Fuck Gas

Word on the street is that Louisville has approved a plan to spend approximately $1.8 million (I could be off on that number…) on a Bike Station style facility providing a spot for commuters to park their bikes for the day, take a shower and lock up their other crap. While it won’t be a “Bike Station” due to the copyrights surrounding that name, I’m sure Metro will come up with quite the catchy namesake. Watch the local news outlets for more details in the coming days.

Update:
See, I do know what I’m talking about… tinyurl.com/d4b28o

I have to say this is really one of the most clever ones Leland has come up with. Not sure what will be up for grabs or anything else for that matter… but I’m in full support. Be at On Your Left Cycles/City BMX Sunday, April 12 at 3pm. While I’m sure there will be multiple bunnies in attendance, I just hope Jesus shows up. Let the good times… hop.

The 3wrencho from Portland Design Works is another multi-tool aimed at limiting the amount of crap rattling around in your bag. The 3wrencho is made of heat-treated steel, has a 15mm wrench at one end and a tire lever at the other. According to PDW, the 3wrencho is great for loosening axle nuts, spreading peanut butter, opening bottles or scratching an itch.

In it’s raw metal state there is threat of rim scratching when removing tires, but there is a coated version arriving this summer. Check them out at Portland Design Works.

I missed a day. Been down in cave country Kentucky with the family and just haven’t had the time. Huge thanks to Derek at On Your Left for taking on ride guide responsibilities Friday night for the N’Albany Naysayers Repeal. He says there were about 10 people, including some new faces which are always great,  that braved the drizzling start. Minus the rail road crossing that claimed three tires, he said it was a great ride and I’m damn sorry I missed it. I’ve got a good one in the works for April so stay tuned kids.

In other Fuck Gas news, I’ve got shirts ordered and will have them in stock by the middle of April or there-about. Look for them to be on sale at the South by South End fest along with some other anarchist propaganda as well as a ton of free shit so be sure to come out before Lucero’s tour ending show happening the same night - should be a doozy. You’ll have to wait until I have them in hand for a pic…

The recently launched FourteenTeeth.com, a fixed gear blog syndication site, has even more recently launched PedalRoom.com, a sort of Facebook for bikes and their riders. Coomer, the man behind the scene,  plans to add more features to the site as time goes on being that in it’s current incarnation the site has only been in development for a few weeks.

I attended a meeting of sorts yesterday evening and I always heard if you don’t have anything nice to say then you shouldn’t say anything at all, but you can’t always believe what you hear right?

So yeah, there’s a seemingly well intentioned group of people, some more bike minded than others, now meeting on a regular basis with the idea of raising awareness for bicycle versus car interaction… from what I can tell. While I wish them all the best, I guess it’s just not my scene. More over, I was really hoping this was going to be a more direct action kind of “organization” as we’ll call them and not the sort of people discussing what is or is not allowed in terms of local government policies.

Overall the meeting brought about a lot of discussion on how a small group of people felt everyone should ride their bikes and how “we” could best promote “our” knowledge. For instance, riding in flip flops was a big concern. Really? As well, the big debut sounds like what will be a ride happening on Louisville’s biggest gridlock day known as Thunder Over Louisville. A giant fireworks and beer festival kicking off two weeks of buildup for the Kentucky Derby. For a group promoting the idea that bicycles should follow the same road rules as cars, a group ride (Considerate Mass as it was referred to) in miles of backed up traffic doesn’t sound too productive. Like I said, best of luck to them.

For more info check out bikesaretraffic.org

The 2009 Track Cycling World Championships kick off today with out that dude up there, Chris Hoy. Many are wondering whether or not the British will have the same success as they enjoyed during the Olympics in his absence. This comes as a result of an injured hip picked up in Copenhagen last month. Additionally Chris will not even be in Poland cheering on his team as this being the first Worlds he has missed in 16 years it is apparently too painful to watch and not take part… there’s a lot to be said for team work there I think.

Anyway, the Worlds. USA Cycling is sending a rather meager showing of 4 riders, but a showing none the less. Shelly Olds, the only woman in the US team, will compete in the Points and Scratch races; Taylor Phinney will take on the Individual Pursuit, Kilometer Time Trial, and Omnium; Daniel Holloway will compete in the Madison and Scratch Race and Colby Pearce will compete in the Madison and Points Race.

You should be able to get all the latest at the Track Cycling World Championships site as well as TrackCyclingWorld.com.

There’s a follow up meeting to the original meeting that I failed to meet up with everyone at pertaining to bike advocacy things here in Louisville. Make sense? No? Good. Regardless, it’s going down and I’m looking to make it although a daughter with the flu has my schedule this week a tad unpredictable.

Speaking of unpredictable, I’m a fucking idiot… this to the effect of that ride I put together for this Friday, the N’Albany Naysayers Repeal, I won’t be there. I’ll be chilling with the family in a cabin somewhere outside of anything I can call recognizable. You guys have fun though, Leland has taken on the responsibility of getting your sheep ass lost in Indiana. Hope you have GPS on that rig…

So yeah, advocacy…

March 25, 2009
7:30 - 8:45 p
Louisville Free Public Library
301 York Street

Topics:

Participating in existing organized rides (polo, River City, L’ville Bicycling Club, Fuck Gas, etc.)
Planning a big street clogging bike ride this summer.
Throwing together an outdoor bike movie night.
Distributing leaflets on bicycle awareness at city events.
Advocating for more businesses with bike racks.
Helmet donations in a “Toys for Tots” fashion.
On-street parking “picnics”
Bike lane violation antics.
Developing a Fun! side to bicycle advocacy in Louisville.

Lastly, as I mentioned the other day, I’ve been a bit stressed and preoccupied with this one thing going on in my life… I can assure you there will be more info this week as I just need to get my head on straight and write a proper post on it. After all, it will probably be submissible in court. Fucking goons.

Fonseca Films wants your totally awesome fixer footy for their new video. More info over at nocassettes.blogspot.com

Vanderkitten’s Liz Hatch did a shoot for Maxim last week and one could only assume it’s entertaining to say the least…

You can check Liz’s Missing Saddle blog here as well as a video from the photo shoot here. Enjoy