Breakfast and a Poster

After taking one bite of my delicious breakfast I wanted to share it with everyone!  So here you are:

Oatmeal and teff with agave, cranberries and home made yogurt!

Also a piece I did in retrospect:

Today is Sam's last day of college as well, so congratulations to everyone graduating soon!

Ride safe,

Spencer

Coolest Music Video Yet

An amazing video sent to me by a friend showing off the great camera work of her fellow Emersonians. :-)
take a look!

Bicycle Repair Man!

For those of you who haven't seen this:


Spencer

New Bike Old Bike

Some pics of my most recent bike project.  I picked up 4 frames in varying condition on craigslist and built this single speed with one of them.

Sears and Robuck free spirit!

Ride safe,

Spencer

Sexy + 5

True story about my wife:

Spencer

The Grilled Cheese Grill

A quirky 'food cart' in Portland, the Grilled Cheese Grill sports a couple locations each with a bus to eat your grilled cheese in.  Often known as the Grilled Cheese Bus (but I don't get it...)
Here's a sketch of their Alberta St. Kitchen

Enjoy like you would a jalepeño corn chip grilled cheese sandwich! (which I was eating at the time and trying not to smear grease on the paper.  aww grease...)

Spencer

A Cherry Blossom By Any Other Name

A marker drawing I did on University of Portland campus.  At Sam's request I added the blossoms later.  (aka, the piece's title isn't nearly as deep as you thought...)

also I got my copy of 'Color and Light' in the mail today which I have been reading at every spare moment.  Pretty awesome stuff.

Ride safe, and try to stay dry,

Spencer

Finally a Real Saturday

 :-)

Bike Tax Argued Yet Again

My good friend Jamie sent me a link to this article from our hometown about charging a 2% tax on bicycle sales in the state (Maine) to fund adding paved shoulders to roads. (Maine, being a state completely covered in trees, rarely has paved shoulders or any shoulder at all, which often makes cycling a bone rattling experience and keeps many would be cyclists in their cars)
The comments after the article are not the greatest, but I figured I'd share the article and a few thoughts with you.
Article:  "Cyclist's Put Brakes on Surcharge Proposal"
My Thoughts:  Public roads are public.  People who walk to work do not need to be registered, nor taxed to pay for sidewalks do they?  Bikes do not need to be registered or taxed either. (although sales tax in many states does tax bike sales along with everything else)  So why are cars registered?  Licenced?  Insured? etc?  Obviously not because they use the roads, but because of their cost on society.  Injuries, deaths, property damage, damage to roads, pollution, etc are all huge costs that must be paid for.  Neither cycling nor walking incurs these kinds of risks on a scale anywhere near that of the automobile.  (although deaths do occur, how many motorists do you think are killed by cyclists in crashes each year?)
Car owners do not pay to use roads, just like elementary school kids don't pay to attend school.  That's why they are considered Public.  Public roads, Public School, Public Libraries, Public Parks, etc. 

Here's an awesome response that makes lots of sense from Ken Kifer's Bike Pages
An Excerpt:
"If we take this idea seriously that only those who pay gasoline taxes can use the roads, then we are going to live in a very odd world.  Grade schools will have to be funded entirely from taxes on candy and toys, libraries from taxes on books and magazines, and police from taxes on guns and home security devices.  People from one town won't be able to use any public services in another town, and foreign visitors will be out of luck altogether.
But the simple truth is that taxes are taxes.  You pay a tax on your car, not because you drive it somewhere nor because the tax gives you any privilege to do anything, but just because the car is an expensive piece of property, just like your house.  You pay a tax on gasoline just as you pay a tax on anything else you buy, and the tax on gas is higher for the same reason that that taxes on tobacco and alcohol are higher: their use creates a greater expense for the community. Motor vehicles tear up the roads, and bicycles do not; they pollute the air, and bicycles do not; they require heavy structures and large parking areas, and bicycles do not. There is no reason why every cent collected from automobiles should be spent to encourage their use. We don't do that with any other tax."

So let's all share the road and be grateful for the services we provide each other!  Also remember that when you choose to get in a car, to get on a bike, to walk or take the bus, that you are impacting others and I think in addition to becoming aware of those impacts we should all accept the corresponding responsibilities and costs as well.


Drive safe, ride safe and be safe this week!

Spencer

Bus vs Bigwheel

Here's a great video a friend showed me yesterday that I couldn't help but share with you all:

I take the bus now and again, but never when riding a kids trike is faster!
(seems I'm having trouble with this embed code, so check out the video here if it doesn't work for you)

Ride safe,

Spencer

Bike Profile Number Four

Bike Number 4
Make and model: Osso 7007ex
Year:2010
Color: Lime Green
Handlebars: Strait
Gears: 7 speed
Purchased: 2010
Where: Top One, Osaka Japan
I paid: 39000yen
Original Condition: Brand New
Major modifications: When coming back from Japan I pulled off fitting my bike into a beneath regulation size box and checked it without paying sports equipment fees or oversize baggage fees.  This meant that I stripped everything down and had to ditch the rear wheel. (although I salvaged the rim, and in hindsight could have probably gotten the whole thing across)  In any case, it now sports an old salvaged steel rimmed 5 speed rear wheel.  Other than that it's in pretty much new condition, although in Japan I played a lot of Polo with it so the aluminum frame has taken some hard hits.  Sam rides this bike now and keeps reminding me to find an old rack for it or at least some fenders to keep the water off.  I also was determined to make it a fixed gear recently, but the rear brackets are drop outs and the conversions necessary were not really in my price range at the moment.
Status: Happy and healthy!

Pics from Saturday's Ride

Saturday we rode across the saint john's bridge and up highway 30 to a friends house.  Despite the blustery winds we made good time, and the storm clouds came and went quickly.  Here's a few pictures of the bridge (most recently featured in the last scene in Tron...) and the beautiful scenery.
This was one of Sam's longer rides and she did awesome.  We appreciated the large shoulder on highway 30 as well.

Ride safe this week! Get outside!