I have been thing about starting to post again on my site.
Until I figure out how to work WordPress again, and I find things to write about. Here is a video Angel made during the first new back in the beginning of December, Enjoy!
I have been thing about starting to post again on my site.
Until I figure out how to work WordPress again, and I find things to write about. Here is a video Angel made during the first new back in the beginning of December, Enjoy!
Yesterday was the Holiday Swarm on South Willamette Street for pedestrians and cyclists to get out and do some last minute shopping the weekend before Christmas. The Swarm was planned by a group of citizens to show the city, and businesses along the street, that pedestrians and cyclists are in large numbers along the road, shopping at their stores and enjoying the community along Willamette, even on days like this.
There were a lot of pedestrians and cyclists, though the video doesn’t show them all. It was taken over a short time, and lots were spread out along the entire street, shopping and eating at all the different businesses South Willamette Street has to offer. Notice all the cars out, most are just passing through this nice little section of town, skipping over these shops. I hope the businesses consider how much pedestrians and cyclists mean to them. Improvements for the street are in the works and being discussed with members of the community to help rejuvenate this section of Willamette street. With a bond measure passed last November, one of the plans is to repave and better redesign the layout of the street to be more multi-modal. There will hopefully be much better pedestrian and bicycle facilities along the road with nicer vehicle lanes to help make traveling to and along Willamette Street much nicer.
Here is other info about the Holiday Swarm onWillamette Street.
Holiday Swarm Willamette Facebook Page, & Event
Story From The Register Guard
Posted in BIKE, Event, Events, News, News, OTHER, Video, Videos
Tagged bicycle, bicycle facilities, bike, bike commute, eugene, Eugene Oregon, Holiday, Holiday Shopping, Oregon, photo, transportation, Willamette, Willamette Street
There are 2 bike horns on Kickstarter right now.
The first bike horn to talk about is the “Loud Bicycle” by Jonathan Lansey. This bike horn is fueled by a rechargeable battery that powers 2 differently toned horns (with an output of 120dB), that look very similar in design to what a modern car horn looks like. This is great, because it truly makes it sound like a car horn, something most drivers are used to hearing. Drivers automatically react when they hear the noise from a car horn, as opposed to a bike bell or a single toned horn. The 2 horns and battery are one unit which is mounted to the downtube of the bicycle frame, with a wire leading to a button trigger that you can place wherever it’s convenient on your handle bars. I really like this design, and wouldn’t mind trying it out. Though it might take up a a decent amount of space.
Loud Bicycle: Car horns for cyclists
When the Kickstarter is over you can view the production on LoudBicycle.com.
The second bike horn is the ORP Smart Horn, also known as the “SMORN”, by Tory Orzeck. This more compact bicycle horn is great and comes loaded with a couple of nice features. The first thing I like about it is it’s not only a horn, but a 87 lumen bike light, with some functions of modern bike lights (constant on, slow strobe, fast strobe). This is perfect for the people who don’t like to deal with a lot of items on their handle bars; one unit does 2 things. The horn functions by toggling the lever in the rear of the unit. Toggle down, and it’s a friendly sounding 76dB(usable on pedestrians and cyclists). Toggle up, unleash the loud 96dB(usable on motor vehicles). All of this is packaged with a rechargeable battery in a nice looking silicon package, mounting easily on to your handle bars.
When the Kickstarter is over you can view the production on ORPland.com.
I really hope that both these horns get funded and are produced. I really love seeing bicycle safety devices like these out on the market. I have a true belief that all bicycles need bells, at least for pedestrian and other cyclists’ sake. And if you interact with large motor vehicle on the road, it’s great to get their attention with horns like these. So stay safe out there.
If you can’t wait or want something in the mean time before either of these come out, you should be happy to know there are some other horns available already.
Delta Airzound Bike Horn, I have one of these, Reviewed Here. This was one of the first bike horns on the market that would actually be audible to people in motor vehicles. It’s a great horn, powered by compressed air. Some things that I have found after using it for some time is I don’t tend to air up the canister much, so I never have use of the horn when I really need it. I also have found cold weather really does mute the reed that makes the sound when the PSI is not to the max. So having a rechargeable battery powered horn would be much nicer.
The Hornet, This is a newer electric horn created in 2011 by a former London lawyer and cyclist. The horn has a high pitched, ear bursting 140dB. I think this is too much power for this horn. Horns should have a deeper sound if they’re going to be that loud.
Posted in BIKE, Kickstarter, OTHER, Reviews
Tagged Airzound, Airzound Bike Horn, Airzound Horn, Bell, bicycle, Bicycle Safety, bike, Bike Bell, bike commute, Bike Horn, Bike Safety, bike tour, Boston, Delta Airzound, Horn, Hornet, Hornet Bike Horn, Hornet Horn, Kickstarter, Loud Bicycle, Loud Bicycle Horn, ORP, ORP Horn, ORPland, Portland, review, safety, The Hornet
Angel has been spending a lot of time over the past year taking video footage and teaching herself to edit them. In November she even spoke at an event in Seattle, talking about how easy it is to take and edit videos with whatever gear you have.
Along with taking photos, Angel started taking some simple video with her basic Canon Powershot SD1400 IS. The camera took pretty nice video, 720p HD. She used the camera every day and it has the wear marks to show for it.
She replaced the camera in April, after the camera focusing motor started to act up and make weird noises, a couple weeks after that she accidentally dropped the camera, cracking the screen. It was time for a new one, so she bought the Canon Powershot 110HS. This was a nice up grade for her. Allowing for full 1080p HD video shooting. She has taken a lot of great photos and videos with the camera. This is what she currently uses for almost everything.
Along with those cameras, she also occasionally uses the GoPro HD Hero I picked up at an REI Garage Sale last year. We have been able to take a lot of great video with this.
With the use of these cameras, and her MacBook Pro with iMovie, she is able to make these great little videos. In the past couple weeks she has made some of my favorite videos.
In Monday Tradition, she simply filmed what she did on Mondays, when she’s not at school, and I’m at work. Featuring one her favorite places to get vegan biscuits and gravy, Wandering Goat.
Mount Pisgah Hike, last week we spent a couple short hours, while it was dry out, hiking around Mount Pisgah.
Winter Soup, This is a great short little video of her making soup. She makes a big pot of soup almost every week, then eats it thought the week. A friend had asked her how she makes it. She had a great creative way to share it with them. You can read about it, and see the recipe HERE.
You can watch more of Angel’s great videos by going to my BreadBikeBlog YouTube Channel. Most the videos on there have been made by Angel. Some she helped me with, but now because of her I can help shoot video footage and help her produce great videos.
Posted in BIKE, Day Ride, FOOD, OTHER, Video, Video, Videos
Tagged Apple, bicycle, bike, bike commute, camera, Canon, Canon Camera, eugene, Eugene Oregon, food, GoPro, hike, iMovie, iPhone, Linus, mixte, Mount Pisgah, Mt Pisgah, Oregon, photo, rain, REI, soup, vegan, vegetarian, video, Wondering Goat
Yesterday was Halloween, Angel and I carved some pumpkins. Nothing fancy. I prefer a classic jack-0-lantern. We re-used some past costumes, Angel went as a fox and I went as a Frog.
So every month here in Eugene there is a gathering of cyclists who ride under the full moon. The Moonlight Mash is always fun with music and friends. This month the full moon was actually on the 29th but the ride was held instead on Halloween (Wednesday the 31st) so that it would be a lot more fun. We got to ride through the neighborhood streets of Eugene, entertaining the kids and parents as they were trick or treating. We got a lot of hooting and hollering. It was a great ride. Sadly, though there were many great costumes out there tonight, due to the darkness and riding, there is not much to share in the realm of photos, but there are a couple from before it got too dark, along with the jack-o-lanterns Angel and I carved this year and carried on our bikes as we rode.
We put some spare rear red bike lights inside the pumpkins to make them glow; it worked out wonderfully.
If you are interested in joining the Moonlight Mash for a ride you can find out all the information on their Facebook Page Here.
Here is a previous post about the Moonlight Mash.
As alway, it’s nice to stop at Falling Sky Brewing for some great microbrew sodas, Watermelon Fizz, Carrot Ginger,and Strawberry-n-Spice(my favorite of the night).
Posted in BIKE, Day Ride, Events, Videos
Tagged bicycle, bike, bike lights, eugene, falling sky, Falling Sky Brewing, Holloween, homemade soda, jack-o-lantern, jackolantern, Linus, Long Haul Trucker, mixte, moon, Moonlgith Mash, Moonlight Monster Mash, neighborhood streets, October, Oregon, photo, pumpkin, soda, Surly
This past weekend was the Oregon Handmade Bicycle Show in Portland. Angel and I traveled to the show, as we always do. The OHBS was one of the first events I saw in Oregon, even before moving here. I came to visit Angel on Halloween 2009, the show was going on that weekend and we went. I have been back every year. The show was great; I really enjoy looking at all the bikes, and talking with the builders and other people at events like this.
Here are some of my favorite things from the show.
Here are some other photos from the show, check out all 260 photos in an album HERE, or just click on some of the photos down below.
There were a lot of great things to see there, and if you didn’t make it to the show I hope you enjoy the photos. I also heard some good news about the show in up coming years. They are planning to hold the OHBS in Portland for 2013 and in Eugene in 2014, rotating around Portland, Bend, and Eugene every couple years. Can’t wait.
If you enjoy handmade bicycles, you can also see photos from our trip to OHBS 2012 photos HERE. (Now I just need to find the other photos I have)
Tagged Ahearne Cycles, bicycle, bike, bike commute, Bikeasaurus, BikeFriday, Chri King, Chris king Percision Components, Cielo Bicycles, Co-Motion Cycles, Coyle Helmets, Helavna Cycles, Hopworks Urban Brewery, Keith Anderson, Light On!, Littleford Cycles, Metrofiets, North St. Bags, OBCA, OHBS, OHBS12, OHBS2012, Oregon, Oregon Bicycle Constructors Association, Oregon Handmade Bicycle Show, Paul Component Engineering, photo, Portland, Renovo Hardwood Bicyles, Reynolds Technology, Risse Racing Technology, Rolf Prima, Sacro Bosco Bicycle Works, Stites Design, Strawberry Bicycles, Sugar Wheel Works, Thursday Bicycles, Ti Cycles, Tsunehiro Cycles, UBI, United Bicycle Institute, VeloCult, Vendetta Cycles, Vulture Bicycles, Winter Bicycles
Rick Smith and Brian Griggs are back with Yehuda Moon & The Kickstand Comics : Volume 5, on Kickstater. Last time they well exceeded their project goal on Kickstarter with Volume 2 ,3, & 4 and hopefully will this time as well, helping to support this great online comic for years to come. So if you enjoy the comic please help fund this great Kickstater project. If you don’t already have the printed volumes of the comic, you can get them at different funding levels.
As I always say, if you haven’t heard of Yehuda Moon you can still get started reading them, as they are all online. Here is a link to the first strip. Yehuda Moon 01-22-2008
Posted in BIKE, Kickstarter, News
Tagged bicycle, bike, bike commute, bike tour, Comic, Kickstand Comics, Kickstarter, Yehuda, Yehuda Moon
It has been a while since my last post. I have been really busy lately, with some trips, visitors, work, moving into a new place, and Angel’s birthday. Here are just a couple photos from the past couple weeks.
Last week Angel and I went on our first camping trip of the summer. We haven’t had enough time since she got done with the school for summer. We went with two of our friends Tuesday night until Wednesday morning. This was a quick bike camping trip we spontaneously decided to do just days before. It was super fun. The weather called for some rain and thunder, and that is what we got. Even so, it was fun.
Due to the secret location of where we camped, I’m only going to post the elevation of what we did. There were some great hills with some gravel logging roads on the way home.
We left Eugene late in the evening, just a couple hours before sunset. It was a nice ride through the country with some nice hills between here and where we camped. Right before we arrived at the camping location we started hearing some thunders. And right when we got there it started sprinkling, although that ended really fast and it didn’t rain anymore that night.
The next morning one of our friends had to leave early to get back to work on time. So it was just 3 of us on the way home. We took our time because none of us had anything to get to that day. We took a longer way home, featuring some long down hill gravel roads where Angel ended up getting a rear flat tire at one point, which got patched up quickly. We got a nice strong bout of rain at one point, which let up quickly. And we only had a couple very small spouts of rain after that. We ended up coming across one of Oregon’s many covered bridges.
Here is a 360° Photo from a clear cut along our route.
Overall it was a great trip and ride. Angel did super well riding her Linus Mixte 3speed, climbing most the hills with no or very little (at least verbal) complaints. Hopefully soon we can get her something with more gears. I’m just trying to figure out what frame would be great for her right now. Hopefully doing an internally geared hub again like a Nexus or Alfine 8 or maybe even an Alfine 11. I’m sure she would appreciate it. It was a great trip, and I hope Angel and I can go on more trips like this before the end of the summer.