6 friends including Don and Issac and myself gathered at the beach to celebrate my bachelorhood for the last time before the wedding next month. We visited a few brewhouses, ate some awesome mexican food, BBQ’d on the beach and got sunburned really bad while getting schooled at beach volleyball.
Avila Beach Saturday

Chicken and Apple Sausages…….

We all had a great time. Its been a long while since all of these guy
friends could gather like this.

I paid a visit to the bike shop in San Luis Obispo that had a 56cm Kestrel Evoke in red.
They did not want to sell me the frame only.  So….. my 56cm  frame from RScycle in  Boulder is on its way, I ordered it this morning. I hope they throw in some rocky mountain air with it.

On the way to the bike shop Isaac’s eagle eyes caught the glimpse of a vintage folding bike at a yard sale along the road.   He saw it first so it goes home with him.  At a paltry sum of $20 though I declared that it shall  “stay in the family”. If he doesn’t want it, I get it

Pretty cool huh?

July 23rd
So about one-month ago I was hit from behind by a Toyota Previa Mini-van. I was riding northbound on Friant Road at about 4:15 pm. While traveling about 20 mph in the bike lane I was sideswiped at approximately 45mph by the van’s side mirror, front right tire and bumper. My bike sustained little apparent structural damage but was rendered un-rideable by a tacoed rear wheel and a bent behind belief rear skewer. I kept the van and its Non-english speaking drivers at the scene, called 911 to get a police report and called Sarah to pick me up. No injuries.

July 24th
I took my bike to Rubber Soul Bicycles to have the frame checked for damage. They found no serious physical damage but suggested that due to the details of the accident, I replace the frame. They gave me a typed estimate of the cost to replace my Frame/Fork, Rear wheel, pedals, and jersey.

August 14th
After faxing the damage estimate to the Car Owner’s insurance company they contacted me and wanted to see the bike for themselves. I showed them the damaged bike and explained that the damage was not visible but inside the carbon frame. Allstate insurance told me that they would do some research as to the value of the frame and get back to me.

August 19th
In anticipation of the insurance company wanting to keep my frame for salvage purposes I dissembled the entire bike and discovered a HUGE crack on the right chainstay behind the chainrings. Kestrel Evoke=Dead

August 21st
The insurance adjuster called and told me that they had settled to give me 80% of what I was asking for. I asked for full retail for all my damaged items knowing that they would negotiate a lower payment.

I’m happy. I went for a ride with Isaac this afternoon and still couldn’t ride on Friant Road. We did the willow/copper loop instead. I will get better but I’m still a little spooked.
August 22nd
Now I need to replace my road bike frame. I posted a poll/question on bikeforums.net also but I appreciate your feedback also.

My choices are:

Three choices: I can only get one.

I lost my 2005 Kestrel evoke in an unfortunate meeting with a Toyota Previa Minivan. Insurance paid for the frame and some other stuff budget is $1500.

I will be transferring my Campagnolo Record Group, FSA SLK crank, Neuvation r28 SL5’s and Keo pedals over to the new frame.

Choices:

1. 2007 Kestrel Evoke Red (mostly red) 56cm $999 Free shipping No tax online

2. 2008 Argon 18 Krypton Red white and Black (Mostly White) $1200 plus tax $1295

3. 2008 Ridley Orion Black red and Silver (mostly Black) $1400 plus tax $1511

My feelings:
1. Kestrel - I know and love the Kestrel but I don’t exactly love the new paint. Rides great, fits great.

2. Argon 18 - Badass looking bike but seems a little soft in performance vs comfort area.

3. Ridley - Raciest stiffest, probably the best frame in the group also the most boring looking.

I don’t race but ride lots of miles on the weekends and with the local saturday morning hammerhead crew.

Performance , aesthetics, and comfort are my requests in that order.

Any and all opinions are welcome. Suggestions for similar frames under $1500 also.

So I know Boulder Colorado is about 1200 miles away but there is a proposed bike racing and bike skills park project in Boulder.

Here is a little blurb from their site:
“Welcome to the Valmont Bike Park, a destination being crafted specifically for you, the cycling enthusiast. Located in the cycling epicenter of the United States, Boulder, Colorado, this multi-discipline cycling park is being designed by some of the finest trail builders in the United States to support a vast array of trail networks created for their respective disciplines. Epic single-track for the mountain biker, rhythmic pump tracks for BMX enthusiasts, and cyclocross circuits designed in the style of the best courses in Belgium will be free for all to experience and allow any skill level to enjoy from beginner to expert, child to senior citizen.”

This park is similar to the bike park that seems to be an on-going project at Woodward park here in Fresno. I hope both projects continue to grow and succeed for everyone’s sake.

A 3 hour tour……..

Actually it was a 5.5 hour tour. 50 miles 5.5 hours you do the math.

We left at 8am. We rode to the north side of Millerton lake. Great ride, steep hills, nice views, few cars.

Justin got 5 flats in 30 miles.

Flat #1

Top of Puke Hill - Zak, Isaac, Justin, part of Don.

Flat #3

It was fun, I got some good flat changing practice. 2300 calories
burned before noon and a sunburn is a good day on the bike.

Check out what I came across on flickr. This is what my Raleigh was modeled after. This track bike was used by the US Olympic team to win a silver medal in the 1984 LA Olympics.

So I usually take pictures and complain about road hazards to people like me, a bike commuter who uses the bike lanes and shoulders of our local roads.

This is not an immediate hazard but a problem for many:

Over-watering is really just annoying. Its really annoying when a
business does it. This is the driveway of the Derrels Mini Storage
on Alluvial. Its not a huge problem but if everybody does it it can be.
What it does to me is causes slippery gutters and eroded bike lanes.

On Friday, the new power window motor for my pickup came in. It
was in a pretty big box and weighed about 12 pounds. It barely fit in
my pannier bag. I shuffled it home and installed in in about 20 minutes.
Here it is stuffed in my pannier bag:

On the way home I stopped in to Cycle Path Bicycles on Cedar. I was
there inquiring about a 2007 Ridley Crosswind Cyclocross bike.
Roger is looking to make me a smokin deal on it.

While I was waiting to have some pedals put on the Ridley, I saw
this exotic Wilier road bike with a square headtube, wierd:

Here is the Ridley:

Its pretty much my current object of lust. I might sell the GT
mountain bike to finance this adventure.

Don’t stop filling your life with healthy and expensive hobbies.

I saw 9 riders this morning. 3-4 were actual commuters and the others were just out turning the pedals over.

Rant Warning:
One older guy (late 50’s?) was riding in the same direction as me. I almost caught him at Alluvial and Millbrook before I saw him ride right through the red light like it was not even there. I slowly rode behind him and caught him right at Alluvial and First street. The light was red. He slowed and then started to ride through the red light. I barked at him “Don’t do it!”
He wobbled and stopped, turned around and scowled at me. I asked “What makes you think you can just ride through red lights?” He didn’t have an answer. He just shook his head and turned back around as the light turned green. I stood on the pedals and sprinted through the light past him.

How somebody has lived as long as he has and runs red lights like they don’t even matter, I will never know.

These people who ride bikes and run reds, stop signs, do stupid things are giving us courteous riders a bad name.

Grrrrr Rant Over

This guy wins the fashion award this morning:

I swear that wasn’t there yesterday. Our bike lanes and gutters
are being overrun. I didn’t know there was enough ground water
in the valley to feed this monster.

This morning out of pure luck I caught up with my old friend and roommate Tylor. We both got to Cedar and Alluvial at the same time. His commute is about 2 miles longer than mine but we both work about 3 minutes from eachother. He changed his route and rode with me for awhile. We caught up a little on biking to work and he told me about how much he is enjoying this bike to work thing. We also shared our fondness of weaving through traffic like a bike messenger on jolt cola. I hope he keeps bike commuting, the distance is perfect for him and he will feel so good getting the extra exercise and saving all that gas money.

Something he said that was memorable, “There’s really no reason not to do it.”

I agree.

I work near 4 major car dealerships and look at these SUV’s everyday.

They sure have been sitting there for awhile.

In other news, I brought my laptop in to work today in my pannier bag.
I was a little nervous putting a computer worth more than my bike in a bag
on the back/side of my bike. It worked out fine. The new guy who is training
to take my job is coming in today to learn some more CAD drafting.

Don’t stop pedaling