Friday, August 30, 2013

Transportation choices.....pick carefully!


Cyclist killed in Gardnerville.

I can't believe I've only just heard about this one today (from ktvn channel 2):


So right now all we know is that this is a car vs. bike collision.....but based on the description, "Investigators say both bike and car were traveling the same direction on Pine Nut Road.  The driver was making a right turn onto another road when the right rear of his vehicle struck the bike.", this is a classic case of the right hook move.  Meaning a driver passes a cyclist and then proceeds to execute a right turn directly across the path of the cyclist.  If this is a correct description, the judge should be up for a very real penalty!

Here's a slightly better article from the Record - Courier:


Thursday, August 29, 2013

Interesting find on the morning commute! A real live Beaver!

Ok, so this is a picture of him swimming in the Whitewater park (you can see his head by the big rock).  Because I'm new to the the fancy cell phone camera, I missed him walking up on the rock drops a few seconds earlier.  Believe me, he's a big fricking beaver!  Anyway, it must mean the Truckee River isn't a totally unnatural system any more if we're starting to see beavers in downtown!




Keystone bike lanes in jeopardy!

Long story short.  These lanes were supposed to be a done deal.  The public meetings didn't generate any real negative response.  The plans were done and we were ready to go.....until the city council meeting yesterday. 

Apparently, there was a negative email campaign directed by one of the unhappy residents (a definite minority at the meetings) that targeted our Ward 5 council member (Neoma Jardon) with a bunch of incorrect "facts" that gave her the opinion that she "couldn't support the change".

So we now have one month to get her and council to reconsider!  So if you care about it at all, leave me a comment so I can get you involved in sending her a positive form email!

More on this later.....

Wednesday, August 28, 2013

More bicycle justice!

And yes....we all know this is a bit dangerous.  However, we also know the police never would have done anything.


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Clipless pedals....the learning curve.

Ok, wifey is generously donating the content for this blog entry.  In preparation for Cycle Oregon (a week long bike ride) she has ventured down the path of clipless pedals.  Which if you are unfamiliar, still means you are clipped (lock in) to the pedals.  I'm a fan of the crank brothers brand/style of clipless pedal and decided to go with a model called the mallet. 



One of the nice parts about this pedal is that if you don't have your bike shoes it has a platform the size of a normal peddle, and you can ride about your merry way with street shoes or sandals.  The only down side might be that they are harder to clip into / out of because the bike shoe treed actually makes contact with the platform of the pedal at the time of clip in.

Now....before we go any further, I will say that using clipless pedals is a "learned skill" meaning there is some trial and error at learning to clip in and, perhaps more importantly, clip out.  Everyone (and I mean everyone) eventually fails to clip out at the desired (or required) time and does some less than articulate flailing just prior to falling over while still connected to the bike.

During wifey's first outing she had successfully clipped in and out a couple times.  I had smartly left the dog in the house during this time to avoid any possible "extra" confusion.  However, since the dog was trying to tear the window blinds down to join us, I ran into the house for a couple seconds to escort her to the back yard..... 

When I returned, wifey had already experienced her first round of not unclipping...

She was still in good spirits but a bit of damage was done.  The damage included her first chain ring tattoo and a pretty scrapped up knee.  So if you don't like blood and gore proceed no further.

If you do then scroll down....



Tuesday, August 27, 2013

Scary driving trends noted by AAA.

If your in a hurry just read the bullet-ed points about a third of the way down.  This article will definitely keep you glancing back over your shoulder while riding!

**If the text is too small, click on the article to go to the source.**


Monday, August 26, 2013

One of the things the weekend held.

Professional brewing.....on my birthday no less!  Ok, work is busy so I'll keep this short.  It was a crappy outdoor weekend with all the smoke....so the Preacher invited me down to Silver Peak Brewery to help put together a batch of  his "Reddy Eddy".  It was the winning recipe at Backwash two years ago and Silver Peak has decided to bring it back on tap!  The only thing close to biking content from here on out is, yes, we rode our bikes down to the brewery.  So....here's some pics.

Lautering in the Mash tun.  E.g. Rinsing sugars out of the grain....

Taking specific gravity (sugar content) of the Wort (the base of beer before fermentation).  More sugar means higher alcohol content.

The Preacher adding the hops to the boil kettle (bittering agent for the beer).

Thursday, August 22, 2013

What a prick.....

I bet you think this is another angry rant about an experience on the road.....but it isn't!  It's about how awesome my new Schwable Marathon Supreme tires are!  I'll let the pictures do the talking.

Shit, another goat head.

Removed goat head....wait shouldn't I hear a hissing in the background?
That's the thing....I found this sucker (and it's not the first one in these tires) and gingerly removed it, waiting for that inevitable hiss that follows this most times.  But....but....no hiss!  Sweet!!  And p.s. there are no tuff strips in these babies!

A little background.  Most of my (and wifey') bikes have Pasela Tour Guard tires complete with tuff strips for added flat protection.  In general this combo makes for (knock on wood) a pretty puncture resistant set up.  However, once in a while a goat head will get just to the side of the tuff strip and cause a problem.  I like these tires because they are inexpensive, puncture resistant, are light weight, and has old school gumwalls.

So why bite the bullet and get the most expensive "puncture resistant" tire on the market?  Well, I needed something that came in a relatively huge size 2.0 x 29.  This limits one's options.....and it's supposed to be the best...and we're doing Cycle Oregon this year......and I hate flats.....and, and, and....

So anyway, so far they seem to be up to the challenge.  We'll see how the miles add up and look back on this again in the future.


Tuesday, August 20, 2013

New Trails in the works for Peavine Mountain!

No writeup on this yet....but the Poedunks just published this map!  Looks like progress to me!

I'll update this if I hear more on specifics.

Cleaning up....

Since Rock Park had the whitewater features installed a few years back, it sees massive daily crowds almost every summer day.  Who can blame them, it's a great swimming, paddle boarding, and kayaking location.  It's also directly accessible by the river path.....in fact, the path runs right through it.  This does mean that a huge amount of gravel, woodchips, sand and debris often covers the path through the park, making for some pseudo treacherous riding if your not paying attention.

However, thanks to the City of Sparks this isn't a huge problem, because they actually send someone out to sweep it about once a week!  Today I got to say thank you in person.


And thanks to my new cell phone....the picture doesn't suck (beyond my lack of proper sense on photo composition)!

So anyway, if you see one of these guys out with a broom, be sure to say thank you!

Cyclist Killed in Fernley.

This is a post borrowed from KTVN (Channel 2):


KTVN Channel 2 - Reno Tahoe News Weather, Video -



Any way you look at this it's a terrible situation (both for the rider and the driver).  There aren't any details in the report here or at alternate sources and the investigation is ongoing.  At this point no fault has been assigned.


However, I can't help but not be able to get over this picture.  The article says the cyclist was riding in front of the truck and there is a pretty obvious dent in the front middle of the trucks hood and the bumper is angled down (which happens when you rear end someone).  I realized cyclists can swerve suddenly to avoid obstacles or for other reasons, but to get the to middle of this truck is a pretty big swerve.

Generally speaking when you rear end someone you're automatically "at fault".  Why isn't this the case here?  And yes, I realized these things could have preexisted on the truck prior to the incident.  I'm just posing the questions since a cyclist died as the result of the incident.  Either way I'm watching for the results of the investigation. 

Monday, August 19, 2013

Weekend routes....and sweet, sweet bicycle justice!

Ok, so I didn't take pictures again.  I guess I just haven't had the love on carrying the camera lately.  There was however, riding this weekend and here's what the routes looked like.

Friday night after work:


Nothing special, just the ride home from work.  Due to some last minute plans this route took us from work to the Brasserie to meet some friends, followed by a detour to 1864 (pub) and then on home to feed the dog.  I realized this is not dramatic news....but hey you're the one looking for where to ride around Reno!  

The next day, a serious decision was made....it's been a long time coming....it was time.....to get new phones.  Yep, wifey and I are moving into the smart phone ages!  I guess this really means I'll have to take pictures in the future.  Anyway, bicycles were once again (shocking I know) the chosen transportation method and here's the route:




Just a note here....it's not always easy to get from the North side of Reno to the South side of Reno without encountering some less than optimal riding conditions, but if you think it through you can usually come up with a route that will work.  This one did the trick nicely!

The only unpleasant instance was around the mile 10 marker (next to Virginia Lake).  What's this you say?  Virginia Lake has a speed limit of 15 mph!?  How could this be an unpleasant area?

Well, let me tell you a story (it has a great ending)!  We were rolling along....just getting to the south end of Virginia Lake when a loud (and close) horn is sounded.  Not a little beep, beep.  An extended BEEEEEEEEEEEP!!  This was in a location where there was no traffic in the oncoming lane, we're in a park setting, we're to the right side of the lane, and we're doing the posted speed limit.  Some jackass in a Mercedes really needed to let us know we needed to get out of his way.

After looking back and see this I did the less than correct thing......I moved to the middle of the lane and skidded to a halt.  Mr. Mercedes didn't like this and wanted no part of the confrontation he asked for, and then decided to use the alternate lane to pass me.  Continuing to be less than calm, I rode him down to get his tag numbers.  This turned out to be my lucky day, because as I caught up to him (with witnesses calling out his tag numbers from the running path)......we passed a RPD officer on patrol.  Wifey and I both flagged her down and encouraged her to follow us and Mr. Mercedes.  The officer obliged and pull Mr. Mercedes over with lights flashing. 

I bet this guy couldn't believe his poor luck!  The office consulted us on the problem (and let us know she bikes to work most days!)....and basically let us know that there isn't a lot that can really be done without a ton of fuss.  Which I totally understand......but she did promise to chew him out and let him know he wasn't in the right.  So, we then got to ride by Mr. Mercedes and proceed on our merry way while he got chewed out!

I realized this is not a great scenario....and the guy might be even more aggressive toward cyclist because of it.....but he might have learned his lesson too.  Either way, it sure was fun to have cop pull the jerk over! 


Friday, August 16, 2013

Sorry, didn't take pictures today.

So....I have a complete lack of content today, so this is how my day has progressed.

5:45 am - Damn....wake up.
6:00 am - Go for run.
7:00 am - Clean self for work.
7:30 am - Ride bike to work.
8 - 12 - Push buttons on keyboard and click mouse.....a lot.
12 -1 pm - Ride bike to Thai Nakoorn for lunch (yummy!) and chat with wifey (who also rode).
1-4 pm - Push more buttons....click mouse....
4 pm - Work provides beer Friday (God I work for a great company).....and it's Great Basin beer!
5 pm - Plan to ride to Reno Homebrewer to begin weekend!

Hope your Friday stacks up as well!

Thursday, August 15, 2013

Riding with the Pros!


My commute took me right by the "Ride with the Pros" event that benefits the Tahoe-Pyramid Bike Path.  Looks like they have a good turn out!  I don't know if I saw Jens Voigt or not, but wifey and I definitely had a "Mother F**king good commute".....  If you don't know the background of the obscene reference you'll have to head over to BikeReno.net and watch the video.

Tuesday, August 13, 2013

Debris (Large Scale and Small Scale).

If you didn't notice....I was out of town (yet again) last Thursday and Friday to visit family in Colorado.  While I was there, the town of Manitou Springs had a nice little cloudburst, dropping 1 1/2 inches of rain in an hour.  Combined with the fact that the entire mountainside above the town had burned last year, this lead to major mudflows and flooding.  Flooding that carried 40 cars away and moved buildings off foundations!!  This was personally tragic for me because it cancelled the Manitou Springs Lager festival I was in town for (I know, I know, very small problem compared to the town folks). 





Anyway, while riding in this week I notice we must have had a bit of rain and flooding here while I was gone.  The evidence.....minor debris/mud flows across the river path.





This isn't even one of the more impressive ones.....but it was where I actually remembered to stop and take a picture.  The coolest part is that someone from the parks department has already been out and shoveled the bulk of the debris off the trail!  How's that for service!?  So watch out for a bit of sand and gravel on the trail this week and be sure to say thanks if you see any city park workers out and about.

Monday, August 12, 2013

Your next home improvement project!


Ride with the Pros (this Thursday)!

Just saw this over at BikeReno.net.  I'm not a huge roady or racer type guy, but this is still a cool opportunity to rub shoulders with some professional riders and see how the big boys play.  So if you have the time get out and join them.  The donations go to the Tahoe-Pyramid bikeway so it's a great cause!

Click the line to get over to BikeReno.net for details:




Wednesday, August 7, 2013

River Path improvements!

Shockingly I have something to say about the river path....more improvements.  Right before (like 1 day) bike to work week the Tahoe-Pyramid Bikeway group managed to the the really rough section of the river path behind the Auto Museum repaved!  However, as some folk pointed out, it's still pretty narrow and had a rather deadly plunge to the river at the edge of the asphalt.

It's still not great....but someone (not sure who) has recently built up some rock walls below the path and back filled them with rocks and dirt.



Don't get me wrong.  I realize the potential to crash and burn here is still pretty high, but hey, they are trying and the extra 1-2 feet with a soft gavel fill might keep you from going over the edge.  It use to be a complete drop off at the edge of the asphalt.

So kudos to whoever did the work.  Path users appreciate your efforts.

On a side note, after riding past the path improvements on the way home.....the sky looked like this:


"Divine" radiance on the same day people improved a bike path......coincidence!?....I think not!

Monday, August 5, 2013

The Weekend Report (it's long....you've been warned).

Ok, so Friday evening kicked off with a windy (read headwind) ride up Mill St. We were headed (wifey and I) to Food Truck Friday at Idlewild.  Mill St. is not a particularly nice place to ride, even though there are bike lanes....but it is the most direct way to town from the far side of the airport.  In a rather rare event, we actually ran into another cyclist (so I got a chance to draft for a few blocks!).

Mill St. is not a good place to be fumbling with a camera so excuse the poor photos.  I just had to get a picture with another rider on Mill!

Ok, proof that he's back there.  Yes, I cut off his head.

Ok, see....he's back there and very blurry.
So when we finally got to Food Truck Friday it was in full swing.  We found good food and good beer to start things off.  In fact some of the vegetarian food was fa nominal!  




After the good food and music and visiting with multiple fiends, it was off to the Preacher's house for a final round of drinks.  And I mean final.....as the Preacher and his wifey are sadly (for us) and happily (for them) moving off to Bend, Or.  Apparently Reno's brewery density is far to low for them.....or they are sick of listening to me ramble on endlessly!  Either way with most of their worldly possessions in storage, we attacked what was left (his kegerator) with reckless abandon!

The Preacher giving me "last rites"!
The Preacher's last sermon!?  No more riding bikes in the house....it's sold.  You must ride outside!

 So, (shockingly) motivation the following morning was low.....we were supposed to go for a nice moderate bike ride.  This ended up being pushed to Sunday, where we did 34 miles around Washoe Lake.  Surprisingly, I've never done this ride.  We chose to start it out of the Summit Mall parking lot following a route like this:


It's a great ride with a lot of opportunities to pause including, the Chocolate Nugget, Bower's Mansion park, multiple Washoe lake parks, and smattering of Washoe bars and cafe's.  I'll let the pics do the talking on this one.

Proper signage for what used to be a busy section of 395.  Now a nice ride with light traffic and wide shoulders!

Most traffic seems to merge over, offering even nicer riding!

Views of Mt. Rose, the new bridge, and some "gorgeous" wires.

The Chocolate Nugget.  They have all the sugar you need and ice cream for those extra hot days!

Bower's Mansion (and park).

Washoe Lake.

One of several parks / campgrounds around Washoe.
So that was our weekend ride.  We followed it up with some errands like hitting Whole foods on the way home.  And just to top off the great morning with some classic Reno oddity....here is a picture of a truck with an anvil mounted to a swing away rack!



Yes, an Anvil.....like Willey Coyote and the Road Runner "Anvil".  I'm sure he uses it to shoe horses or some unique purpose, but it still tops the list of things you only see in Reno!

Friday, August 2, 2013

If you ride a bike....hot chicks will follow you (or perhaps pass you)!

I was on my leisurely morning commute, when I notice I had a rider in tow.  So, what to do?  Continue riding leisurely and have a chat with the other rider....hammer for a bit and drop the competition....or perhaps with either response get dropped by a girl!  I believe the term is "getting chicked" (at least in ultra-running).

Here was my view at 1 mile in:


 And my view at 3 miles in (she's gaining):


 At 6 miles:  (just....can't.....drop....her.....!)


Oh....opps....that would be wifey joining me on the commute.  I'm not sure what I'll get in more trouble for, calling her a hot chic or even evoking the idea of hammering it and dropping her.  I'm sure I'll find out when she reads this!