another snowy coffee run

taken from inside the coho downtown. cofi (named after the black dog in amores perros) waits outside.

snow on marz

i personally like the snow, it's fun to ride in, but the cold windchills i could do without. anyways... saturday night i rode down to marz to spin some latin stuff as i've been known to do on occasion. while i was there nader the owner wanted to show me the xmas present he got from his bar manager (we all know jason, but few know that he's kind of a bike nut too). down in the basement i got to see nader's bianchi that jason refurbished. i had seen this bike a few days before when it still had it's original purple paint on it and all the parts were in a box. in just a day and a half jason had stripped it, torched the tubes a bit for some color and refinished it in a clear lacquer. then he got it built back up in time for nader on xmas. that's damn fast. i like how it came out. it's a pretty cool lookin' 80's vintage bianchi i must say. the new brooks saddle is a nice touch.

blizzard commute

i rode to work tonight. it really wasn't that bad, the worst part was the wind. i was eager to try out the gazzas, and i must say... those finns sure do know their stuff when it comes to snow tires.

bustin' out the skinny tires

just for fun i picked up some super narrow kenda kwick knobbies to try out on felina. they are listed as 30c but actually measure to about 27-28c, so they'll probably fit on a lot of road bikes out there. on my bottecchia there's no room for a fender but still decent clearance nonetheless. i was out running around sunday morning enjoying some sun and they handled the snow and slush pretty good.

postcard from cairo

i got a postcard from my friend dominique who is doing a fulbright stint in cairo. she misses lincoln and misses riding a bike too. she has gotten the urge to get a bike while she is there but she said there is no way, it's too dangerous. but she does see people on bikes everyday, mostly men delivering bread. from what she has told me of the traffic, delivering bread via bike in cairo must be quite a dangerous profession. a few months ago she sent me this photo of one she saw one morning on her commute. props to the breadmen of cairo! i wouldn't last 2 minutes.

brown & blue collabo

i've had my t-check since the spring of '08, and mark at the shop got an '09 model earlier this year. since then we've been giving each other a hard time as to whose is cooler. well... what do you do when you have two t-checks in the same 60cm size and you're hanging at the shop on a saturday? with a crazy look in his eyes mark suggested we throw our bikes up in the stands. it didn't take long and... wah lah! what do you all think of the new color combo?

vi friday

nothing like unwinding on a friday with some peeps. after hanging at a party, and some time after 3am... lis, ryan, and i rode to village inn. ryan was rocking his old ten speed on the snowy streets and he didn't fall once. impressive indeed.

it was about - 4

in these extreme temps people look at a person on a bike in disbelief. earlier tonight during my late night lunch break i rode over to d'leons for a few burritos. while in line at the drive thru these two african dudes in a minivan behind me asked more than once if i needed a ride. the same thing happened last night too only it was a vietnamese guy. another minivan and another driver shocked to see someone on a bike. it's nice to know people will offer you a ride though, if i had had a flat or something i definitely would have taken them up on it. in these condtions i would have to agree that it is almost too effing cold to be out on a bike, but if you dress properly it's really not that bad for short distances. though i must say it can be very dangerous in the first day or two after a heavy snow if you're not careful and don't have the right equipment. until the snow plows can get out everywhere it's way safer to drive, take the bus, or even walk if it's not too far. fortunately i can ride because my commute is pretty short and i also live right on a bus route so they plow it right away. i can also avoid heavy traffic because at the late or early morning hours of my commutes there are hardly any cars out so i pretty much have the streets to myself. i can take my time and pick the best line through the dicey sections without getting in the way of cars. along with very bright front and rear lights, good snow tires are an absolute must. i just ordered some nokian studded tires for my 29er but they haven't arrived yet so i've been using the BUSS instead. it's been my snow bike for the past several seasons. with innova studded tires and snow chains mounted, it does just fine in packed snow or ice with no slipping or sliding. i can't go very fast with the chains but they dig into the ice and snow real good. i'm running a 34x18t gear. it's adequately low, but a 19t or 20t freewheel in back probably would be more ideal.

snowy coffee run

my love of coffee is tested in these snowy conditions.

alfred's machine

while in denver at the tattered cover, i picked up a new bio of stieglitz. in 1897 he would declare "photography is a fad well-nigh on its last legs, thanks principally to the bicycle craze." perhaps he found the younger set of that time disinterested in lugging around a heavy graflex SLR like he was and were opting for another hobby instead. how convenient that cameras are now so small that we can do both!