Great day

Happy Birthday to my son Ryan!!!! I love and miss you!!!!
Wow what a day. I rode over to MoKaBe's coffee house and had an iced caffe au lait while sitting on the patio looking out into Tower Grove park and grooving to tunes on my new Ipod. Tons of bikes and scooters all over the city today! I scouted out a new commute route. There have been reports of bikers being harassed (me included) and one person got injured in a run in with some youths in that bad area I ride through. It is a shame because I do not shy from many areas but I am starting to fear for my safety after one commuter had a lead pipe thrown at them causing a fall and major damage to his bike.
Wednesday I am going to the gala at Broadway on the Bluffs and hobknob with the city mucky mucks. It is a booksigning fund raiser. I got a preview of the Dutch Town photo contest book and liked the photo's.
http://www.dt2stl.org/1.html


Here is the second place winner of the contest.

Birthday party and tomato fest

Damn I wish I would have taken some photos at this event. It was great fun at my favorite restaurant's block party.
Great beer, food, music, family and friends. I could not think of a better way to spend my birthday!

Back to work

After my long weekend last week it looks like I am back to working on the weekends. I am going to try to make it to see the Ditty Bops at Mad Art this Friday. But I probably will not be able to work at BikeWorks this weekend. If I do anything I might raise a pint somewhere Sunday afternoon.
I have started back to bike commuting to work. The road junk from the storm has gotten better. Other than that not much is going on.

Bikework,Brew and really good karma

I started the day by heading down to Bicycleworks to volunteer for the first time. What a truly great group of dedicated people. Check out the link for the website. I helped clean the shop, hauled bikes out of the basement to go to the warehouse, helped prep a bike sold and helped fix a homeless mans bike. I hope I helped more than I got in the way. It was the last day of class for the kids Earn A Bike program so they got to pick out their bikes to clean and fix up themselves. Above is a photo of one of the kids I met on his earned bike. How cool is that!? I hope I can be a part of the next class.
By the way National Gaurd troops moved in the neighborhood around noon. I understand this is the first time St louis has every had to call them in. This storm was very bad and it will take soom time to get back to normal.
After we finished I rode down to the Taproom a little tired and dirty for some Belgian style brew and some grub. I hung out for a while chatting with A list bartender/radio personality Brett and some of the patrons. As I was getting ready to leave I said hello to two pretty young ladies by the jukebox who then invited me over for a beer.
Not bad company I would say. Sara and Melissa are bright and beautiful and I thoroughly enjoyed the conversations with them. When it came time to part company Sara handed me her phone number. Now that is good Karma coming back LOL!

Toad Todd and a storm

I rode my bike for the first time since the storms. I went down to the Toad the Wet Sprocket/ Big Head Todd concert under the Arch. They wouldn't let me bring my bike in but I locked it up next to the gaurds. There was a little rain delay for Toad but it was worth the wait. I love this band.
On my way down I really got to see the destruction. Some roads are still blocked and you can see my neighbors truck in the picture got smashed by a big tree. Any restaraunt with power was packed. 500,000 home without power will do that. I was amazed how many people went to the concert and then even braved a brief downpour. Mother nature has been rough.

BIG STORM

Wow what a storm. Too many trees and branches plus power outages to commute. Oh well I am going down to the levee to see the Todd and Toad the wet spocket concert Friday night. Of course I am biking there! I am a big Toad fan and I have been told that Big Head Todd is great live. The icing on the cake IT IS FREE!

cops and bubbles

First off there was some action going on in the rough hood I commute through. I don't know what was going on but a few unmarked cars and perhaps a dozen cops were all over a mini van. I may change my night route. I glide through pretty much unnoticed at night and some think I am a bike cop. But I did have someone throw something at me from their porch last Saturday afternoon and two weeks ago a young man walked up and yelled something in my face. He was trying to scare me but I just ignored him. Am I being paranoid?
I was happy to see 3 other bikes in the rack as I stopped at the Arsenal Schnucks grocery store. And it was 10:30pm! Commuting seems to be catching on. As a fellow Metrolink bike and ride traveler said to me Monday as we waited on the train platform "3 dollar gas don't bother me". Well it fossil fuel situation does bother me but I am doing my part to conserve.
Speaking of conserving I tried something very old school this morning. I handwashed some clothes in a big wash tub with a little soap and Borax. I then wrung them out and hung them on some line out on my upstairs deck. I figure it will save energy if I let the 103 degree heat outside dry my clothes. It required more work than sitting on my ass while a machine did them but hey I mark it down as some upper body work out. Technology can make us fat if you let it.
I am almost back to a vegetarian diet. I do eat cage free organic eggs and tuna occasionally. My legs are bulking up and my waist is getting slimmer. I am down to 193 lbs from about 214. My weight seems to leveled out but I think it is because of muscle gain. I wish I would have done my body fat. It doesn't really matter I am looking better and feel great. If I have the nerve I will post some Beer Monkay before and after pics sometime.

Rain Ride

I have discovered that I like commuting in the rain in the morning. No rainsuit, no fenders and I liked it. The trafffic was lighter and I used the Tower Grove bike paths for part of my ride. I love how the bark of the old trees turns so dark when it rains. Some people at work where worried about me riding home so much the one offered me to use her car. If I had been riding to work it may not have been so pleasant but as it is I changed into some dry clothes fixed a bowl of warm Kashi with strawberries and honey and sat down to write in my blog upon arriving home.
Now to catch up. I was very tired after all those hours at work and a screwed up sleep schedule so I didn't ride Saturday. Sunday I rode to the drugstore and grocery store,did some house cleaning and yard work and baked a 2 cheese garlic sundried tomato foccaccia from scratch. Then later in the afternoon and old friend I hadn't seen in awhile came over and said I was skinny. I wouldn't say that but I have transformed my physique a bit since our last meeting.
Yesterday I did the ride and bike thing out to N. County to see my mother. I rode a strech of Mo bottom road. County biking is nice because you can ride for a while without stopping. In the city I am always stopping and starting and sprinting through intersections .I took the Metrolink to the Grand station then biked Compton Ave all the home. I took a nap then got up to do my commute into work. And that brings me back to my morning commute.

The Fair and other thoughts

I wanted to go for a ride on the fourth so I got on the old trusty bike and headed north toward downtown from my house in south city. What is nice about biking besides the obvious is that I can cut though streets that are blocked off from cars. Like for instance 18th street in Layfayette Square at Choteau is blocked to keep traffic down in that beautiful neighborhood. I did take a spill near there. I was cutting though some road construction and riding on some gravel. I was going slow and I hit a spot that was so soft that my front tire sank making me fall to my right in slow motion. Ouch a few gravel scrapes but I was okay. I rode by Union Station then picked up the Bike St Louis path and started down to the riverfront to check out the Fair Saint Louis activities. A lot of fellow cyclist were doing the same. It is the best way to get around down there. I could get off and walk my bike and become a pedestrian when I needed. The big crowd forming to see the free concert on the big stage. Hootie and the Blowfish were playing. It started raining and I am not a big fan so I found some shelter until it slowed down and headed back home. I arrived soaked, tired and smiling. I changed into some dry clothes,opened a bottle of Tucher dopplebock and chilled out and thought about getting that rain suit and fenders six miles home in the rain wasn't really that bad but I need to be more prepared for pop up storms like that.
They are having the free concerts on the weekends down there this summer. Some good acts too. I am sure I will riding down to a few of those. Especially Toad the Wet Sprocket and Lyle Lovette.
http://www.explorestlouis.com/eNewsVis/vis0606.htm

Last week I needed to go the grocery store and needed more than I can fit in my backpack so I got a ride with a friend who shopped at the same time. I think I will rideshare for big shops from now on. It seems to me that more people should try alternative transportation and or ride sharing. This lifestyle is not that hard to do. It is cheap and efficient. Really, how many folks drive to gym before or after work for their workout, or wish they could workout but can't find the time? My commute to work and errand trips ARE my workout.