At the Vienna Green Expo

Lots of vendors, contractors, and advocacy groups gathered to extoll the virtues of going green. We are here showing folding bikes tonight. 

Milestone?

I'm not really one to put a lot of weight into dates and years and such, but since we're now a half hour into my 50th year in this life, it's at least worth a few comments.

First, I honestly don't "feel 50"... though I can't tell you what that's supposed to feel like, so I guess it doesn't matter.  I've never really known what is it to feel a certain age... sure, I can tell my body doesn't recover from sleeping on the ground as readily as it used to, and when I smile I get those little smile wrinkles around my eyes. Lord knows my hair long ago passed the "going grey" phase, though there's still some brown in there yet. But as far as "feeling my age"? Not so much.  I feel like me. Always have.

That being said, a look back at a year ago, and a lot has happened. A year ago I had no idea that I'd be taking over bikes@vienna and becoming a small business owner. I had no clue that my boss and good friend John was going to move and hand over his creation to me. And I didn't know that I'd be in a great relationship with the lovely woman I'm with. Add to that an unplanned, short notice move back in October, AND an impending second move at the end of this month, and it certainly hasn't been dull for me, this last bit of my forties - beginning of my fifties.

So, I guess I'd just like to say... well, happy birthday to me!

Great night of great music

Well, tonight was a lot of fun!  My girlfriend treated me and her cousin to an evening at the Birchmere, a DC area music club that's been around since 1966, and has at one time or another featured a huge range of great music.  Tonight we saw the Wailin Jennys, a female folk/"new grass" trio that has been featured on Prairie Home Companion a few times.  Amazing harmonies and solid instrumental work coupled with great songwriting and lovely renditions of traditional pieces and you end up with a delightful evening.

A few things stood out for me, aside from the overall excellent quality of the performances.  One was a truly beautiful rendition of "Your Long Journey", a great song by Doc and Rosa Lee Watson... it's the kinda song that just gets you where you live, and the Jennys really sang it well tonight.  Another cover they performed earlier in the evening was an Emmylou Harris tune, "Deeper Well".  About halfway through that one, my girlfriend leaned over to me and indicated she wasn't that crazy about it... which I found interesting on a couple of counts.  First, because I had just been thinking "there's something about the viola player's style that's vaguely reminiscent of David Cross in the old King Crimson days" (a comparison which might seem deeply weird to some)... and second because it seemed subtly different from the other songs this evening.  How so?  Well, maybe I'm off base here, and I don't claim to be a musical expert, but it seemed as if the instrumental work in all the other tunes really didn't call attention to itself, but supported the gorgeous vocals of the trio, while the viola part in "Deeper Well" seemed too... well, forward is the word that springs to mind.  It wasn't bad, not at all... it just called attention to itself in a way none of the other instrumental work did.

One other thing that struck me tonight.... Over the many years I worked as a theatre technician and lighting designer, people often asked if I had a hard time watching live performances without internally critiquing the lighting and scenery.  And I was always able to answer, totally honestly, that no, I never really did that while watching shows I didn't work on.  Well, since I've left the business, that no longer seems to be true, and tonight was no exception.  It's not that I sat the whole evening picking apart the lighting... far from it.  But I did find myself from time to time thinking "if they only had a little top or backlight here..." or "why on earth did they put a light cue THERE?"  Knowing the business as I do, I know the challenges and limitations, and I understand why things aren't always as "artful" as I might like.... but now and again I thought "if I were lighting this..."  Kinda funny, and it in no way detracted from a wonderful night.

All in all a great evening.  I don't get out for live music very often, but when I do I really enjoy it a great deal.  Good music, good company, and good food... what more could one ask for?

Progress on V-O Mixte

Well, it's been slow going on building up the Velo Orange Mixte for my girlfriend.  I've been a bit busy with adjusting to being a business owner, for one thing.  And while the bike shop season hasn't really "hit" yet, we've been teased with just enough spring-like weather to ramp up the demands on the service area, so I've been busy with that too.

But I did manage to get some work done the other evening.  Specifically, I prepared the frame and fork for headset installation, then installed the headset and fork.

For those that may not know, the headset is the bearing assembly that allows the fork to turn smoothly. It's important that the head tube (the part of the frame the headset fits into) have nice, smooth, clean, round bores into which the headset is pressed.  In addition, the top and bottom "faces" of the head tube need to be parallel to each other and have a nice flat surface to them.  A bit of time and care with the proper tools, and all is good.  Similar work generally has to be done to the fork to prepare it as well.

Once the frame and fork have been prepared, the headset simply gets pressed into place, using a special tool that applies a good amount of force while helping assure alignment as it presses the pieces in. It's entirely possible to do it using homemade solutions, but I have the benefit of a well equipped bike shop at my disposal!

The final step to the process is sliding the fork into the headtube, through the headset cups, then installing the adjustable cup and lock nut on top.  Final adjustment will happen later when the bike is just about complete.

I chose a Velo Orange Grand Cru headset, which looks spiffy and has sealed, cartridge bearings, which hold up well and make for easy servicing down the road.

Meanwhile, the front wheel with Shimano Dynohub is ready to go, and the rear wheel with Shimano Nexus 8 speed internally geared hub is awaiting final tensioning and truing.  Most of the rest of the parts have been gathered, and will be addressed as we proceed.

More photos are here:

Velo Orange Mixte 3-6-2011

On McAfee's Knob

Taken from the top of McAfee's Knob in the beautiful Blue Ridge of Southwestern Virginia!

Spring is on its way?!?!

One of my favorite views near Great Falls, MD

Valentine's Day found my girlfriend and me out on the C&O Canal on our bikes, on a beautiful, sunny day, with temps in the 60s!  It was gorgeous out there, and there were lots of birds and squirrels and even one perhaps over-eager turtle, basking on a log!  It had all the makings of a perfect day...



... except for the thick, wheel-sucking mud!

That's my gf, making better headway on her "regular" bike.

Yep, all that melted snow and ice resulted in some truly amazing mud.  It was challenging enough for my girlfriend, on her conventional bike with 700c wheels, but for me on my Brompton Folding Bike with 16" wheels, it was truly a slog!  I was amazed at how quickly I slowed to a crawl, and at times a complete stop, in the sticky bits.  At times, my tires sank down to where the inner face of the rim was even with the surface of the mud to either side.  I can't recall a ride in recent memory that was such hard work, and this on basically level ground.

Still, it was a beautiful day, and I'm still glad we got out on our bikes.  I just wish we'd picked a paved surface to ride on.

Clever!

Note:  I don't normally run duplicate posts between our shop blog and here, but this one just seemed too good not to share.

Now and then a customer comes in with a way of doing something that I just find amazing. Well, last Friday was one of those days.

Mike rides his high end handcycle competitively, and rides in events all over the place. He keeps us posted on the events in which he races, and we also keep an eye on him on Facebook.

Today he showed me how he manages to cram both his handcycle and his wheelchair into a medium sized sedan. Now, that may not seem like such a big deal if you've never seen a bike like this up close, but trust me, it's quite a feat. So much so I just had to take a few pictures.

First, here's Mike in his car:


And here's the cycle and wheelchair inside:
















And finally, here's the cycle ready to roll:


It's pretty amazing to see it all inside, honestly. Even more impressive is that he manages to pack the car by himself!