If you've spent any time at all surfing these pages you know I have posted hundreds of thousands of words trying to articulate the benefits of commuting to work by bicycle, and it is very nice to see that this topic is still as relevant today as it has ever been.  Back in 2008 during the financial crisis and subsequent inflation and big spike in petrol prices in the states, traffic to this site nearly tripled.  Today, that cycle continues - at least evidenced by YouTube content, social media, podcasts, and everything else that has taken the place of the humble blog.  My own faul ..read more

As 2022 draws to a close, it seemed like - once again - a good time to draft a post to wrap up some thoughts on the year... and some random spouting on the completion of a 5-year journey through adult education that just wrapped up, as well. The excuses are beginning to fall by the wayside ... yes, yes, my educational journey is now complete, and - as promised, both to you (if you're still here) and myself - that means a steady return to recreational writing.  Balanced against a bit of academic PTSD, perhaps.  The sprawling, 30,000-word epic posts are likely a thing of the past.&nbs ..read more

 It's the 2022 edition of the summer blogpost... which will be very, very short indeed... we are still in the throes of the educational hurricane, but only a scant handful of weeks left until we get spit out the other side.  75-days from this writing, to be precise.  What will that mean?  Eh... we shall see.  Perhaps a return to the careful cadence of long-winded ride reports.  Perhaps something else entirely... there are still tales to tell, miles to discover, and goals to achieve. For now... a photo drop. I can't really call anything a streak... the pandem ..read more

Yep yep ... it's been pretty quiet on this site for a long time; but more content is on the horizon.  For now, we're still out there writing a great story. How 'bout you? The view from Signal Oak, 7/5/2021   ..read more

 I write this with a great deal of hope for the new year, as it seems the headwinds are ... slowly ... shifting toward a better outlook.  While it might be another full 12-months before we're truly back to "normal" (whatever that looks like), it feels like there is more bad news behind us than in front.  There's still a lot of caution required, and being this close to the finish line I cannot even begin to suggest that anything is "over" until it is well and truly over.  I think it's fair to say we cannot approach a new season of riding with reckless abandon but it finally ..read more

Welcome to 2021 ... But, before we get all wistful and begin predictions on how great this year will be, I just want to take a breath and hope for a second that we're all not just fooling ourselves.  2020 taught me a LOT, and even if "normal" is never really normal again I have a lot of tools in the shed to at least make it easier to navigate things.   As I look down the barrel ...ahem ... to the hopeful horizon of this new year, some thoughts. The commute is dead "We're not even considering having anyone back in an office until the end of 2nd quarter." Those words sorta hung ..read more

But, this time it's 2020 ...  (sigh) I'm not going to say much about it here.  Why add to the noise?  Until this whole thing blows over, I'm basically sticking to my original plans to limit contact with people as much as possible.   It's not you, it's me.  (<-- cool, I finally get to say that to someone!) It's not ALL bad news, however.  Outdoor activity here is alive and well, and my bike store friends are calling it "the great bike boom of 2020", something we've all been secretly wishing for ... but certainly would have preferred under better circums ..read more

  More than a photo dump from a recent big ride, this post hopefully serves as a personal list of do's and don'ts for any of my future events in this "new world" we live in these days.  Little doubt exists that ... sigh, do I HAVE to type it out? ... COVID-19 has changed everything, quite literally.  I do not think any aspect of our lives have remained unaffected by this pandemic.  Long-distance cycling is no different.   No matter how many times we have said across myriad long-distance webpages, and randonneuring-speak in general, the descriptive phrase "lo ..read more

Some of this is echoed in social media already, but expanded-upon and revised, so give it a read – even if you already have recently: I’m trying to avoid typing any buzzwords here - that's not the sort of click-bait sorta stuff I'm into; but, if you're reading this in the early days of Spring 2020, well - ha - you should probably know what I'm on about. Right about now I'd much rather be blogging about a successful 200km ride; but, clubs around the country - the world - have pulled the plug on their calendar of events.  I normally shy away from social media, for various reasons; but lat ..read more

For those in the RUSA circle, we all know about the "accident" and "lawsuit" - and today, because of the difficulty in obtaining insurance, the RUSA permanents program, of which I had been a frequent flyer and had stacked up five R-12 awards through its use, is now gone.  This is obviously a heartbreaking thing, but, with my school schedule - yeah, still - riding and even organizing/officiating them had become a bit of a struggle.  I was certainly not alone. I had been watching a passionate forum thread about the permanents program, and found my mind wandering about my own riding over the pa ..read more