Madsen Cargo Bikes

I'm a bit fascinated by these - just recommended my mom look at them for bike commuting needs up in Vancouver. They've got a little contest going; click on over and take a look at them.

Bike to Work Day

I decided to take part in Bike to Work day - I tried to do it a couple days a week last summer, and was moderately successful for a while, so this seemed like a good way to get back into it. It's about 5 and a half miles to my work - a slightly downhill ride in the morning, and a little uphill on the way home. It only gets really tough when there's afternoon wind - which is fairly common here in Nevada. I registered at Bike Nevada this morning, and had a nice ride into work in about 22 minutes. Tried to take it easy, so I wouldn't be all sweaty when I got there - last year I noticed that the closer to 20 minutes I got, the sweatier I was. 22 seemed about right. It was a perfect day in the afternoon, in the 70s and not very windy. Here's a video of me passing by Virginia Lake:



And my route on the way home. I try to stay away from the big streets, but heading through downtown isn't too bad on Arlington and 5th. The lights time out pretty well through there...



So, it's always nice to be reminded how easy it is to get around my bike. Maybe I'll consider a commute once or twice a week "cross-training" this summer...

Bike cam

After I saw this post on Photojojo.com a month or so ago, I had to give it a try. Finally got all the pieces together, and it worked like a charm! Check out part of my bike commute home today, along Arlington Street from California Ave. to 1st Street:

Bike ride

So I've been trying to get out for a mountain bike ride, ever since the marathon, but weather or other stuff have conspired against me. Finally made time to do it this morning, although the weather wasn't perfect - cold and windy, actually, with a little blowing snow at times. That sounds worse than it was, though - I wore shorts, a long-sleeve t-shirt and a light vest, with full-fingered gloves and it was about perfect. Here's the route I did:



And some pictures:


Some pretty clouds near the top, but this was where it started snowing a little.


Looking east toward Sparks.


The trail ahead.


Looking down Park Canyon toward Rancho San Rafael.

From there I rode through the tunnel under McCarran into Rancho San Rafael, across the dog park, and down Washington street toward home. Took a silly fall, though - I was stopping to adjust my seatpost back up as I got back onto the pavement, and coasted to a stop on a concrete sidewalk. It was pretty slippery, my foot went right out from under me, and I went down kinda hard. Landed flat, though, so it was OK. Embarrassing, though...