes to big name companies. Hopefully there will be more events like this across Oregon and the US in the future.
Companies Represented
Castelli Cycling Clothing (Portland, OR)
Collin’s Cycle Shop (Eugene, OR)
Cyclone Bicycle Supply (Portland, OR)
Garmin (Salem, OR)
Giant Bicycles (Newbury Park, CA)
KoKi Bags (Hood River, OR)
Seattle Bicycle Supply (Seattle, WA)
Specialized Bicycles (Morgan Hill, CA)
Rolf Prima (Eugene, OR)
Thank you to all the companies for this opportunity for so many people.
Photos from the Bicycle Job Fair
360 Degree Photo
Yesterday was a bike group bike ride organized by Eugene Bicyclist. It was a great ride even though there was some rain. There were 16 people who showed up, plus 6 kids in tow. We had a great ride around the bike paths around the Willamette River. It was about a 10 mile ride from EWEB Plaza, to the Autzen Footbridge past the Delta Ponds, then on to Ninkasi Brewing for drinks, where we had a nice time talking. It was great to meet all these people and make new friends.
Thank you to all who came. It was a wonderful time; hopefully we can have another meet up.
All the photos are also on my Flickr.
A little distorted post ride panorama.
More photos from others there
EugeneSRTS – Flickr
Eugene Bicyclist – Post: A little rain never hurt anyone
We made a nice video of the time. Sadly I forgot my GoPro at home, but Angel still got some good footage. Enjoy.
Special thanks to fellow bloggers:
Eugene Bicyclist
EugeneSRTS
Eugene Doom Bike
And businesses:
Ninkasi Brewing for being so kind after the ride.
GreenCycle Services for joining us on our ride.
Yehuda Moon and the Kickstand Cyclery comics are back today. The comic was on a short hiatus while Rick Smith and Brian Griggs figured out what to do with the strip. There was a Kickstarter to raise money for Volumes 2, 3, and 4 to be printed into books. They only needed $18,000 for their goal to produce the books, but ended up with a breathtaking $44,054, from 660 backers. Which is great, I can’t wait to get my volumes in the mail anytime now I would imagine.
Open for Business 12-30-2011
Now for 2012 the comics will be published 5 days a week, Monday through Friday. The new comic will be for Kickstand Club Members, pay $1 a month or $12 for the whole year. With that it allows you to get: Access to the new comic, and view old comics by year/month on nicely organized pages. Non-members can still view old comics, they just have to navigate through on a large pull down menu or clicking through them like the old days. Members will get discounts in the store, and freebies. So become a member now to see the new comics. The comics will also appear in Bicycle Times magazine again starting with issue 15, Feb 2012. Thank you again Rick and Brian, for all the hard work with the comic and for keeping it going. YehudaMoon.com
And again, just like my post about the Kickstand Kickstarter: If you haven’t heard of Yehuda Moon you can still get started reading them, they are all online still, here is a link to the first strip. Yehuda Moon 01-22-2008
Yehuda Moon 01-22-2008
Tagged bicycle, bike, bike commute, bike tour, Kickstarter, library, news, Yehuda Moon
I grew up in central Illinois. In August of 2007, I bought my first real “adult bike” after needing a bike to save money on gas. Since then I have had many bikes. In April of 2010, after moving out to Oregon, I got my beloved Surly Long Haul Trucker. I have put a lot of good miles on the bike. This blog is about my life in Eugene.
Contact me at:
BreadBike [at] gmail [dot] com
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