Oh crap. I made a daily read list.

Not that that's a bad thing. but still. It puts pressure on me to actually keep up with this thing. Thanks Jason. Scroll down to November 9 to see the list. There are some good reads in there. I'm honored to be added into the mix, really!

Not too much action on the shop right now. I have the sign done and hung. Lisa did most of the work on the sign, admitedly. I like the way it turned out. This is definitely the theme of the shop. Old and rustic. As much as I like the whole modern, clean aesthetic and all, this still looks good and it fits with the whole downtown.

On the riding note, the family is just getting over the cold. Mine is still dragging on...but I still needed to get out for a ride. I traveled to the town next door on Friday and on the way home took an alternate route. I followed one of those roads that catches your eye as you poor over a map. The kind that is just thin little line, that most likely means that its a) scenic b) lightly traveled and c) prime territory for a great fall ride. To get to the point, it was all of the above. I only wish i was able to hit it at full color, and a sunny day. The weather for this ride was...um...not sunny. It started chilly, and occasionally drizzly, and remained like that for the entire ride. The day previous was spectacular, and I was hoping it would stay that way. No such luck. On with the show. This is a ride I'll be doing again, thats for sure. Stats? 30 miles + 2800' of climbing.
A good way to start the ride. Twisty road sign. There's lots of those in these parts.
And off the road goes, into the distance. Saw blazing orange ALL OVER the place in these woods today. Hope they had a good hunt. There's deer crawling all over the place here.
Dancing road. Dugway Road is like this the whole way. Right on the bank of the Mississippi too.
Cool over hanging rock. 11'5" clearance fwiw.
a couple cool roots found along the road.
I always wanted a gun range in my front yard!
Rode the Kelly. The poor bike has only been ridden once in the past two months. Spending too much time(more time) on the mtb's. I love this bike. Just fits like a glove!

Till next time...
Listening to: sisters fighting. Pardon me...

No real update on the shop....but here's Things I Like!

This is a big thanks to all of youse whose reading this, and have provided comments of support. THANK YOU!!! This has been a long trip so far, and its long from being over. Those of you who've followed a similar path know of what I speak.

So in the effort of keeping this thing running after the shop is open, I'm going to delve into a bit of self-indulgence. A section, or theme that will be updated on a semi-regular basis. I'll call it: Things I Like. Pretty simple and effective. The title says it all.

As the first installment lets look at the waterbottle cage. Not just any cage though. The King of cages(who really doesn't have anything to do with headsets.), the King cage. In this day of larger, and more water packs, this simple item is way to often over looked. He does Stainless steel and Ti. Both are simply artful pieces. Of course the Ti one is absurdly expensive(on the order of $40), as most things made with Ti are. The stainless cage is the one I really like. For $15 you get a beautiful, hand made piece of functional art. I have never had a bottle ejected with this cage. It holds my bottles SO securly, that I don't worry about loading my heavy bottle based battery for my head light in this cage.

Sure there are other stainless cages out there, most notably Salsa and every retro-grouches favorite, Nitto. Both companies make very nice cages that can hold a bottle every bit as well as a King, on a road bike! When you start riding off-road, in rocky, rooty, bouncy trails, both of those have broken under pressure for me. Kind of a bummer, really. But the great thing about them, just like steel bikes, is that they can repaired! God bless the ferrousness of steel!

So there you go. The first installment of Things I Like. Hope YOU like it! come back for more later, eh?

Oh, and the shop update - I'm close to having the logo done! I'll post it up once Doug is finished.

Listening to: Sound Opinions As they say: The time has come to ROCK public radio. Indeed. Check it out, if your local station doesn't carry it.