The weekend is coming....what are your plans? (Updated)

 
Another weekend is upon us.  What will you do with the down time?  There are a lot of options out there so make sure you don't miss out.  For me they will include the Buzz Bomb bike sale (you can get info on this one over at Reno-Rambler (here), the Reno Bike Project bike swap, and of course there's the Positively 4th St. celebration.  It's also food truck Friday down at Idlewild tonight....and I'm sure there are a host of other things going on.  So grab your bike and head out for some fun this weekend.

UPDATE:

Here's some additional info on Positively 4th St. Events and Times.

10 a.m. – 7 p.m. – Better Block transformation of 500 block of E. 4th Street 10 a.m. – 4 p.m. – Mini 4th St. Farmer’s Market 10 a.m. – Noon - Pop-up brunch in Cuddleworks feat. Campo 10 a.m. – 3 p.m. – Reno Bike Project Bike Swap 10 a.m. – 4 p.m. – Kids activities in back alley and Valley Arts 10 a.m. – 7 p.m. – DJs in back alley Noon – 5 p.m. – Pop-up Record Shop in Kart Sports w/ The Holland Project Noon – 5 p.m. – Food trucks in back alley Noon – 8 p.m. – Under the Rose Brewing Company Beer Garden 7 p.m. – 8 p.m. – ‘String Beings’ performance in back alley 7 p.m. – 9 p.m. – Pop-up dinner in Cuddleworks feat. Campo 7 p.m. – Close – ‘Passport Live’ presented by KRZQ at Bodega Lounge This is the last call for the Bike Tour starting at 11am. There are only a 10 spots left so don't delay, call now and reserve your place or you're going to miss it.

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=ntwqVDzdqAU

Positively Fourth Street.

This Saturday part of 4th St. will be transformed into an urban park.  Similar to the idea of Sunday Parkways up in Portland, a portion (1 lane) of the street will be taken over with food, games, moveable gardens, and seating.  It will be half public park - half street party.  You're encouraged to come down and join in the fun. 

Kind of like this....

Details are below in an RGJ write-up:

Food trucks, local art, music and more will combine on Saturday to promote the growth of East Fourth Street as one of Reno's urban hotspots.  The free event, titled "Positively 4th Street," aims to combat the area's association with crime and homelessness.  Event host Reno Bike Project plans on bringing the area's local businesses and nonprofit organizations together to put on a "better block demonstration."

It's an idea to give the area a face-lift and promote positive changes — with everyone from drivers to cyclists to pedestrians in mind, said Matthew Cramer, the Reno Bike Project's Biggest Little Commuter coordinator.  The daylong event will have everything from a pop-up restaurant to a record swap featuring live music in collaboration with the Holland Project.

And the Reno Bike Project will temporarily restructure large portions of the street.

"Fourth Street is currently a very fast street, not necessarily safest for cyclists and pedestrians," Cramer said. "We're gonna change that, make it a lot more safe and pleasant for people to come down."

Along with dining and music opportunities, the Reno Bike Project will host a beer garden, petting zoo and historical walking tours around the route, which was the first interstate highway in the nation.

"Positively 4th Street" runs from 10 a.m. to 7 p.m. Saturday on the 500 block of East Fourth Street.

"Everyone's been extremely positive," Cramer said. "They recognize the potential (and) just want to see the change continue and see growth spreading throughout the area."

Riding is Key!

In this case it literally is.  I've been riding by this broken key for just about 2 years (no joke).  It's moved down the street (1st St.) over the years, but it always resides in the bike lane somewhere.  Right now it's just West of Ralston in the East bound bike lane. 

Look by the riders lower "foot".

Proof positive riding is "key"!

I've considered picking it up....I do actually stop to pick up change (I am Dutch after all), but anymore it's part of my ride.  Sometimes I guess it's just the little things each day that make the ride enjoyable.  So.....what's your key every morning?

Don't be "sour" about your weekend.

Like I said yesterday....I've been keeping busy.  One of those busy items was a get together Saturday evening with one of our local home brewers from the Washoe Zephyr Zymergists brewing club.  Jason is a master brewer in our club, specializing in sour beers, barrel aged beers, and beers that can be aged for years.

He had just a few on tap for us!

This along with all his bottle aged beers represented over a decade of brewing and some of the beers were that old!  You don't see this type of brewing very often.  Jason is also in the midst of trying to start up a business here in Reno focused on brewing, home brew supply, and customer influenced beers.  Check out his promo video here:




P.S.  This is biking related because I rode my bike here.  I had to cue my bike up against the fence with 5 others.  More proof that beer and bikes just go together!

P.P.S.  You really missed out on this one Preacher!

So much going on lately....

Sorry there hasn't been anything new lately.  I've had clients in the office and it's just been busy.  Anyway there are several things that I wanted to post on so they're all going to be thrown together here this morning.  First up the fun stuff.  We had a pseudo rogue BPAC'esk (Bicycle and Ped Advisory Committee) get together over at Public House in Mid-town last Tuesday.  Officially it was a gathering to celebrate our RTC liaison stepping down from her position.  She has been a huge part of the improvements for bikes (and peds) here in Reno over the last decade and she will be missed.

A couple of panorama's of the crew.  It appears my (and many others) theories about the correlation of bicycles and beer is well founded!  However, the discussion was serious, ranging from how to try to get the right person to replace our friend at RTC, and the future directions that BPAC should be focused on.  We had a little round the table discussion/listing of our priorities for future work and it looked something like this:

Improvements on the Truckee River Bike Path
Better bike lanes on Longly
General Connectivity of our Bike Lane System
Build actual Bike Blvds.
Build some Green Lanes (Bike Lanes with Paint)
Encouraging Women's Biking
Get Company to Support Biking (companies support / promote cycling to work)
Build some Protected Bike Lanes
Work on the next Generation (Middle School Bike Programs)

As you can see....it ranges from very specific, to building for the future.  How we prioritize these is still up in the air, but it's definitely a good list to start with!

We also have received new bike lights (for the Bright Reno Lights Program) that will be distributed to people who need them (for free).  Prior to breaking up for the evening, we hit the bike racks to install a few!  I wonder if their new owners were happy to find they were now equipped for night riding!?

And no....not all the bikes were ours.  People actually ride around in mid-town!

The other big topic is the Keystone road diet.  This project has drawn large crowds at the public meetings (both for and against).  It has also been a bit of a political hot potato....since the city council (lead by Neoma Jardon) stopped the project from going forward as planned last fall. 

Sadly, a life was claimed on Keystone last week on this section of road.  You can get a very well thought out and well written article over at Reno-Rambler. 

My short version of the longer argument.....the road diet might have prevented this tragedy through decreased traffic speeds, altered traffic lane configurations, and decreased points of contact (how many lanes you cross and have chances to be hit).

Here's KTVN's story:



We can debate a particular accident and whether it would have been prevented with the complete street / road diet reconfiguration.  The fact is the road would be safer with the remake than it is without it.  And just possibly this type of accident and loss of life could have been avoided. 

An update on running tubeless tires.

A few months ago I was fed up with all the flats I was getting on the commute with the Salsa Fargo.  To be fair I didn't have tuffy tire liners in these tires, but I mean it's just a 6 mile commute each way and I was flatting on a pretty regular interval.  So instead of doing it the easy way and putting in tire liners, I decided to try switching over to a stan's no tube setup.  You can see the process here if you want.



Anyway, I thought I'd give you an update on how it's worked out since then.  To start with....I didn't do this with "new" tires.  I began with tires that had more than a few holes and gashes.  The Stan's solution sealed these up with relatively little problem (even a 1/4 gash with a bit of time).  However, on the initial ride I did get a puncture that really "bleed" a puddle of Stan's before sealing up.  I was not a happy camper and wondered if I'd wasted my time with the whole thing.

Apparently that was a one time deal.  I haven't had to do a thing (added air a few times) since then!!  So obviously I've been pretty happy with the system as a whole.  The first time I really even looked at my tires since that day was yesterday, when I had to add some real air (10 psi) before heading to work.  You'd think this would have caused me to look the tire over a bit more carefully, but hey I'm running Stan's, so I just blew it off thinking it would seal up on the ride.

On the commute in things seemed to be getting a bit squishy again......and upon arriving at work I did take the time to have a closer look.  I found 1 piece of wire, 2 massive (rose bush?) thorns, and 6 goat heads.  I confidently pulled the largest thorn out (commence serious hissing and air loss) and rotated the tire so the hole was to the bottom and waited for the Stan's sealant to do it's job.....and waited.....and waited.....  There was no white stuff present and the hissing continued.

Yep, I'd actually used up all the Stan's solution I put in over the last 3 months.  So I did what I could....jammed the thorn back in and stopped up the leak (it still amazes me this works).  It held well enough that I could ride it home that evening after just a bit of pumping!

When I got home I added more Stan's sealant and re-inflated.   They holes (all 9 of them) sealed up in a few seconds and I was good to go.



So all in all the system works great and I'd recommend it.  Just remember you do have to top off once in a while because you lose a little (or sometimes a lot) with each little puncture that you never know about!

Dry Pond Loop.

Part of the weekend riding was a bit of mountain biking.  I don't always manage to get in the car and drive to the trail head....so it was thanks to my friend Joel that I got out of the house Sunday afternoon and headed up to Timberline road for some Galena based fun.  We did a little out and back to the wilderness area boundary and then caught the connector over to dry pond.  Sorry there aren't any pictures of the ride.  I accidentally left my phone in the car when we headed out.

You might notice the average pace was a bit on the low side for this ride.  For the record, this shows just how tough Joel is.  Even when he called me about doing the ride, he knew he'd had a "big night" the evening before.  By the time we hit the trail head he was hurting!  To his credit he worked through it and did the whole ride even with the hangover.  And to show true commitment, he was even up for a "carrot" at the end of the ride.

"Carrot" located on the rail of the truck bed.