How to handle the hot

Have you ever tried to balance on a bike while pressing a button at the precise moment you're directly in front of a camera? It's not easy. Forgive the face.

Anyway, you want to know what to wear on a hot, hot bike ride? Here's the answer:

Don't wear much.

This here is a flimsy cocktail dress I found in the back of my closet, and haven't worn in ages. It looks a lot shorter than it did to me a couple days ago when I wore it to work, but wear it I did. I threw leggings underneath it for the commute, and switched those out for a blazer to church it up for the office.

I am a terrible blogger

I know I've left you guys hanging, but I've been busy. There's something about working full time and chasing a toddler and hanging out with Cody and keeping my vegetable garden alive that makes opening the computer one more time during the day just really hard to do. Not because I don't enjoy blogging, but because I enjoy it all, everything, so much, especially the part where I hang out with Cody.

Anyway, speaking of the job, I recently wrote a couple things for the paper related to city cycling. One thing was an informational guide to biking around Columbia. The other was a little thing on trending styles that work for bike commuters.

I haven't forgotten about you. I've just been preoccupied. I'll be better, I promise.

The Great Shifter Upgrade

After I had finished restoring my Peugeot PH-10, there were a few things that I was still a bit unsatisfied with.  One of the main problems was that the outer chain ring was slightly bent; enough so that I get a fair bit of chain rub on the derailleur in otherwise reasonable gear combinations.  Another issue was the ugliness of the old Simplex stem shifters that came on the bike.  Not only was the bulky plastic molding between the shifters an eyesore, but it looked like it had been beat on with a hammer, which made it look notably worse.

I had been considering replacing the stem shifters with a pair of bar-ends, but just couldn't pull the trigger.  I had excuses:  I didn't want to have to re-wrap the bars, I didn't want to replace the nearly-new shift cables, the stem shifters worked perfectly fine so why fix something that isn't broke, etc.  But a couple weeks ago, I decided that it was time to take action.  I picked up a set of vintage Suntour bar-end shifters on eBay for about 40 bones.  They were in decent shape, and I got a pretty good deal on them.  Then I ran down to my LBS for some new shift cables and bar tape.


I removed the stem shifters and cables and unwrapped the bars.  To install the new shifters, they had to be disassembled so that the expander plugs and mounting bodies could be tightened into the ends of the handlebars.  Once the mounting bodies were secured in place, the levers were bolted back into them.  There's nothing to these bar-ends, and they were a snap to install.  Once the shifters were properly installed, I cut new cable housing and ran the cables.  I decided to go ahead and run the cables under the entire length of the bar tape.  I know some people prefer to have the housing exit the bar tape before the bars begin to curve, but I think that looks a little sloppy.  To keep the housing in place, I used electrical tape to secure the housing directly to the bars, and then wrapped the bars with the new tape.  It ended up looking fantastic.

The night that I finished installing the new bar-ends, I ended up riding home from a friend's house.  It took me a few blocks to get used to the action of the shifters - the first time I tried to up-shift I almost veered into a curb.  But it didn't take me long to get comfortable with the mechanics required to shift smoothly while holding a steady line.  I think the switch to bar-ends was a pretty good idea; they work like a charm and they look phenomenal.  Now I've just got to figure out what to do about that bent chain ring.

First Joyride of Summer

I can hardly believe that the end of June is already upon us.  But sure enough, this coming Sunday is the last one of the month.  And that means it's Joyride time.  It's going to be a hot-ass Joyride, as evidenced by the following screenshot I took while checking the forecast.

Due to the heat, it might be best to meet up somewhere with some respite from the sun, so let's get together at the gazebo at Flat Branch Park.  As for the ride, we enjoyed last month's trip to Stephens Lake so much that we thought we may as well do it again.  It's a relatively short trip, and hopefully there won't be any blocked roads due to a major fire along our route.  At Stephens Lake we can take a rest in the shade to cool off before heading back downtown.  Once we're back downtown we might as well duck in to the Flat Branch to refresh ourselves with a cold beer.

As usual, all are welcome, so come out and join us for a leisurely ride around beautiful downtown CoMo.

This is how I got snot and peanut butter on my pants

These pictures I post, they are taken with my old-but-trusty Nikon D70 set up on a tripod. I have a remote clicker to trip the shutter. This clicker is the source of my boy's distress here. Lately he loves to "help" me outside. Highly adorable in the garden, but less so when he's just snacked on peanut butter and we're on our way out the door to go to the sitter's.

He was profoundly saddened to learn he couldn't hold the clicker at the exact moment he wanted, and expressed himself by wiping his drippy nose and peanut butter mouth on my pants.

You know what? I wore those pants to work anyway.

Slim, stretchy pants with flats, a bright tank and a spangly necklace are pretty perfect for biking to work. I just threw on a blazer when I got there.

And I wasn't going to let a couple of boogers change those plans.

These Shoes Get Cat Calls, Too: Hairy Leg Edition

Not to one-up my wife, but I thought it was funny that just a few days after Ginger got cat calls because of her shoes, I also got cat calls because of my shoes.  I was eastbound on Ash, waiting at a red light at Providence, when I heard someone call from behind me in the left turn lane, "I love your shoes!"  I looked back to find two young ladies in a van smiling at me.  I thanked her and told her that I had owned the shoes for years and that they have been very comfortable and look nearly as good now as they did when I purchased them.  She nodded and said, "I'm just loving them."  I thanked her again as the light turned green and I continued on my way.

For the record, I was wearing my Puma El Rey slip-ons:

And I wasn't lying when I said that they look as good now as they did when I bought them.  I snapped this picture of my own shoe while I was locking my bike up at work.

Not too bad considering they've had 3 or 4 years of heavy use.

I am wearing maternity clothes

BUT, NO, I AM NOT PREGNANT.

Let me explain. I was perusing Riyoko's urban bike wear catalog when I saw her shirt bands. They're just a long circle of stretchy fabric used for layering underneath shorter shirts so you don't go riding around town with whale tail. "Self," I said to myself, "You have some of those."

Back when I was carrying our boy, I got a lot of mileage out of my belly band from Target. A pregnancy belly band is made to hold a pregnant lady's pants together when she can't zip up her regular pants anymore, but isn't yet big enough for maternity duds.

I kept some maternity clothes around in case Cody and I decided to have another kid. When I came across Riyoko's shop I decided to dig out my belly bands and try 'em out. They worked like a charm!

The bands made for cycling are sort of pricey. I haven't seen 'em in real life so I don't really know how they differ from the bands I already have, but they cost about twice as much as the things I got at Target, which is motivation enough for me to keep on wearing maternity clothes, even when I'm not expecting.

Holla!

I'm still not sure if I completely agree with the above image, which I came upon via my friend Taylor.  To be honest, I don't get yelled at by motorists very often.  And when I do, it usually comes across as something like this:  "HAY WANDA MOTCH TO NA GREP NO!"

I'm sure whatever they said was absolutely hilarious, but next time they're going to need to open their mouth a little wider when they speak.

My normal response to being yelled at is to laugh.  Because when people flap their mouths wildly and scream unintelligible drivel at me, I find it amusing.  And as a cyclist sharing the roadway with two-ton ballistic death machines, with nothing to protect my frail frame and vital organs except my wits and a small shard of foam strapped to my head, being yelled at is probably at the very bottom of my list of concerns.  Farther up on the list would be the motorists who accidentally cut me off, or are driving distracted, or don't see me as they're trying to make their turn, etc.  Farther up the list still are the malicious assholes who purposefully try to frighten and intimidate me.  While occurrences with this breed of moron are notably less common and no more dangerous than your everyday oop-I-didn't-see-that-cyclist ones, they're the ones that really stick with me.  And they make me very, very angry.

So, sure, I'll go ahead and wave when I get yelled at by a passing car.  But I'm not going to have a free hand to wave with when I'm being run off the road by a knuckle-dragging ass-clown behind the wheel of his mom's minivan.

Hasty blogging

Not the most flattering pose, I know, but it's the only one I got before the little dude needed to be held. It was a spectacularly beautiful day for biking around yesterday. Probably it will be a lot more humid and way less pleasant today, but it could be worse, right?

Okay, I'm headed out the door. Happy cycling, you loyal readers!

These shoes get cat calls

I actually had a woman stop me in the street after I locked up my bike and was walking into my office to tell me how much she loved my shoes. This made my whole day

They are great biking/working shoes. Great for cycling because there's a strap to hold them on my feet, the heel and sole are substantial and they're pretty comfy. Great for working because they go with almost everything and get compliments from strangers on the street.

Anyway, I opted for tights-as-pants for the commute and brought a pencil skirt for work. It wasn't until later that I realized it's way too big for me right now. Oh, well. There are worse things, right?

This shirt doesn't have a top button, but luckily I have a large collection of vintage clip-on earrings. One was enough to hold my top together in an ornamental fashion without poking holes in my new blousy blouse.

Cody's Reading List: The PooBah

Before he disappeared off the face of the Earth late last year, I was a regular reader of Columbia's very own CoMo CyCo (Columbia, Missouri Cycling Cooperative), written by local hero PooBah.  As of this morning, the PooBah has resurfaced...again (he disappeared for a couple months last Spring as well).  With any luck, he'll stick around for a while, because his blog is superbly entertaining.  The content is pretty heavy on the professional cycling scene - which I only have a passing interest in - but is mostly in the form of ridicule and witticism.  He also does a good job of updating readers on local and regional races, as well as recreational rides like the Pedaler's Jamboree and the Monster Bike Bash.

Overall, CoMo CyCo is very funny and very well written.  If you're a cyclist in the mid-MO area, this blog is a must.  And if you're not...well...read it anyways.

This, we call the Ozark Hunker

Our boy regularly assumes this position, which we call the Ozark Hunker. Cute, huh?

Anyway, here I illustrate the best tool in my bike commuting wardrobe arsenal: layers. It definitely felt like summer outside today, but it also felt like winter in my office. The t-shirt underneath this dress kept me from getting my dress all sweaty and also gave me an extra layer of insulation for my oh-so-chilly workplace.