Bike News

Posted on July 31, 2008 by Jeff Moser

I was over at Comma Coffee this morning and the latest issue of the Reno News and Review caught my eye. It’s the Bike Issue! It appears to be chocked full of cycley goodness, and I’ll be checking it out this weekend when I get some down time.

Extra! Extra! The RN&R Bike Issue!

I tend to stay on the back streets when navigating Carson City by bicycle. Typically the intersections have little motorized traffic, if any. Coming to a complete stop at the stop signs almost seems silly in this situation, much as it would if you were walking. I slow to a safe level, look and listen for any oncoming traffic, and then proceed.

Urban Velo recently discussed a new law that is being discussed in San Francisco that would allow cyclists to treat stop signs as yield signs, and stoplights as stop signs. What an excellent idea! Well half of it anyhow. I think stop signs are already yield signs for most cyclists, and we do it quite safely. I’m not so sure about the stoplight issue though. I can see this causing accidents, as I don’t typically see many breaks in traffic at the stoplights. I think it would be way too unpredictable for all traffic involved. At least that’s how I see it here in Carson City. What are your thoughts?

One of my favorite reasons to visit the Reverend Tim’s blog is to see his frequent pictures of mega fauna. We typically see squirrels, snakes, and the occasional coyote while out riding the trails, but imagine coming down the trail to find a giant Bull Moose blocking the way! Read about Tim’s close encounter (with excellent pictures) over on Bicycles and Icicles!

A local engineering team is attempting to design a product that can quickly convert any clipless pedal to a platform pedal. It can be a hassle to swap pedals on your bike for certain situations; for example, I like to frequently use my single speed for non mountain use, and would rather use a sneaker for around town. Read more HERE at the Bacon Strip, and take the survey to help design this product!

Bike Carson is scheduled to be in this Sunday’s Nevada Appeal! Watch for it…

And finally, watch as this rider in a NYC Critical Mass attacks a cop! </sarcasm> Earlier in the week I was mentioning how helpful the cops in Truckee were at the Tour de Fat’s bicycle parade. Like anything though, it’s a box of chocolates…

My new pair of Luv Handles

Posted on July 31, 2008 by lesterfitz

Check them out here.

http://groovycycleworks.blogspot.com/

The Health of the Eye

Posted on July 30, 2008 by Jeff Moser

I enjoy reading old books to see what was on people’s minds back then. Often times, you’ll find that people were thinking about the same things, with only the superficial details being different. One thing that hasn’t changed is the need to get outdoors. I just don’t feel right without it, and even feel sick if I go to long without it.

Here’s a passage I came across recently that I enjoyed, and it made me think of the daily lunch rides.

the simple perception of natural forms is a delight. The influence of the forms and actions in nature, is so needful to man, that, in its lowest functions, it seems to lie on the confines of commodity and beauty. To the body and mind which have been cramped by noxious work or company, nature is medicinal and restores their tone. The tradesman, the attorney comes out of the din and craft of the street, and sees the sky and the woods, and is a man again. In their eternal calm, he finds himself. The health of the eye seems to demand a horizon. We are never tired, so long as we can see far enough.

-taken from Nature by Ralph Waldo Emerson, 1836

Clif Bar 2 Mile Challenge Tour Comes to Carson City

Posted on July 28, 2008 by Jeff Moser

The Clif Bar 2 Mile Challenge Tour Comes to Carson City on Wednesday, Aug 13th!

The promoters for the Clif Bar 2 Mile Challenge recently contacted Bike Carson to see if making Carson City a stop on their tour would be a good idea. I said YES! Carson City may not be big, but this is precisely why this campaign is such a good idea here. Whether you live or work in Carson City, many of your daily errands and trips can easily be done by bicycle.

Photo courtesy of Clif Bar

Here’s a quote from Clif Bar:

Did you know 40% of US urban travel is 2 miles or less? Ride your bike to fight global warming. The bio-diesel powered Clif Bar 2MC bus will be onsite to help educate everyone on the benefits of riding your bike within 2 miles of your home or work to conduct errands versus driving! Those participating in the 2 mile challenge will help all of us cut down on our carbon footprints! Be sure to stop by and check out the bus and for your chance to win some prizes! While you’re here don’t forget to grab your Clif Bar sample to fuel up with.

Some of the details of the tour are still developing, but it looks like they will be setting up in the Mills Park / Community Center area. The Clif Bar 2MC crew wants to show a cycling film to raise some money for a local advocacy group. I thought admission donations would be a perfect fund raiser for Muscle Powered! The movie will be shown at the Bob Boldrick theater at the Carson City Community Center at at 7pm. The cycling film to be shown is Seasons, an independent biking movie from The Collective. Here’s a teaser:

Now here’s where I need YOUR Help! The Clif Bar 2MC crew is counting on us to promote this event! I’m going to need help with this, and won’t be able to do it all myself. I think the first thing we’ll need is a good flier to put up around town. Any volunteers? Please share your ideas here in the comments or send me an email at moserjd@gmail.com.

I think Carson City is well on its way to becoming a fantastic cycling city, and a successful event like this could go a long way for us! Let’s all work together to make this BIG.

To follow the progress of The Clif Bar 2MC tour, you can visit the Clif Bar Blog. Also visit the Clif Bar 2 Mile Challenge site to map your ride, take the challenge, and more.

I’ll give you more details as I get them!

Tour de Fat 2008 Report

Posted on July 27, 2008 by Jeff Moser

Welcome to the TDF 2008!

Saturday was New Belgium‘s traveling show, the Tour de Fat. Many of us in Carson City made the pilgrimage to Truckee, California for this annual event.

Chip preparing for the Bike Parade

The event always starts off with a bike parade, but this year’s route was quite a bit different. I think last year’s rowdy ride caused too many problems in downtown Truckee, and probably wasn’t the safest route. This year we had help from law enforcement, blocking traffic so that the parade had a whole lane to themselves going down the main road into Truckee! We stuck to the back roads for the most part though, and this was fine with me. I like keeping my son out of traffic.

TDF Main Stage

The food choices were more limited this year, and if you were a vegetarian, it was cheese pizza for you. The beer choices were pretty good though, and featured New Belgium’s Blue Paddle, Skinny Dip, Mothership Wit, and of course Fat Tire Ale. This lineup was missing some of my favorites, but represented some of the best of their summer brews. All were delicious!

Kristy on the Big Wheel

The shows and music were entertaining, but I missed the circus acts from last year. That’s ok though. Since it’s fresh and different each year, you never know what to expect.

Back again this year were the Sprockettes, a dance group of young ladies from Portland, traveling the west coast in their bus that runs on veggie oil! They put on a good show and incorporate many bicycles into their routine.

Scott R tries to impress the Sprockettes with his footlong

Like I said, there were many folks from Carson City up there, and I tried to get photos of them when I had the opportunity. Especially the more “colorful” characters.

Mickey the Used Bicycle Salesman and Josh

Christine and Ryan in lovely camisoles

One of the favorite things to at the Tour de Fat is to ride the Freak Bikes. Gone are some of the tall bikes from year’s past, but they’ve been replaced with plenty of other oddities. It’s unknown where the other bikes went. Were they unsafe and pulled, or did they just fall apart? Probably a little of both!

Josh on the Big Wheel – Peace Out

Kristy and Charlie riding at Their Own Risk

There was a good market place setup where you could buy anything from a hat, t-shirt, bicycle tire belt, to a sweet Joe Dirt mullet wig.

Charlie or a young Joe Dirt?

There is much fun to be had at the Tour de Fat, but there is also a message behind the event. Being less wasteful and riding your bicycle were common themes everywhere you looked. They a had booth setup where you could pledge to ride your bike to work, and had a “compost office” setup where all waste from the event was recycled. There were no “trash” cans.

Escalade Funeral

The only big downer about the Tour de Fat, is that it’s almost an hour’s drive from Carson City! Wouldn’t it be cool if something big like this came to our town? If you say YES, then you’ll be excited to hear what I have to announce early this week! Stay tuned…

The Sprockettes

I’ll leave you with a couple videos of the Sprockettes.

The rest of the TDF photset can be viewed on Flickr HERE.

A Fun Day!

Posted on July 24, 2008 by Jeff Moser

Yesterday I passed on the mountain ride, and had lunch with Bob, Keith, and Reno Media Mogul Ryan Jerz at the new Genghis Asian Fusion on north Carson Street. Great restaurant if you haven’t been! Ryan and I enjoyed giant bowls of lemon grass pho, and the brothers got something off the Chinese menu.

Lunch at Genghis Asian Fusion. These boys were jealous of my Lemon Grass Pho.

After work we headed to the Canyon Gentleman’s Club. There was lots of digging, beer tasting, and laughing. We were attempting to widen a section of the (Not) Mike’s Super Fourday Spectacular, but found ourselves in a vein of shale. The rest of this trail is in soft sand, so I wasn’t expecting this. Otherwise I would’ve brought a heavy pick to smash up the rock!

Why in the Hell is Roger’s Dog drinking out of my water bottle?

The beer selection was excellent! The North Coast, Lost Coast, and Stone Brewing Co. breweries were all represented! Great White, Allycat, ACME, Ruination IPA, it was tasting good!

Lots of digging, beers, and laughing.

Sorry you other guys couldn’t make it. Lester felt so bad that Scott (XD) M couldn’t make it, so he ridiculed him remotely via text messages. Now that’s love.

We weren’t making lots of progress like in previous nights, and it started to get dark. We did our best to leave the trail in working order, but it got difficult to check our progress as nightfall set in.

Lester demonstrates texting in Work Gloves

The other kids didn’t show up, so Charlie was stuck working with us. He helped pickup rocks and line the trail with them. He also thought Roger’s dog LuLu looked thirsty and let her drink from my water bottle. But most importantly, he learned all sorts of new grown up words by the end of the night.

The McLeod. Good for cutting singletrack, air guitar, and slaying level 4 Orcs.

Visit to the Lost Coast Brewery

Posted on July 22, 2008 by Jeff Moser

On our recent trip to the northern California Coast, we had the privilege of visiting the Lost Coast Brewery in Eureka, California. The place was hopping, even on a midweek night, and it took us a while to get seated. While we were waiting for our table, we watched the boy play several games of pinball in the back.

Decisions, Decisions

Prior to the visit, I had only tried a couple of the offerings from Lost Coast. Knowing that we wouldn’t be able to try all the beers on the menu that night, we opted for the sampler. Ten 4oz glasses of all the beers available! Like other breweries we’ve visited, there were some great beers that really stood out, and a few that were fun to try but made you grateful you only got a 4oz sampler!

The Sampler

Here’s a rundown of the beers we sampled:

I enjoyed an 8 Ball Stout at home back in the winter months, and it was great to revisit this wonderful brew. A full flavored creamy chocolaty brown elixir, with a smooth balance of sweet and bitter. Perfect for when the temperatures start dropping, but also enjoyable during other times of the year.

My other favorite of the night was Great White. I had not tried this beer previously, so I was pretty excited at this new find! Great White is brewed with wheat and barley, and is a bit cloudy like other beers brewed in this style; however, Great White is more full bodied than other wheat beers, and has a complexity to it. It has hints of citrus, coriander, and a “secret blend of Humboldt herbs”. Great White is a fine summer beer!

Rear Entrance of the LCB

LCB had a lineup of wheat beers, the Lost Coast Wheat, Apricot Wheat, and the Tangerine Wheat. The Lost Coast and Tangerine were quite refreshing, and also topped the list on Kristy’s favorites. We both agreed that the Apricot Wheat tasted a bit mediciney though.

In the medium category were the Allycat Amber, Downtown Brown, and Raspberry Brown. I don’t have a whole lot to say about these beers. Not because I didn’t think they were good, but because they’re just not what I’m into right now. The Amber and Brown were good examples of this style, and are worth buying a sixer of if this is your style. The Downtown Brown is a bit more full bodied than a New Castle. It’s also noticeably fresher than a New Castle, as New Castles seem to be hit and miss with the long distribution chain (at least that’s my hypothesis…). The Raspberry Brown was too fruity/mediciny for my tastes, and was one of my least favorites of the night.

LCB Artwork

Finally, the Pale Ales. Pale Ales are my favorite right now, and I was excited to try these two. Both were surprising. The Indica IPA (Indica is Latin for India, but also a subspecies of Cannabis sativa that I’m told grows in the area…) was wildly hoppy! Hops are a natural preservative, and were added in abundance to beer when sailors of long ago made the long sea journeys from Great Britain to India around the horn of Africa. The India Pale Ale style definitely lives on in Indica! I love hops, and this one is near going over the top. It’s a fun one to drink and contemplate.

The standard Pale Ale was surprising to me, because I didn’t enjoy it at all. In fact it was the beer I enjoyed the least out of the whole ten sampled! I’m not sure why either. But of course I did drink it all!

LCB Artwork

Another fun reason to visit the LCB is for all the artwork! The building itself is a throwback to Eureka’s earlier times, and has a great historic feel. Once inside, you are treated to many beautiful, but bizarre pieces of artwork, ranging from the many colorful labels of LCB beer bottles to crazy sculptures over head. There was even a giant black widow spider hooked up to a rope and pulley that lowered as patrons entered the brewery from the front entrance!

Have any of you enjoyed LCB brews? Tell me what you think about them!

Did you know that the Lost Coast Brewery has a cycling team? I didn’t either! Link HERE.

Bike Carson

Bicycle News, Culture, and Lifestyle in Carson City, Nevada

Monthly Archives: July 2008