The other day I posted a picture of the floating instigator to be entered in the Kinetic Sculpture Race. Mary Berelsen wrote back to say that it is her husband, Scott, "who is the crazy caracatus potts inventor and cyclist who is racing it this weekend in arcata." None of the chitty, but all of the bang. For more, go here.

O.k., there's a lot i've been meaning to share for a while. here's a few bits:

>>Surly pal and all-around good egg Ryan Horkey is pimpin his brother's project, Generica. Better living through thinking. Imagine that. Ryan and his bro both live the scene and Ryan, for one, can drink some vodka, lemme tell you. If I had a decent photo of him wearing the Dirt Rag buff as a skirt, I'd share that too, but I don't. That's o.k., this is a family blog. Sort of.

>>In the Every-Bike-Is-A-BMX-Bike category, Tim Gallant, BMXican extraordinaire did this:



Yes, that is a Shimano Saint crank on a Steamroller. Match that to a mustache bar turned up like a 3 speed bar, inline 'cross brake lever, and a 46/15 gear, and you got'cherself one bad mutha.

>>And then there's this:



Mary Berelson, or someone using her email, wrote to tell us that it floats and she's using it in the Kinetic World Championships in Arcata, CA. "It consists of roads, sand, deep sand for like three miles, river crossing, two mile bay crossing, steep drops of sand, steep uphills of slimy mud, and a
bunch of crazy rules to follow," she writes, and says that after the photo was taken, she tested it, with show saucers for front rudders (stabilizers?) and paddle wheels between the spokes of the rear wheel. I am awaiting more info. That looks like a ton of fun... and we are from the land of lakes. Hmmm.... Dave will probably build one before too long.

Keep 'em coming. We love you oddballs.

Woah. Check this out. "From Vancouver to Moscow, by pedals, skis and oars." More crazy people living life to overflowing. They'll be sporting Surly New hubs and Instigator forks (which, incidentally, have recently been beefed up. now tandem rated. they're heavy and stiff, but for tandems or dirtjumpers or heavy folks riding XC, these are the cat's meow). Tim Harvey, who was sent our way by the fine folks at Xtracycle, has this to say about their undertaking (no subtextual meaning there, i swear):

"Our adventure is pretty epic and the media is literally all over it. We got
a call from CBS today and they want to fly us to New York after we hit
Fairbanks, getting ready to row across to Siberia where we'll cycle through
the coldest place in the northern hemisphere (the so-called Pole of Cold).
We've been working with CBC, and I'm writing a monthly series for a few
Canadian newspapers including the Vancouver Sun. Our departure in a few
weeks will be a big event with lots of local and some national media."

Let this be your mind's nourishment for today. Imagine. Now go ride.

Nice ride last night, up into NE MPLS and Colombia Heights (poor man's SE MPLS, which is in turn the poor man's SW MPLS, which is in turn the poor man's Edina, which just sucks). No major news other than ending up on the golf course 3 times because i like to ride the tracks and back alleys that skirt the Columbia park golf course perimeter and occasional blind turns cough you out into the land of short grass and little carts. The weather up this way is just about perfect, slightly humid but sunny today and high in the low 70s. Might have to meander around on the way home tonight too, although probably not in Bloomington. Bloomington is a tangle of subdivided cul de sacs which wind for several blocks before expiring into dead ends, the houses collected in a circle at the end like wagons awaiting the indians. Sporting a black Crosscheck with Nitto North Road bar and 2x9 bar end shifting, which feels heavy to me since I am so used to single speeds. Maybe east tonight until I hit river and then ride the bottoms up to NE. Ah, summertime...

As much as I love dogs, they don't belong on the lap of a motorist. Are they teaching the dog to drive? Can the person not say "NO" to their cute little poochie? Get off the phone, get your dogs in the back seat, start paying attention to others on the road. ARRRGGGHHHH

Whoever invented weekends should've made them longer. It never fails that Monday morning rolls around and you wake up totally disappointed that you have to work. Why can't I just wake up slowly, put some bacon on the stove, sip coffee on the porch, gradually shift over to beer, go pick some weeds around my hops in the garden, wrench on something, go for a cruise ride and say it over and over again "damn I love weekends"? That's it, I'm taking more Mondays off this summer and you should too.

Waiting for a Long Haul Trucker frameset? Barring a disaster, we expect them to be available some time in the first or second week of June. We'll let you know more when the date is closer. Thanks for being patient with this project.

Hi. What is your normal response to this greeting?

I normally say hi, nod my head, or wave my fingers at passing cyclists all winter long because there are so few of us and we must stick together. I'm still in the habit of acknowledging others on the trail even though there are about 500% more people out there now that it's spring. I can't help it.

What I question is when somebody you say hi to doesn't say hi back. Are they too important? Did their mom tell them not to say hi to strangers and are still abiding by this even as grown adults? Are they too focused on their heart rate monitor to say hi?

When I lived in Boulder, Co. 12 years ago, Davis Phinney and Julie Furtado always said hi. But the wannabe semi pros never did. Hmmm?

Maybe there is a message here that I'm not getting. Maybe people just don't feel like being friendly. Or think I'm a freak for saying hi. Or maybe they're so used to not saying hi to strangers when they're in their cars and just don't think about it on their bikes. Maybe it's no big deal and I should shut up now.

Either way, I'm still going to continue because every once in a while a nice person smiles, waves and says hello back to me and this makes me happy.