Cold Morning, Hot Coffee

For the better part of five years now I've been heading out to the Norfolk Catholic Workers' "coffee line:" three mornings a week the NCW & assorted volunteers feed the hungry near downtown Norfolk. Yesterday was the longest line they had ever had- 160 people.



I loaded our Honda Element up with bike parts and tool boxes, and spent an hour fixing bottom dollar bikes. There's an art to truing a Huffy wheel...


While I was busy with the spoke wrench, a couple of guys borrowed my tools & pump to find a hole in a tube.

First Cold Day

2 days before November, and it finally feels like fall. I had to drag a bunch of camera gear back to the office, so my BOB trailer was overflowing with video cameras, still cameras, shotgun mic's, lavalier mic's, a GyroCam Stabilizer & a tripod, to boot. Had to bundle up real good...I love the cold snaps come fall, when the air and early morning light seem just a little crisper...the cookies baking near Granby & 23rd smell just a little more enticing... one of these days I gotta find that bakery...

The Weekend and the Damage Done

So after I cracked my frame on the first lap, I went back to the enduro pit & duct taped the dang thing together. Rode 4 more laps on it. It's the second Gary Fisher Rig frame that I've broken in less than 2 years. I hope Gary got his stuff together on the 2009 version, because the lifetime warranty has gotta start getting expensive...











And for the fourth time in 15 months, the steel spring on my Crank Brothers pedals broke. I think it's time to switch to Frogplays...

Tidewater Mountain Bike Challenge 2008

So it was a typically wacky TMBC. Rob Tripp & I dressed up as "Team Zissou."

{Dang it, if you haven't heard of "The Life Aquatic, just Google it.}

Granted, we weren't as obviously recognizable as "Gene & Ace:"



Nor did we have the sexual allure of "The Flying Nun" meeting up with Reno 911's finest.

I'm sure I'll be hearing jokes from Liz to no end, but I broke another bike frame. Cracked the seat tube clear around at the bottom bracket weld. I was about half a mile into the first lap when I finally figured out that it wasn't a stiff chain leaking creaking and popping, but rather my frame. In hindsight, it probably would have been smarter to have just forfeited the lap & headed back to the Enduro pit. But in honor of Rob's busted pinky finger last year, I pushed my bike the rest of the 3.5 miles, wearing a blister on my heel in the process- Rocket 7 shoes are not made for walking.

With a roll of bargain bin duct tape I wrapped up my bottom bracket, figuring, what's the worst that can happen? My frame's already broken! Surprisingly enough, it lasted for an entire lap. Which was, of course, when one of my Crank Brothers Candy pedal broke- it's now the 4th time in 15 months that I've snapped the retention spring on the Candies. No problems with the same shoes on Crank Bros. Quattro pedals- just the Candies...

Like a good endorphin junkie, I circled the parking lot on my bike, looking to score a pair of used Crank Bros. pedals- Quattros, Eggbeaters, Acids, Candies, it didn't matter, 'cause man, the endorphin crash was comin' on hard, and I had just started to get a good buzz goin',

I scored a pedal and rode a couple more laps.

And I did it all for Estaban.

Lewd & Lascivious Fornication

Every couple of months of so I find myself trolling through the Norfolk City Municipal Code, and wondering...who the heck wrote this law?!?

Sec. 29-21. Adultery and fornication by persons forbidden to marry.
If any person commits adultery or fornication with any person whom he or she is forbidden by law to marry, such person shall be guilty of a Class l misdemeanor; provided, however, that this section shall not be construed to apply to a person committing adultery or fornication with his daughter or granddaughter, or with her son or grandson, or her father or his mother.
(Code 1958, § 31-1)
State law references: Similar provisions, Code of Virginia, § 18.2-366, which declares adultery or fornication by persons mentioned in the proviso to be a felony.

Sec. 29-22. Lewd and lascivious cohabitation.
If any persons, not married to each other, lewdly and lasciviously associate and cohabit together, or whether married or not, be guilty of open and gross lewdness and lasciviousness, each of them shall be guilty of a Class 3 misdemeanor; and upon a repetition of the offense, and conviction thereof, each of them shall be guilty of a Class l misdemeanor.
(Code 1958, § 31-35)
State law references: Similar provisions, Code of Virginia, § 18.2-345.


OK, now Section 29-21 at the outset looks like it's just referring to incest in the first clause, but then you get to the last clause, which specifically says that it DOES NOT refer to incest. So you may be wondering why anyone went to the trouble of writing & passing this law...Well, ya gotta remember that it dates to 1958, and when they say "persons forbidden to marry," it's code for "miscegenation" (A.K.A. "race mixing.")

That's right. Gentle Norfolk didn't want no mixed marriages!

On a closer reading, I realized that it could be read to forbid homosexual fornication as well- hey, if you can't marry 'em by law in Virginia, then you can't fornicate with 'em by law in Norfolk!

As for Section 29-22...well, if the NPD actually arrested people for "lascivious cohabitation," then there wouldn't be any room left in the City Jail, and there'd be a whole bunch of flats for rent in Ghent...

The King of Bike Thieves

From the BBC-

Canadian police have arrested one of the world's most prolific bicycle thieves after discovering almost 3,000 bikes in his possession.

Igor Kenk, the owner of a bicycle store in Toronto, was held last month after they noticed that reports of bicycle thefts had spiked sharply.

After planting several bikes around the city, plainclothes officers waited to see who would steal them.

Mr Kenk was seen telling a companion to break the bike locks before riding off.

Local and international media reported that in the weeks following his arrest, police found about 2,865 bikes in his used-bicycle store, the Bicycle Clinic.

They also found stolen cycles in his home and in several garages which he had rented.

About 15,000 cyclists have reportedly visited a former police garage, which has been crammed with the seized bicycles, in the hope of being reunited with their lost property.

"It was staggering," Ruth White, the superintendent of 14 Division, the unit that caught Mr Kenk, was quoted as saying. "I've never seen anything like it in 30 years."

More than 400 bikes have been claimed so far.

Ms White said that "tons and tons of beautiful bikes" which are unclaimed may have to be auctioned off after the case is closed.

"The rat pack collection of bicycles arguably makes Kenk the unofficial world champion of bicycle thieves," said the International Herald Tribune.

Mr Kenk is currently out on bail awaiting trial in September where he faces 58 charges including theft and possession of burglary tools.

Scout's Honor Bike Race

Last weekend I went out to Goochland to shoot video of Cycle Ed's Scouts Honor 18 Hour Race. I had a blast, and even dragged my BOB trailer around the course for a lap- used it as a camera sled. I've got to finish up my Bike Virginia videos first, but once I do, I'll get some video up from Scouts Honor.


Being an Eagle Scout, it only seemed appropriate to wear my scout shirt to a bike race at a Boy Scout camp. My mom dug my old shirt out of the cedar closet (thanks, Mom!), and sent it to
me, along with my Dad's shirt. While I could still fit into my old shirt, it was too tight across the shoulders to be comfortable on the bike, so I ended up wearing my Dad's shirt. Aside from the fact that I didn't attend the 1963 National Jamboree, nor serve as the Troop 216 Committee Chairman, it was all legit.

(Thanks, Dave, for the picture!)