Bread Bike

Eugene’s Ride Of Silence 2012

amckimmey — Thu, 17 May 2012 17:21:10 +0000

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

My Surly LHT Turns 2 Years Old

amckimmey — Thu, 10 May 2012 16:00:59 +0000

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: ‘BOY’

amckimmey — Wed, 25 Apr 2012 18:21:13 +0000

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.

Photos: Trip To Arizona

amckimmey — Sun, 22 Apr 2012 17:36:58 +0000

Last week I took a short trip to visit my brother in his new home in Phoenix (Scottsdale), Arizona. It was a fun time and my mom and little sister were out there visiting as well. To me, Arizona was too hot, but there was still a lot of cool vegetation growing around the city.

360 Degree View at McDowell Sonoran Preserve Trails

Moonlight Mash

amckimmey — Sat, 07 Apr 2012 17:46:50 +0000

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

Bill Nye The Science Guy & Bicycling In The Future

amckimmey — Thu, 05 Apr 2012 18:46:16 +0000

Beloved children’s TV show educator Bill Nye, from the series Bill Nye The Science Guy, did a video for the site BigThink.com on what he sees as the future of cities and how bicycles will be involved.

Oh, how I miss watching the show in grade school years ago.

Video: Stop Motion Bicycle Build

amckimmey — Thu, 05 Apr 2012 17:54:06 +0000

I saw this video over on The Lazy Rando Blog. Though I don’t mountain bike I think this an awesome stop motion video of a bicycle build, so I had to post it.

More about the video on Binary, & the bike in the video, Transition TR250.

Velo Cult, Pedal Nation, & Great Portland Food

amckimmey — Mon, 26 Mar 2012 22:07:41 +0000

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.

Randonneuring in Eugene

amckimmey — Thu, 22 Mar 2012 17:31:22 +0000

For some time now I have been considering the idea of holding some sort of brevet or randonée ride around Eugene. If you don’t know what I am talking there are some great resources about it. RUSA.org (Randonneurs USA), and Bicycle Times Magazine #16 (March 2012, current issue) has two great articles on Paris-Brest-Paris (PBP) and and “What is Randonneuring”. Here is my quick description of what randonneuring is. Long distance, non-competitive bicycle “races”, self contained, with checkpoints, in a specific time limit. Normally ranging between 200-1200km (124-745miles), That can be extreme for a lot of people, myself included. Rides that range in 100-200km (62-124miles), and easier distances go by the name “Populaires”. This is what I would like to hold. This is not an actual race, maybe more of a slow paced club ride. It is not competitive, and there are no places given out to individuals (1st, 2nd, 3rd, etc.). It’s kind of like childhood events where you would get a “participant” award.

I have talked with a couple people around town about it that seem interested, and with the great articles in Bicycle Times hopefully it will increasing the interest in randonneuring. The first one I would like to try to organize would be a “populaire” being about 62miles, and held around late May – early June. Depending on how I can get everything figured out, and organized, as well as the interest in a ride like this, will determine if I try to do more. Hopefully there is interest, and there can be more. I would really like to be able to hold a couple throughout the summer and maybe into the fall. There are some things I would still like to look into. To have an official Randonneur I believe it has to be approved by the Randonneurs USA. I am not quite sure how that works or if I can get that done this short of time. As I figure out more I will keep things up to date.

If you have any ideas, would like help, or just want to show your interest in doing an event like this please leave a comment or send me an email.
BreadBike [at] gmail [dot] com

Leatherman Factory Tour, Hot Lips Pizza, and Black Star Bags

amckimmey — Wed, 21 Mar 2012 18:50:37 +0000

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.