Random things in Reno post.

I seem to have an odd collection of pics floating around on my phone from the last 3 or 4 days, so that's what you're getting this morning.  I guess I'll rehash them in the order that they occurred.

Food truck Friday at Idlewild. 

The music (and bicycles) at food truck Friday.

If this isn't a bicycle family SUB (Sport Utility Bicycle) I don't know what is!

Later that same night....a very fuzzy picture.  Why....because the second beer from the bottom of the draft list is BELL's from Kalamazoo, Michigan.  My original brewery!!!

Saturday morning brewing at my house (a Citra hopped Session IPA).  Note my system is now a one man operation due to the addition of a block and tackle for the transfer to the fermenter.

And that leads us up to yesterday's commute home.  Yep, it was raining up in my neighborhood....and more than a sprinkle.  I might have gotten wet, but it sure felt good on a 90+ degree day!

Ok, that clears out my back log.  Hope you've had as much fun over the last few days!

Bicycle BBQ report.

Saturday afternoon I hosted a little BBQ via the Nevada Bicycle Coalition, in support of complete street designs on Keystone Ave.  We had a decent turn out with 15 or so people making an appearance.  Given the fact that we had free beer on tap, 3 dutch ovens cooking, and the grill going, everyone ended up staying all the way until about 5pm.  It looked a little something like this.

While bikey stuff was discussed, we mostly just had a good time getting to know one another.  So if you just need an excuse to ride your bike and enjoy good food and beer, think about joining us in the future.  I'm pretty sure we'll be making this a monthly thing this summer.

Bicycle BBQ!

Ok, I may be insane for posting this on the open internet.....but here goes.  We're throwing a Bicycle BBQ to support bike lanes and complete streets on Keystone Ave. at my house....tomorrow....

If you read this blog even semi-regularly you are invited.  So here's the details.

Saturday 21st of June (tomorrow).
12-5 pm
 (just off Keystone/Coleman Ave.)
Bring a side dish to pass
Biking to the BBQ is optional but encouraged.

Scott will be Dutch oven cooking and we'll have a grill going with burgers, hotdogs, etc.  I'll have a couple kegs of beer available.

Be ready to talk about bikes!!

 

Earth Day.

The one day that everyone who never rides a bike is almost required to ride a bike.  It was kinda refreshing to see all the bike traffic on the roads and cars having to wait a bit for them.  The celebration as a whole was dampened a bit by the cool, windy weather but I'd still say it gets bigger every year.  I was genuinely surprised by the number of booths and bands.  Anyway, here's some pics from me wandering around.

Kiwanis bike sale...and there were some nice ones.

The Raleigh Olympian would have come home with me if was a bit larger frame!

People and booths.

More people.

More people and more booths.

Reno Bike Project...Valet Parking!

One of 5 band tents!

Hula Hoop Fun.

Cool tall bike with spiral tubing (an old drill bit I believe).

Last weekend...bicycles and beer!

To be honest last weekend was really not about bicycles....given the weather in Chico it should have been.  Instead it started here!

There was a lot of this....

Then there was a tour!

They use just a little  hops in their beer (one bin of 20 or so)...and encourage you to put your hands on the hops and huff that great smell!

They show you kettles that make a homebrewer feel just a tad insignificant (but damn they're pretty)!  Notice I am as giddy as a kid in a candy shop.

The hundreds (?) of miles of piping that connect everything!  By the way....your looking at a the bottom of fermentors that stand about 300 ft high.  If you attempted to drink one of these dry (say 13 pints a day) it would take you 40 years!

The preacher joined me on this trip (with his fancy new camera)...I handed him a sign that seemed appropriate!

Wifey was also along for the trip.  Here we are in front of the dormant bottling line.  They shut it down on the weekends.  Bummer....would have loved to seen this massive line running!

Oops!  Almost forgot the tour tasting room.  Here we shotgunned six different Sierra Nevada beer samples in about 15 minutes at the end of the tour!

Finally, once you've had a few beers they set you in front of a huge gift shop.  Notice that the Preacher's wifey is strategically between him and the gift shop.  Coincidence?  I think not!

Just to interject some bicycle content.  They have a complete workstation on site at the brewery with all the tools and pumps you can handle.  Just for a little kitsch it's made out of 5 gallon corny kegs!
 

As are the bike racks themselves! 


So, after about 5 hours at the brewery, it was time to head back to camp with a couple of growlers for a well earned evening off!

The homes for the evening.

All in all not a bad way to spend a weekend!

Travels and Bicycles....

So as I said yesterday, I've been traveling a bit, both for personal and work reasons.  The whole thing started out with a trip to Portland that has become a bit of a tradition.  It's focused around a week long holiday ale festival that happens in the center of downtown.  With no camera I don't have good pictures....but imagine an entire city block covered in clear roofed tents (two story tents with an actual second floor) with a giant (60 ft?) Christmas tree in the middle and about 100 beers on tap.  Yeah.....that's Christmas!

We also spend a considerable amount of time hitting up some of the 70+ breweries in Portland and checking out some of the great food they have.  In the wanderings this year I came across this:

Now if that's not pride in your bicycle culture I don't know what is!  I guess we still have a ways to go here in Reno.

This one is a terrible cell phone picture of a bicycle specific signal that tells right turning cars in a busy intersection they have to yield to bicycles!  Specific light up signals for bicyclists protection!  Only in Portland!

Ok....so that was the theme for Portland.  After being home for about 36 hours I then headed off to Spokane for a work trip.  Actually, I was a booth lacky at a conference, running a bunch of demonstrations on some of the software we use here at work.  Not to strenuous, just long hours and boring.

The main highlight for me was meeting a guy named Tom.  The interest should be obvious even in the blurry picture.  Many a hipster dreams of a beard like this.

Tom didn't fit the hipster profile (shocking).  Although being in the mining industry he did profess a fondness for blowing stuff up (which seems hipster-ish).  The whole time I talked with him however, I was picturing the aerodynamic effects that mustache would have while riding!  In Tom's case this riding would probably be a horse, but hey....I did say I was bored most of the time.

 Conferences like this don't allow you outside much, so I didn't get to really explore Spokane.  Bicycles are pretty prominent and there are signs of it everywhere.....like this:

So all in all that's why things have been quiet on the posting.  I'm done with travel for a while so I'll try to keep things a bit more up to date.

Bicycles make Bucks $$$$$ !

There's a new article out that shows what we've all known for a while.  If you cater to bicyclists, pedestrians, and urban dwellers you'll make more $$$$.

The basic premise is that if you make it a place that people want to ride bicycles and walk and hang out you will attract people and make money.  The full article is here:

There IS a Bicycle Economy, Two Cities Find

for the record the article is written by A.K. Streeter for Treehugger.com and pointed out to me by the local Bicycle Preacher!

Here's another version with a little bigger write up I just found:

How Bicycling Creates Economic Impact: A Tale of Two Cities

By Leon Kaye | October 4th, 2012 

Protected bike lanes in New York have boosted local businesses

Bike path promise....Parks department delivers!

A few months ago the river path experienced some construction related to a utility project.  We got our own "closure" signs and even an official detour around the block (however poorly marked it was). 

This was followed with some really rough patches that I just assumed were shoddy workmanship.  I mean hey, it's just a bike path....why worry about making the patches smooth.

 I called the City of Reno Parks Department and gripped about the problem and was relieved when they told me it was just temporary and would be "finished" after the project was completed.  I've had good luck with the Parks Department lately (getting the river path lighting running) so I chilled and waited for the finished product.

As the winter progressed the patched degraded pretty quickly and I was starting to have my doubts....but today the final results are in and we've got about 100 ft of shiny new smooth bike path!!

 Now if only we could give the whole path this treatment!

North American Hand Made Bicycle Show is next weekend!

It's just over the hill....you should really go!  Click on the image to go to the page.