The swing bike so far . . . sans Headsets All the tubes are in place. I still have some cable guides and stuff to "modify". That mean the stops will have to be made into guides. Since the frame pivots at the seat tube you have to use housing all the way. Hopefuly after tonight I'll have the frame in position to paint. One modifcation you might notice is that I flipped the down tube around so maybe those water bottle braze-ons will be usable.
Got my MWI Coffee. It's a custom blend made by Benetti's. It a medium roast coffee, so its got a charge; and a flavor you want to sip all day. It's also a coffee that tastes the way it smells. By that I mean for example if you grind a coffee like Indian Monsooned Malabar, that smell doesn't really caputure the slight mustiness that gives Indian Mansooned Malabarit's distinction.
First off I'd like to take time to acknowledge my new favorite hot sauce at the moment. It's made here local in Grain Valley, and comes from a company called Little Dixie Harbour. It's a thick sauce that has a lot of spice/flavor to it, without being overly hot.
I'm going to use a set of Salsa brand dropouts I've have sitting around.
Jig setup for 430mm ChainStay length.
Jig setup for 65mm bottom Bracket Drop.
What? . . . Conventional . . . I think Not. I'm going to use 2 x 1/2", 4130 tubes for the chainstays. Being Cyclocross my concern is mud and crud getting caught inbetween the tubes. I might add a gusset to prevent that. It's an experiment. My thought is that the 1/2" or 12.7mm will provide plenty of clearance without dimpling the tubes. Then doubling them up with give the needed stiffness . . . nothing ventured, nothing gained.
Ready for the ends to get tacked on.
a Look-See at the tubes on the bottom Bracket.
I look at the seam I'll have to "negotiate" after the ends are brazed in place.
Couldn't Make it to Street Cred Stage 2 yesterday, But I did manage to get out for a while this morning.
Changed the tires on the 3 Speed. Dig the reflective hoops. My Continental 28c Sport Contact tiresare noticably faster than my Nokian Hakkapeliitta studded tires. The Nokians are so much slower I was thinking about changing to a lower gear with the Nokians.
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Riding just past the Thuman LibraryI saw Poppy Donuts. I thought it might be fun to have a Tour de Donuts. It been a while since I've been in a donut shop and the smell did disapoint. Also it was good to see a lot of "Experienced"people. People who know what donuts should taste like. I ordered a glazed and a chocolate. The glazed was outstanding, and the chocolate was good . . . both much better than those corporate donuts. Also if you get the idea to ride to 52 donut shops in 52 weeks and review donuts . . . That idea has already been taken.
52 Donuts BlogSpot http://52donuts.blogspot.com/ And a review of Poppy's http://52donuts.blogspot.com/2009/01/week-2-poppy-famous-donuts.html
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Aaaaah The Rheinland Restaraunt. Want some good food, this is the place. Also if you check their event's calenderin two weeks (02/26) is the Fasching or german carnival. This sounds like a good destination for a bike ride. Actually it was the destination of a ride two years ago. We all had a good time and vowed to return. However I was informed we could come up, but seriously doubted we could get a table, because they are booked for that day 6 months ago. Just when I thought I was on top of the ball getting there two weeks in advance. I say lets go there anyway, what's the worst that can happen? . . . Will we get thrown out by Techno Viking?
The penciled in plan is to Ride Street Cred Stage four, then ride to Benettis, then ride to Rheinlands. If people don't want to ride Street cred they can ride
meet us at Benetti's about 6pm.
Then past the good Ol RLDS church.
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Then pastPace Bike Haven. Here a bike shop that been around for a long time. Mark is a good guy, and if you get a chance, go inside and check it out.
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Ever wonder why if you go inside a super market, they have a section called "Health Food", or in this case "Health Market"? I mean if the healthy stuff is there, what is the rest? Frankenfood?
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This is why one place I like is "The Store" . . . It 's a little grocery Store in Raytown called "The Store" http://www.thestoremeatmarket.com/
The smell of there Barbeque is almost criminal. As you can see they have won contests, and I can tell you they are most deserved.
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How About "Rat Shack"? Don't they sponsor some guy that got sick, then only to come back and win the worlds hardest bicycle race 7 times against the other worlds best racers who were all doping except him? . . . anyway "They" got the nickname "RatShack" during the days of the "Blue Box". I don't know if this is the case or not now, but some "Suspected" they would keep a list of what customers bought, and if you bought a combination of items that could build something . . . unsavory . . . you just might get a visit.
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Here's a site Jazzy Pet Spa. Every pet needs a good bath and massage
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I also got a Zum Bar while I was out, and as you might have guessed, Indigo Wildwho makes these soaps are local to Kansas City. However today I noticed something different. The Betsy Bar. It smells pretty good, and the price of the soap won't put me out as much as cancer would so I say lets give a little to the cause. Plus the rides over . . . Shower Time
As you can see it's a light roast. It's makes for a good cup of coffee in the morning. I recommend it. - As if coffee at Broadway Cafe wasn't enough, I had to go check out Benetti's , Fall Classic Concert Series
I suspect over 30 people were there. I'd have to say I liked it more than I thought I was. pictured is the closing band, "The Sunday Paper". They were pretty good. If you can get out, it's a good time. - Oh that darn Bike
I tried to install my PowerCam on this bike. I got the lobe dialed in so the cam advanced the gear at the right place, then I find the left crankarm hits the chainstay . . . arrrrgh! . . . a lot of work for nothing.
And here's the finished product. It's been a while since I had ridden it, but I still have to say that extra brace stiffens it up.
If you know me, you will know I like to get my things local when I can get them . . . as long as they are quality. Local is fresher, and you support your locals by keeping the money local. It's better all the way around. . . . but like I said, you better bring quality.
A local quality product I found the other day was Sodavie Sodas. I what caught my eye was the Thaibasil/Clove (Really?. . Thaibasil/Clove? ), but I decided to try the Strawberry Minton this hot afternoon.
Opps Here it is almost polished off.
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Like they say, "It's Real", it's got the Mint leaves in the soda. I'll say it's unreal. I don't know how they do it. I'm not a soda fan, but this stuff will knock your socks off. It's not only a different taste, but a different experience.
In order to prepare for the Redline Central Final in OctoberI thought I'd better brush up on my skills. What better place than the skate park. I'm going downtown today. so I thought I'd visit PennVally Skate park. You know the routine. Wake up, make a cup of coffee, grab a few CDs to get the mind and body aligned for riding the skae park, head out the door, get in the car, and . . . . . .
YOU'VE BEEN RIPPED OFF.
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Not the first stereo someone has ripped off from me, and I suspect not the last. I'm beginning to wonder if I'm under the illusion that I actually own my car stereos, vs the reality that I'm just renting untill one day it's repo'd.
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Case and Point
About 12 year ago I got a new Alpine stereo with detachable face. I had it about a year, and never fail to take the face with me. Then one day I went to work downtown. I parked in a parking lot with a park attendent. I went into work at 8am and by 9am realized I forgot to remove the face. It was 22 degrees and snowing outside. I went back out to my car, only to find my window bashed out, and my stereo gone. . . . . aaaaaaaaaaaaaaand as you probably have already figured out, the attendent didn't see anything.
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It's a lot like a year ago when I left my I-Pod in the bathroom at work, then I return to find it 10 minutes later, and the I-Pod was gone, and I asked the security person at the enterance if they found anybody turned one in, and her response was, "I don't even know what one is". right it's 2009 and you don't know what an I-Pod is. We have Burger King selling french fries in a box called the "Fry-Pod", every big corp has some product ending with "-Pod", and this is over your head . . . "Whats this I-pod thing"?
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To Quote Don Henley. "It's an inside job Favors collected Your trusted servants Have left you unprotected
It was an inside job Like it always is Just chalk it up To business as usual"
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Well I can say this. I thought I would be bummed out once the I-Pod was gone, but I realized most the time I was to my own thoughts and didn't really pay attention to the music as much as I had imagined. I'm pretty sure It's going to be case with the car stereo for the most part. However as most you know, who know me, there are a lot of times I like my jams.
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Yea I can try to candy coat it, but I'm still "Burning inside"!
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Speak'n of Ministry. Ministry was Playing at "The Shadow" on my 21st Birthday. I met Bill Rieflin at Street Side records in Westport that day and he put me on the guest list . . . So I got to see "The Mind is a terrible thing to taste" show. That was a sweet deal. -
So here is the Skate park. 7:30am and all to myself.
I rode there for about 1-1/2 hours. Not hard to do, I had a good time. Some people think the park is geared toward skate boards, rather than bicycles, and that may be the case, but I'm just here learning to ride a BMX bike. It's quite a transition from Road, or MTB.
- How about a local treat. An IPA from Weston Brewery. In Weston, Missouri.
I think it's better than a lot of beer out there. I hear from some people that they don't like IPA beers, because of the overly Hoppy taste. This would be a good IPA for them, because it does not have that an overly hoppy taste. I have drank some other manufactured's IPA beers that I did not won't to finish. I say give it a shot.
If you didn't feel like going to the hyperlinks, in short, the coffee beans are exposed to the monsoon winds for 3 to 4 months in India, causing the beans to lose their acidity, resulting in a sweet and syrupy brew basically. -
It's also a lot lighter roast than a lot of other coffees. The result is also a more caffeinated cup of coffee. I know a lot of people believe that the stronger tasting dark roasts have more, but one method to decaffinating coffee is to roast the beans till the caffeine is burned out. So it's only logical; the darker the roast, the less caffeine. Not that caffeine is important, I just thought it was worth mentioning.
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From time to time I do like the volume turned up on the pure coffee flavor. However it's hard to compare Indian Monsooned Malabar to other coffees. I say this because I drink dark roasted coffees with Half&Half most the time, and I don't usually ever add anything to Indian monsooned Malabar.
10:30 at Benetti's Coffee Experience. I heard from about 10 people that they were going to show up . . . well nobody did. Lots of reasons why I guess. It's been raining for as long as I can remember, so that really puts a premium on the weekend. So in this case it was bad that I had good weather. Also I didn't post a milage. I couldn't. I remember when we would have all day rides. We would take off at 9am sometime and ride till who knows when. We might even go till late at night. In this case I started at 10:30am, and finished around 6:00pm. Who is in for 7-1/2 hours. I suspect most people consider that a workday. After taking 165 picture, I had to narrow it down to the most interesting. So here you go. - Since it is just me. What's a tour of the industrial parks without riding through all the industrial parks. I'll start where I am, in Raytown. When you enter the industrial park, you have to pass by this historic wooden bridge. You can read more about it on the Bridge Hunter Page. - This is basically what you will see. I think if you showed this picture to most people in Raytown, they would be hard pressed to identify it. - Welcome to Bannister Mall. I remember when they built Bannister Mall Brand Spank'n New. Now it's . . it's . . . Flat. - Dodson was Dodson. I rolled around the park, then I went up Hickman Mills towards Swope Industrial. On top the hill is 4 acres Hotel. I love the design and architecture. It could really used a coat of paint, but then I doubt many would see it anyway. - The original Smokestack. Mmmmmm I remember eating here many times. It was everything you would want in a BBQ dining experience. - Swope Industrial park. There was a lot of action going on, people going in and out, big trucks and a couple trains. -
- Then in about 0 seconds the temperature dropped about 15 degrees. It was just a wall of cool.
I said Train, not rain.
Just because it's dark, doesn't mean it's going to rain. -
The plan was to ride via Elmwood to Blue Valley industrial park. On Elmwood I had to pass Swope Park's Frisble Golf course. Looks like a big tournament was going on. This is the Discraft van. Inside are some guys pointing at a laptop, I suspect they are viewing radar or something. -
Then it started to pour. I made it to the zoo just in time. -
Sitting there thinking about it all I notice a bus. Where's the bus going, Don't know. I guess if it's going to sandstone . . . verizone or whatever they are calling it these days. . . then I'll be riding back from sand . . . errrrr Verizone theater.
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I got off the Bus at 31st & Linwood. Since I was hungry, and had planned to eat a Grinders, why change? What's better than hot pizza on a cold rainy day? -
More frisbies! . . . Coincidence?...On Holmes, and couple store fronts down from Grinders is now a fisbie golf store.
The people at TomBoy makes custom clothing. They have some really nice looking things. If your going downtown, this should be a destination. This place really captures to essence of freedom of expression, or freedom in general. I think everybody would like to be able to make a living selling creations from their imaginations. - I will even go one further, and suggest that more people could do this, if more people would become more self reliant. It seems to me there are a lot of people out there that instead following their passions, and living life to the fullest, they trade that away for security. They are told they need a job with good insurance, benefits, or whatever. They become unsatisfied with life. They put themselves in a jail, with see through bars, and they don't even recognize it. Some of us compromise, we have a job, then we have a hobby. So we end up living two lives. The people in TomBoy are living life to the fullest, and I think you can sense that.
I saw some material that I liked, and I asked how much for a shirt. A shirt would run me about $200. I'm not sure how long it takes to create a shirt. Someone has to take the time to measure you, then cut it out, then stitch it together, cost of materials, and a quality job done. not to mentional rent, and cost of utilities. As they say, something is only worth what someone is willing to pay. So who's willing to pay? Well if I ordered a shirt that day. I might get it in 6 to 8 weeks. Sounds like business is good. -
Next is Christopher Elbow chocolate. Here's a local that has gained national recognition. using chocolate as his media of all things. I mean how many people are making chocolate? Unlike a lot of people I went for the fruit chews. They are pretty good. -
Here is an example of a lot of the buildings in the west bottoms.
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At the top of the viaduct you can this this lookout point - and this is what you will see from the lookout.
Of all the districts, theCentral or West Bottoms is the best ride. With it's old building architectures, trains, and bridges/viaducts. So ride it while you still can. I saw a lot of destruction and construction going on.
