Yes, I bring my bike to the bathroom with me. Why the hell wouldn't I?

Outside of Stumptown coffee roasters on the west side of Portland. Obviously, no water bottle needed.
Damn fine coffee, by the way. Just about the best I've ever had.

Mmm...Rogue brewpub. Molly's having the Imperial IPA, Brigid the Imperial Pilsener, and I'm having their rum. The beer is good, service a bit tacky, tchatchke. Much like at Montana Ale Works (except the people working the bar- those guys n gals rock!).

Headed towards Bend, OR. Been going uphill for an hour.

This just in. Hat tip to Chuichiolo from GVBC for the email...

Rouse Avenue Public Hearing - Wednesday August 27th, 6:00 p.m.
An announcement from the Bozeman Area Bicycle Advisory Board for the proposed re-design of Rouse Aveneue from downtown to Story Mill Road: The recommended alternative features bike lanes from Mendenhall to the end. In spots, including bike lanes comes at the expense of on-street parking, so it will be important for cyclists to attend the meeting and/or write a comment in support; otherwise, people who want parking over bike lanes may speak up and sway the outcome. The meeting is tomorrow, Wednesday, August 27th at 6:00 p.m. at the Bozeman Senior Center (807 N. Tracy Ave.).

The Montana Department of Transportation is conducting a formal public hearing to take comment on the recently completed “Environmental Assessment” for the proposed Rouse Avenue reconstruction project (Wednesday August 27th, 6:00 p.m. – Bozeman Senior Center – 807 North Tracy Avenue).

As you may already be aware, this is a MAJOR improvement to the entire corridor from Main Street to Story Mill Road with dramatic enhancements for non-motorized users! Please see the attached .PDF for a brief ‘overview’ of the project (including a description of the recommended alternative). And visit the below links for more detailed information. Public comments are due no later than September 18th – so, PLEASE attend the public meeting and/or write a letter to let your voice be heard!

Project Website:

http://www.hkminc.com/Rouse/



COMPLETE Environmental Assessment for Public Review (LARGE .PDF):

http://www.mdt.mt.gov/pubinvolve/docs/eis_ea/ea_rouseave.pdf



Comments and suggestions may be submitted by mail to Tom Martin, MDT, 2701 Prospect Ave., PO Box 201001, Helena, MT 59620-1001; or online at:

www.mdt.mt.gov/pubinvolve/eis_ea.shtml

C-Note

Thanks to our new webmaster the Bike Kitchen now has a blog. A few fine folks will be on there, furtively informing on the current and future happenings at the Kitchen. If yer looking for up to date info, that'd be the place to check.

C

We had a race today. I tried to make it brutal on ya'll, but those who showed up came to play.




The kids hung out in the shade to figure out their manifests



Once they had the manifests ironed out, I had them set their bikes on the other side of the tennis court for a good 'ole fashioned Le Mans start




Here's some video of the start of today's race.



The top ten finishers are as follows.

First: Holly (I was gonna have a women's and men's divisions...but the chicks beat the dudes, so I just gave her all around champion)

Second: William (defending champion from last race)

Third: Tom

Fourth: Alex (also the only person to punch me after the race was over, I'll see you at polo)

Fifth: Sten

Sixth: Ryan (fresh from a long day of pot throwing)

Seventh: April

Eighth: Paul

Ninth: Rando (on a freshly rebuilt Gitane, beautiful)

Tenth: Adam

Here's a shot of our winner.



See you next time.



Here's the rest of the pictures.

C-Note

Round 1, FIGHT!

Sunday August 24th at 3:00pm. Meet at Bogert Park, by the tennis courts. Bring five dollars.

C-Note

I heard something tonight. (I heard it cuz I was the one saying it. I said it, cuz I'm tired of waiting for it to happen) It's been way too long since there was an alleycat in this town.

There's a race coming your way. It ain't safe. It ain't sanctioned. It ain't legal. You won't get your name in the paper. All you get if you win is respect. I'm on this one, and I'm gonna make you ride if'n you want to win. Bring. It. Strong.

Keep your ear to the ground.

100

What do you get when you combine a bike fanatic and a fantastic bike mechanic? Too many cooks in the kitchen for sure but you also get one sweeeet V10! Say it with me, "Straight Pimpin' !" Very good! boys and girls, very good!

Last night we had our best night of polo this year (that I attended). Eighteen showed up to knock a ball around while riding bikes. At least six guys were total noobs. We had a few awesome games of polo where no body nor bike got seriously damaged, we didn't get rained on, and nobody caled the cops on us. Things, generally, are good.
We're implementing a few changes, though. Here they are, bulleted for your convenience:

• Games start at 7:00 next week. It's getting too dark too early to start any later. I know we operate on "bike time" but I want to to play a bunch of games and get good and tired and I know that most of you do too. So let's get there at 7.
• There's been requests to take polo up a notch. We'll be forming teams and having something resembling (but not quite like) league play. Basically I really want to get some heated rivalries going AND I want an excuse to have a Day of Polo in the fall with beer on tap and a DJ, and we're not going to have that happen with a buncha pickup games. SO, get three people, come up with a smart/funny/witty/ironic/intentionally lame name for your team, maybe make some shirts, and bring it strong.
  
• Yous guys need to stat making your own mallets. Some have, but more need to. I've been bringing eight or so, and I'll continue maintaining and bringing that many but I'm not going to keep spending a bunch of time maintaining mallets. Suck it long, and suck it hard.
• I ride around town a lot. at least half of the people I see riding are women. But I see no women at polo! If you know some wimminfolk who ride, coerce them into coming out on Wednesdays. It'll be fun. Honest.
• That's it. We'll have an alleycat soon. Really.

Thanks to everyone who came out tonight. That was some fun.

-DNA

Yes, I realize this is kind of boring, but it's also something all of you should be interested in. I got the following email tonight from the Bozeman Area Bicycle Advisory Board (yes, BABAB).


The moment has finally arrived when we can now take a look at the progress made towards updating our “Bozeman Area Transportation Plan”. As you may already be aware, a substantial effort has been made over the past year to incorporate bicycling and walking needs into every aspect of this update to the master plan for our future transportation system. There are MANY exciting developments as a result of including bike/ped data and analysis! Please join us in attending the FINAL “Public Informational Meeting” to be held on Wednesday, August 20th – 6:30 p.m. (Bozeman High School Cafeteria). This is sure to be a great opportunity to express any ideas or suggestions before we move into the ‘final’ document which will ultimately be adopted by both the City & County Commissions this Fall. Please help spread the word about this important meeting – and hope to see you all there. Thanks again for your support as we look forward to a more bike-able and walk-able community!

See you there.

C-Note

It's a gorgeous day out, and I want to ride. I also have a lot of unpacking and organizing to do, since I just moved into a new place. There's dirty laundry and a pile of dirty dishes in the sink.

So I played on the compy all morning. But I did get an updated Patriot shirt design up. Check it out, maybe buy one. Thanks!

-DNA

To the right----->
you should see a poll. Vote for whose Wilderness Protester Photoshop/Gimp variation you like best. The voting continues until midnight Thursday. The winner gets a sweet pair of polarized sunglasses, courtesy of Stan at Native Optics. Others might get some shirts. Or a can of Hamm's beer I got on sale at Heeb's Wednesday.

-DNA

This is what you're missing. Pure 80's indulgence. With sequins. Radical. Absoluteley.

No polo tonight. Tomorrow instead. Terseness is due to my presence at work. Apologies.

-DNA

This was actually the first one submitted, but I checked my email at work one day and totally forgot about it. Sorry.

-DNA

I posted this elsewhere, but it made sense here too.

There are a lot of things that make me despair, not the least of which is that I just saw Paris Hilton responding to John McCain using her in a campaign add (HOW FUCKING FAR HAS THE AMERICAN POLITICAL SYSTEM FALLEN? sorry, I've got myself under control again), but there are still a few things that renew my faith. One of those things, a tangible one anyway, is The Bozeman Bike Kitchen. It's not necessarily The Bike Kitchen itself, although for someone like myself there is a great deal of comfort in being surrounded by bikes and bike parts, but that's not really what The Kitchen is, that's just the building and all the physical crap that makes it work. What The Bike Kitchen is, and what makes me feel so good about it, is the people that show up every week; that's what makes it something that feeds my soul. I guess it shouldn't be surprising that people both detract from, and replace, my faith in humanity, but there it is nonetheless.

There's an eagerness, an excitement, a passion, you can see it in a person's face when they are there to help, they know they are doing something that will help someone else. Well that, and they love bikes; I only trust two types of people, those who love bikes, and dogs (I literally mean dogs, not people who like dogs). I've watched volunteers instantly connect with each other while scratching their heads over a problem. People who have never met, get their hands dirty together, and become friends before they really know each others' names. It's absolutely amazing. It's not just the volunteers though, there's profound relief in a person's eyes when you hand them a bike, and you can see that they're not worrying about how they're going to get to work any more. Don't get me started on what it feels like to hand a bike to a kid. I'm not sure which of the small details it is that makes me show up there tired and unfocused and leave there focused and hardly able to wait until next week, all I can quantify is that Tuesday night is always a good night, and a lot of my other nights aren't.

The bicycle may be the vehicle (pun intended), but it's the people that make it good. I guess, in retrospect, I shouldn't be surprised. One couldn't be surrounded by all that good and not feel good.

Don't get me wrong, we need help, and I'm asking for it. But, I also want other people to get a chance to experience this, it's good! If you've got a spare hour on Tuesday night, come down. We need your help, but I swear you'll get more out of helping us than you'll give.

C-Note

I had some fun, so what?
Also no voting on this one.


-DNA

Kickin it back old-skool!

I'll be up front about this. It's mine, so I'll not be included in the voting. But I didn't want to excuse myself from all the fun.


edit: In case you're wondering who the guy on the right is.


-DNA

It's Tuesday, and you know what that means...

Right now at The Kitchen I have two individuals who are engaging in a little carpentry project. Hey I know the chicken coup we're operating out of isn't glamourous, but that is no reason not to fix it up a little. My point is that even if you aren't the best mechanic, there are still ways to contribute.

If you don't have any idea what this is all about, you can check The Kitchen out on the ultranets OR just stop by tonight. We're just behind (south of) the adult learning center off of Durston (SW of 11th and Durston). Listen for the good vibe. BTW, things usually get rolling around 6:15.

C

The included instructions said to include this statement:

"Greetings fair weather protesters. Bring us something substantive and we'll respond in kind. Until then, you get what you give. So, while we're ready to share, you will continue to feel put upon. Tough.

Casey"

Staring a computer screen all day does two things. What things you ask? Well, it makes me fat(ter), and it makes me stir crazy. How fat you ask? Real fat.

Update: By 'Staring a' I of course meant 'Staring at a'. Now you see how effing nuts staring at a computer makes me. I loose all skill with grammar and/or spelling.

Here's a link to sEtOH's pics of the Clunker Downhill. I didn't even ride and I had a good time. Imagine what you missed...

C

This week we're going to have to switch the day we play polo. The Bicycle Benefits people are putting on a movie night at the Emerson where they're showing Rad and Breaking Away. And I want to be there. So,

We'll play Polo THURSDAY night this week, ok? Let me know if that presents any problems. Same time.

-DNA

...with a Haiku:

The Protest
a Haiku by John Parker

It was saddening
to see the signs held out
rolling by, said "hi"

Here's the details. We'll meet at Spectator's at 2pm (so you've all got plenty of time to get over your hangover) and we'll pack up and head on up to Moser. Greg knows that area well, so we can ride a few different trails and the road if we wanted an all-out drifting extravaganza. Casey can't ride yet, so he graciously offered to run the shuttle.
You can pretty much ride whatever bike you want, as long as it's not a mountain bike from 1990 - present. Cruisers, 80's era mtbs, whatevah.
Shoot me an email if you have any questions.

-DNA

Yes, he did it with MS Paint. Great jorb!

-DNA

Here's a good entry for the Photoshop/GIMP contest:

So. Who's got something to bring to the party? I'll extend the deadline to next Wednesday. Fuel for fire and all that.

-DNA