Archive for the ‘utility’ Category
Monday, March 15th, 2010

Weather is changing.
Soma is hooked to the little one train for groceries, yoga, and playtime. Body weight is up. Mood is improving. Fitness is down. Kidervals to begin. Stopping at parks is a must.

Thinking about a Schlumpf Mountain Drive. 2 speed fixed gear. Mmmm. Where to find the $$.


House hunting continues. Hopefully townhouse selling will commence magically in the next few weeks. We’ve looked at a handful of properties – and only a few would suit our tastes and neighborhood choices. Those that do fit stretch the budget but also our imagination about life in town, good public schools, and being much closer to friends and family. Walking downtown? To the store? I could get used to that.
Posted in ava, burlington, ride, single speed, utility, vermont | 7 Comments »
Tuesday, October 13th, 2009

I wanted to write a longer post about our recent trip to Montreal… in lieu of the post never happening – here are some snaps from a bike friendly big city.
Posted in ava, bikes, montreal, photo, travel, utility | 1 Comment »
Wednesday, August 12th, 2009
Need to smooth out my spin. Very different with the little one and the Burley.

Posted in bikes, fixed gear, gear, utility | Comments Off
Monday, August 3rd, 2009

A boat towing tandem?
Seen this morning near the Maple Street Marina / Boat Dock – a
Bilenky Viewpoint with homebrew trailer. The trailer looks rigged to carry a small sailing rig or a dinghy for water access. SS couplers, double derailer drivetrain with idlers… and plenty of on board water storage!
Posted in bikes, burlington, utility, vermont | 1 Comment »
Thursday, July 9th, 2009

Camper Longflap and Surly CrossCheck, fixed, with recent additions of 2 rings up front and a dingle cog on the rear.
The Camper Long Flap after a run to the CSA pick up, drop off posters for the Cycle Celebrate Champlain, grocery store, dinner, bike shop, and mail. Room for more.
Posted in bikes, gear, utility, vermont | 2 Comments »
Saturday, May 30th, 2009
After a recharge nap I set out to fix the leaking faucet / pipes / drain / sink in the kitchen. A turn of the shut off valves ended in a crumbled mess, so I had to get at the main water line in the basement. Hunched over, working under the sink, crawling in and out of the cabinets – it was like work. A ride to the hardware store. Then a return under the cabinets to hook everything back up, only to find that the faucet itself is leaking from its innards. Off to the home improvement superstore on the other side of town.

I added a bit of rope as I ran out of straps - but it rode home quite well - and comfortably aside from the sweat.
Fixed Surly, Carradice Barley, and my messenger bag. Plumbers putty and an updated Pur filter in the Barley, the faucet barely tucked into the messenger bag. Back under the cabinets. Installed with minimal knuckle gnashing and no mishaps save a reversal of the hot and cold (the original plumber put them in backwards) and the filter doesn’t fit without some special adapter. Turn the main back only to see a drip drip coming from the main valve. A slight turn of the wrench to snug it up – I don’t want to blow a gasket and have a flood in the basement – and all seems well for the moment. I need to search around and see if we have a main outside of the house – I’m worried now about the gasket in the basement valve… and have no idea how to repair it without shutting us down from without. Not a bad day after all – sunny skies, three bike rides, and a household chore knocked off the list. I’m hoping the fine weather sticks around and I’ll get in a decent ride tomorrow. Coffee cruise first thing – and if all systems are go perhaps a run out to some dirt.
Posted in fixed gear, utility | Comments Off
Friday, April 24th, 2009

Main map interface screen with options on the right.
I just discovered Bike Route Toaster. So far I love it – the two main features I was looking for was the ease of use of GoogleMaps and a cue sheet generator. Bike Route Toaster uses the GoogleMaps interface but with the option of disabling the ‘Auto Routing’ feature so you can sketch over trails, short cuts, bike paths, etc.!!!! The Cue Sheet generator is editable, exportable to several formats and allows you to view the location of the cue and edit the information. Add in elevation profiling, export to several different formats including GoogleEarth, and a friendly interface and it will be a nice addition to my route making toolkit. If you register you can save routes and pick up working on them where you left off and / or make your routes public. So far its just what I’ve been looking for…

Cue sheet editor screen.

Route summary screen.
Posted in gear, randonneuring, utility | 1 Comment »