Wednesday, May 16, 2007

You bedda watch weah YAH goin!

That's no surprise! This was big in the news yesterday after a new report was released. My latest encounter with Boston's Rudest was just yesterday.

After crossing into Boston over the Longfellow Bridge, I was cut off by a glass installer's truck. I came alongside and in a shocking display of bravado shouted "Are you trying to kill me? You better watch where you're going, buddy!" Did that come out of me?

He immediately fired back "F--- You! You bedda watch weah YAH goin!" Touche, I guess.

I vowed to be calmer about these things in the future.

Tuesday, May 15, 2007

Pancake breakfast at Broadway Bicycle School

There were supposed to be a total of three cyclists' breakfasts on my way to work today. First Alewife, where I planned to be at 7:00... but nothing. I looked around a bit, I couldn't find anything at all.

Next stop was Broadway Bicycle, where I was among the first arrivals for the 7:30 Pancake Breakfast. They were a little late getting going, but we had a nice social time chatting at the table over coffee. Turns out another chap won a complete fixed gear bike at the Redbones thing last night!

Real nice time.

It's Bike Week in Boston!

Last night, we Gemma loaded into the Christiania and headed to the big Redbones BBQ kickoff party in Davis Square. On the way, we met Lauren and her famiglia, and we rode down together along the bike path. How nice to have a virtually uninterrupted traffic-free route to the party!

The Bike Festival (as Gem called it) was fun, and the Christiania got lots of attention. For $15, we got a Redbones BBQ sandwich, a drink, and some condiments. Plus a lottery ticket. We had fun looking at the exotic utility bikes (like ones by ANT, and all manner of cool fixies. We also had fun petting a very small dog that came on the back of a nice lady's recumbent. There was also a big brass and percussion band which made up for its lack of musicality with volume and enthusiasm.

We left at around 6:45 as Gem started to wane, and gave Lauren our raffle ticket just in case.

And this morning, I had an email from her telling me that I won a fixed gear wheel from Paramount Bicycle in Somerville! Very exciting! I picked it up from the Ciclismo Classico office this afternoon and emailed the shop to find out what it would take to completely convert my $40 Schwinn World. Hooray! Another project!

Tuesday, May 08, 2007

Motobecane models

Since I embarked on the this project to restore an old mixte for Kim, bikes have been coming out of the woodwork. I've now got an old Schwinn (great for parts, particularly the center-pull Wienmann brakes), and a rather rusty old Motobecane. May come across another today. The one I have already seems to be a mid-1970s standard model; no quick release wheels, and steel rims with "go-slower" holes in the sides of the rims. The highlight seems to be the Motobecane-branded crankset and various other small parts. Seems to ride okay, though!

My research seems to indicate that a Grand Touring or Grand Jubilee would fit the bill precisely, as long as it's not too scratched or rusty. From what I've seen, it seems that old European bikes hold their finish less ably than certain Japanese ones - many of the Fujis and Nishikis I've come across are flawless.

What will I uncover today?

Saturday, May 05, 2007

Boston ICA & bike parking


Boston ICA & bike parking
Originally uploaded by ahconway.
After a meeting at the Seaport the other day, I decided to stop by the new ICA for a bit of lunch. The building was gorgeous as I expected, but lunch was rubbish.

Equally disappointing was the bike parking - completely inadequate and a long walk from the entrance. And while the building itself looks nice from this angle (or from the sea), if approaching from the Seaport or from the Channel, it appears to be surrounded by a solid parking lot bounded by a low chain link fence.

Incredible.

Wednesday, May 02, 2007

Elsie's first ride on the Bobike Mini

Had a nice after-work bike ride yesterday with the whole family, and Elsie's first time in Gem's old front-mounted Bobike seat. She seemed to have a really nice time, talking and smiling the whole way. We also didn't have any trouble finding a relatively flat network of roads in the neighborhood for a leisurely half-hour ride.