I got back from the farmers market yesterday to find that my trailer attachment was being held on by 4 metal threads. The braided wire I had used stretched out, and once it got long enough the PVC tubing was able to rub right through it. It chewed through 4/5 wires completely, and then ate through most of the remaining one. 
Well its not so bad. But my first foray into mountain biking was not the most graceful thing I have ever done. I crashed a lot. I hit a tree with my handle bars, I lost control on a turn and landed sideways in the bushes, I did a big crash after I lost control on a sand bar that almost sent me rolling all the way down buck hill, and skidded out on another corner. But I did get this cool picture of me looking determined! 
To the farmers market, on the bike, with a bike trailer. That earns me some pinko Amsterdam points for sure. 
I was walking Winnie and over behind the security alarm building, and there is this little section of scrub that people just dump their typical urban junk in. There is a refrigerator, a car tire, a shopping cart, and a few days ago there was a torn up InStep Quick-n-Lite bike trailer. The same kind we bought last summer for winnie, which was fun but she kind of hated it. So I dragged the trashed one home, sold Winnie's for $40 (same price as we bought it) on craigslist, and started to convert the busted one to a bike trailer by ripping off all the fabric and coverage parts.
It was missing its bike attachment part, so I towed it to work by wrapping the end with an old bike inner-tube and attaching that to the back which was good enough (barley, and it somehow managed to flip completely over at one point). Then I took off the wheel attachments and inverted them so the wheels would be inside the frame, which makes the entire thing more narrow and easier to maneuver. Also this way, the wheels are protected should the trailer strike anything. I then cut down some aluminum rods to lay down down the center so it can support weight. These I attached with bolts. To make the connector, I used a quick release attachment normally used for pressurized air, that just happened to screw into the soft aluminum at the end of the connector arm. 
The piece on the bike is a small drilled steel plate, with an eye-hook bolted onto it, that is attached to a piece of PCV pipe with steel rope, that is attached to the quick connector. I might have to re-do this part, because it is kind of huge! But it works great, so I can't complain.
Here is Megan's new toy, a KHS 500 road bike! Carbon fork and chain stay, aluminum all the rest. Megan has outgrown her old bike, which will be used as it has been as a comfortable commuter hybrid with fenders, rack, and basket. But, all that weighs almost 40 lbs (with out a backback!) while this one comes in at just above 20. Plus all the benefits of road tires, shifters and brakes. Also known as... much faster!
If you're unfamiliar with the recumbent, it's similar to the bicycle in that it has two wheels and it's human-powered, but it's also very different in that you kind of lie down on it. Also, it replaces the saddle with a lounge chair and your dignity with a big gaping hole.But, besides bike hilarity he has some great things to say, like this from yesterday called, "The Indignity of Commuting by Bicycle: Weirdness"
I too long for something, and that is a world without stupid behavior. And recently, I made an important discovery, which is that while you can't change the world you can change your own perception of it. Certainly I can't eradicate stupidity from the Earth (if only because that would also involve eradicating myself), but I can keep myself from getting angry about that stupidity. This realization in turn brought me to a revelation: Stupidity minus Anger equals Weirdness. In other words, when I observe something inexplicable and get angry about it, I've observed something stupid. But when I observe something inexplicable and don't get angry, I've simply observed something weird. And weirdness is much easier to live with than stupidity.And here is the snob on Cyclocross which he is a fan of:
But let's be honest--part of the bicycle's appeal is its swift mobility. What cyclist hasn't fantasized about living in some kind of Apocalyptic wasteland with only his bicycle and his wits to keep him alive? Who wouldn't want to live in some sort of real-life "Red Dawn" and carry out guerilla attacks on bicycles under Patrick Swayze's capable leadership? Well, probably very few people, and I suppose that's why cyclocross is still not that popular.So, keep racing cyclocross on your recumbent bike in preparation for the red dawn but don't let stupid things make you angry, they are just weird after all.
Great birthday week/weekend! Dinner out with siblings, music, drinks, and friends visiting this weekend.Races take place typically in the autumn and winter, and consists of many laps of a short (2.5–3.5 km or 1.5–2 mile) course featuring pavement, wooded trails, grass, steep hills and obstacles requiring the rider to quickly dismount, carry the bike whilst navigating the obstruction and remount in one motion."Or as the video said, "a bunch of skinny dorks riding around on road bikes in the dirt." Races are broken into skill categories and that determines how long you ride. In motor sports, my favorite Rally Racing is probably the most comparable. Street cars running really fast in the dirt, mud, snow, and on pavement, compared to road bikes going fast on grass, dirt, mud, and pavement!
Added Aug 5th: We took about a 12 mile ride and the trailer rolls nice, but slows me down quite a bit! The entire load is about 50 lbs which makes starting and hills harder, and the wind resistance makes cruising slower. Megan and I normally cruse at around 15 mph (says the GPS taped to the handle bars) but I bet this takes it down to 10-11 and I was really pushing the entire time too. 
