Tampa's Bay

Day 208, 3/27/15

Grueling 20 hours down to Tampa.
Low-lites: Rush hour traffic in Nashville, seriously rough breaded cod from Hardees.
High-lites: Rural roads in southern TN, gas station coffee with a splash of french vanilla cappuccino and a Kit Kat bar.

Exhausted, I rode around Liz's cul de sac.

.1 mi.


Day 209

Rode to Oliver's Cycle Sports for a presta adapter and water bottler.  Friendly staff clued me in a bit to the area bike culture.  Took their recommendation to check out Flatwoods, a nearby park with 7 mile paved loop.  The loop was one way which made for easy cycling among the walkers, joggers, and skaters.  There were lots of local riders in the park to talk with and challenge.

16 miles


Day 210

Headed out this morning to bike West towards Dunedin.  Parked at an empty lot on Limburgh St. and started chasing the gulf coast.  Unsure of the exact route as I wandered around a fair amount.  After some confusion I made it to the Jay's for the final inning and a half.  My late arrival made it easy to sneak past the ushers   Toronto fell lost 4-2 to the Orioles.

Short trail near Oldsmar.

Stumbled upon this roadside and deserted barber shop near the short trail mentioned above.

Oldsmar trail weaved through park where the carnival, wedding, and this car show were.

Finally made it to Dunedin (Doon-knee-din)

37 mi.


Day 211

Late start after grocery shopping, falling in to several episodes of The Walking Dead, and getting my clipless shoes set up.  I took them down to Flatwater for more exploring, 3 laps, and fine tuning the set up.

After finally finding something that worked, I took my first spill jarring the left cleat from its ideal position.  To make matters worse, my 4mm allen was left on a bench earlier in the day.  The result was a rhythmic squeak of the shiny shoe against the left crank arm each rotation.

Armadillo in Flatwoods/

39 mi.

Detour

Day 204, 3/23/15

Tampa trip was delayed due to an unforeseen opportunity.  So, I biked to work to grind it our for another 3 days.

In other news, it snowed today!

Applied some of my new grease and leather lotion to the Brooks.


Day 205

Rode Bruce to work while the leather lotion sets in.  Firetrucks and police cars were blocking up Market St. so I cut through A-List and down Washington to work.

Watch Whiplash and loved it!  I give it 6 of 7 abusive bald men.


Day 206

Take your bike to work day!  Irchiro hung out in the office because he's scared of thunder storms.  Kurt tested his new baby catching camera on the bike.

Here's some footage from another camera I checkout out today.  It was attached to a drone.  Indy Aerial Photography should follow a night ride this summer!

Old Point nachos for lunch!


Day 207

Rode to Flat 12 Bierwerks.  Then off to Tampa.

Birthday Friends

Day 201, 3/20/15

Rode to work.  Rode to grocery. Rode to SK.

Redboxed Boyhood and Night Crawlers.

Boyhood: 4 of 7


Day 202

Anne and Dan Birthday day!

AM: Rode north to Cafe Patachou where I thoroughly enjoyed the Cuban Breakfast.  On the way home, stopped and grabbed the cleats Roger ordered me at Freewheelin.

PM: Rode south to go Duck Pin Bowling.  Interesting parlor game, made more fun by great company.

Photo taken from fountainsquareindy.com

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Afterwards it was tacos and Revolucion Lagers are La Revolucion .  I think I dropped my Blublockers out of a breast pocket on the way home.

Watched Night Crawlers in between.  I give it 7 of 7 scruple-less photographers.


Day 203

Retraced last night's ride home in search of my sunglasses with no luck.  I'll have to order them sent to Liz's so I don't burn my eyes out in FL.  Fletcher Place Coffee was closed so this excellent parking spot went to waste.

Directly behind the yield sign is 12.05 Distilary and Repeal, the soon-to-open restaurant/spirit local by Fountain Square Brewery co-owner John, and his wife Teresa Weber.  Their gin is excellent.

Bikcentenial

Day 200, 3/19/15

Rode a newly saddled Ichiro to work.  Real comfy!

Green Eyes and a Heart of Gold

Day 197, 3/16/15

Rode to work on a BEAUTIFUL day!  Temp topped out over 70 degrees.

Popped out of work for a quick ride and then headed up to 20th Street before coming back down to check out a green canal.

photo by theindychannel.com

Day 198

Happy St. Patrick's Day!  Rode to work.  During lunch checked out the War Memorial for some music and dancing.  Took a ride up to the Old Northside to meet a friend for some Jameson and a Guinness.


Day 199

Rode to work.  Started taking Tom apart this morning.  Getting a saddle and shoes transferred over to Ichiro for the upcoming Florida trip.

Dirty Bikes

Day 194, 3/13/15

Rainy day blues.  Rode to work, SK, home.


Day 195

Saturday morning yoga at City Market.  It was so nice to meander through the market and see familiar faces.  New friends were made as well.

Sam stopped in to town and we rode down to Lucas Oil for the MotoX races.  His buddy got us tickets, showed us around, and shared "tour waters".

motocross.transworld.net

photo from flickr.com

We ended up out at Claddagh and then 9 Irish Brothers.  It's St. Pat's week after all.


Day 196

Rode to Starbucks with Sam for internet use.

Later stopped by a friends to help prep for their dinner party, went to the library and then Thirsty Scholar before heading to Fountain Square for a growler fill.

Flo Jo

Day 189, 3/8/15

Tried to ride to the library, grocery, and brewery, but left with no lock. Instead I did a trip around the Cultural Trail then by the library to return items.

Day 190

Beautiful freaking day!  Rode to work and home.  Daylight savings bought me some extra pedal time so I took Ichiro around the CT while waiting on a load of laundry.

Day 191

Wet and dreary day...  Busted out the rain coat for the morning's ride to work.  Needed it on the way home too.

Met up with Pat to watch the Pacers hang 118 on the Magic.  And on FloJo throw back night no less!

Stuckey had 34 pts, 6 rebs and 7 assists off the bench!

Day 192

Rode to work.  60 degrees and sunny today!  Afterwards zipped around downtown and met Eric for a drink at TTap.  Biked him then myself home.


Day 193

Rode to work.  After, met with Brett and rode with him up the Monon before splitting off and heading to Indy Hostel for the storytelling event.

NAHBS

The North American Handmade Bicycle Show

Day 188, 3/7/15

Woke up remembering I am 30.  Hanging out with Matt will do that to you.  After a well practiced regimen of hang-over solutions, the only thing that helped was hopping on Matt’s Schwinn and heading to the NAHBS.

The North American Handmade Bicycle Show was just as fun as it sounds!  As seen by the entries, fat bikes continue to surge in popularity as well as ultra-light (and ultra-expensive) roadies and belt driven cycles.  My favorites were some of the classic track bikes and this 1990 Team Z LeMond.

gizmag.com

Aside from it’s gaudy paint job and downtube shifters, this bike looks surprisingly identical to similar, 25-year-younger, models.  Everyone was making a big stink over the Delta brakeset.  They are pretty slick looking components, but noisy and heave.  Not worth the fuss that was being made.

This was my vote for people’s choice.  The winner was Six-Eleven Bicycles which produced some pretty slick single speed townies.  They also won for Best Track Bike.

gizmag.com

While Indy’s own Harvey Cycles won Best New Builder with their classic two piece touring frame, the most eye catching was Cykelmageren’s monstrosity. 

gypsybytrade.wordpress.com

gizmag.com

This hyper aggressive geometry makes for interesting art, but isn't what I would want to pedal.  The singular grip option and complicated braking mechanisms are more than a bit over the top.  Builder, Ramus Gjesing was very pleasant and not at all as ludicrous as his bike design.

While there were countless rides to drone on about I will leave you with this notable Louisville made beauty.  Chris Connor crafted this one of a kind cycle from actual Slugger bat billets.  Maybe a bit heavy but what it lacks in weight it makes up in cruising function, style, and creativity.

Connor's Louisville Slugger bike photographed in his shop.  Taken from connorscycles.com

Saw The Lone Bellow at Headliners later that night.  They were also really good!

Flats

Day 183, 3/2/15

**Cough cough...**
Rode to the library today and actually did a bit of work.  Later that night I rode to meet the Lucas' at Dorman.  Aaron was very helpful on the cell phone front.

Day 184

Rode to work and home.  It poured rain today and Bruce was left out in it.  He was definitely cleaner when I finally fetched him.
My scale groaned this morning when I stepped to him so I also went for a 2 mile run today.


Day 185

Rode to work.  More snow coming today!

Had a flat on my car after work... damn autos.


Day 186

Drove to work for third time since September.  Had to drive up to Tom Nygaard's to have my tire fixed.  Driving on a donuts is somewhat nerve racking.  Dropped off the wheel at Tom's, then to Indy Met for the mentor session, back up to Free Wheelin' where I talked with Shawn, then to Tom's have the wheel put back on and back to TCA with 2 minutes to spare before the evening orientation.

After orientation, and pizza, I ran home to get the library card, then biked Irchiro back to work to answer emails and renew videos.


Day 187

Rode Ichiro to work then to SK to fill up for a weekend in Louisville.  Left immediately after work, but not before loading up on Tony's fresh tomato base.

Down in L-ville we went to Flat 12 for drinks on the river, Barret Bar for dinner, Akiko's for karaoke and finally Baxter's for a night cap.

View from Flat 12  taproom.  flat12.me/brewery

Caving Weekend

Day 180, 2/27/15

Rode Bruce to work, home to grab growlers, then back to SK.  Later rode Ichiro up toNorthminister, Balsam Range was playing a free show and it was worth the chilly ride.  On the way home my left pinky became painfully numb (if that is a thing).  Stopped in at the Bent Rail to defrost.  Their pinball machine has a cool "Barbwire" theme, but the machine is worn out.


Day 181

Woke early to get ready for caving.  Rode and moved all three bikes from the basement to the apartment.  Can't trust them alone in the basement.

The group at Buckner's mouth.  Photos by Lyndsey Mundell

Super cool ice formation at cave's entrance

Caving was fantastic!  The Pine Room was an excellent choice for dinner.  We enjoyed great food, excellent service, and several beers.


Day 182

Got 6 inches of snow over night and it continued to fall all day.  Rode through beautiful mess to the Library.  Photo is taken from my favorite spot overlooking the old church and the bike rack.
*See a tiny Bruce chained on the left.