We might be attending an upcoming Tour De Fat in Colorado and I wanted something different to take should we go. I put this together a couple nights ago. The wheels and seat are off of this bike.

More photos...

Where I work there is an incentive award program where you earn points and then can spend those points on stuff from a catalog. I recently got enough points for this Huffy Karaoke and just received it. I removed the decals, assembled it and took it for a short ride. I'll now be disassembling it and using the parts on other builds.

This morning we rode the Arkansas River Path out and back from S Broadway and the river up to 21st N and Maize. It was a little over 25 miles. Coming back we had a pretty good wind against us. After the ride we went and had lunch and then stopped for frozen Custard at a place called Freddy's. Freddy was apparently a bike rider.



Ride track...

I did some work on one of Nova's cruiser bikes rebuilding the rear hub and cleaning it up a little. I don't have a work stand so what I do is hang the bike from the opposite end I'm working on from the garage door rail.

Later we went for a 12 mile ride out towards the country on both pavement and gravel roads.

This is the second new bike box to show up on our porch in a week (first here). Delivery guy dropped it off last night. More on this bike later.

We both rode this morning out in the country on both paved and gravel roads. Temp was in the mid 70s.

A friend recently visited the New Belgium Brewery in Ft Collins, Colorado and brought us back this Tour De Fat poster. We had it framed and tonight I hung it on the wall with all the other bike stuff in my room. We hope to be attending the TDF in Ft Collins this year.
Thanks Dave!

I can't make out what's going on. Looks like the right tire is coming off?

Tonight I decided to go for a short ride outside of town on a hybrid bike I recently acquired. Fields of milo, corn and soy beans, cows, barns, windmills, hay, hedge rows, hedge apples, oil wells and a animal carcass are just some of what I saw. Photos and video from my camera phone...









Video...

I had given the bike I had built for our Grandson Ethan to my Sister-in-law's Grandson also named Ethan who lives in Nevada. She delivered the bike earlier this year but I just got these pictures from her while they were here.

My Sister-in-law & her husband were visiting from Missouri over the weekend. Sunday evening we went for a short ride.

A 1986 movie about BMX racing.

"It's going to take a lot more than skill for Cru Jones to conquer the toughest BMX challenge in the world. It's going to take a miracle."

I thought this was a great feel-good movie. It has all the makings of a good movie like... boy meets girl, good guy vs bad guy, underdog takes on top dog, a single mom, a small town, boy & girl fall in love, plus tons of stunt riding, BMX racing and 80s cheez. It even stars Mr Hand. I give it 2 thumbshifters up.


Sleeping beauty wasn't awake during enough of the movie to fairly rate it. Maybe later.

Side note: The Star of the movie was born in the same area and the same year that I was.

This morning we took advantage of the cooler weather and went for a ride. It's been in the 100s for the past couple of weeks and today's high was forecast-ed to only be in the upper 80s. We decided to ride the Gypsum Creek path in Wichita. We hadn't ridden this path in probably 20 years. We began at the South end at Planeview Park and rode to it's end at Douglas street. I think the trail is about 5 miles one way. Nova got an extra 2 miles in as we had a dispute over which way the trail went at one point so we separated ways and then she had to back track after determining I was right after all
At the north end of the trail we stopped at Target where Nova bought a shirt. On the way back we stopped to do a little car shopping on Kellogg and then stopped at the Bagatelle Bakery (just off of the trail to the West on Harry street) for coffee and a croissant.
Once back to our starting point we wanted to keep riding so we continued on the Planeview path and then over to the Arkansas River path and rode it up to Harry street. The South end of the Arkansas River path takes you across the historic John Mack rainbow bridge. The morning ended with a ride up the old Soap Box Derby hill. Here is the partial track from the ride. My phone battery went dead and didn't track the entire ride.

Last night we picked up a couple of these cool water bottles we found at Target. Every style of bicycle you can think of is printed on these aluminum bottles.



These are bottles I grabbed for this morning's ride which are from bike shops we've visited on our travels. Bayou Cycles in New Orleans, Neptune Cyclery in Tarpon Springs, Florida and Revolution Cycling in Oklahoma City.

This is a 1948 Italian film about a man, his son and their search for the man's stolen bicycle in post WWII Italy.

Never before have I seen so much importance placed on a bicycle. The bicycle is a member of the family. I believe the movie does a good job of giving you a glimpse of what it was like at this time and place. Despite being a b&w movie and having to read subtitles it was a great movie. I give it 2 thumb shifters up.

My movie date also rates it 2 thumb shifters up.

This isn't a movie but what I assume is a informational series made for the local Public Access channel or someting similar. I found it on Amazon.com.

Treasures. Episode #1. The Los Angeles Beach Bike Path. One of the best kept secrets to Los Angeles beach living locals, 'The Strand' as it is known, starts at Temescal Canyon and goes along the beach for 22 miles south to Torrance Beach.

I thought it was pretty good for what it was. Being only 23 minutes long helped. I give it 2 thumbshifters up.



Nova also gave it 2 thumbshifters up.

Fat Bike. A 27 minute long documentary about winter bike riding in Alaska and the Susitna 100 bike race. Found it on Amazon.com.

I found this short documentary pretty interesting. Briefly covers the evolution of the "Fat Bike" and winter riding & racing in Alaska. I give it 2 thumbshifters up.



My movie date (Sleeping Beauty) also gave it 2 thumbshifters up.

I threw this girls Schwinn ballooner together for me to ride at our clubs upcoming "Ladies Night". When I went to tear it down I encountered a couple of obstacles. First the seat post was stuck in a low position but I can live with that no more than I'll be riding it. Second the stem's wedge nut was stuck in the fork tube. I didn't want to take the time or make the effort to get it out so I lopped off the fork tube and welded another one back on. The wheels, tires and grips are off the Chalkboard Bike and the seat, crank, sprocket, gooseneck and bars I had stashed away. The bike rides great with the big cushy tires and the 2 speed kickback. More photos here.

Here's the flyer I made for the ride...

Acquired a couple new shirts over the past couple of weeks. One from the El Torreon swap and one from the Art Of The Bicycle.

We spent Friday night and Saturday downtown in the big city attending our clubs 6th annual Art Of The Bicycle show on Friday and the related swap meet on Saturday. As always it was a nice show and a fun time. More on the show and swap here.

Saturday we drove to Kansas City to attend the 10th annual El Torreon Bicycle Swap Meet that was held today (Sunday). Once we arrived in KC late Saturday afternoon it started raining (hard) so we didn't do much other than eat and got to the mall. Sunday was better weather for the swap. It was their biggest swap to date according to several people I talked to. Seen our Kansas City friends plus a few from home that also made the drive. I bought a frame, fork and a few other things. After the swap we went to KC's Power & Light District for lunch. Had a great time.

Click here for photos.

Video...

This morning we got around early (early for me) to go ride the Prairie Sunset Trail just outside of town before it got to hot. This rail-to-trail is now open for 8 continuous miles. It was a bit overgrown but still a nice ride. Spotted a young deer, a turtle, lots of bugs, bunnies and birds. The temperature was in the mid 80s.
The trail runs East from Garden Plain to 2 miles East of Goddard. If you're riding the entire trail I would suggest starting in Garden Plain as there is vehicle parking at a park near the railroad tracks where the trail begins. Photos here.

This is our 2nd time to ride this trail. (Here) is the first.

The Prairie Travelers is the organization responsible for the trail. You can visit their website here.

Video...



Map...

I just found this old video from 2004 of me fixing a flat on the Gandy Dancer trail in Wisconsin.

This morning we decided to brave the 90+ degree heat and go ride some new (to us) paths. We loaded the bikes in the truck and took off to the nearby town of El Dorado. There we rode the path that connects the town to the lake a few miles away.
El Dorado ride map, mileage & info. When we finished the ride we then drove over to Newton where we rode the Sand Creek bike path which connects Athletic Park and Bethel College. Newton ride map, mileage & info.

El Dorado bike and walking path...











Sand Creek Trail - Newton...








After riding in Newton we drove over to Hutchinson for a late lunch at El Potrillo.

Red Light Go is a documentary about bicycle messengers in New York City and their alley cat races.

I give it 2 thumb shifters up. Thought it was interesting and entertaining.



My movie date also gives it 2 thumb shifters up. Said it was interesting and not too long.

Tonight we sat down to watch Blood, Sweat and Gears. This is a documentary about a newly formed professional cycling team that is made up of non-doping cyclists. The team eventually becomes the Garmin/Slipstream team and competes in the 2008 Tour De France. Speaking of the TDF, it starts tomorrow!

I give it 2 thumb shifters up. I found the film interesting. It gives a little insight as to what is involved in professional cycling.



My movie date also gives it 2 thumb shifters up.

After 3 weeks of staying with us and many bike rides, our Daughter and Grandkids have returned home. Prior to them leaving I made each of the kids a bicycle t-shirt using ink-jet iron on transfer paper. They came out pretty good.




Now that Blake can ride a bike he's earned his place on the mantel.

I promised the Grandsons while their here I'd take them somewhere to ride their bikes on a dirt trail. Not really knowing where to go I'd been putting it off hoping they would forget about it. They hadn't so this morning I took them to a park that has some trails. It didn't go well.

Grandsons, me and my Father heading out for a bike ride on Fathers Day.

"Two filmmakers infiltrate an underground bicycle club." The club is the infamous Black Label Bicycle Club. I won't go in to what the club itself is about but you can Google it if you're not familiar. The movie contains nudity, drugs, foul language etc...

I give it 1 thumb shifter up. Quite a bit of bicycle footage including tall bike jousting and I think the movie accomplished what it was supposed to.


My movie date gives it 2 thumb shifters down. I believe it was the subject of the documentary she didn't care for.

Granddaughter in her new pajamas. I'd like to think she picked these out because of the bicycle.

This morning was the first Mayor's Family Bike Day in the big city. Four generations of our family attended. We participated in a couple of rides, an obstacle course and the paper boy throw. Ally won a bike and Blake won a few bike accessories. We all got event t-shirts. Two nights ago the kids and I made Coasters t-shirts using printer iron on transfers. They wore them today.




More photos and a video here

This is Blake's 2nd night on a bike. He even rode about a mile on the path. Ethan rides pretty well and is generally trying to do some sort of stunt.



Ally's not yet riding.