The Surly Long Haul Trucker in its final "stripped-down tourer" iteration on Lopez Island, Washington, 15 September 2013 It happens from time to time: I go on a binge of reading my old blog posts. In the past this has happened because work has been slow, but recent thoughts about old commenters and blogs I... Continue Reading →
On blogs I used to follow
6 Feb 2023. Olympus XA/Fuji C200 I mentioned just a little while ago about missing the regular commenters of this blog. There was an era, from about 2010 through to maybe 2015-16 where I'd get a few comments on every post, no matter how inconsequential I considered the post to be. Much of this era... Continue Reading →
On old blog commenters
Exfoliate. 8 Feb 2023 Camera: Olympus XA Film: Fuji C200 2023 will mark eighteen years of the Urban Adventure League blog. (It'll be voting age in the US!) The blog has gone through a lot over those years. The first half-decade was primarily a sprinkling of upcoming rides and then ride reports. Besides a more... Continue Reading →
25 Years Ago: My first cross-country adventure
The Bay Bridge, which I first saw on Thursday 19 February 1998. This photo taken on 24 June 2022. Camera: Olympus XA2 Film: Fuji 200 I've lived on the West Coast of the United States for almost twenty-three years. I'm quickly reaching the point where my West Coast life will be longer than my East... Continue Reading →
Do What You Love: A revisit, five years later
It was just about five years ago, after leading the 2018 edition of my Palm Tree Ride, where I really thought long and hard about my future. I had been with the hostel for a dozen years, minus the year off for The Big Tour. By that point, my job hadn't been fulfilling for a... Continue Reading →
One bike, one camera?
Johnson Creek Park, where Johnson and Crystal Springs Creeks meet. 12 Nov 2022 Camera: Olympus Pen EES-2Film: Kodak Portra 160 I was in correspondence with someone who is pondering doing one of those "one camera" challenges. Basically, the idea is to use the same camera for a certain period of time, whether a month or... Continue Reading →
Missing the idea of the bike commute?
Explosions of color everywhere. 3 Nov 2022 Olympus Pen EES-2/Kodak Portra 160 I've hinted at this before, and it still sounds weird, but I miss the idea of a bike commute. I commuted to work by bike from 2001 to 2019. Since then, I've mostly worked from home, so the need to get on a... Continue Reading →
Beausage and Special Bikes
Andy's Rivendell A. Homer Hilsen, 15 October 2022. Olympus 35RD/Ilford HP5+ In Grant Petersen's latest "Blahg" post, 1 he touches upon people who get fancy bikes like Rivendells yet rarely use them because they're worried about damage, theft, and the like. (It's a really long blog post, as is Grant's wont, where he talks about... Continue Reading →