Bread Bike

Yehuda is Here

amckimmey — Fri, 24 Feb 2012 01:05:04 +0000

I received my Yehuda Moon & The Kickstand Cyclery comic books in the mail today. They had great success with the Kickstarter Campaign that raised money to get volumes 3, 4, and 5 printed, as well as help Rick and Brian bring the comic back from a long hiatus. Rick Smith and Brian Griggs have been working hard to keep the comic going. Right now they offer the comic as a $1 a month paid membership, with the occasional free comic for the public.

Like I said, I received volume 3, 4, and 5 along with the patch today in the mail (a great addition to my collection). I bought volume 1 a while back. I also got the burnt piece of the Kickstand Cyclery (yes, a burnt piece of a fictional building) along with a signed drawing of Yehuda from a previous offering by Rick. I’m not a big comic geek, but I really like these comics. Obviously because they are bike related, and I really like the style and storyline of the comic. Even if you are an occasional bicyclist or don’t ride bikes at all they are still great comics and great stories. You can still buy all 4 volumes and some other merchandise in the Kickstand Cyclery Shop.

Top Left: Patch and Books
Top Right: Books, Patch, Burnt piece of the Kickstand, and a drawing a Yehuda
Bottom Left: Inside Covers of Books
Bottom Right: Drawing of Yehuda that came with burnt piece of the Kickstand, and the all books signed, newest 3 have drawings.

And again, just like my previous post about Yehuda Moon: 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

WordPress Gets Dropped Off The Back

amckimmey — Wed, 22 Feb 2012 18:37:29 +0000

BreadBike.wordpress.com has now become BreadBike.com. Making it simpler for the expanding audience and I. Thank you for my usual readers, the people who just stumble upon the blog, and to future readers. I hope you all enjoy.

And remember you can find me (Bread Bike) on other popular social media sites.

This does not affect using the URL “BreadBike.wordpress.com”, that will work fine, nothing actually moved just the name. This will have an effect on the old “Shortlinks”, like what Twitter uses, breaking all the past links from their pages, but new ones will still work.

Instagrams into StickyGram Magnets

amckimmey — Wed, 22 Feb 2012 18:00:26 +0000

Most people know what Instagram is by now, whether they use it themselves with their iPhone, or are bombarded by their friends’ photos being posted on their social media of choice. It’s a nice way to take photos with some style and post them quickly. StickyGram is a company that will take your Instagram photos and make them into magnets. There are a growing number of other companies out there that do similar services, but I decided to go with StickyGram magnets as a Valentine’s gift for Angel. I ordered them on the 13th and got them the 21st, just over a week to get them, which is great, especially since they came from London, England. The overall quality of the magnets are really nice. The magnets are strong and the image quality is great (although I assumed they would be glossy, and they are matte). The image has a white border around the image. It would be nice if the image had a full bleed (image goes to the edge) so there would be no added white, or an option for a black border. I will say one of the magnets dropped and hit its corner. In that corner the image is slightly peeling back. Other than that, they are great. When I get more nice photos, I will probably make some more.
You can purchase the StickyGram s for $14.99, with free shipping, for a sheet of 9 photos.

You can see all my Instagrams in my Flicker Album.

Video & Photo: Skinner Butte Climb

amckimmey — Tue, 21 Feb 2012 16:00:53 +0000

Skinner Butte is located just north of downtown Eugene, and everyone here knows it and has probably a ridden their bike up it a couple times. It’s not a hard ride really, just slow going. Last week I rode up and down it 10 times (making it a little tiring) just to make this 2min video for fun. It allowed me to try the camera out in different angles and views, and ended up being quite fun climbing it that many times in a row.

I got some nice photo on the ride that I like.

I ended up taking over an hour of footage for this 2min video, 10 rides up and down. I did it to try out all the different angles I might be able to do with my GoPro.
Each Ride and What I did that Time
1. Front facing from helmet
2. Pointed at my face (not used)
3. Pointed at gears
4. From rear facing pedals
5. Front wheel
6. Handlebars facing downtube
7. Scenery
8. Map My Ride route mapping (pictured at the bottom)
9. Photos
10. Fun for good measure

So Many Bike Lights, What Bike Lights Do You Like?

amckimmey — Sat, 18 Feb 2012 16:00:17 +0000

Over my years of cycling I have accumulated many different bicycle lights. Everything from the small little blinkies to some heavy duty, from wheel side lights to rechargeable lights. I would recommend almost all of these, especially the Planet Bike Superflash and Turbo rear lights. Angel has recently gotten a new front light to replace her clunky Light & Motion Vega 120. She got the CygoLite Expilion 400. First thoughts: it looks to be really well built and extremely powerful, I might get one myself. Everyone needs a good bicycle light if they plan to ride at night. It’s nice to have extras to pair lights for the best setup, or as backups and lend them to friends. Stay safe when you ride your bike, use good lights. These are the bicycle lights I have, but there are many more lights out there to choose from.

What bicycle lights do you have, like, or would like to use?

I will write review for most of these coming soon.

List of My Current Bike Lights:
Cateye HL-EL120 (discontinued, came in set with TL-LD170)
Cateye TL-LD170 (discontinued, came in set with HL-EL120)
Cateye Loop SL-LD110 Set (bounge mounted front and rear lights)
Cateye Orbit SL-LD120 Set (spoke mounted orange lights for side viability)
Knog Frog – first gen (great helmet, it works well in rear facing helmet vents)
VistaLite 300 Series (unknown manufacturer)
*Light & Motion Stella 200 (discontinued, replaced by new Multi-Sport models)
*Light & Motion Vega 120 (discontinued, replaced by smaller Commuter models)
Planet Bike Superflash Stealth (best rear light, highly recommended)
Planet Bike Superflash Turbo (if the SF is the best, this is even better)
*CygoLite Expilion 400 (Angel’s newest light)

* Indicates the lights are to help you see the roadway, not just to be seen.

Movie: Ride The Divide

amckimmey — Fri, 17 Feb 2012 21:15:55 +0000

Ride the Divide is a movie that documents a group of riders racing from Banff, Alberta, Canada to Antelope Wells, New Mexico, USA (Mexican border) on the Great Divide Mountain Bike Route – 2745 miles. It greatly shows the riders struggles emotionally, physically and mechanically along the way. It’s hard enough for the film crew to catch up and find the cyclists.

It’s a great movie and if you like any sort of cycling you would probably enjoy watching this movie.
It’s on Netflix Streaming right now, or you can request a screening or buy the DVD on the Ride the Divide Site.

Video: January Spencer Butte Hike

amckimmey — Sat, 11 Feb 2012 23:12:51 +0000

Angel made a video of the hike we did up Spencer Butte in January after the first good snow. It was our first hike on the butte and a great time. We can’t wait to get to go hike up it again.

Photos from the hike are in this older post: Snow on Spencer Butte

PSA: “Sonic Sez” to Check Your Bike

amckimmey — Thu, 09 Feb 2012 22:29:51 +0000

Don’t let your bicycle fall in disrepair like Grounder and Scratch. Check your bike over before every ride and keep it well maintained like our good friends Sonic the Hedgehog and Miles “Tails” Prower.

Update:
Here is a great resource for bicycle safety checks and other information at League of American Bicyclists. – Thanks Shane of Eugene Safe Routes to School for the link!

PSA from the 1993 TV series The Adventures of Sonic the Hedgehog.

Traffic Signal PDF

amckimmey — Tue, 07 Feb 2012 23:57:11 +0000

While perusing the City of Eugene today I was looking at the Traffic Safety Devices Page and found in the PDF for Bike Traffic Signal a photo I took of the signal on 18th and Alder. The city had asked to use it, but I just hadn’t looked at what they ending up using it for. It was nice to see that I had photo in there.

Original photo they used here.

I really like how the city has set up the Traffic Safety Devices, it also includes information about: bike boxes, buffer lanes, sharrows, back-in diagonal parking, stutter flashes in crosswalks, and green bike lanes.

Angel and I Are Featured For Our Bike Style

amckimmey — Mon, 06 Feb 2012 17:36:42 +0000

A photo of Angel and I is featured across the Atlantic on the Kitesurf Bike Rambling Blog in their Monday Bike Style Section. Angel wearing her favorite green jacket and watermelon helmet atop her blue haired head. And I am wearing my wonderful reflective vest. (What great style I have.)