The fleet moves to Philadelphia

...and lessons about moving with too many bicycles. 
I recently relocated to Philadelphia with, and to be closer to, family. Admittedly attached to my velo fleet, I gave thought to, but ultimately moved with all but a couple of them.
I had some intention of letting this vintage Schwinn go but a certain little girl has grown up since our ride to China camp and has fallen for the old machine. It's outlasted so many of its peers, it may just be pedaling around for decades to come.

While the movers were afraid to damage expensive looking carbon fiber parts with Italian names, they weren't afraid to push, move and otherwise maladjust the group on nearly every bike. I suspect it was out of frustration with packing a dozen bicycles.

My beloved CAAD 8 Campignolo/Shimano "bike you can't build" was the first back in order. I haven't gotten it out on the questionable Philadelphia streets yet but I can tell it's lonely up there on the wall looking like art...

Updating a VFR 700

I laid hands on a project VFR700 about a year ago. It wasn't and still isn't quite all there but it's mechanically sound and the obvious issues at this point are cosmetic. 

These iconic V4s were great bikes in the late 80s, the 700 winning bike of the year in spite of being 50cc's smaller than its Canadian and European cousins. Even pushing 80K miles mine has plenty of snap in the throttle. 

OEM fairings are both rare and costly for these machines with new manufacture after market fairings being affordable  but still on the costly side. As irony would have it fairings for the venerable race version, the much sought after RC30, are not only readily available but fall in the inexspensive cataegory. 

With effort it's possible to turn something like my VFR into something like Geof Infield's VFR. 

I've already done some small things, making mechanical repairs, changing mirrors, and updating turn signals. It'll be no simple task but I'm looking forward to putting some new life in this old machine. A V4 just has soul, a sound and feel inline engines don't have and grace at higher RPMs where V-twins rattle things apart. 

2006 CAAD8

The latest adoptee in my stable of Frankenbikes is a truly fantastic project. In its current incarnation probably one of the nicest bikes bikes I've ever owned. Built for racing, it's not a great city bike and it's too light for touring but it's a dream to ride. 

The 2006 CAAD8 frame is stiff and responsive with aggressive race geometry and enough damping from the Ritchey carbon fork to keep the ride responsive but not jarring. The gruppo is a bit of a taboo myth buster with a Campagnolo Chorus drive train utilizing a Shimano ten speed cassette on Dura Ace 1380 wheels. "They" will say it can't be done but I assure you with the ten speeds it can. The Belgian compact crank up front is also amenable to eleven speed mixing with Shimano but I'm sticking with my ten. For the record I tried a Shimano wheel with a Dura Ace Cassette in an otherwise Campy Chorus drive train and it works as well as the American Classic wheel with Campy Cassette I have, better in terms of the ride.

It mostly took some fussy adjusting and measuring to figure out if it could be done and then a lot of head scratching and wrenching in Italian. I visited all of my usual bike guys and a few more to get help yanking the very stuck Campy Record seatpost out and learn a few critical details about drive trains. For the most part it needed cable adjustments that it would have needed regardless of the cassette. The bike had been sitting a long time and I suspect was formerly fitted with ZIPP wheels and a Campy cassette. It was dusty, dried out and neglected but came right back with a small amount of TLC. The end result is well worth the effort. 

Glass knapping

I have a lot of old projects, things that have been set aside for one reason or another but not abandoned. I'm a big believer in know when to push projects and when to let them breath and happen in their own time. My glass(flint) knapping project, and I suppose knapping skills in general, are on that back burner stack.

I did a lot of shaping stone when I was a kid. In scouts, my decade of involvement with Historic Fort Wayne and outdoor adventures in general, flint knapping was something that everyone seemed to be doing. Whether art, hobby, demonstration or any number of other reasons from dressing musket flints to making stone tools, it was just present. When I got to college it was another thing that archaeologists do, though with a more experimental intent. College was also where I started focusing on glass. Partially because it about the best easily obtainable material and partially because it's hard to create false sites or contaminate existing sites with glass. 

I've had a nice piece of glass sitting on my nightstand for months waiting for a time and inspiration. It's kind of a zen thing, shaping a piece of glass with a stone is something everyone should do once or twice. So when I found a scrap of bone last weekend that seemed like "the" haft, I got to work. 

The blade is still rough but shaping nice and I've always wanted to make a knapped knife to carry as a pocket knife just to see how functional it can be. We know countless cultures used stone blades as functional tools at one time and they certainly show up as art now but for tool use seem to have become a novelty item. 

As an archaeologist, artist and post apocalyptic fiction fan I think I'm over due to answer that question. I'll post an update once my slab of window glass and bone turns into a useable tool and maybe after it lives in my pocket for a while. 

  

....and damn it. Meh, I'll find another hunk of glass. 

Another Globe in the mix!

There's this constant quest for "the" bike, the perfect bike for all applications that more than likely doesn't exist. The more probable solution is accepting the limits of our machines and becoming better riders. Working as a bike messenger in San Francisco provides an opportunity to test bikes and riders on some of the most challenging terrain in the world.

Even on our "insane" hills my Globe Roll 1 has been a favorite. I don't ride it fixed and I do have brakes but even geared high in track bike range, once I got used to it, riding single speed is efficient and fast. Granted, I had a lot more adapting to do than the bike did and on my tired days I grab one of my geared bikes but I've even been able to manage a couple of 100 mile trips with my one lonely gear.

I was predictably excited recently when I added an early model Globe Daily 1 to the mix. Visually different from the Globe Roll series it offers similar ride quality and geometry in a full fender dressed up package complete with front rack, mustache style bars and stem mounted bell. So far it has tackled courier shifts and the back roads of Santa Cruz county earning the moniker "Daily" as it has become a true workhorse and go to utility bike pedaling to and from school, on weekend trips and hops across the Golden Gate for Coast Guard duty. With ample eyelets and lugs on it's sturdy aluminum frame, the Daily stands ready for all manor of racks and accessories begging the question, how feasible is touring on a single speed bike? While 100 mile days would be a chore, the daily would certainly go anywhere a vintage three speed could go. Back in the "good ol days" that was just about everywhere.

There are a handful of things needing upgrading. The brakes work but aren't stellar, the pedals look OK but leave a lot of room for improvement and the rear fender needs regular attention to keep it from rattling loose but those things stack up as minor in the big picture. Overall it's a damn classy bike and like it's Roll counterparts, outperforms nearly every other bike I've encountered in it's style and price range.

Update: About a week and 100 miles after writing this one of the pedals came apart. I replaced the stock pedals with a set of Specialized platform pedals with power straps. They work well but don't quite look right and will be getting another upgrade soon. I have a set of All-City pedals that would look a lot better and maintain the Daily as the one bike in my stable with non-SPDs

Martial skills for EMS

Tonight as I sit here admittedly whining about the vaccinations I got today making my arms ache, I'm contemplating gentle submission techniques to present to EMT students tomorrow. Our lead instructor has police and SWAT experience with a lot of very "real world" stress testing. That noted, I'm coming up with a small number of value added items to augment the standards. I'll be digging deep on this one to come up with things both simple and effective that are less likely to cause harm.

It's been a while since I gave my Oni Kai Aikido blog any attention but this may provide material and an interesting direction for a few posts. While I maintain that Aikido is about the longest path to field applicable combat skills a person could choose, it is effective none the less. 

I miss my days of nearly living in dojos and being immersed in this stuff. Maybe a new evolution for Oni Kai is in order. I can certainly think of less noble applications for martial systems. 

Urban Shield 2014

So wow, Urban Shield 2014. I learned so much it's hard to cover everything but trying is probably a good way to remember more of it so I'll set best intentions now to write at least a few posts talking about some of what I learned. A heck of a lot of ground was covered from exposure to gear and skills to being around countless mentors ranging from Air Force para-rescue, SWAT teams, firefighters and medical professionals with decades of experience to stress training that put everything to the test. It was great. 

Among the more trackable benchmarks was getting my LEFR TCC certification, learning needle decompression and substantially upgrading my skills with tourniquets and triage. All more than worthwhile. I'm quite predictably a better first responder for having participated. 

From the skilled medics and doctors to the equally skilled operators I was privileged to train with and learn from, I'm humbled, impressed and owe many debts of thanks. Urban Shield was one of the best training exercises I have ever attended. I'm already looking forward to next year. 

On the off chance someone averse to the event gets a look at this post it may be helpful to consider that Urban Shield is not about militarizing the police. It is about preparing for disasters, natural and man made. This is how first responders prepare for everything from hurricanes and earthquakes to school shootings and terrorist bombings. I understand popular objections but no joke, you want this event to happen. If you are concerned about what goes on there maybe volunteer and see for yourself instead of preventing your community first responders from training to take care of you. 

My jump bag load out

After a lot of years of BLS, ALS and pre-hospital trauma training through sources as varied as Scouting and Red Cross to the DOD, I have completed my EMR training and testing both filling in some gaps and bringing many disparate skills together in one functional body of knowledge. It's been a very positive experience that I am currently expanding to pursue EMT and PHTLS/TCCC certifications as well. After being an incidental first responder even before completing my EMR, I decided it was time to build a more serious jump bag for my volunteer activities with groups like NERT and the US Coast Guard and a trauma kit to pack in my messenger bag when I'm working as a bike messenger in San Francisco.

It seems that this is a challenge for a lot of newly certified EMR/EMT students that don't have the cash to buy pre-assembled kit from Galls or some other supplier who sell well thought out and complete kits starting at around $100 with nicer and more complete kits being upwards of $200-$300. Again, these are really nice and well thought out to include most things a first responder might need. Some consideration should be given to the idea that a jump bag should only contain things the person using it will be trained to use, but anyone who takes actual EMS courses will know what the items in a commercially assembled kit are for and know how to use them. In my case I was less trying to include every imaginable thing and more concerned with having enough of the basics while making room for critical items. There is no perfect or even "standard" kit. Mine is currently evolving both as I add things and increase my training level.

What I am not currently carrying in either bag is oxygen and cervical collars. A collar is too big for my smaller kit and the mini oxygen bottle is just too expensive right now. However both would be welcome additions and I'll likely be including both in the larger bag at some point. There are a couple other, "nice to have" items like a pulse oxymeter and a stop watch I added but other than O2 and a collar I'm pretty set. I don't anticipate needing those things on my own anyway but you just never know.My smaller kit was something I put together with things I needed for class(had to carry them around anyway), a few things I bought and several items that were kindly given to me from friends in the medical industry. The larger bag is a similar set up that started out as a very basic Galls kit someone gave me that was then expanded a lot with other items as they were introduced to my scope of practice. There is nothing in either kit that I have not been trained to use. 

I'm finding there is a minimum set of things I feel comfortable with like , gloves/compression bandage/tape and then the more complete load out with what you might expect any EMT to need. Even a kit as simple as the IPOK(individual officers patrol kit) that contains about four items in its simplest incarnation, saves lives. It also fits in a cargo or jacket pocket. It should be something every high school student knows how to use.

Bottom line, even if you only carry a pair of nitrile gloves, you should be carrying something with you at all times. 

Ending my social media blackout

Rodeo Beach

For quite a lot of months now I have been relatively social media averse. Between run of the mill social drama, time constraints and ongoing recovery from "the big accident" last year, I just needed a break, especially from things like Facebook. I've been returning to more of what I have come to think of as my normal activities and activity levels, especially in the last couple months or so. Learning to manage some of the aftermath of the crash, get on with, rebuild and just plain old build life anew.

I remain a dedicated bicycle commuter though my knee still gives me grief and it's certainly weaker than it ought to be. I'm not doing much yoga or sailing right now but hoping to return to those as well. I am cycling more each day and trying to get out and climb redoubling my efforts and commitment to pursue the things I'm passionate about. Bound to those efforts I am now riding for Blackburn Design as a Blackburn Ranger. It's been fantastic thus far and I can only imagine it will get better as the project progresses. Without a doubt this is becoming a true growth experience on many levels from personal and physical to professional and creative, things I hadn't fully anticipated.

Here is an early look at a video introducing the project.

Blackburn Out There from Blackburn Design on Vimeo.

74 Schwinn Touring and Randonneur setup

When I unearthed my Le Tour it needed a lot of scrubbing and polishing but had essentially just been sitting neglected in a garage for 35 years. It's just a hint taller than I'd like but I've still got stand-over height and it's weight and long wheel base make for a comfortable ride with adequate gearing to climb hills in San Francisco. It's been an unexpectedly great bike. Not pictured are the additions of some very nice Tour De California 40mm bar tape(great review on Bike Rumor!) and some older Bontrager RE-1 SPD pedals.

So far the new setup has been great around the city and a few ten mile hops out and around the Presidio and Chrissy Field. It's also become my go-to option whenever I need to carry extra gear like cameras or climbing stuff and have a little extra time. The Le Tour is stable and good for a little extra loading but not as agile and snappy as my Globe Roll 1 or Bianchi Sport SS.

Rack, panniers and lights are from Blackburn.

Wild edibles; Miner's lettuce

The San Francisco Bay area offers some incredible things for foragers. One of them is a lovely spring crop of miner's lettuce. Miner's lettuce, like Nasturtium, is a member of the Purslane family but unlike Nasturtium, lacks a spicy kick. Far more similar to spinach, it goes well in all manner of salads and makes very nice cooked green.

One of my favorite uses for Miner's lettuce is in a simple trail salad. Some of the areas where I climb are thick with it, as well as Nasturtium. I often bring along a tin of tuna packed in olive oil, a lemon, a small packet of soy sauce and forage greens as I go. It takes no time at all to build a fantastic salad you probably couldn't buy if you wanted to.


Earlier this week I ventured out with my mobile office(laptop and phone) and managed to forage enough Miner's lettuce, Nasturtium and Fennel to bring a pile back to Nook, one of our fantastic local cafes, where they were nice enough to use my wild treasure to make a meal fit to please even the most seasoned foodie. Though, I have to admit I'd almost eat grass if you added the right dressing, goat cheese, walnuts and some sultanas. In this case we added all of those as well as some tomatoes and Arugula. I think we decided it was the equivalent of eating a circus.

Yes please, and I'll be doing that again soon. As these posts come together it occurs to me that I may indeed be able to compensate for lack of space to grow as much as I'd like simply by settling on some regular foraging spots. The wild harvest is certainly out there for the taking.