ashamed

The party of Lincoln has elected a bigoted, male supremacist demagogue.

I am ashamed that I am American today.

2016 philly bike expo

You don't have to be either floridly tattooed, or (if male) luxuriantly bearded, to work a booth at the Philly Bike Expo; they also make room for the shaven-headed, and multiple-pierced. But those of us who wear ties to work are more likely to be represented on the aisle-side rather than the stock-side of the booths.

No matter, there was gorgeous stuff to be seen. The camera didn't always behave, so the pics below only tell part of the story.

Velo-Orange, in Annapolis, is the OTHER source for new-retro bike stuff; I've gotten quite a number of items there. They're discontinuing my favorite frame, the rim-brake Pass Hunter, in favor of a disk-brake version. Oh, well. The Excellent Wife (TEW) won't have to worry about coming home from a long weekend to find one of those in the garage.

Of all things, wooden bike frames. Built from laminate instead of straight lumber, but wooden, nonetheless.

A bit further down, Calfee was showing these bamboo frames. He uses a specially-sourced bamboo with extra-thick walls, but they're plain bamboo; he cuts and shapes 'em and connects 'em with carbon-fiber strapping and resin. Intriguing. I wish I liked the looks of these more than I do.

Gearhead stuff:

Raw lugs!

Unpainted, brazed frames!

Machined parts!

Chris King bling! (Don't let the anodized colors fool you: what King does really well is headset bearings that will last. Headset bearings have it way worse than wheel bearings, because of the limits of the motion; getting this part right is great engineering.)

Some pretty frames:

I loves me some pretty paint.

That one above is from Vlad, a builder in Boonton.

Bike art:

Below, Selle Anatomica was assembling saddles right at the show:

I recently got one of these, and they were very helpful about adjustment suggestions.

Below, TEW was NOT impressed with much of the lycra or polyester offerings; some looked cheaply thrown together, and all were way expensive.

We were both taken with Viva la Bicicleta. Much of the clothing is cotton, but they claim wicking and antibacterial qualities like artificial fabrics... and some of the shirts have reflectors and back pockets.

TEW bought a long-sleeve top from them, and I might go online to get a shirt.

Wait... is that John K at the MS JDRF ride booth?

And a booth for the Bicycle Club of Philadelphia?

SERIOUS kids bikes:

The booth for Zevlin, a bar tape I want to try. They offer a wide 40mm tape, which can be close-wrapped to make a deeper cushion than usual. I want to try it for my next wrap. I bout a pair of socks as well (I've decided to start a bike socks collection).

I don't know if I want a titanium bike lock, but i didn't know titanium could bend like this and go back to its original shape (those arms are parallel when relaxed). No wonder I like my Ti frame so much.

I'm pretty proud of myself: I spent only a reasonable amount of money, only bought one thing I regret (a snap-on fender that interferes with the bike bag I use), and got a subscription to a bike mag that I'll probably not renew, but they threw in a pair of socks. And I had a date with TEW. A good day! (and I love the pretty bike stuff!)

round valley reservoir, seatpost blues, they hate us in whitehouse station, and a trainer at solberg airport

After the big doin's last week, I was glad to bet back to see my usual riding buddies this week. Laura OLPH had posted a ride to Round Valley (and had sent me the route to put into the GPS), and ten of us showed up to take on the challenge: Ricky G, Rajesh, Peter, Tom H, Robert N, Andrew A, Jack H, and John K made up the rest.

The route was the opposite of the way we usually go, so instead of that long downhill after seeing the reservoir, we had the long slow uphill to get to it. It was more than my poor seatpost could stand; partway up the hill, the saddle shifted and the nose started pointing skyward. (And why hadn't that happened last week, on a much hillier ride?) I pulled over and made a roadside fix, and caught up to the rest of the gang at the boat launch.

The paved part of the boat launch isn't supposed to be out of the water like that...

... and there's not supposed to be that much beach. There's a drought going on.

But I got some pictures of the riders.

From there to the diner in Whitehouse Station. Evidently, they aren't pleased with our custom; I got stuck in the toilet line, so I was late to the counter and was the last to pay, and when I got my change, I heard the owner-fella say, "Good riddance". And when we were seated outside, a van parked where we had parked the bikes, and a woman opened the side door open and was filling a box with toys t go to the consignment shop next door. When we offered to help pick up stuff she'd dropped, she remarked on how we took up a lot of space.

Maybe in Whitehouse Station, they look on us as a basket of deplorables.

(Edit: A number of riders have told me that their experiences varied from mine; I may have been too hasty in my report above about the diner. My report about the woman from the consignment store stands.)

Back to the road. We were more than half done.

As we were passing Solberg Airport, we headed in and saw a few planes: this trainer from the second world war...

...and a few others.

Then back (after another quick fix to my seatpost... hrmph). I'm not generally one for landscape pictures, but these, as we crossed the white bridge at Neshanic, were too good to miss:

Great ride. Great day. Glad I went.