Garage surprises of the unpleasant kind (but not that)

I was happy to return to my house after two weeks in Japan. The trip was majorly exciting, but I majorly needed a dose of the mundane. Not only that, I wanted to get on a bicycle again. We decided to not bring Bromptons on this trip, partially because I wanted to see how bringing...

On the sentimentality of past bikes

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...

Bikes and Biking Year in Review: 2022

North Beach, Orcas Island. 5 August 2022 Looks dreamy, but this serene image was hard-earned from a challenging day biking the island. Olympus XA2/Fujicolor 100 Hello, friends. As another year comes to a close, it's customary for me to look back at the past year and reflect on what's happened, then ponder what may come...

Coffeeneuring 2022, Ride 3: Human Bean, Sat 5 Nov

As I stated in my last Coffeeneuring post, it's going to be catch as catch can for the remainder of this year's challenge. Maybe I'll get in all 7 needed by November 20th, maybe I'll get an Honorable Mention. After a dry and actually hot start to October, the last third of October saw the...

The Return of the Heavy Duti

You may remember that towards the end of last year I decided that my Schwinn Heavy Duti was one bike too many. I made a half-hearted attempt to sell it then, and tried again in spring. I only got three bites, none of them good: "I want to buy your bike, but tomorrow I will...

On sale again: Schwinn Heavy Duti

Hey folks. I tried to sell my Schwinn Heavy Duti back in December. I knew it was a bad time to do so, but too that chance. Obviously it didn't sell. I took it off the chopping block, and wanted to see if I still wanted to keep it. And I don't. So now it's...

On getting rid of bikes, and not building the same bike again and again

Schwinn Heavy Duti at Laurelhurst Park, 1 Sept 2021 Camera: Minolta SR-T 101. Film: Fuji Velvia 50 (expired) It's springtime, the season to sell a bike. I tried to sell my Schwinn Heavy Duti right around Christmas. I knew that it would be a tough sell for winter, but I hoped that maybe someone wanted...

A state of the bike fleet at the end of 2021, and what the future might bring

The current fleet What a year for my bicycles. What an unexpected year. When I filed my "Looking ahead to 2021" post at the end of last year, my take on the fleet was this: My fleet of bikes is as good as it’ll ever be, so no major upgrades. And probably no new bikes...