Mooseknuckler Cycling Alliance

To you nervous and stressed out drivers, We cyclists want to say:
-Slow down my friend; the right lane is the slow lane
-I’m in my lane, in the middle of the lane, I’m in my lane, I have the right to use the street, it belongs to everyone.
-If you want to pass me you must give me at least 3 ft. o just don’t come into my lane.
-When you flash your lights, what is it that you want me to do? Hold up a mirror? I cannot go into the middle lane, it’s the fast lane. I can’t jump up onto the curb it is dangerous for me and for pedestrians. I can’t speed up instantly to match your speed. And even if it is what you want I AM NOT GOING TO DISAPPEAR ALL OF A SUDDEN, so give me a break for a moment, thanks.
- If you flash your lights to annoy me, it doesn’t work. I don’t eat rear-view mirrors and your light doesn’t hurt me, it only makes my reflector shine brighter.
-If I raise my left hand going into an intersection it means I am going to go straight, it is my way of turning on my blinkers seeing that I don’t have any and I can’t go in the fast lane.
-If I can’t indicate where I am going with my hands I will make sure we make eye contact and I hope you indicate your direction with your blinkers.
I’m sorry your desperate, that you are in a hurry or that you think I’m in your way: I am a citizen in a vehicle with just as much right to the road as you; but I am bettering our air quality, saving space and bettering traffic in the city.

Sincerely,

Angel García Fernández
Translation posted shortly as promised.

Para esos conductores nerviosos y estresados, los ciclistas queremos decirles:
-Despacio mi cuate; el derecho es un carril de baja velocidad
-Voy en mi carril, en medio del carril, mi carril, tengo derecho a circular por la calle, que es de todos.
-Si intentaras rebasarme, tendría que ser a una distancia mínima de 1.5m o lo que es lo mismo, no invadas mi carril.
-Si me “echas las luces” ¿qué esperas que haga? ¿qué te ponga un
espejo? No puedo cambiarme al carril central pues los carros ahí irán más rápido. No puedo subirme a la banqueta pues puede ser peligroso para mi y para los peatones. No puedo acelerar instantaneamente para igualar tu velocidad. Y lo que te gustaría que hiciera: NO VOY A DESAPARECER DE REPENTE, así es que aguántame tantito, gracias.
- Si me echas las luces intentando fastidiarme, no creo que lo logres, pues no traigo espejos retrovisores y tu luz no me lastima, sólo hace brillar mas la calcomanía reflejante de mi bici.
-Si levanto mi mano izquierda al acercarme a una intersección, significa que voy a seguir derecho, es mi forma de indicártelo,pues no tengo direccionales y no debería ir en el carril central.
-En caso de que no pueda indicarte mi vuelta o que seguiré derecho, te estaré mirando con el rabillo del ojo en repetidas ocasiones, y espero que anuncies tu vuelta con tu direccional.
Lamento que estés desesperado, que tengas prisa y que me consideres un estorbo: yo soy un ciudadano en un vehículo, con tanto derecho como tú a circular por la calle; pero además estoy contribuyendo a mejorar la calidad de tu aire, ahorrando espacio y mejorando el tránsito de la ciudad.

Saludos

Angel García Fernández
Translation to be posted shortly.

I stumbled upon this site this morning http://www.ski-epic.com/amsterdam_bicycles/. It’s interesting how something so normal elsewhere is considered such an oddity, hassle and inconvenience in the states.

Long live bicycles.

School started. So, I’ve lengthened my commute a bit. I now go from home to work, to school, to work, back to school, to work, and then home. This also translates into me climbing Temple Hill and Old Main Hill a couple times a day. I thought I had a good gear… It just about kicked my ass yesterday. 39X17 is what I am pushing and it isn’t quite low enough for the two mentioned hills, especially since I don’t want to be totally soaked in sweat by the time I get to class. I tried to ride slowly up Old Main yesterday and was close to having to walk. I basically have to sprint up both of them.

Yesterday brings into question my ability to do the Lotoja tour we have next weekend. I was planning on getting a big freewheel to throw on but haven’t found one yet. I am now thinking about a bigger cog as well. KC and I have been discussing logistics on this and we haven’t quite got it figured out how exactly we are going to pull it off. Originally his wife, Rachel, was going to drive us back from Jackson but she can’t or won’t get work off. So as of right now we are going to be stranded in Jackson. We have played with the idea of doing it Saturday and Sunday but that makes two 100+ days. I am positive I would be dead after that on the singlespeed.

Aaahhhhhhhh!

The shop guys and I went for a quick little sprint around the Little Pyrenees last night. First time I’ve ridden my road bike in quite some time. It almost made me want to keep it. I-dog and KC accompanied me on this little stint. We road easy but made really good time, cutting almost a 1/2 hour since the last time we rode it about two months ago.

I’m still convinced that riding is about camaraderie and has absolutely nothing to do with being the fastest. If you ride with a group of friends and all they do is try to drop you and prove they have the biggest uh-hum then it’s time to get some new friends. With that said,  there’s nothing wrong with a little friendly competition.

Just another reminder of how much I love to ride my bike.

Life goes on. Ride it on a bike.

I love to ride my bicycle. This becomes painfully evident when life takes me in another direction and I don’t get to ride for a while. And then, boom, it hits me as soon as I start to pedal my way up a trail. The feel of dirt under my tires inspires me to live, to be. In all my life I don’t think I have found anything that clears my head and relieves me of stress quite like pedaling.

There have been a few people in my past, the unnameables, that thought I loved my bicycle more than I did them. If they are that stupid than they should be where they are. Truth has it I don’t love the bicycle. I buy and sell them too frequently to have any kind of sentimental value attached to them. How could you sell something you love? I know I’ve never sold any of you so where does that leave us.

No, it is not a love of all things metal and shiny that drives me to live this odd little dream that is mine. It’s the ride. It’s the friends, the hooping and hollering, the feel of air beneath my tires, and of course, the feeling of accomplishment that surges when you know you should have died but somehow you kept the rubber side down. All of my friends, at least the real ones that never leave and are always there, are the ones that ride with me. There are few, as in three, who have never ridden a bike with me and are still my friends. The ride bonds, it combines the camaraderie and passion of bicycles into lasting good memories.

So, here’s to the ride, the passion, the love, the dirt. Here’s to life.

I got my new singlespeed two days ago. Yes it is faster than I will ever be, stiffer than the dickens, and black. You should all know by now that I like stealthy looking bikes. Now that I have a track bike, I am desperately searching for people who are dumb enough to do ally cat races. It seems fitting for a bike like mine, in a city as slow as mine, and for some one as cool as me. I now know that gears are only an overcompensation for something that is small and we all hope isn’t.

I went down to Deer Valley on Sunday to ride with my brother in arms, Bryce. We did the chairlift thing. It was fun, different but fun. I have a Glory on order which totally contradicts my first paragraph. I hope you can understand that I am a walking paradox.

Peace.

Today is a rare occurrence here at the Alliance. I am designating this Sunday as a No Ride Day. No I didn’t just write Ride when I should have said Drive. This is kind of like a flag at half mast.

The Alliance did an improvised ride last night. One of those rides that gets planned ten minutes before you need to leave to be able to make it before dark. We headed up to Tony Grove Lake, again, to do the White Pine Lake trail. A new Knuckler in town was in tow to see how we ride. He kicked our asses on the up hill. I hate singlespeeders. He stopped to wait for us about 200 yards from the end of the three mile climb at the beginning of the trail. Of course, he had no idea that we were pretty much done climbing. I was feeling very poorly and humbled. Upon catching up to the rest spot I sprinted past to hit the downhill while informing them that it was my time to shine. I bombed, as is my style, to the first stream crossing and finally stopped to catch my breath. And then I waited.

And then I waited some more. I was really feeling the climb up, being light headed and the whole nine yards. So sitting and waiting didn’t seem like too much trouble. After a while I started to worry. I worried because I didn’t want to have to try and climb what I had just come down and worried because I got that eery feeling that something wasn’t right. I headed back up the trail, very slowly. I rode until I needed to rest and then I screamed to see what the hell was going on. No one replied. I pedaled again and repeated the process. After the third time of stopping and yelling, I saw Seth, the new guy, coming down the trail.

He informed me that I-dog had gone done, hard, and was walking back to the car.

We climbed back up the trail. About 20 yards into the first down hill section there was a big rock. The rock was surrounded by blood. Ian had launched off the front of his bike and face-planted into a giant boulder taking the brunt of the fall with his face. He lost a tooth, chipped another and mutilated various other parts of his face and upper body.

Luckily this No Ride Day at the Alliance isn’t for a fallen friend but for a fallen friend’s tooth.

Be careful out there.

To commemorate Pioneer day, I-dog and myself rode White Pine Lake to Bunch Grass without a shuttle. This is another new trail for me. It starts at Tony Grove Lake at the top of Logan Canyon. From that lake you climb about 1000′ to descend to White Pine Lake. After which you descend some more only to do two short but very steep climbs up out of the basin in order to bomb down Bunch Grass. At which point it is advisable to have a car waiting to take you back to Tony Grove, we did not. I have to admit I only made it about 2/3 of the way and then sent Ian to get the car as I bombed back down the road. Next time there will be a car.

Out of all the trails I have done here in Logan, there are a ton, this is the best. The 3 mile climb at the first is a nice pitch with plenty of rocks and moves to keep things interesting. The downhill is fun with plenty of technical sections to keep you on your toes combined with long smooth sections that can be railed, fast. Most of the trails around here I don’t ever have a strong desire to go back and ride, this is the exception. I hope to do this again on Sunday or before.

Tonight is the Alliance ride.

Peace.