critical mass + aurora = sweeeet!

a few years back i rode in a critical mass that rode on aurora (highway 99)!

we did aurora all the way from downtown to fremont, it was nuts. all three lanes were full of bikes, with a good mile of cars waiting behind us! i still can't believe it happened. anyone know if it's been done since?

so.... i-5 next? (520 would be great too, if it weren't for the big metal grates that could easily fit a bike tire between them)



more pics here

STP on a fixie in one day?

back in 2005 i did the 206-mile STP on my track bike (gearing: 14x40, or about 75 gear inches), but that was the two-day trip.

for 2007 i'm thinking about the one day option. anyone out there done it on their fixed-gear in one day? what gear size did you use?

i'm tempted to just ride my road bike with a nice gear range, which would be faster, but it just wouldn't be the same...

keep your feet dry this winter, and save $$

nothing new here for some folks, but i recently discovered this:

after having bought $40 booties that were supposed to keep my feet dry, i learnt the hard way that those things don't really do the trick. they pretty much just absorbed water.

sure, you could go buy some super-booties (with a super-price), but why not get creative and save some dough in the process?

so what i do is wrap my cycling shoes in QFC bags (any small plastic grocery bag will do), then put the booties on (over the bags/shoes). i've also tried it with the bags inside of the shoe, but that doesn't work quite as well, as your shoes still get wet. also note that if you wear cleats you'll need to rip a hole in the bags so you can connect with the pedal.

before trying this i never thought it was possible to go on a 30-mile ride in a soggy seattle fall and have toasty feet the whole time!

route mapping site launched

there are a already few sites out there to map/view cycling routes, but i decided to make my own.

there wouldn't be much point in just re-doing what's already out there, so my site has some extra features i haven't seen anywhere else:

• aimed at specific cities (currently seattle, portland, san fran, denver, chicago, nyc, and hotlanta), so it can be tailored to them (web cams, weather, etc)
• local weather
  
• real-time elevation graph (shows it as you click your route)
• topo (elevation) maps
• special markers, such as for known hills, etc
• web cams on the map, so you can see what it looks like in different parts of the city
• no google ads since i'm not greedy (at least not yet)
  

anyway, here it is, enjoy:

http://veloroutes.org

screenshot:

I-90 trail - watch your head!

thank [insert deity here] the i-90 bike trail exists, but it can be a rough two-mile stretch on rainy days, and even on dry days.

problem: heading east on i-90 is going against traffic, meaning each and every large truck will shower you with:

• rocks/pebbles/dust/whatever from I-90
  
• leaves (a cluster pegged me in the ear the other day!)
• rain
  

more than once i've had pebbles from the bridge end up on my tongue (never would have guessed i'd ever taste i-90)...

solution: put your head down when the big trucks go by, so your helmet takes the brunt of the blast.

Also watch out for the winds, don't ride too close to the fence or your handlebars might get tangled up, which would probably toss you into the lake!