Land of the Rising...

There's a political platform for you

2012-01-27T14:00:00.000-05:00

Jennifer and I saw this a while back, and I just stumbled upon the image in my phone. Apparently the guy is talking about the tree of heaven, or ailanthus tree. It really is a weed here, and does do a fair bit of damage to cement, but I think the message is a bit overwrought don't you?

new toy

2012-01-19T00:26:00.000-05:00

Since my knee flared up again and I can't ride my bike for a few weeks, I've gotten myself a new tool (some might say toy). It's a 9"x16" metalworking lathe from Emco. It's pretty much ideal for the type of stuff I'd do: small to medium sized bike parts and tooling accessories. I can also justify it by making cool stuff for the house, like multi-dimensioned metal bars and uhhh, stuff.

Merry Christmas from Nam and Fam

2012-01-11T22:47:00.000-05:00

Nam lives across the street from us, and we often see him out smoking, puttering with his cars and such, going fishing with his kids, talking with crazy Nick etc. He always greets us with a "Hi Jennifer and Eric!" and then tells us something helpful like, "You take care of your car, it take care of you."

2012-01-03T14:02:00.000-05:00

That's right, I'm from IOWA.

You know which one I got...

2011-12-16T12:23:00.000-05:00

2011-11-15T12:02:00.001-05:00

What I've REALLY been up to.

Other people's adventures

2011-11-08T00:04:00.003-05:00

My teammate Brett is on his way back home from the west coast by bike. Everyone told him that it was crazy to plan a trip through the mountains in November, but then again, Brett is crazy.

Check out the adventure here:Brett's Blog

What the heck is Mid-Tek

2011-10-21T11:43:00.000-05:00

My modestly-crazy friend and former boss Mike from Trophy has decided to spice up the slow winter months by engaging his secondary passion in weird machines. He's focussed, or perhaps obsessed with typewriters and things that he might have used during his stint as a reporter in the late 80s. The concept is called Mid-Tek and it occupies about 40 square feet of real-estate in the front corner of the bike shop. I built up the screen and sliding door to cordon off the shop as part of a trade for my new favorite bike, the Brommie!

Check out the concept here http://midtek.me/

Maitake Mushrooms, in nature

2011-10-21T11:22:00.000-05:00

It's apparently been a bumper year for mushroom hunters this fall. The cool, wet weather has been perfect for all of these different fungi. This is a maitake mushroom that I found growing from the base of an oak tree in Fairmount park. It was really tasty when fried up, but had some issues with grits. Apparently the dirt that got kicked up onto the mushroom from the nearby trail was quickly incorporated into the flesh, and proved impossible to scrub out. The end result tasted a lot like turkey bacon with sand. Almost delicious!

Really? That's what you did?

2011-09-19T12:38:00.003-05:00

Confirm the timestamp if you doubt, but I went for a run last night. Those are my floppy feet and pencil calves pictured above. I think that the last time I went for a run was last October some time when I had aspirations of getting back after it in the off season.

After a week of a nagging knee injury that seems only to hurt when I ride a bike, I dug out my old cross country spikes and rode to Fairmount Park. I tried riding a bit and then stashed my bike in the woods, switched over my shoes and headed out for a jog. Though I probably only ran for 30 minutes, it was the best 30 minutes of running I've done in the past 5 years. The constant change of pace, hopping over logs, jumping through brambles, shucking and jiving made the time fly, and my legs happy. Powering up little inclines was actually fabulous, and I even found myself diverting on alternate trails to make the trip back to my bike longer. My legs are pretty hammered today, but that's to be expected. I'm hoping that a couple more runs and I'll be able to withstand a bit of pounding again.

The joys of the British pub

2011-09-05T22:46:00.002-05:00

The English pub is a great place. You just go, hang out and have a beer. None of the obnoxious loud music and overcrowded garbage that you associate with bars in the US. This was our first afternoon in England. True to form, the weather was lovely day 1 and then rained all over us on day 2.

The view from the flat

2011-09-05T22:45:00.002-05:00

On a connection between friends of friends of friends, we hooked up with Chris and Jess, the most fabulous hosts we could have asked for. They were actually headed to Cape Cod for 2 weeks and so handed off the keys to their place, and let us crash in their lovely apartment in Brixton, London. Whoever did the gardening on the first floor flat knew what they were doing, as the view from the window was great.

Old powerplant that looked cool

2011-09-05T22:45:00.001-05:00

London is full of gigantic old coal fired power plants like this one which have been or are being re-purposed for other things. The Tate Modern is a great example of such a building, it actually looks a lot like this.

crack fox

2011-09-05T22:44:00.001-05:00

Urban foxes abound in London. This one was just hanging out in the rain in the Nunhead Cemetery, which is spectacularly overgrown and weird. I'd recommend a tour through for anyone in South London for a while.

3rd fastest weirdo

2011-09-05T22:43:00.002-05:00

Here I am being adorned by Andrew Richey himself; inventor of the lovely steeds upon which we all rode.

Two national champs, both 3rd place.

2011-09-05T22:42:00.002-05:00

Kind of serendipitous that Julie Secor, the fastest finisher at the US Championships, and I were both 3rd place in the race. Go USA.

Headed down to Plymouth

2011-09-05T22:41:00.001-05:00

We took the train out of Oxford along with what seemed like hundreds of our new favorite people: drunken football fans. Oxford United had won its match, and gave local youth a good reason to get drunk and insult our train conductor. I can only imagine what would have happened if Oxford had lost. That would have given the local youth a good reason to get drunk and insult our train conductor.

Who likes pygmy ponies?

2011-09-05T22:40:00.003-05:00

Dartmoor has herds of pygmy ponies running rampant along with all of the sheep and cows. Apparently national parks are also generally free grazing land in the UK. Hence, poop everywhere.

Obligatory Chimney Shot

2011-09-05T22:40:00.002-05:00

We lunched at a mediocre little cafe in the town of Princetown, a quaint scrabbly little place in the center of Dartmoor national park. The ride up to the town was really splendid, though both of us were wishing for MUCH lower gearing. At the 15 and 20% grades we'd chug and puff up the hill until the call of "WALKIES!!" went out and then we hoof it up the rest. I would have loved to have an altimeter on this day.

Sheep amongst the rocks

2011-09-01T23:02:00.000-05:00

On the march for the Tors of Dartmoor

2011-09-01T22:36:00.000-05:00

Jennifer heading to one of the tors, outcroppings of granite on top of the hills of Dartmoor.

Plymouth at sunset

2011-09-01T22:35:00.000-05:00

I'll call that a good view

2011-09-01T22:34:00.002-05:00

After spending 2 days in the Devon and Cornwall area, we took the train up to the land of many consonants: WALES! We spent our time on the north coast of wales, which is dominated by massive hills and bluffs that lead to the sea, and some splendid little coastal towns, right near some not at all splendid coastal towns. The first day we spent tootling around on our Brommies, and the second day we took the train, then the bus and then our feet up into the heart of the Snowdownia National Park, home to the highest peaks in Britain outside of North Scotland.

Wales is scenic as heck. The highway around the north side of the Great Orme.

Conwy Castle

2011-09-01T22:33:00.000-05:00

We turned around at Conwy and went across the peninsula back to Colwyn Bay.

Walking in

2011-09-01T22:32:00.000-05:00

The walk in to the mountains was nice as well.

Scrambling to the top of Tyrfan

2011-09-01T22:25:00.000-05:00

Mt. Tyrfan is in the next ridgeline north from Snowdon. It's a heck of a scramble with broken boulders of limestone all over the place. Jennifer sailed through the rough part of the hike here.

Lush and green

2011-09-01T22:23:00.000-05:00

Wales is, like the rest of Britain, extremely lush and green. They take advantage of this by grazing sheep everywhere!

Mount Snowdon

2011-09-01T22:19:00.000-05:00

This was the view that greeted us as we crested the saddle on the ridge just to the north of Snowdon.

Our buddies, the mountain goats

2011-09-01T22:16:00.000-05:00

These guys watched us eat lunch on the moutntain.

The Picture House

2011-09-01T22:00:00.000-05:00

This was the inside of The Picture House, in Colwyn Bay, Wales. The town was cute and the pub was great. They had an excellent selection of beers and the food was cheap and satisfying. Not really gourmet, but they did have a killer curry night on Thursdays that really brought the folks out.

Better luck THIS TIME!!

2011-08-24T15:45:00.002-05:00

So, the folding dragon has been slain. Despite feeling crappy, coughy, jet-laggy and otherwise non-fit at the starting line, Jennifer was right. I had a pretty good run. The worst part is that I let 2nd place slip through my fingers by being too much of a gentleman and being too lackadaisical on the finishing straight. At any rate, I think that I have done my Brompton thing quite well this year.

My real regret is not packing a smaller chain ring for the tootling around after the race. I'm now a consummate master of the 50 rpm grind up hills and my arms are actually tired from riding around these past 3 days. Overall, my claim from last year still stands: Britain in the sunshine is hard to beat. More pictures soon.

Crossing the Pond, Redux

2011-08-17T20:35:00.001-05:00

I've packed sealant this time.

Fabulously informative

2011-07-27T08:15:00.002-05:00

Got this email from the IT staff here at the City.

City issued Blackberry devices are currently experiencing latency due to the legacy perimeter security controls. We are currently working on resolving this matter. We apologize for any inconvenience.

Fortunately, my latency was set to stun, and the Klingons were incapacitated before boarding the good ship Municipal Services Building.

A singular treat

2011-06-22T09:26:00.001-05:00

I had the unique joy of riding in to work on a bike lane that I helped plan on Monday. We've repainted a buffered bike lane along 13th street from South to Market streets. Next week they'll be painting the street north to Spring Garden. I have been using 13th street for the past 6 months since it is simply calmer and nicer to ride on than any of the other alternatives. With the addition of a couple thousand bucks worth of paint, it has become AWESOME. Drivers on the left, bikers on the right, here I am stuck in the middle with you.

Tig Burn

2011-06-07T14:12:00.002-05:00

So, despite Jennifer's worries that I'd set the basement on fire with the welder, the only thing that I've burned so far is my skin. TIG welding kicks off some SERIOUS UV rays and I've got the sunburn to show for it.

Crazier than I am

2011-05-30T22:20:00.000-05:00

Some times it's truly great to have friends who are crazier than you are. My teammate Brett happened to have a TIG welder that he got on a great deal and had never used. Now that same welder is sitting in my happily re-ordered basement waiting for a project!

Delayed Brompton US Championships Video

2011-04-26T11:56:00.002-05:00

Peter from NYCewheels in New York filmed the Brompton US Championship and posted the video recently. He was a really nice guy and I'm sure that had it not been his first race EVER he'd have been right with me at the finish line.

Probably the least comfortable bike seat I've seen

2011-04-21T11:09:00.000-05:00

Saw this parked out side of work the other day. Quite the piece of machinery, that's for sure. The seat required a tetnus shot before riding.

Led Zeppelin

2011-04-06T09:00:00.002-05:00

I've been trying to focus more efficiently at work this past week by listening to music to drown out the background ruckus of my office and I re-discovered what people have known for close to 40 years: Led Zeppelin RULES. IV is a truly spectacular album and while I can't truly vouch for the fact that it makes me concentrate better, it certainly makes me feel good.

Productive Saturday

2011-04-03T15:16:00.002-05:00

My project

2011-03-30T15:49:00.002-05:00

http://www.philly.com/philly/news/breaking/20110330_2_north-south_bike_lanes_eyed_for_Center_City.html

We've been working on some north/south bike lanes for the past 5 months, and are finally going to be moving on them. Go go go! Moving at the speed of government.

Friends' Asylum For The Relief of Persons Deprived Of Reason

2011-03-24T08:48:00.006-05:00

I came across this most excellent name while doing some research on historical clearance for the bike rack project that has been taking me FOR EVER.
The place is currently called the Friends Hospital, and is on the National Register of Historic Places and is currently operating as a mental health facility.

Mission Statement of 1813

"To provide for the suitable accommodation of persons who are or may be deprived of the use of their reason, and the maintenance of an asylum for their reception, which is intended to furnish, besides requisite medical aid, such tender, sympathetic attention as may soothe their agitated minds, and under the Divine Blessing, facilitate their recovery."

As a person who is not infrequently deprived of reason, I took notice.

Hit and run

2011-03-22T11:43:00.003-05:00

My teammate Meurig James was hit by a white SUV and sustained some serious injuries last Friday while riding near the Please Touch museum. He'll be ok, but what kind of piece of shit would hit someone and drive off. Insane.

http://www.nbcphiladelphia.com/news/local/Fairmount-Hit-and-Run-Cyclist-118407509.html

Distracting world

2011-03-21T11:23:00.003-05:00

I've been really distracted this past week by news and pictures of the earthquake off the coast of Sendai in norther Japan last week. I think that it happens with more or less every season change, but I always get pangs of nostalgia when I see the first cherry blossoms of spring. It's a trite response, but it truly was a fabulous time of year in Japan. Spring rolls around and people emerge from their cold, kerosene-ridden houses and head for the cherry groves.

I have no idea what it must be like to be back in Japan right now, but the whole event has left me with a strange feeling of disorientation and longing to be back there. We never got a chance to really explore the north of Japan, and Nagano was about as far inland as one can get in Japan. There was an earthquake centered off of Niigata Prefecture, about 80 miles northwest of where we were, and I recall thinking that it was mostly just a thrill. Not so thrilling for the 18,000 confirmed dead this time.

I think that some of the most compelling images I found were in the before and after pictures on this Australian website. What a loss, though I have faith that the Japanese values of co-dependence and stalwart determination will serve them well in the coming months and years of rebuilding.

Christmas, come late

2011-03-06T23:50:00.005-05:00

I should probably have done this sooner, but I wanted to post some of the cool goodies that came about from a handsome state of affairs at Christmas. Leah got me/us a mushroom kit: grow your own shitake mushrooms. Holy SHITake they are large, well precisely the one that we've got so far is enormous. I'm hoping that warm weather will bring in another couple of flushes of mushrooms.

My parents also got Jennifer and me a gift card, and a hefty one at that. I got myself a spanky new Skaagen watch to keep me on time (good luck, it'll take more than danish engineerding to make that go right)

Jennifer also got a super cool Mission Workshop bag, complete with organge aluminum buckle. Totally sweet, and totally necessary since her previous bag decided to blow out just before the holiday.

Step Two

2011-03-01T15:00:00.001-05:00

Actually post a picture, like you intended in the first place. This is my favorite new kitchen friend. Mr. Teapot is pretty awesome. The spout allows him to rapport so excellently with his buddy the Chemex. The best part is that it takes only about 90 seconds to boil enough water for an Aaron sized dose of coffee.

Step 1

2011-02-28T14:52:00.001-05:00

Sorry fans, I botched this post. Please accept my humble apologies.

Electric teapots

2011-02-16T23:02:00.002-05:00

There are always some products, primarily kitchen ones, that send me on a quest. After our trip to england this past year, I was convinced that we needed an electric tea kettle. They are super handy, and boil water in a matter of seconds. Well, on went the quest, Not too big, not too ugly, needed to look at home with the neighboring appliances etc etc etc. Also it couldn't be too expensive.

Jennifer tried to win one with points from one of her internet schemes, but that didn't end up panning out, so then we had a gift card to macy's and ordered what looked to be a cool pot, but that one was like a foot tall. Jennifer was stalking one on craigslist, but on my walk through Chinatown today in search of the next great bike-lane street, I went into one of my favorite cooking stuff stores. This place is great, all of the supplies for my chinese restaurant, plus deli slicers, meat grinders, rice cookers and teapots. The best thing is that every aisle has teapots in it, you just have to know where to look. Teapots? Yeah, right next to the cleavers, also right next to the forks, also right next to the baking pans, also some near the mops and napkins, and oh yeah, near the door too.

So, as I was headed out without a hit, the perfect pot materialized. Small, classy and $30. Deal.

Busyfication

2011-02-10T12:32:00.003-05:00

New events that have caused me much busy-ness.

-I'm now the "president" of QCW Cycling, which is cool, but now I actually don't have the option of not chipping in to help with stuff, and people look to me for leadership. Oh yeah, and running a bike club is a lot like herding cats, but faster because they can ride bikes, and snarkier, because they have the ability to talk back.

-Work has been keeping me thrillingingly busy, mostly because I've been able to transition myself more into the role of a bicycle planner and from my previous work promoting the transportation tax benefit. Waaay better for my motivation, but it also means that I've had a lot of late nights doing the people's work.

2011-01-26T21:28:00.000-05:00

My favorite sushi at home: Super best friends roll with avocado and ebi (shrimp) and seatbelt hotate (scallops)

It's sometimes hard to justify my love of sushi with my love of the environment. The worst is that the best tasting stuff, the toro (fatty tuna belly) is also threatening to hunt the bluefin tuna out of existence. It is a curse to be tasty!

Parking Lot

2011-01-14T09:49:00.000-05:00

It's REALLY easy to find bike parking in the winter for some reason.

I have to say that while I love snow in general, snow in Philly just isn't that great because there's nowhere to put it and usually not enough of it to make skiing worthwhile. I'd love to be able to ski as cross-training for cycling or heck, just for fun, but in Philadelphia the standard rhytmn is:

Panic
Snowfall
Some more panic
Messy slush
Melt
Repeat

Family time

2011-01-10T23:59:00.000-05:00

Before we headed back home, Aunt Karen, Uncle Denny and Denise and her flock stopped by to hang out for a bit. It always takes me a bit to remember all the kids names since I've only seen them on rare occasions and at holidays. Aunt Karen had unfortunately just come from the dentist where she'd had one of her teeth extracted. Not exactly the most fun way to start a week, but the novocaine hadn't worn off yet and she was hoping to see us before we headed out. We tried to roll out at about 1:00 to get back in time to see Leah off for her drive to Minnesota, but Grandma waylaid us by dragging out about 30 pounds of various foodstuffs including her unchanging chocoloate chip cookies, ranch oyster crackers, horseradish sauce and jars of jelly. She was still trying to lug all of that upstairs in one trip, hoisting the bag one step at a time when I stopped her and carried it up myself. She's probably lived so long from sheer feistyness.

Writing names in the snow

2011-01-10T23:45:00.000-05:00

Sioux City got a bit less snow than we did in Ames, but they had some risidual drifts from earlier in the month. Monday morning Ian, Asa and I went for a hike at Stone Park, just north of Grandma's house. It's always good to see the countryside around Sioux City and the loess hills were scenic as usual. I've been thinking about various places to take a bike tour, and it would be great to ride the hills up the Missouri along the western border of Iowa some summer.

Best present

2011-01-07T12:22:00.000-05:00

I got this cleaver from my grandmother by way of my dad. The cleaver used to belong to my granfather who died when my dad was just 7. Grandpa Ritz was a butcher for a while, among other jobs he held, and this was one of the cleavers he used for work. I'm not sure exactly the next time I'll need to do some serious work on a big hunk of animal, but I know what knife I'll be reaching for.

Seen on the Street

2011-01-06T09:46:00.001-05:00

Spotted this on my way to survey some bike rack locations this week. I'm not exactly sure what the message is, but I have a feeling that these "Traveller" guys are probably interested in motorcycles and women.

Asa's Slide Show

2011-01-05T00:02:00.000-05:00

Christmas at last

2011-01-05T00:01:00.000-05:00

It has been our tradition as young, and not so young adults, to drive up to Sioux City for Christmas to spend some time with Grandma Ritz. She's in her 93rd year and despite a fall off of the front stairs at her house which knocked out one of her teeth and broke her wrist this July, she's doing marvelous. Nearly as cantankerous as ever, and MORE than willing to send you home with 5 pounds of cookies,some jelly, horseradish and lest I forget, ham. Ian, Asa and I arrived at about 6:30 and following the great success we had with cooking her dinner last time, whipped up some cheese steaks for dinner. After dinner Asa pulled out his laptop and showed her pictures of his trip last year to Chile. She was duly impressed, but kind of lost track of where exactly Chile was. She then produced some map placemats that she had been saving for just that purpose, got her bearings and we were back on the way.

Oh Trophy Bikes, and Typewriters

2010-12-20T10:09:00.002-05:00

The first ever Type In sponsored by guess which bike shop.

Wish I had seen this before arriving in Japan...

2010-12-17T13:51:00.001-05:00

Ben's Chili Bowl

2010-12-13T17:31:00.001-05:00

At last I have been to the mecca of meaty eats, Ben's Chili Bowl on U street in Washington DC. I was down in DC for the day on Friday to check out their bicycle infrastructure, and lunched at this fine establishment. Eating one of these on a regular basis is not advised, but when it's 35 degrees and windy, they are a godsend of protein and salt.

Professionally, the trip was good as well. DC is kicking the pants off of us in every respect bike related save one: we have more bike racks. We have a lot more places for people to put their bikes when they're out and about. The situation at Union Station is particularly weak: the bike rack is on a stretch of unused driveway and is not even bolted to the ground.

In other respects though, DC is leagues ahead of most cities in the country. Helping them in that pursuit are their money and wide streets. Since the District functions as both a state and a city, they have a bit more control over their spending than we do in Philly. That, and they just have more of it. Wheras we have about 1.5 staff people devoted to bicycle and pedestrian issues, they, in a city half the size and population, have 6 people fully devoted to bicycle infrastructure projects. Wide streets also make it much easier to take lanes of travel for biking without paralyzing the urban core. Of course they all complain of congestion and tight quarters, but it's really nothing compared to our diminutive rights-of-way in Center City Philadelphia.

That said, they are doing amazing work. Bike sharing with 100 locations across the city and more to come online next year, bike lanes everywhere, a bicycle locker-room at the train station and two new and totally cool projects including a separated cycle track (divided from cars by a parking lane and bollards) and the new two way bike lane down the center of Pennsylvania avenue mean that the president can ride in comfort from his house all the way to the Capitol.

I've put some pictures up in my Picasa account for the transit nerds out there.

JUNKET

2010-12-10T00:18:00.002-05:00

I am working hard to get myself into as many bicycle-related projects at work as possible. Those efforts paid off today with my impending trip to DC to see some of their improvements and meet some of the big-gear mashers of bicycle policy.

Also, I'll have a chance to give bikeshare a try for the first time ever!

Does this need to exist?

2010-11-30T12:39:00.002-05:00

Hand pumped espresso machine, or perhaps an elaborate bong. You be the judge.

Kickin' Corner 10 years on

2010-11-26T11:18:00.001-05:00

Totally should have posted some of these pics weeks ago, but Brendan and Meghan were up for the weekend of November 5th and 6th. Good times were had by all, and an excessive amount of food and drink were consumed. (Meghan seems to be in the midst of digestion in this shot.)

We did the standard tour through the city, which included the Italian Market, Reading Terminal, and the re-opening of the South Street bridge, all of which were reasonably fun. Best part of the weekend was probably making pizzas in our kitchen. Assembling the ingredients that we'd procured lovingly throughout the day. We also did a fair bit of boozing, polishing off nearly 2 bottles of sake, and many many beers. You'll see the results in other pics, but we can safely say that not all that much has changed in the intervening years. Put a few drinks in me and I'm out on the couch!

Yep, boozing and snoozing

2010-11-26T11:10:00.001-05:00

Economic Stimulus Proposal

2010-11-26T10:19:00.003-05:00

I think that the City of Philadelphia should give all of its employees the Friday after Thanksgiving off, just like almost every other business in the city as an economic stimulus measure. If I weren't at work, I would assuredly be spending some money somewhere, some time. Instead, I'm just making money, sitting behind my desk, pretending to be working hard.

Jomar

2010-11-16T17:37:00.000-05:00

Jomar is the best place to go for crazy deals on crazy stuff. I think they are in the business of selling out stuff from random places that go out of business. I only wish I could have thought of something to do with pyrodex when I was there. Such a good deal!

Makes you wonder if this has been a problem?

2010-11-16T17:36:00.000-05:00

It's not like the faint of heart would be buying durian anyway. God bless asian groceries.

Not philly, but too cool not to repost

2010-11-15T10:55:00.006-05:00

Very cool street art in NYC. Damn that creative empire! We have our little robot-dudes in thermoplastic street adhesive, but New York has us beat in sheer volume of brains and creativitiy.

Dream Job

2010-11-09T11:29:00.002-05:00

Started reading this bike review in Cyclingnews because of the bike, but as it turns out Joachim Parbo may have my dream career. Too bad I wasn't born Danish.

http://www.cyclingnews.com/features/pro-bike-joachim-parbos-kch-leopard-cycles-jpx-prototype

Parbo has made his career on the racecourse but back at home in Denmark, he adopts a decidedly slower outlook as a part-time 'bicycle path inspector' for the city of Arhus. Among the job responsibilities are surveying the 560km (350mi) of paved paths, reporting any damage, and generally acting as an ambassador for the fellow commuters he encounters, offering up riding and bike maintenance tips.
Sound like a dream job? Parbo seems to think so.
"I have to oversee 350 miles of bike paths and other infrastructure so I have a lot of ground to cover," he told us just a few hours before leaving the US to head back to Europe. "I can actually train while I'm working!"

Ride buddy

2010-11-07T23:55:00.003-05:00

Chanced upon this friendly little guy last week on a mountain bike ride. He was catching some rays right in the middle of the trail, and was about as friendly as one can expect from a snake.

Busy, as per usual

2010-11-07T23:46:00.002-05:00

But good things have come of my busyness. Last week the City of Philadelphia hosted a Cities for Cycling event: experts from San Francisco, Portland, NYC and DC all came to share their experiences on building bicycle friendly cities and I was essentially the point guy for the project. I have not been that busy since graduate school. I spent gargantuan amounts of time coordinating people's schedules, making sure that we had a working powerpoint, getting lunches lined up and plotting the route for our tour of Philly's bike infrastructure. By the end of their two day stay, I was pretty exhausted, but totally stoked about our next steps as a bike friendly city. Check out the presentations here:

http://blog.bicyclecoalition.org/2010/11/pose-your-questions-for-cities-for.html#links

Miscommunication

2010-10-19T15:28:00.003-05:00

I've posted before that my phone number at work is just one digit off of the "Vector Control" squad that does all of the rat exterminations and varmint hunting for the city. Usually a good source of amusement over the course of the day. Today I got another call for the same:

Me: Hello, this is Aaron Ritz

Woman: Is this the place for rat inspections.

Me: No, I'm Aaron Ritz and I work for the Office of Transportation and Utilities.

Woman: Where?

Me: The Office of Transportation and Utilities

Woman: Constipation Utilities? That's the strangest office I ever heard of...

Good times at the City of Philadelphia.

Jaffa Cakes

2010-10-15T10:31:00.003-05:00

One of my favourite snacks from the trip was the ever popular Jaffa Cake. Upon trying to discover more about them, I chanced upon this fabulous wikipedia article about the history of the cake:

Under UK law, no Value Added Tax (VAT) is charged on plain biscuits and cakes —
they are "zero rated". Chocolate covered biscuits, however, are subject to
VAT. In Ireland, plain biscuits and cakes attract the "reduced" rate.
Chocolate cakes and biscuits attract the "standard" rate. McVities classed
its Jaffa Cakes as cakes, but in 1991, this was challenged by Her Majesty's
Customs and Excise and the case ended up before the courts.[8] This may have
been because Jaffa Cakes are about the same size and shape as some types of
biscuit, and particularly because they are commonly eaten alongside, or
instead of, traditional biscuits. The court asked "What criteria should be
used to class something as a cake?" McVities defended its classification of
Jaffa Cakes as cakes, producing a 12" (30 cm) Jaffa Cake to illustrate
that its Jaffa Cakes were simply miniature cakes.[9] McVities argued
that a distinction between cakes and biscuits is, among other things, that
biscuits would normally be expected to go soft when stale, whereas cakes
would normally be expected to go hard. It was demonstrated to the Tribunal
that Jaffa Cakes become hard when stale. Other factors taken into account by
the Chairman, Potter QC, included the name, ingredients, texture, size,
packaging, marketing, presentation, appeal to children, and manufacturing
process. Potter ruled that the Jaffa Cake is a cake. McVities therefore won
the case and VAT is not paid on Jaffa Cakes.[10]

First Eats

2010-10-14T21:29:00.000-05:00

After finding our hotel, we chanced upon a super-tasty sausage stand. Good stuff. Really good stuff. It was a fabulous introduction to a fabulous city.

Who's having a great first day?

2010-10-14T21:22:00.000-05:00

We are!!!! Just outside of Harrods London, where I bought the most interesting "cola" which was dandelion and burdock root. Not bad really, for something made from ditch weeds.

Title?

2010-10-14T21:06:00.000-05:00

Something like Giant Labia Eats Worm from Space might be the name that I gave this one in my head as we walked through the Tate Modern museum. I actually liked some of the big sculptures a lot but jet-lagged is not the ideal state in which to view modern art. Or is it...

Almost as interesting as it looks

2010-10-14T21:01:00.000-05:00

We were invited out to the Brompton factory for the presentation of the Queen's Award for Enterprise, given to the plucky and courageous folding bicycle savant pictured in the background. Andrew Richie is his name, and he is one of the few people I've ever met for whom the title "Inventor" is the most approprite thing that one could say. He's a kook.

Rainbow Brommies

2010-10-14T20:58:00.000-05:00

Unfortunately, they're discontinuing my favorite baby pink Brompton, but luckily they have replaced it with a most excellent sage coloration. I can hardly choose my favorite color!

Now I kinda want a torch

2010-10-14T20:52:00.000-05:00

I absolutely love factory tours. For reasons of which I am not quite sure, Brompton brazes their bikes rather than welding them. I speculate that this might be just for a retro appeal, or it might just be some staunch curmudgeony habits. Can't say really.

Patriot

2010-10-12T22:58:00.001-05:00

Didn't really do the flag proud, but hey, that's bike racing. At least I remembered how to fold the flag appropriately when our photo shoot was over.

Poo

2010-10-12T22:52:00.000-05:00

The Puerile Professor Poopy Pants Pouting at the Palace Pondering Punctures.

Lovely little church

2010-10-12T22:48:00.000-05:00

Blockley Hotel

2010-10-12T22:45:00.002-05:00

This was our home base for the two days we spent in the Cotswold village of Blockley. This was by far my favorite part of the trip. As ultimately English country as it comes, and just stunningly pretty. More sheep than people in these parts, and our hotel had been in operation for something like 400 years (under new management)

Folly

2010-10-12T22:41:00.000-05:00

Broadway Tower, in the Cotswolds. It was designed and built as a cool place to throw a party. That's all. They've got some super gargoyles on the corners as well.

Gargoyle in the making?

2010-10-12T22:39:00.001-05:00

Jen trying her own face as a gargoyle. Not scary enough, in my opinion.

Right of way

2010-10-12T22:38:00.000-05:00

Did I mention that I really liked England? Public walking paths throughout the country, even through farm fields. That is an AWESOME tradition. I've got the strange notion that hikers would get shot at if we suddenly started walking over hill and dale in this way in the US.

York was nice

2010-10-12T22:35:00.000-05:00

Some quaint and lovely street in York. I really liked York, and it didn't hurt that they had one of my favorite bike shops from the trip, Cycle Heaven.

Glenkichie

2010-10-12T22:29:00.000-05:00

We took a distillery tour of Glenkichie scotch. Owned by Johnny Walker's parent company, it's liquor is a chief constituent of Johnny Walker Black label.

Good stuff

2010-10-12T22:27:00.000-05:00

Still feeling good after the free shots from the Glenkichie distillery. "Scotch, scotch, scotch. I love scotch. Here it goes now, on down my throat."

Holyrood Park

2010-10-12T22:25:00.000-05:00

It doesn't hurt the beauty of a place to have a mountain park in the middle of your city. This was about 2 miles from the center of town, and a mile from our hotel. Chariots of Fire was filmed here.

Edinburgh

2010-10-12T22:22:00.000-05:00

Edinburgh was very pretty, but perhaps due to where it sat in our trip, gave both Jennifer and I a kind of unwelcome vibe. It probably didn't hurt that most of the buildings were still recovering from years or coal smoke like this church here.

The Calthorpe Arms, the Cheers of East London

2010-10-12T22:19:00.001-05:00

We spend our last night in London with a pint or two in this lovely pub on Grey's Inn Road. The place was about as quaint as you could ever ask for, with 5 people total in the bar, shooting the shit with the bartender. Everyone knew everyone else, and they were all making fun of the guy who was sitting in the corner watching a Family Guy rerun. He laughed mightily as he tried to explain the characters to the other folks. "The dog is called Brian, and he's probably the smartest character on the show..."

It was awesome.

Somewat deflated, still bouyant

2010-10-07T18:18:00.001-05:00

Jennifer and I have been in the UK for the past week. Overall it has been a marvellous trip, full of adventure, surprisingly delicious food, and beautiful surroundings. London has maintained itself as one of my all-time favorite big cities, and I can honestly say that there are few places more lovely than England in the sunshine. Unfortunately, that sunshine is not often in steady supply. We were doused heavily on day 2 whilst still in London, then douched the night before and the day of the Brompton World Championship. My tires were apparently not up to the task and I flatted once before the race started, early in the morning, and once midway through lap 2 of the race. Dammit. I was pretty bummed, but we had an absolutely stunning day in Oxford and the Cotswolds, which made up for that in most ways. I'm still conniving a way to eventually work for a year or two in England somewhere-either in a bike shop or better yet, as a bicycle facilities planner. If anyone has any sweet hook-ups let me know. We've had spare Bromptons from Trophy Bikes on loan for the week, and also borrowed Mike's camera (for aesthetic value when coupled with the rack and bag that he had custom built for my steed) so I've snapped far too many pictures to date. Will post them once we return to the motherland for a bit.

Batty at the Citty

2010-09-22T09:10:00.000-05:00

Hard to believe that this little guy was right outside of my building the other day. He was parked under the giant picture window about 6 inches off the ground right near the bike racks. I really wanted to pet him, but common decency prevailed and I didn't have the heart to disturb his slumber.

Better make it 4

2010-09-20T13:23:00.003-05:00

Jennifer and I spent a great weekend up in East Hampton with Kyle, Marie, Nick and Amy, and some new friends Annika and Joel. This was the first summer time repeat of our famous New Years in the Hamptons adventures of 2008 and 2009. What can I say, it's better to be able to go outside. Day 1 included Patanque (french for bocce), apple picking, beach walking, and the eating of an alarming number of clams. Nick, Jennifer, Marie and I went on a procurement run to get apples from the pick your own joint, as well as some seafood from the local fishmonger. We have historically gotten some delicious local oysters, but when the fishmonger with the green teeth pointed out that there was a "buy 2 dozen, get 1 dozen free" deal on the jumbo cherrystone clams, we opted for that. Thinking of the number of seafood lovers in the mix, we decided to get a total of 4 dozen clams, thinking that we would get one of those dozen for free. A good deal, at $5.50 per dozen. The clam salesman must have interpreted my request for 4 dozen to mean that we wanted 4 dozen clams, plus the additional 24 for free, a fact that I discovered at the house when after polishing off 8 clams the size of my fist, that there were still 64 left. Holy shit that was a lot of clams. We were grilling them and then dousing them with a bit of sauce as they opened. Everyone ate their fill, and then some.

Perhaps the best part is that we discovered that clam shells fit perfectly into the dog-ball chucking thing that they had at the house. We hucked 72 clam shells out into the sea dunes that night. Some of them were mysteriously filled with lighter fluid and newspaper, and somehow managed to make incandescent arcs through the night sky.

Awesome.

We are so pro

2010-09-18T08:56:00.000-05:00

Absolutely maxed out bike carrying capacity for the state RR. 4 bikes, 4 guys. Go Magu-chan! I wish I had changed my rear tire the night before. Stupid flat out of the winning break. Bad luck I guess.

Surprising Ma

2010-09-16T14:44:00.000-05:00

Since we knew that my mom would probably not get as much of a kick out of a bamboo bicycle as my dad, the other young Ritz's and I decided that a surprise convergence on Ames for her birthday would be the ideal plan. It was was a whirlwind weekend, over Labor Day so we had about 3 days to hang out and kick it family style.

Ian drove back from Madison, and picked up my brother Asa in Iowa City, and then they proceeded directly to Des Moines to pick me up at the airport. It was as seamless an operation as you can expect from my family, and we arrived together in Ames at about 9:30. Claire, who couldn't be there that night called my mom on the phone as Leah was poised with the camera. First Asa walked in to surprise Mom. "Oh, my God Asa!"

Then Ian walked in, "OH MY GOD IAN!!"

Then I walked in, "OH MY GOD AARON!!"

Great success, we surprised the crap out of her. Spent the rest of the weekend eating tasty food, Leah and I made our standard Indian dinner, I smoked a pork shoulder, and my sister's boyfriend DJ made a stupendous rolled pork loin with all the fixins.

Not only that, but Asa and I sprung for a new BB gun after I had the bright idea to "fix" my old one last Christmas. Many tomatoes were killed, much fun was had.

Leah and Ian's Project

2010-09-15T09:02:00.001-05:00

Leah and Ian provided a lovely awning for the back door to the kitchen. The top is covered with plexi-glass that my dad salvaged from a display case somewhere. We tested it with the hose in back. It works.

Mom's birthday gate

2010-09-14T08:58:00.000-05:00

Asa and I were in charge of taking out the old gate in the back of the house and replacing it with this awesome fella. I could stand on the lower rung without it sagging. GO TEAM!

Been a long bike season

2010-09-01T21:57:00.003-05:00

And it's not quite over yet. I've got three more races that I'm planning on doing. The first is the state criterium this weekend. It'll undoubtedly draw out some of the big boys, but then again, I suppose that I should probably stop being intimidated by fast guys, since my own team is full of them. My teammate Brett is in the running for the state overall title, a points series compiled from results in select races throughout the season. It'll be a squeaker though, as there is a guy from our rival team breathing down my neck.

More my style, however, will be the state road race in two weeks. Held on a great rolling loop near Reading, PA, it is much better suited to me as an all arounder who doesn't mind climbing too much. I've been training pretty specifically for this race, and hope things will work out well for me.

My last race, of course will be the Brompton World Championships, held near Oxford in England. Jennifer and I are going for the race and will be touristing a bit around the country afterwards. I'm pretty psyched, as it'll be a really great chance to see the English Countryside and maybe partake in the fabulous fall sport of Mangold Hurling.