Chain Ring Cowboy

The temperature this morning was so nice. I keep thinking that the coolness will be gone for many months pretty soon giving way to the Texas summer furnace, so I am compelled to acknowledge these precious remaining mornings. I wonder how many rolling power outages we will experience this summer? I am hearing that the stock holders with EXXON-MOBIL are going to be questioned about their environmental initiatives upon the announcement of their bazillion dollar profits. Familiar Martha, if you are reading this, thanks for the great chat on the phone last evening. The rest of ya'all, this is my brilliant sister. We are going to join up with a whole slew of siblings, their offspring, parents, and anyone else that isn't embarrased to claim attachment to our family in July in the Black Hills area of South Dakota. I am trying to find a good way to take my bicycle on the bus with me. If anyone has any ideas, I am surely open to some education in hauling bikes around the country on a bu

About half way to town Memorial Day morning, I found myself doing something I shouldn't, spending too much time looking down at the road right in front of me. I know that I'm supposed to keep my head up, looking forward, and I do most of the time, but the habit of zoning with my head down and eyes looking about six feet in front of me is a hard one to break. Once I hit a two by four piece of lumber because my head was down. By the time I saw it, it was too late to react. It didn't hurt anything, but tells me that my day is coming for a fall if I get caught at the right time. So on my way to watch the Capitol of Texas triathlon Memorial day my eyes catch this little cross laying in the road. A little white cross, designed kind of like what you would see at Arlington National Cemetary, all those white crosses in symetric rows no matter what angle you view them from. Onc cross in the road between road crossings on Memorial Day...... Sign of the Cross. Chad Hawthorn from Birmin

Too bad I can't blog while I ride because that is when some of my best thoughts pass through my mind. Then when I get here with my fingers on the keyboard, all that creative thinking is gone. My 52 miler this morning was nice. I happened onto some familiar riders, some that I had ridden with 8 or 10 years ago. It's nice to see some people keep up a good habit year after year. I, on the other hand, seem to come and go with good habits, but I am really glad to be back to cycling. I started up last August as an act of disobedience to the the shackles of the oil machine which turned out to be a great re-awakening to the wonderful joys of cycling. If you haven't seen the documentary on HBO, "Bagdad ER", you should. Everyone should. Enough said about it, except that tomorrow is a chance to thank all the military persons you see for going through or potentially going through some of this newer kind of war. I'm not a veteran and I am not going to pretend that I know

Tigua is gone and so is the Green Machine. Just molecules in formation to move around the globe. But welcome the new member of the traveling modes with the introduction of the Touring Wonder. Pictures to follow one of these days soon

Happy Memorial Day. Reverence to those whose demons stir from the experience of war. And to those who have fallen.

to the long weekend ahead. Have a good Memorial Day

Days longer, temperatures warmer. The way it was where I grew up, when the sun went down, the earth got a break from the blistering heat. Cool summer nights are unheard of here, oxymoronic actually. For me the first day of summer comes when I cannot sleep with the windows open because of the heat, and that day is coming very soon I suspect. Since I am all up into energy saving, this summer I plan to leave my thermostat set at 82 degrees. That is hard to do for most the folks that live in these parts. It should be relatively easy though since that is about 17 degrees lower than our body heat. Maybe I'm full of it here, but if people would get more exercise acclimated to the outside temperature, they could increase their threshold for dealing with extreme temperatures, both high and low. For now though the windows are closed and the ac comes on when the temp exceeds 82

The spectacular wind with glitter pushes against me while I wind the cranks straight against the winding wind. The ride home was arduous and when it was over, I wished I were still out there in it.

First the Man walked, then he caught a horse. The man rode the horse and got around much better until man built a bicycle. Then the horse and the bicycle shared the road until the motorcycle and car came, which made for sharing the road more difficult. Two fuel tanks make the horse and man go. One for the horse, one for the man. Two fuel tanks are needed for the car/man transport also. One fuel tank is needed for the bicycle/car combo. Have you ever fed the horses in the dawn of morning? Hay is great, the horse likes his hay. Alfalfa is even better, the horse knows that alfalfa day is better eating. But Oats? Show me a horse that doesn't get excited when he/she sees the oat barrell being opened, and I'll show you a can of dogfood. They love oats, can't get enough of them in their cud fast enough. I wish I knew the history of oats and how us humans decided that oatmeal was a worthy breakfast food. I wonder if back a long time ago, man and the horse shared their oats. At wha

Yesterday I met up with one of the Austin Cycle Association's organzed rides. I have been wanting to do this for quite a while now, so it was good to finally show up. My big mistake was that I signed up for the long ride, a 58 or 60 miler. What I should have done was get in the 38 mile ride. I couldn't resist trying to hang with some stuck up acting, weathered looking, advanced leg muscle looking guys. I gotta tell you it was fun riding with them all the way until I got dropped, some 12 plus or minus into the ride. It shows what I have to look forward to, what I have to work toward. I am going to have to tell Jorge, I don't know what I am talking about saying an 18 or 20 mph average is pretty easy. 12 miles of that pace going into the wind, even if I were able to draft, zapped me early. I turned around to see if I could catch the 38 mile crowd, but the headwind was to much for me to go any faster than 14-15. I had already done myself in. The rest of the ride was solo, or s

I know a young lady who has a car with over 100,000 miles on it. It has been a very reliable car and that is something for being American made. This little car has seen her through some high school time and all of her college life, and recently developed a coolant leak. The answer to that was to buy antifreeze and pour in as necessary each day so as to keep this great little car getting her from place to place. She finally had to put the car in the shop and fork up $400 to get it back in reliable form. I hope her car lasts a long long time if she wants to drive around in that thing, but I wish she would get a bicycle. Young lady if you read this, you know who I am talking about. KLUTZ DELUXE Today was "Bike to Work Day", part of "Bike to Work Week". There were free patries at various stops, lots of complimenting each others bikes, and a general sense of socializing that normally won't happen if you encounter the same folks on the daily commute. That is, if those

The rides in the mornings in this part of the country are very nice, mainly because the weather is so delightful. Clear skys, cool temps, soft breeze and early sunrise all make for enjoyable cranking weather. It's official the word is out, Rick Jordan is going to ride from Austin to El Paso starting September the 16th, arriving in plenty of time to attend the 40 year highschool reunion. Plans are underway, commitments made, and budget being palanned. Stay tuned for more.

There is this movie/documentary out there called "Share the Road" . A very cool movie that I think even most non bike riding people would like. If you local bike shop sells it, it will be a good one for you to put in your collection of DVD's. Even though I am a bonafied bicycle commuter, I am going to change the name of this blog to something more in tune with my plans to make a tour across the desert of Texas. That's right. Leave the spot to where the greenery is waning going west, go further west to desert sand and scrubs. In September, some hundred and something days from now. I've got a map and a plan and even perhaps a partner or two. And as I may have already said yesterday or sometime, I will start a thinking out loud dialog on this blog, and as always open to any suggestions, thoughts, and input.

The time is now. I am seeking creative help in making this blog a little dressier so I will be held to a better standard of writing in it, making the focus of the upcoming 700 mile, plus or minus just a few, to El Paso. I have lots going on between now and that time in late September, so there should be not shortage of topics for me to spew with. Yeah, and I think I am going to get me one of those "donate" buttons and see if anyone wants to help me pull this trip off with a little more ease. Already, Hill Abell has been the man in offering a bicycle and trailer at a very fair price. I will acknowledge Mr. Abell and his company more in time because I think everyone should visit one of his stores at least once in their life. I am pretty sure nobody reads this little site, but if you do and have any experience in bicycle touring for more than one week at a time and have any tips, advise, or encouragements, please feel free to send them my way.

When I was about 6, I think it was my 6th birthday, I got a bicycle as the main present. My parents were the typical early 1950's hard working couple who mortgaged a modest house in a developing area on the edges of the town of El Paso, Ysleta for sure, Where cotton farming country was giving way to streets and structures. My bike was a used bike built sometime in the 1940's. It had been fixed up and was the perfect ride to learn on even though it was too big for a 6 year old and it had no training wheels. Thinking back on those days, remembering the frustrations I had in learning to balance, having my mom push start me to let me get going, encouraging me to pedal so I could actually stay up and be going on the thing, makes me realize that learning to ride that bike was also the the setup for learning to cope with many other frustrations life has to offer. Ahh, that bike. Big fat tires, no chain guard, 15 coats of paint on it, and of course a fixed gear. I wish I still had that

The rainyest month of the year is living up to its standard as we have already had more rain than average. Just my luck to build a neat little water proof pannier in plenty of time for it to fatigue and develop cracks from all the viabration and bouncing it has received in the last couple of months, to then decide to purchase a Jandd grocery pannier that is really sweet, but isn't worth a hoot for keeping thnigs dry. Large zip lock bags are the answer this morning, but it didn't rain coming in. Maybe I will get a taste of moisture on my way home this afternoon/early evening. Saul, if you are reading this, I read your article in the newRacing Post. Well, I read most of it. I will finish the article sometime today as I get glance chances throughout my regular working routine. Also, I have been doing some shopping around to find the right bike for my trip to El Paso, and I am not so sure the Long Haul Trucker is the way to go. I came by to talk about it yesterday, but decided not