Wow! An Update!

It has been a while.
I’m working on changing that.
For now:

em:pwr

Look at the revolution.

Sundays Just Got Better!

The State College Bike Polo group played their first game today, and let me tell you, it was amazing!

As stated before, I have never seen or played bike polo before so I was pretty excited to try it out. Unfortunately, Lil’ Gritty (the official name of my bike, as dubbed by Frank) was out of commission with a flat tire (and I haven’t been able to get to a bike shop because of my crappy work schedule, but I digress…) but, I was able to use a bike that a very nice lady, named Rachel, brought, but decided not to play.

The bike was this nice maybe ’70′s or early ’80′s commuter with ape hanger handlebars which looked and handled well, but, I don’t really like, and can’t really control ape hanger handlebars. I still appreciate her letting me use her bike and I had so much fun using it! I lost control a few times but since I wasn’t really agressively going after the ball I didn’t crash and fall haha. A few of the guys playing took some spills but it was all in good fun and no one got hurt! It took me a little bit to get used to riding around and playing at the same time but, once we started playing the first game, it was pretty easy to get my bearings. I am proud to say that I made the first goal of the first game! That was pretty exciting!

Sunday’s definitely got better because of this! If you’re in the area and would like to play, email statecollegebikepolo@yahoogroups.com and get on the list! The games are being held every Sunday afternoon at 6 o’clock, in the skate rink. Bring your bike, a helmet, and a few extra bucks to chip in for the group!

Here is a link to the ongoing Bike Polo game photo album on my flickr account: http://www.flickr.com/photos/aquadublavee/sets/72157623761855485/show/

Now to get Lil’ Gritty ready for the game!

State College Bike Polo!

So I’ve seen the sport in highlights around the internet but, I haven’t actually looked in to it. While visiting Freeze Thaw the other day, I noticed a flyer requesting responses from people interested in playing some local bike polo. I figure if I get my Gritty into proper fixed-gear, I’ll give it a shot. I’m looking for more interesting things to do on a bike anyway so, I guess this is a good venue to explore.

If interested, email: statecollegebikepolo@yahoogroups.com.

Awesome Bike Hack!

I think this is a pretty cool concept. Too bad hardly anyone else does…

Chainring Rotor

via Urban Velo and Trackosaurus Rex

My New York Trip

Yes, yes, it’s been a while since I came back from my trip but, you’ll get over it . Anyway, I have a lot of pictures that were taken during the trip and just threw them on to my Flickr account. Click here for the slideshow (wordpress is not letting me post it here for some reason).

The trip was phenomenal! Frank and I got to stay (for free) in the heart of China Town in Manhattan for the duration of the trip, in a very nice loft apartment. All together, we rode about 200 or so miles during the week, and that’s only in Manhattan and Brooklyn. Unfortunately, I didn’t get to go shopping or do any real sightseeing but, being able to go for actual bike rides on my brand new bike was good enough for me. We found the NYC Greenway, which is a 99% car free bike lane of sorts, which goes all around Manhattan island, along the water. We were lucky enough to have nice sunny 60+ degree weather for most of the trip, which made for an even better ride! Riding in city traffic was a lot of fun as well. I don’t know how I would feel about it if I had to commute in it everyday but, just exploring the city while dodging taxis and trucks was a lot of fun! I am definitely planning on going back to the city as soon as I can and I’m definitely taking Gritty along with me. I wish I could have stayed longer but the week I was there was relaxing (as crazy as that sounds) and I’m glad I did it.

One thing I did want to do during the trip is to go to Brooklyn and see John Prolly and his crew at the Thursday night Peel Sessions. Sadly, Prolly left for Tokyo a few days before I went up to NY. Guess I’ll have to wait until the next time I go to NY to see some real FGFS. I hate the waiting game.

If I had to move to a big city, I wouldn’t want to go to Pittsburgh any more (WAY too many hills!!), looks like Manhattan, NY is my new home!

New York Bound!!

Well, it’s finally Spring Break (at least it is here in State College) and for the first time…ever, I get to actually go on a vacation! My friend Frank and I are going to take a trip up to New York to cruise around the boroughs! I have never been anywhere in New York State before and with our plan of biking around the cities, this is sure to be a great vacation!

I might even try my hand at fixed gear riding since I do have that flip flop hub on my Gritty. I’m glad I got a new bike; I don’t think any of the second hand bikes in my fleet would be able to stand up to city riding without overhauling them completely. Shame really. One day I’ll fix that. I just need to win the lottery first haha!

Also, it’s supposed to be nice and warm for a bit so it will actually be a Spring Vacation and, we won’t have to ride through the crappy weather the East Coast has been getting hit with.

Riding the Gritty in the city will also help me to give a proper review of it. Look out for that review as well. Now that I have some much needed free time, I can properly update this site.

I’m going to update this blog on my whereabouts throughout my stay, with pictures and the random shenanigans we get in to.

This should be fun! Stay tuned!

Winter Wonderland…?

Hmm…maybe if I had the Fargo.
This is how I found my bike after work tonight.

Not even a week ago, State College was experiencing a dry, bitter cold winter.

By the time I got out of work (around 9:30p) there was about 2 inches or so of snow. After an hour and a half of being at my friends place, I think we’re up to about 6 inches and it’s not letting up. I’m glad that when I decide to get a new bike, winter decides to hit. Thanks weatherman. Whomever controls weather up there obviously drives a car. A cyclist would give us better weather to ride in.

I want to win the lottery so I can get my Fargo.

Be safe out there on the roads everyone!

It’s My Childhood All Over Again…

After some thought (and a lot of videos), I’ve decided that I want to ride fixie for the sole purpose of doing tricks and living up my past bmx-ing dreams. I have been watching the videos of the guys (and gal) over at Bootleg Sessions on Vimeo and I am dying to try my hand at tricks. Unfortuanetly, I never had any luck with tricks before. I haven’t really tried to do them enough to actually accomplish anything so today is a new day. I’m starting with the basics and hopefully I can pull some fun tricks. I don’t know, this is something to do and another aspect of bicycling that can keep me active with the one thing I love the most. Plus this seems to be damn fun as well.

Let’s see where this takes me hmm?

Thanks to my inspirations:
Prolly
Bootleg Sessions
X Games (circa 1998-2003)

Turning Around Again

So it’s possible that I may be eating my words again. I did it before with the iPhone, now I love it (I’m typing this entry on it now.) What am I talking about? Fixed gear bikes. I have sworn off and scoffed at fixie riders saying such things as how it’s a fad, how they are just dumb hipsters (which I might be turning in to?), and how that style of riding is just stupid and I would never ride fixie because I like my knees the way they are. Saying such things would qualify me as a hypocrite because I’m usually the first one to say “you can’t knock it ’till you try it.” I may just try it.
Since getting my Gritty and riding it around, I’ve been quite interested in experimenting with the flip-flop hub and riding it fixie. My friend Frank (best friend/pro bike mechanic/fellow bike fiend) now commutes and rides a fixie and swears by it, saying how great it is because it works the legs more and thus, helps you to bike better. Whether that’s true or not, I have knee problems now from both riding a cruiser set way too low, and I stand all day at work for 40 hours a week. If someone can find a way for me to ride fixie, I’ll definitely try it.
I emailed one of the biggest names in fixie riding, John “Prolly” Watson, about starting into the fixie culture and he said to just stick with the Gritty because it seems like a good bike. My concerns with the Gritty is it’s stock weight which, according to Frank, might just be the wheels or the fork so I was going to try at least switching out the wheels to make the bike lighter. I would only assume a lighter bike would be best for a fixie bike. I’m not sure though. Guess I’ll be looking up more information about fixie riding anyway – like how to effectively go down hills and how to stop. Those might be key things to learn beforehand, especially with the rolling hills of Central Pennsylvania. This new part of the bike culture will not only add to my growing collection of bicycles, it might also give me an oppurtunity to learn and try my hand at doing tricks. Deep, deep down, I want to be sponsored by a bike company for something fun. This could be my niche. Anyway, I’ll stop rambling on. Just thought I’d get that out there.

I’m getting ready to eat my words. Seems like they’re going to be tasty!

Moonlit Ride

I’m glad tonight wasn’t windy. I was actually able to enjoy a nice little bike ride on the Gritty. It was also a good night to ride because apparently tonight was the one night of the year where the moon was the brightest. It in fact was bright, and that’s one of my favorite parts of night rides. I love when the moon is bright enough to see my shadow and I can ride with no lights, (only safely on a bike path) and just enjoy the night. Unfortunately though, I don’t have a camera capable enough to take pictures of my ride. Looks like you’ll just have to go out and enjoy it for yourself sometime. I’ll keep my memories

Tonight was also a great night to finalize what I need the most for my winter riding gear:

• wool socks
• warmer (most likely wool) gloves that are windproof (right now all the gloves I have aren’t doing justice for this bitter cold)
• a less bulky windproof coat/jacket
• something to cover most of my head and face (I’ve been wanting a Buff for a long time now. It’s past time to invest)

I suppose for now I’ll be searching around on bike commuting sites for well reviewed products to try and buy for myself.

Until then, I’ll just keep getting use to the cold and this cough I’ve developed from it…