Bicycles and Gear for Going Places Near and Far Self Propelled With Comfort and Speed
Only mine is powered by kale, eggs and dates. Made it out between winter storms to grab some veggies at the farmer’s market. Great weather considering we had an inch of rain yesterday, and there is more on the way tonight. I ran into some friends, there was a tailwind on the way home and got to check out some giant surf at the harbors en route. All in all a fun mid day ride.
Hope you all were able to squeeze in some winter miles too.
To get outside and run some errands by bike
Nothing extraordinary, just more fun than the car, easier too. One thing of note, is loading up the Wald basket with 20lbs of stuff. The Wald factory hardware is lacking in so many ways it could and might be its own post someday. That said, it was actually passable for the ride home. Nowhere as nice as when mounted to a solid stiff rack, but with a little attention, the handling was still leaps and bounds better than my bikes with high trail front end geometries. Putting this old Trek together was one of the better ideas I had last year.
I am looking for your input on the model name for this bike.
I have been brainstorming for months now to come up with a name not only for the first bike in my line, but a pattern of names that could work across future bikes as well. People give the guys at Rivendell a bit of grief for some of the more recent model names they have chosen, e.g Hunquapillar, Samuel Hillborene etc. I am now walking my mile in their shoes on this issue. Every time I think I have hit it, A quick trademark search reminds me how many other people hit it first.
I want to avoid names that are straight up descriptors like “Sport Tour” and the derivatives like ST-1. I have looked into local place names, but feel that there is not as much broad appeal or catchy-ness. I am leaning strongly towards fish names, tying into the “Ocean Air” theme. I have a rough idea of what I would like, and they can easily be analogous to the propose of the product or bike model.
Many of the common fish names have already been taken already. Moving on to the Hawaiian and or Inuit names, many have been used in the past in the bike business by the likes of Gary Fisher and others.
I have narrowed it down to the common Japanese names for the fish of choice. My first pick:
Sport Tour – Rainbow or Steelhead Trout – “Nijimasu“: This not only fun to say, but has regional significance as well. These fish swim the coastal waters and move up the local rivers to spawn. The routes you have seen me riding for the last couple of years parallel the routes these fish swim during their life cycle. They play an important role in the coastal ecosystem. The current threat to their natural existence, is a bit of a canary in the coal mine for our coastal watershed’s health. I can start by helping to draw attention to this single piece of the environmental crisis, a baby step, and grow from there.
So, I want and need your feed back. Does “Nijimasu” ring in your ear and memory? Any other names for trout that you like? Other fish names or names in general? Let me know.
Yesterday morning I made it out for dome trail fun with my Father-in-law. He had a friend that had been encouraging him to try this section of the backbone out above Kanan of am Encinal. While most sections of this trial have a reputation for being a little, um strenuous for lack of a better word, this section is a fantastically fun few miles of easy single track. We made it there early and the place was empty. We climbed for about an hour and a half on relentless, but only 2% or so grade, on the hard pack all the way up to the main fire road.
The weather was perfect, cool in the 50’s and just enough overcast to keep things from getting warm. From the top we had clear views from Redondo to the Chanel Islands. The way down was fun, never too fast and a great low stress way to get out on some dirt.
The grand finale was rolling into the parking lot, full club of 30 or so people, on a basket bike with fenders. You would have thought I just rolled off of a space ship, not the trail head they we getting ready for. No disparaging comments, just shock and a little wonderment. Ironic thing is that the Trek with low trail 650b conversion handled better going up and coming down with 10 lbs of junk in the basket, than any “Mountain” bike I have ever owned. It was a fun way to spend the morning, not my usual ride at all, but I be looking at ways to work this stretch into a longer ride in the future.
It has been way to nice outside to pass on riding. Try as hard as I may, by the mid afternoon the clear blue skies pull me away from the computer and telephone. With temperatures pushing into the low 80’s in the inland valleys I broke away for a ride back up the river valley.
A total of 26 miles crammed into an hour and a half, not bad after a couple of months with little more than short errand rides. Even at that average pace I was still able to grab some pictures and enjoy the weather. Near Lake Casitas there was a herd of deer out grazing, in a mile or so I counted close to 20.
All those little dots in the field are deer, really, even a four point buck in the mix.
I since my dad does read this, I will admit I need a hair cut, pretty badly. I keep telling my self it is winter and it keeps my head warm, but this winter has been hotter and drier than last summer. I am sure Murphy’s law will kick in as soon as I cut it, but I guess I have hats for that.