Loose Canon alert!

I have been notified that the driver of the this truck is running around the Redding area terrorizing cyclists. He allegedly swooped in front of bikes and skidded to a stop. Then he sped off, smoking his massive tires and leaving the riders chocking in a cloud of diesel smoke. Please contact Allen Kost @ 226-1833 if you have had an encounter with this Knucklehead! I got cut off at a stop sign the other day by an old lady. I yelled out real loud, "Hey! I'm ridin' here!" She just looked over at me and cackled then screamed out, "Go to Hell Sponge Bob!" I was devastated.

Chamise Peak, Finally!

http://www.healthyshasta.org/maps/Keswick_Trails_09.pdf
Well the weekly Sunday Webbed Foot Riders Race... I mean ride, finally resulted in a Chamise Peak Summit. I want to thank the guys who acted as Sherpas for the the summit team, which consisted of five. But really, that would not have been possible with the full group of eleven!

Meet Duane!

Yup! That's our homeboy rollin' around Redding on a bicycle!

Spiders on Drugs...from Mars!

My good friend Little Jim suggested that I post this video of "Spiders On Drugs." I hope this is what you were referring to!

How's Everybody Else Doing?

Yester-year's cycling sensation Lance Armstrong crashed and broke his collarbone during the first stage of a race in Spain that was to be another cake-walk along the way to his "BIG RETURN!" I, personally am semi-repulsed by the sight of his haggard old catcher's-mitt face filling my T.V. screen on Sunday afternoons and wish that he would call it quits for good. I hope the other guys are O.K.

The Little Men Inside My Head

In the words of our host, Dr. Freud, I am bedeviled by little men inside my head... how I wish there were only three!

Can This Possibly Be Real?

Sunday Watershed Ride

A beautiful Sunday for a ride, seven in our group this time. We still earned our webbed foot awards, not from the rain but from creek crossings. My research in the use of plastic baggies as shoe liners is almost complete Sadly, I must report that it's not looking good for them as another one of those low-budget, must-have-in-your-pack, items. During a break for Odwalla and hydro (and some remarkably funny, impromptu comedy skits!) I removed my shoe to find my right foot as cold as the creek water I had soaked it in half an hour earlier! Reverse insulation?

So Much, So Fast!

Saturday morning rides with my brother D. always turn into veritable whirlwinds of shouted and yelled discussions that are punctuated with explosive outbursts of laughter and liberal pepperings of truly one-off points of view. It basically comes down to this. My insanity meshes well with his. One or the other of us will start in on a topic and then the flippin' cascading menus start displaying in our old and slightly askew-ed minds and it's hang on Baby, here we go again! Often, it's hours or days latter that I remember having touched on some subject that really does deserve some semi-serious consideration, without all the human-atom bomb-like responses that spring out of my slobbering Tourette's maw! Good ride Brother!

A Bit o' Spinnin'!

Getting Ready For Blazing Saddles!

And this my friends, is why they call it getting HANGED!

Groovin' to the Music... at Raleys?

Have you noticed that the in-store music at supermarkets is getting really diverse and eclectic? I am regularly getting my socks rocked off at Raleys and Safeway these days. Quite a contrast to the Muzak crap they used to play back in the early 90's when I was the manager of the Lake Blvd. Natural Food Dept. at Raleys. There were numerous factors in my deciding to leave Raleys all those years ago and honestly, that crap they played on the P.A. 24/7 was one of those factors. Last night I was there and heard The Thrills.http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=HmZjWeXsaL0

Big Bang Is Here!

Enchanted Tiki Room

And then there were four...

Webbed-Foot Riders were in short supply despite ideal weather conditions on Sunday morning. We took a Mary Lake-Salt Creek loop and called it good. My one-speed MTB X-Bike needs some refining. I could not contact my Rock Shox Tech but if you read this, please contact me ASAP, we have some work left. Brake Tech (me) also needs to get busy! All and all we had a good time as the rain grew heavier and heavier we just kept joking and riding.

Feelin' Kind O' Steely!

I Want One!

A Bike Alone, So Far From Home...

Took a lovely little ride this afternoon. Manically screaming obscure lyrics from RUSH as I rolled along with sanfrancup, only to have him come back with even more ambiguous stuff. It was one of those rides that I felt like I could just keep going until dark. In fact, my bike is still out there sending me photos like these from somewhere out near Ono!

Release the Hounds!

By now you have no doubt heard about the epic ride that the "Sunday-at-9:30a.m.-from-CarpetMart-crew" took, but let me briefly recap our ride for you. We (six) headed for Graffiti Tunnel, up to Quartz Hill Rd. via Sulphur Creek, then worked our way out to the Hornbeck Trail. We took the Lower Ditch Trail to Walker Mine Road and then caught the Upper Ditch Trail, destination The Flanagan overpass. A nice long ride with lots of climbs, but the highlight for me was when I put Mr. SanFranCup on the point and he suddenly turned all red and took off like a bat out of Hell! To say that he rose to the occasion would be the understatement of the season. If some of these "Slower" riders ever get high-end bikes, I'll be in big trouble.

OK... so the H stands for what?

Not that there's anything wrong with that!

Let me re-word that...

The little bike we call the "Fake-sie" is rolling and it is just a lot fun! I kind of had the misguided impression that I was going to have another bike that I could actually take out for extended rides but no dice. For some reason the coaster brake feels like it is robbing some power in the form of a soft, buffered-like feeling. I planned on mocking it up to play with it and then completely disassemble and paint it but now I'm not so sure I won't just ride it ugly!

Webbed Feet Not Required?

According to the weather people, Sunday's ride from Carpet Mart 9:30 a.m. shouldn't leave us feeling like we've been on an extended arctic scuba dive. Come on down and join us for the weekly rolling circus, featuring many unsigned comedians like the one's pictured here! Tell all your friends! We have room for three-hundred thousand!

Good Friday

Well the Fake-sie bike is built and rolling! I got the rear wheel back from Randy Etc.(I laced it up, but he is the dish, tension, alignment Master!) Although it is not painted, one can readily envision it's potential as a dynamite little Hipster Bike that is a ton of fun to ride. Now, you may be wondering what the bowl of enticing looking soup depicted here is all about. Well it's your invitation to come on down for a bowl of homemade Minestrone today (around lunch-time)and while you're here, throw a leg over the bike and take her out for a spin!

Real Fenders!

I rode last night, as soon as the seventeenth flood of Noah let up a bit and thanks to "Real" fenders, I was nice and dry "Back There!" As the good Doctor pointed out in my previous entry, what good are fenders if they don't bloody cover the wheels!

Caution! Caveman at Work!

Work on my one-speed, coaster-brake-equipped, 27" wheel, "Fake-sie" bike continues in the form of endless browsing of the Internet for style ideas. Which (in the end) only serves to frighten and confuse me, for you see Your Honor... I am only a Caveman! As they say, the best laid plans of mice and men... My latest project will never have the finish of an award winning, hand-made Vanilla bike but I can dream!

Top Secret Steel Foundry.

Well the steel for my next bike frame is forged!

And Now, a Word From Dave Zabriskie.

What Would Antler Man Do?

I awoke to find yet another rainy Sunday and I got a little bummed out. But then I thought to myself, Hey, I'll bet Antler Man wouldn't let a little rain stop his training! And so my friends today I will ride with a large rack o' antlers atop my helmet in tribute to Antler Man. I'm really pretty sure I will. Wait a minute--- when's the ride?--- Yeah, I'm really pretty sure I'll do that!