Winter Holiday 2015

Merry Christmas

and

Happy New Year!!

When the few remaining days of December tell us the old year is passing and a new one beginning, we send traditional wishes of merriment and hopeful anticipation for all good things in the coming year to family and friends. 2015 has been a year of challenges and changes in our personal lives and the country's as well, but I hope 2016 brings good fortune and an optimism that our wishes will come true.

Do we dare wish for a more Peaceful World

Happy Holiday 2015
Hope for a more peaceful world in 2016

My New Favorites

The other day a friend and I were comparing our food favorites when I realized that I had a lot of new ones. Surprisingly, one is sauerkraut.

Years ago, when I was growing up, home made sauerkraut was on the dinner menu every night. We usually had two huge crocks of kraut stored in the cellar where other canned and preserved foods were kept. During the winter months, at dinner time, Mom would send me to the cellar to get kraut for dinner. As we used up the kraut I'd let her know how much remained, but before the crocks were empty, I got weary of eating kraut every night and complained, “Not again!” Recently I ate a deli sandwich with kraut and rediscovered how tasty kraut could be.

Another new favorite is cucumber-lemon water.

It's served at one of the local restaurants and since I found out how to make it, I keep some in the fridge. Just put large chunks of cucumber and lemon slices in water and chill. Just replace the water after drinking some. As the flavor diminishes, add a fresh cucumber and lemon.

My latest new favorite is an open face cream cheese sandwich, generously covered with raw pecan pieces pressed onto the cheese.

Crystallized ginger, a forgotten favorite, is on my list again. I remembered it when I noticed that a piece of ginger root had sprouted.

Foods are not my only favorites.

My latest TV favorite is America's Got Talent.

If I hadn't seen some of the performances with my own eyes, I wouldn't believe them possible. Some athletic feats are beyond description with phenomenal strength and flexibility. Musical talents of participants are often amazing. Performances of many unusual abilities are shown, and acts combining the latest virtual technology with movement are elegant to watch.

My favorite late night comedian was Jay Leno, but since he retired, I haven't yet decided on one.

My favorite games are chess, mahjong solitaire, and Spite and Malice, a card game.

My sister Adeline had learned the card game many years ago and it became a family favorite. During any lengthy visit of family members, there will always be a Spite and Malice tournament.

I have favorite books but too numerous to mention. History books are top of the list with biography and autobiographical books a close second.

Over the years I've had many pets, favoring dogs over cats, however, Mimi, my cat that ran off with a river boat gambler during the hurricane Ike, was special.

I'll obviously continue choosing favorites as the current ones are replaced. Who knows what the next ones will be.



German Sauerkraut

So How Does YOUR Garden Grow?

MrsB

My Water Glass Garden

Water Glass Garlic

After cousin Loretta told me about her water glass garden, I graduated from just rooting avocado seeds in glasses of water to growing vegetables that will re-grow themselves. I knew that leaves would grow from the tops of carrots if put in water. Years ago I kept several containers of water growing carrot leaves on a kitchen shelf, but I didn't know that celery, garlic, ginger, basil, onions, pineapple, lettuce, scallions or bok choy and sweet potatoes would re-grow themselves from scraps if put in water.

Immediately after my phone chat with Loretta, I went to the kitchen and cut off the bottom two inches of a bunch of celery and placed it glass with water. I did the same with a garlic clove. I was astonished that within three days, the garlic had sprouted and the center of the celery base was showing green shoots.

I picked several sprigs of basil from the plants growing in out door containers, and following instructions found on the internet, I placed them in a glass of water. I expect them to root soon. I'm debating about growing sweet potato vines in water since I don't plan to grow sweet potatoes in soil, but I may grow the vines just for the beauty of a potted plant. Scallions, pineapple and bok choy are on my 'to do' list. My son gave me some pieces of ginger root from his container garden and I'll see what luck I have with that.

Re-discovering these gardening tips that our ancestors practiced eliminates the need for pesticides besides creating a re-occurring supply of veggies. Its a small effort balanced against the gain to be achieved. The images are from web sites describing how to grow various fruits and vegetables.



Water Glass Celery

Stop the World, I Want To Get off

It seems to me that things are moving too fast! I long for quiet hum-drum, monotonous days where daily routines never vary. The same old chores, the same old job, the same old hobbies, the same old meals and the same old friends sharing the same old gossip.

I don't really want to return to the 'old' days, but catastrophes of varying degrees are publicized in all social media outlets 24/7 with non-stop speculation over the least event exaggerating its importance in the public mind.

These occurrences are brought to the public mind so rapidly we hardly have time to digest the meaning of one event before another replaces it. There's a never ending report of wars between countries, climactic devastation, crimes of robbery and murder, corruption and malfeasance of public office and deadly power struggles between religious beliefs.

No wonder we find relief from these harrowing events by watching late night comedians on television. They teach us how to take these events in stride by poking fun at the perpetrators.



Laughing it Up
April 18 2014

Google Cookies, Privacy and You...

[note: Editor's Post]

Recently, Google pushed a change to the backend of their blog system requiring a notice to be placed on the blog about the use of cookies. This wasn't some altruistic vision by Google, it was mandated by the EU courts and the statement is visible only if you access the blog from outside of the US.

If you are looking at the blog from outside the USA and want to turn off the notice you have to click: Learn More or Got It.

Ezpz right?
Not so.

The current Internet Business Model is based on advertising revenues. Google sells information to advertisers who are willing to pay a lot to get personalized information about you. Information about your likes and dislikes, your habits, your daily routines and your activates. The more details, the better. No detail is too small. The tiniest details define a lot about you and are worth even more to advertisers.

Internet companies like Google, Facebook make a lot of money off this advertising. Billions and Billions.

Your personal information was worth, $66+ Billion US dollars for Google and Facebook sold you for $12+ Billion US dollars in 2014.

Bet you didn't know you were that valuable.

Feel rich yet?
Didn't think so...

The El Dorado only flows one way and none of it is coming to you.

Our blog Privacy Statement hasn't changed. We don't track you but They do. They will track you and they will continue to sell you even after you are dead.

Years from now, you may be worth more as newer data mining techniques allow better pattern matching and predictive assessments. Patterns of parenting carry on to their children and to grand children. Children learn from their parents and even after a short period of rebellion, end up more like their parents than not. What you like, they like.

This is why internet companies are not going to stop. The biggest of them, are well aware that they are mapping not only your future but that of your children and people around you.

Future advertising will be a lot about what you do or didn't do in your lifetime.

Your Grand Mother liked lavender, shouldn't you use our chemically enhanced lavender garbage smell remover too? On sale at BioChemLifeEnhnacers with improved limited life expectancy from DNA damage included at no extra charge.

Your Great Grand Dad used RToolsRBetter, if it was good enough for Great Grand Dad, it's good enough for you! Honor your Ancestor by buying the complete toolset with a simple lifetime payment plan. Not enough lifetime? Get an extension with our easy on-line application assigning payments to future generations!

Your Great Great Aunt had an affair with SoNSo - find out the details in the Ashley Madison Historical Archives at Rear View Vision Geneology! We got Your Secrets!

Your Second Cousin Twice Removed was a trouble maker with a No Fly SSSS Boarding Pass. Want to remove the stigma? Contact Your helpful National Homeland Security Trouble Maker Removal Service Division at 1-800-WE-R-TORTURE or visit the Quiet Removals website. We Got Eyes! We are WATCHING YOU! We Got You On Track!

It's Generational Tracking and Pattern Matching.

Our Privacy Policy

Our Privacy Policy in a nutshell: WE DON'T TRACK YOU

Bad News: GOOGLE DOES

The Badder News: SO DOES EVERYONE ELSE

Our full privacy policy explanation link. You can also find it listed on the side panel menu under Our Privacy Policy 2015.

Here is Google's Requirement Statement for blogs to post cookie information and demand your acceptance:

European Union laws require you to give European Union visitors information about cookies used on your blog. In many cases, these laws also require you to obtain consent.

As a courtesy, we have added a notice on your blog to explain Google's use of certain Blogger and Google cookies, including use of Google Analytics and AdSense cookies.

You are responsible for confirming this notice actually works for your blog, and that it displays. If you employ other cookies, for example by adding third party features, this notice may not work for you.

If you have edited your blog in a way that hides this notice, it will be your responsibility to notify your visitors about cookies used on your blog and if necessary, obtain consent. Also, if you have added other blog features that set cookies, including third-party analytics or advertising services, you’ll need to provide additional or a different notice.

To see what the user message looks like from inside the USA you have to link to an EU edition of Google. Here is a link to blog from Google France:

MrsBizzyB from France.

There is some good news, but not a lot of it.

The battle for the public free access to information on the internet has not been lost yet. What has been lost is any possibility that all the minute details about your personal life collected will be secured, safe and used appropriately by corporations or governments.

If it has been harvested, it will be used.

It will be used because you clicked Got It or a similar check box on every site on the internet and you didn't read the EULA (End User License Agreement or the TOS (Terms of Service). Even if you did read them, you wanted the "hook and candy" more than your privacy. Maybe you didn't even understand what it is they were taking or how it was going to be used, now and forever more.

Even sites like this one, where WE DO NOT TRACK YOU, have to tell you, YOU ARE BEING TRACKED.

So, what can you do about this?

For a starter: Turn off JAVASCRIPT

It will break most sites and disable most trackers. It will make web pages ugly. It will block videos and limit what you see or are able to do. It messes up their Happy Harvesters.

It won't stop the harvesting, it just makes it harder for them to do it. It will slow down but will not stop the tracking.

You can turn it back on when you are ready to be tracked and harvested.

Of course, they won't make it easy for you to do this. Not even Open Source browsers want you to turn off JAVASCRIPT. You have to be purposeful in finding out how to click the DISABLE SCRIPTING option in your browser.

Try Googling ¹ for the information...

Feeling secure and safe yet?
Didn't think so....

KimB Editor



1. If you use Google to search, they will harvest that you looked up how to disable JAVASCRIPT. It will go in their pile of OH NOES!!! Our Harvesters are being GANKED!

Definition: Gank
To kill, ambush, or defeat with little effort; used in online games.

Fata Morgana

Researching how weather creates mirror images, I learned how and when the phenomenon occurs. The name comes from Morgan le Fay, (The Fairy Morgana) aka the sorceress in the legend of King Arthur and Queen Guinevere.

A Fata Morgana is actually an unusual and complex superior mirage occurring in a narrow band on the horizon. The term Fata Morgana is often applied to more common types of mirages, but a true Fata Morgana is not the same. One can be seen on land, at sea, in Polar regions or in deserts. It can involve any kind of distant objects such as boats, islands and coast lines. Objects are distorted, inverted and right side up, stacked on top of each other and may change rapidly.

This optical illusion occurs when light rays and radio signals bend passing through layers of different temperatures creating an atmospheric duct that acts as a lens producing inverted and erect images. A true Fata Morgana requires a duct to be present . A thermal inversion is not enough to produce this kind of mirage.

An observer needs to be within or below an atmospheric duct to be able to see a Fata Morgana. They can be seen from any altitude, from sea level to mountain tops, even from airplanes. Because of constantly changing conditions, it can be seen in various ways in only a few seconds then rapidly changed into a simple mirage. They can be seen by the naked eye, but to see detail within them, its best to view them through binoculars or telescope or telephoto lens.

There are many recorded observances and many myths are attributed to them. One of the most famous legends is The Flying Dutchman, the phantom ghost ship that is doomed to sail the oceans forever. Seen at a great distance, it is sometimes seen glowing with a ghostly light . The mirage is a refraction due to the layers of air when a real ship is out of sight because its below the horizon line. If the ship is above the horizon, the image can be duplicated and elaborately distorted.

A remarkable mirage, but not a Fata Morgana, was witnessed by approximately 20,000 spectators at Buffalo, N Y the morning of August 16, 1894. This mirage was the kind where objects loom high into the sky and are not distorted. This looming mirage was a perfect landscape of the city of Toronto, 56 miles from Buffalo, complete with its harbor and small island with its church spires clearly defined. It took in the whole breadth of Lake Ontario. It remained visible until a cloud bank obscured the mirage.

Many observers are still tricked by this phenomenon. Today, no one believes in The Flying Dutchman, but many are mistaken for UFOs. Some UFOs are seen on radar. Conditions for radar mirages are common due to the role of water vapor, which affects atmospheric refraction in relation to radio waves.

Serious Arctic expeditions ensued after misinterpreting displays of a Fata Morgana. Sir John Ross' expeditionary voyage, searching for the long sought after Northwest Passage, saw a land mass he believed would prevent further exploration. He named it Croker Mountain, after the First Secretary to the Admiralty, John Croker. Robt Peary's 1906 Arctic expedition named a land mass Crocker Land honoring a San Francisco banker, one of the financial backers of the expedition.

Beset by trials, tribulations and murder, an Arctic expedition to map and investigate Crocker Land was organized by Donald Baxter Macmillan in 1913 and sponsored by the American Museum of Natural History, American Geographical Society and the University of Illinois' Museum of Natural History.

On 11th of April, four members of the expedition, McMillan, Navy Ensign Fitzhugh Green, and two Inuit, Piugaattoq, Ittukusuk, set off in the direction of Crocker Land, crossing treacherous sea-ice, avoiding thin ice patches and expanses of open water. On 21st of April they saw what appeared to be a huge island on the horizon. They could see hills, valleys, and snow capped peaks. Piugaattoq, an Inuit hunter with 20 years experience in the area explained that it was just an illusion, calling it “poo-jok” meaning mist.

Ignoring the Inuit, McMillan insisted on pressing on despite the lateness of the season and the sea-ice breaking up. After traveling a further 125 miles, McMillan was forced to admit Piugaattoq was right. Turning back, the group was lucky to regain solid land before the sea-ice broke the next day.

Having reached safety, McMillan sent Green and Piugaattoq to explore a route to the west but worsening weather forced them to shelter in a snow cave. One of the dog teams died in the snow. In a squabble over the remaining team, Green took a rifle from the sled and shot Piugaattoq, killing him.

Rejoining McMillan, Green told what happened. McMillan later informed the European members of the expedition and asked them to keep it quiet. They told the Inuit that Piugaattoq had died in the blizzard. The geologist- ornithologist- botanist, Walter Elmer Ekblaw remarked “...one of the darkest and most deplorable tragedies in the annals of Arctic exploration”. Green was never prosecuted for murder. The Inuit suspected there was more to the story than had been told. Green had a relationship with Aleqasina, wife of Piugaattoq and a striking beauty. She had previously been Peary's mistress and had born him two children.

The expedition ended up stranded in the region for 4 years due to weather. Several ships attempted rescue but they were in turn stranded and forced to turn around. Green and two other members made their way back to the United States by dog sled. The rest of the expedition was rescued in 1917.

Fata Morgana
Henry Wadsworth Longfellow 1873.

O Sweet illusions of song
That tempt me everywhere
In the lonely fields, and the throng
of the crowded thoroughfare!

I approach and yet ye vanish away
I grasp you, and ye are gone
But ever by night and by day
The melody soundeth on.

As the weary traveler sees
In desert or prairie vast
Blue lakes, over hung with trees
That a pleasant shadow cast.

Fair towns with turrets high
And shining roofs of gold
That vanish, as he draws nigh
Like mists together rolled

So I wander and wander along
And before me ever gleams
The shining city of song
In the beautiful land of dreams

But when I would enter the gate
Of that golden atmosphere
It is gone and I wonder and wait
For the vision to reappear.

So How Does YOUR Garden Grow?

KimB

First Harvest!

This year is an odd year for my container garden. I didn't plant half the things I wanted to plant and I planted more of others that I didn't intend to plant. Translated that means: I got a lot of odds and ends in the buckets.

I started out to plant the "American Standard Issue" garden: Tomatoes and Zucchini. The tomatoes did great until we got an odd freeze and that ended that. The zucchini didn't sprout so that was another disappointment. I did have carrots that made it over the winter and were very happy about the extra cold temperatures. So that was encouraging.

I had lots of odds and ends of old potatoes in the fridge and out of frustration just tossed those into the empty buckets. I made a second pass for zucchini which finally sprouted into a beautiful plant but I never got back to the garden center to find a good tomato plant. Costco was selling nice ones but like all big box stores, they wanted to sell you a lifetime supply of the plants for half your bank account.

I did make a hard core effort to do some more sweet potatoes and found the one I was rooting had a different leaf shape from the ones last year. I did like last year's beautiful plants so I excavated the bottom of the vegetable drawer and found a small one from last year that had missed the cook pot and I sprouted that one too. I waited a long time to get them in the pots though and they were thoroughly root bound by the time I got them planted. After some transplant shock, they have started to Do The Sweet Potato Thing and look fantastic.

The tater plants have taken over nearly every bucket and I planted about 5 different types of taters. Each tater plant has a different leaf shape, coloration and growth pattern and some of those are strikingly beautiful. The blue potato plants have a deep purple stem with a green leaf. I always plan to write down what I've planted in each bucket but by the time the plants start to sprout I've forgotten where I put my notes so I will just have to wait to see if there's a pony in there at harvest time.

With the drought and odd weather in California, I really didn't think things would do well but SURPRISE! There's some good things popping up in the buckets.



First Harvest May 2015

Ride of Silence 05 20 2015 by KimB

May 20, 2015 was the annual global event Ride of Silence. It's a massive bicycle event that aims to improve the awareness of motorists and trucks about sharing the road with cyclists and is also an annual memorial to those killed or injured over the last year. As part of the event “ghost bikes” are created by artists and placed as memorials to those who have died during the year. More than 10,000 cyclists participate every year.

Modern bicycles can easily clip along at 25mph and legally share the road with cars and trucks. Specialty cycles can reach 50mph or more going downhill. In many cities there are special bike trails or multipurpose trails for bikes, runners and walkers that keep bikes and cars separate. In places where there are no special bike trails there are bike lanes. Bike lanes are striped areas on the edges of roadways designated for cyclists. Due to the speed of modern bikes, riding on sidewalks isn't a great option even where permitted; motorists just aren't used to looking down a sidewalk for something moving at 30mph.

Outside of urban areas bikes just have to ride along the edge of the road, keeping as far to the outer edges as possible. If the outer edge is unsafe or there's no shoulder then cyclists are required to “take the lane” and move into the same traffic lane as cars until the road widens and it's safe to move over again. Many jurisdictions require cars and trucks to stay at least 3 feet away from a cyclist when passing and most big rig truckers will do more than that knowing that the effects of their slip stream can easily topple a cyclist off the roadway.

Even with all the precautions and modern safety technologies, when it comes to a collision between a cyclist and motor vehicle it's the cyclist that loses every time. Sometimes more than one cyclist will fall victim to a single car when the driver is inattentive for just a moment. A tiny lapse in concentration by a driver can wreak havoc among many families forever as their loved ones never return home from a “fun ride”.

This was my first time participating in the Ride of Silence and it was a very moving experience. We gathered at a nearby cycle shop at 6pm for instructions and safety reminders. The Fresno Police provided support from their Cycling Division and about 150 riders started along a route that would take us to Woodward Park and then loop around back to the starting area.

Once the ride started there was no talking. All communication between riders was done by hand signals. We rode at a slow pace thru the streets with our bicycle headlights and taillights set to strobe/flash. It was starting to get dark by the time we got to Woodward Park and the lights of the cyclists were amazing to watch as we wound our way along the outer pathway in near single file. Along the route were 5 ghost bikes, one for each cyclist killed this year, and many riders carried signs with the names of other riders killed or injured in accidents over the years.

It was somber reminder for everyone.

Ride of Silence 2015, Fresno California

Staging

Staging

Staging

Fresno Cycling Officers

Fresno Cycling Officers

Rollout

Rollout

En Route

Passing Woodward Park

End of Ride

Will work for chocolate

I like chocolate.

All kinds of chocolate. Chocolate bonbons, chocolate bars, chocolate cake, chocolate pie, chocolate cookies, chocolate pudding, chocolate covered nuts, and chocolate ice cream. I like drinking hot chocolate but I'm not a big fan of cold chocolate milk. In my opinion, chocolate, in all its versatile forms, is a delicious wonder of the world.

One of the first things I learned to cook was chocolate fudge. On winter evenings Mom would let me make a batch of fudge to pass around to my brothers and sisters as they played games, and to Dad as he fooled around with his amateur radio equipment, and to Mom as she read a book.

I also learned how to bake the chocolate cake listed on the label of Hershey's cocoa box. I made it so often when I got home from school in the afternoon to serve as our after dinner dessert, that I never had to use the written recipe, even during later years.

Most holidays are celebrated with sweets of some kind, but two holidays are definitely celebrated with flowers and chocolate: Valentines Day, and Easter.

Lilies and chocolate rabbits herald the beginning of Spring. Baskets filled with jelly beans, chocolate eggs, marshmallow peeps and chocolate bunnies are parallel rites to the religious holiday just like Santa Claus is a parallel tradition to Christmas.

This year, the Easter Bunny has given me enough chocolate, in the shapes of eggs and bunny rabbits, that with prudent rationing, it will last until the middle of June.

Chocolate Bunny

So How Does YOUR Garden Grow?

MrsB

I've started my spring planting by propagating leaves from my African Violet. It will be several weeks before I know the results. The leaves of the Christmas cactus that I started rooting a few weeks ago are thriving and almost ready to give to family members who want a clone of the plant Mom had enjoyed for so many years.

I can hardly call my efforts to propagate various plants real gardening. Putting an avocado seed in a glass of water until it roots, dipping violet leaves in rooting hormone, then planting it in a pot, or cloning a Christmas cactus is not what I consider gardening.

As the days warm, bedding plants will have priority over avocado seeds. Weather reports will be closely monitored. After all the plants and seeds have been planted, a waiting game commences with fingers crossed for a harvest looking like seed catalog photos.

These world famous gardens are inspiration to achieve the best garden possible.



Keukenhof Garden, Netherlands

Nong Nooch, Thailand

Shalimar, Pakistan

Esther Smith - 05/14/2015

[Note: Editor's Post]

Esther Smith passed 05/14/2015

She died peacefully at her home. Her memory remains with all who read her stories on the blog and download her cookbook.

Her contribution to the lives and well being of all around her, those who had the pleasure of meeting her in real life and those that knew her from her writings, cannot be measured except in the vast space of time.

We can morn the loss of her wisdom; just as we can celebrate her life. We have been blessed by her presence and wit.

For those who did not have the pleasure of meeting her, her writings here on the blog remain a gateway to a time that is fading with the passing of her generation. At time when Love was the only thing one needed in Life; when Trust was the only Lock on the Door and a time when Family, Friends and Neighbors were The Entire World.

KimB Editor


note: You can find the link to all her posts on the side bar along with her cookbook which is located in the download section.

Bio Printers

Virtual devices are exploding into every facet of human endeavor. A few years ago, who would have believed that computers would lead to such profound changes in our lives. They say that anything you can imagine can be achieved. Well.... someone imagined Bio Printers. The development of 3D bio printers has the magical potential of creating human organs.

Motivated by the battlefield injuries in Iraq and Afghanistan where 30% of wounds involve skin. Professor James Yoo and his group, from the Institute of Regenerative Medicine at Wake Forest University in North Carolina, are developing a system that will print skin directly onto burn wounds,

The bio printer laser scanner first determines depth and area, then converts the scan to three dimensional images that calculates how many layers of skin cells are needed to be printed on the wound. The system, so far, has successfully printed skin patches 10cm sq on a pig.

Professor Hod Lipson, director of the Cornell University Computational Synthesis Laboratory, has successfully printed ears. They have been made of silicone gel rather than human ear cells. The Cornell team is also experimenting with bio print repairs to damaged animal bones, but there are technical challenges to overcome. Repairs to cartilage will be more easily achieved.

Bio printers are standard apparatus in bio-medical laboratories and numerous experiments to create arteries, hearts and other body parts can be seen on YouTube.

The Bike Shop: Shifters by KimB

So now you can look at a bike and determine if it's a mountain, road or hybrid and you can look the number of gears front and back without glazing over... this is about the time you realize there's a chain that connects the front and back gears and...

How DO you get that chain from one ring to another?
You might very well ask.....

Bike jargon definitions:

Shifter

The connection from the handle bars to the derailleur. When you move the shifter, it pushes or pulls on the derailleur which moves the chain up or down the cogset/gears.

Derailleur

The mechanism that pushes the chain from one ring to another.

Shifters

There are all kinds and shapes of shifters. They can be mounted just about anywhere you can reach and there are even electronic battery powered ones that do the “shifting” for you. They all have the same goal: move the chain from one ring to another.

• Bikes with 1 front gear and multiple back gears will have 1 shifter for the rear gears.
• Bikes have multiple front gears and multiple back gears will have 2 shifters. One shifter will move the front derailleur which moves the front set of gears and the other shifter moves the rear derailleur which moves the rear set of gears.
• The front gear shifter is on the left side of the handle bars
• The rear gear shifter is on the right side of the handle bars.

There are two major categories of shifters: Twist Shifters and Indexed Shifters.

Twist Shifters

These shifters are mounted on the handle bars and you twist forward/back to move the derailleur. Some have “notches” or “markers” to show what gear you in. This is a “by feel” shift - twist until it shifts.

I call these: motorcycle type shifters or "varoom varoom" shifters.

Index Shifters

Index shifters are click to shift. They are designed so that each click moves the chain. You don't have to guess and you don't have to twist anything. Click and Shift is as easy as Swish and Flick.

Some newer style shifters have a single unit with the shifter and brake all-in-one package. The brakes are on a trigger pull and there are one or two side levers that you push to shift.


Integrated Shifters

Derailleurs

Now for the boogeyman of multigeared bikes: The Derailleur

The derailleur is the mechanism that moves the chain from ring to ring. It's very old tech dating from the late 1800s. It just looks “scary”.

The front derailleur has a slightly different design than the rear and is a bit easier to “get acquainted with” than the rear one, which looks worse than it is.

Front Derailleur

The front derailleur consists of a narrow rectangular box. The chain threads through the narrow box. The box is connected via a very tight spring to a cable that goes to the shifter. When you move the shifter, you move the cable, the cable then moves the very tight spring which moves the rectangular box. The long edges of the box push against the chain and “de rails” it until it catches on the next gear.


Rear Derailleur

The rear derailleur is a bit more scary than the front one. The rear derailleur has 2 pulleys on a very tight spring. The bike chain curves around the rear gears and threads in an “S” curve around the 2 pulleys. The chain has to be long enough to go from the biggest gear in front to the biggest gear in the back. When you move the chain to a smaller gear the two pulleys take up extra slack in the chain. Like the front derailleur, when you move the shifter, you move the cable that connects to the derailleur, the cable then moves the very tight spring and swings the mechanism in/out until the chain “de rails” and catches the next gear.

Just like in the song:

Music Goes 'Round and Around

I push the first valve down
The music goes down and around
Whoa-ho-ho-ho-ho-ho
And it comes out here

The Derailleur Song

You push the index down
the chain goes round and around
Whoa-ho-ho-ho-ho-ho
And the derailleur makes it come out here

(lol No. There's no such song... yet)

Of course, some of us (ahem, like moi) want to know:

Can you tinker with this?
Yes, you can but no you shouldn't.

At least not at first and especially not if you bought a Pretty Good Bike or a Great Bike.

Tinkering with the derailleurs is a very very fast path to the Not Fun category. Take your bike to a bike repair shop, preferably the one where you bought it, and get them to adjust the derailleurs. It will take them only a few minutes to fix any issues you have. For the amateur it will take hours, days and perhaps never, if you seriously damage the mechanisms. Once seriously damaged your only recourse is to replace them.

There are good maintenance manuals and lots of DYI on the web describing in detail what all the adjustments are. You shouldn't need to make any adjustments provided you take care not to damage the mechanisms. If you have to lay your bike on it's side, always place the gear side up. Don't lean the gear side of your bike against anything that will push on the derailleurs, and take extra care not to bump the rear derailleur.

If you want to learn about how to adjust the derailleurs, REI.com has a great fee based hands-on class that covers the derailleurs. You get to tinker under the guidance of a certified bike repair specialist who can rescue your bike from that “just one more tick will do it” failure.

For a good starting book I enjoy “Idiot's Guides: Bike Repair and Maintenance Paperback (June 3, 2014) by Christopher Wiggins”. Some bike maintenance manuals just have black and white diagrams or photos that are teeny weeny images which may save the publisher on the price of colored ink but doesn't help the reader much as you need an electron microscope to view them. This book is just right: it has easy to understand explanations and lots of big clear pictures.



Bike Diagram

Fade to black

The phrase, 'fade to black' is the customary way of ending a film, or a scene in a film by closing off the light in the camera. In many cases fading to black is done with dramatic emphasis.

The judicial use of music in films to enhance the visual development of a story, and to synthesize the personalities of characters played by actors can be dramatic and emotionally transporting.

These two elements of film making came together in a particularly stunning and powerful way in the final scene of the Robert Durst movie, The Jinx (miniseries). When it was aired on TV, I was attentive to the story as it unfolded, but during the final scene, I was absolutely transfixed as the scene faded to black, with only the sound of Durst confessing to murder on his open mike while he was in the bathroom, away from the camera. As Durst began to realize what had transpired during filming, that he had been shown evidence proving him a murderer, his realization came in spurts, the words interspersed with groans.

My own realization of what Durst had just said paralleled his in intensity. As the fade to black was completed, faint sounds of undefinable musical tones morphed into a wail of anguish that I imagined Durst was experiencing.

I thought the music might be that of a Zen flute or possibly a Buddhist or Tibetan horn, but when I researched the sound track of the movie, Jinx, I discovered the notes were made by a musical saw. It was played by Natalia Paruz, a well known musician who has played the instrument in many movies and TV commercials and street performances.

For a movie that was scripted to end with a mundane fade to black, the unexpected confession combined with the unusual music, created a dramatic and emotionally charged film ending that will be hard to top.

ITER Project

ITER is the name of the project to build a star in France.

ITER, an acronym of International Thermonuclear Experimental Reactor and Latin (for the way, journey, or direction). ITER is an international nuclear research and engineering mega project, building the world's largest tokamak fusion reactor in the south of France. A tokamak (Russian) is a device using a magnetic field to confine a plasma in the shape of a torus, a surface of revolution generated by revolving a circle in 3 dimensional space.

The goal of France's ITER project is capturing fusion energy for commercial use, in essence, creating a star. They are building a machine that can take an import of 50MW of power and produce an output of 500MW of fusion power.

The project is funded by seven member states, European Union, India, Japan, China, Russia, South Korea, and United States. EU, as host party for the ITER complex, is contributing 45% if cost, with the other 6 countries contributing approximately 9% each. The project started in 2013, and the construction phase is slated to be finished in 2019. Then, commissioning the reactor and initiating plasma experiments in 2020, with the goal of fusion experiments starting in 2027. If, and after ITER comes operational, the first commercial demonstration of a fusion power plant, called DEMO, is proposed to follow on from the ITER project.

The history of ITER started with a 1985 initiative between Reagan and Gorbachev with equal participation between the Soviet Union, European Union, Japan and United States.

Due to a bureaucratic fight that erupted in the U S government over collaboration with the Soviets, the US opted out of the project in 1999, but returned in 2003.

A consortium signed the formal agreement to build the reactor on November 21, 2006 and announced the reactor would be built in France.



Tokamak Diagram

Go fly a kite

The kites of my childhood are not the kites of today. During conversation with a friend, we talked about activities she could share with her children. I mentioned that kite flying was a lot of fun, but she remembered how difficult it was when she was young. There was always a lot of running trying to get the kite off the ground, and one was lucky if you could even get it to fly.

Years ago, as a child, I too, had experienced the running and failure to launch, only to try and try again. Sometimes the attempts paid off and the kite would soar, but not often enough to call kite flying fun.

I realized that my friend didn't know about the high tech kites of today. I told her of my surprise and delight when my daughter introduced me to kite flying. I had not known about high tech kites either. Whenever I visit my daughter and her husband, they often plan suggested activities and outings for the days of my visit. During a visit several years ago, my daughter asked if I'd like to go kite flying.



Stunt Kite

It seemed a strange suggestion. I mentioned my childhood experiences when my brother and I spent hours after school in the afternoons trying to launch dime store kites. My daughter laughed and explained that no running was required. I was expecting a traditional single line kite, but to my astonishment, we played with a large 5 foot dual line Delta kite known as a stunt or sport kite.

Selections from Wikipedia on Kites

Kites were invented in China in 5th century BC. Using bamboo and silk for the sail and line, they were decorated with mythological motifs and often had whistles attached.

They were also used for measuring distance, lifting men, and signaling. Introduced into Cambodia, India, Japan and Korea, they were unknown in Europe. The Romans used only windsocks and banners. Marco Polo and sailors from Japan and Malaysia brought them to Europe as curiosities.

Scientific research started in the 18th and 19th centuries. Ben Franklin published a proposal for an experiment to prove lightening was caused by electricity, but it is not known if Franklin ever performed it. The Wright brothers used kite research when they built the 1st airplane in the 1800s.

The kites of today are single line, multiline, stunt, quad, power and ultra light; all are designed to be maneuverable in the sky by fliers. Quad kites can hover, rotate in place, and stop and teams lying quads in formation perform spectacular displays.

The Bike Shop: Gears by KimB

The next item that pops up when you look at a bike is the number of gears it has. At this point you may very well want to run out the door screaming “I DON'T DO MATH!!!” If you hang in there just a bit longer you'll find it's really not that awful and the information can make or break the “fun” part of the cycling.

Gears

In general the more gears a bike has the better but there is a point beyond which more gears will be helpful unless you are a pro-rider. I'm not a pro and I had to learn the hard way that gears are an important part of the bike and major factor in pricing.

Bike jargon definitions:

Bike Diagram

Drive Train

The entire assembly of gears (front and back) with the chain is referred to as the “drive train”.

(I only remember this because of Lee Iacocca's Chrysler Comeback commercials about “drive train warranty”.)

Cogset/Cassette

The cogset is the stack of gears attached to the rear wheel of the bike. There are several ways of stacking and fixing the gears together; the most modern version is called a “cassette”.

Crankset

The crankset are the front gears attached to the pedal arms which are (surprise!) called “cranks”.

Layout of the gears

Bikes may have 1, 2 or 3 gears in the front and 1, 6 to 10+ gears in the back.

• 3 gears are better than 1
• 6 gears are much better than 3
• 18 gears are way better than 6
• 21 gears are slightly better than 18
• 28+ gears – well, you probably won't need this and if you do, you'll be getting a different bike.

So the question you might ask is: “Why do I need so many?”
The answer is: You do and you don't.

Usable Gears

The fun part of cycling comes from the gears. It's all in the gears. Learning how to use the gears over different types of terrain is part of the fun but if you don't have the right gears for the terrain you are riding on; fun disappears quick.

So, you need the right number of gears for the terrain you are cycling on. If you are going up and down mountains that's a different ride than riding on a flat bike path.

Most bikes will come with a fixed set of gears, selected by the manufacturer as appropriate for that level, style and price of bike. You get what you get but you don't always get what you think you are getting.

Warning: a very loose explanation about gears.

Biking on the flat uses what I call the “sweet spot” set of gears. The bike chain will be in the middle gear in front and the middle gear in the back. Moving up or down from this spot makes it harder or easier to peddle.

When you go up a hill, you shift your gear into an easier to pedal one. You may go slower but you won't spend as much effort to get to the top.

When you go down a hill, you shift your gear into a harder to pedal one. This makes you go really fast downhill. You can also just coast down a steep hill and let gravity do the work for you.

The way the gears connect between the front and the back group, causes an overlap between some of the pairings. That overlap means that the total number of effective gears is less than the total number of gear combinations on the bike. This is so you don't have to make big gear changes as the terrain changes. It actually saves on the frequency of shifting. You still bike based on how easy/hard it seems to you but you don't have to flip the front/back combos as often.

Example from Wikipedia:

• A bicycle with 3 front gears and 8 back gears: the number of possible gear ratios is 24
  (3×8 = 24, this is the number usually quoted in advertisements)
  
• the number of usable gear ratios is 22
• the number of distinct gear ratios is typically 16 to 18

This bike has 24 settings but not 24 distinct gear ratios. Instead there are some overlapping ranges. Due to the overlap, some ratios will be duplicates or near-duplicates and means only 16 or 18 settings will be truly different. So a bike with 24 gear combinations may only have 16 different ones that actually impact your riding. The others are overlaps/duplicates. You still have a lot of gears and the overlap can reduce the number of shifts you do.

When considering a bike, consider the terrain you want to ride on. Ask the bike pros about the gears and the number of usable gears you need for that type of terrain. Most specialty bike stores are familiar with the local terrain and many sponsor competitive bike teams in the various cycling sports and are familiar with all the ins and outs of gearing.

What you want is enough gears to keep it fun. Having more gears is way better than not having enough. Cycling up a hills without enough gears to select from isn't much fun. Going up hill is hard enough, going up hill without enough gears to make it to the top means you will be walking to the top of the hill.

For some odd reason, downhill isn't as much of an issue... WHEEEEEE!!!!



WHEEEEE!

Bailey by KimB

Those of you who know me, know of my great love of horses. From early childhood I adored them. I drew pictures and dreamed of them. Any folk song that had “horse” in it, I made my Mom sing to me at bedtime. We had a record of the song “Strawberry Roan” and I made the family play it over and over that until we wore it out.

My grandfather taught me to ride when I was about 3 years old. We had a great horse named Misty and she was the perfect horse for everyone that came in contact with her. She was kind, gentle, intelligent and knew how to “watch out” for her rider. Misty came into my life several times and she formed a great foundation for my life with horses.

As an adult I had to choose: work or horses. I did try horses for a while. Dealing with the horses was no problem, dealing with the people that owned them was not. I didn't have the knack for dealing with the people. So I shifted to computers and moved on to software engineering in Silicon Valley. Computers have one great advantage: they are not people. Computers don't have “issues” beyond the ones you program into them.

Silicon Valley is an odd place. It's great to work there, it's fun, it's exciting until you burn out, then it's not much fun at all. Corporations have no patience for workers that get burned out. If you burn out, you get tossed out. That's the deal. It's called “at will employment” and that means that corporations can toss you out “at will”. Workers can leave “at will” too but in practice it's rather one sided. People are like barnacles, they like to “stick” but corporations are not in the business of nurturing and keeping workers for the long haul anymore. Their paradigm is:

Use 'em up an' throw 'em away.

When you are new to Silicon Valley, you never worry about this aspect. You think you will be at the Google of the Day forever more. You won't. When the “at will” clause kicks in (and it always does), the excitement and fun disappears along with your paycheck.

When the burn out happened for me, life kicked me in the keister pretty hard. It knocked me down, a long way down. So far down I thought I would never see “happy” again. It was a devastating experience and grinding my way back to “almost happy” has been one of those life-lessons in LIFE. I didn't really want this particular lesson but sometimes you get what you need; not what you want.

As the doors in Silicon Valley slammed shut, I was left adrift in a mental vortex. It wasn't fun and it wasn't exciting. It was more terrifying than anything I'd ever experienced even on the roughest bronc in the stable. I was fortunate, I had money saved up and I had the “privilege of class”: meaning I had access to “help” and “medical care”.

As I began to make some small progress towards “less than awful”, one of the directions I took was an attempt to regain some sense of who I was by revisiting that early foundation and joy in horses. With my good friend Dar, we began a project to find a horse for me. It was the first real attempt to reforge my identity and each step along that path took great effort. Not every step was successful, sometimes the mental vortex reclaimed all my progress but the love of horses helped me regain my footing enough until I could try again.

Bailey came into my life about 10 years ago now. Dar and I looked at a lot of horses; and we settled on Bailey. Bailey is an unregistered quarter horse type mare and was about 5 years old when I bought her. She didn't have any bad habits but she didn't have a lot of training either. We thought I would be able to train her and that was “The Plan”.

You know the saying “Best laid plans of ...”?
So, it didn't quite happen how we thought.

The best-laid schemes o' mice an' men
Gang aft agley,

To a Mouse by Robert Burns 1785

Over the years I've worked on and off with Bailey. Sometimes when things went well, I could do more and other times not so much. Bailey is a touchstone of both hope and fear. Fear of regressing into the that black vortex of anguish and the hope that someday things would be different and that fear would be replaced with joy that only a horse can invoke.

Still thou are blest, compared wi' me!
The present only toucheth thee:
But och! I backward cast my e'e,
On prospects drear!
An' forward, tho' I canna see,
I guess an' fear!

To a Mouse by Robert Burns 1785

Recently, I've regained some of my former vitality. I'm never going to regain all of it, 'nor do I look for that anymore. I am diminished but I'm still here and with a lot of help and support I make an effort each day to take one more step and Bailey has come again to pull me farther along that path.

I recently moved Bailey to be closer to where I live. I am working with her again and I sense the enjoyment of being with her. Her kind eyes and whinny greet me each time I call out to her. She seems to not mind too much the “on and off and on again” of our relationship. She accepts carrots and apples with the same good will as she does working in the round pen. Munching on an apple is her way of telling me:

It's OK.
I'm here and so are you and that's all that matters.

And of course, she's right.

Bailey 2015



Bailey 2015

Television Commercial Artistry

I'm fascinated by the advertisement Viking Cruises airs on television. Ordinarily, I ignore commercials, and have several ways of being oblivious to them. I'm adept at just tuning them out until I hear voices indicating the commercial has ended. Sometimes, when the commercial is running, I surf the channels for a later hour program, or switch to the news channel to see if there is breaking news. There is usually enough time to run to the kitchen and raid the fridge for a snack, but if the voice in the commercial is grating and unpleasant to the ear, I just turn the sound down.

When the cruise commercial appears on the screen, I watch from beginning to end. I admire the composition of each camera shot. They really are works of art. The various angles from which the camera records the views, and the changing scenes holds my interest throughout the whole commercial.

The aerial views of the surrounding landmarks are stunning. As the cruise passengers sail curving water ways, winding through pastoral scenes, they are treated to interesting views of historic towns. Landscapes, ever changing, are a feast for eyes and I imagine the passengers enjoying the marvelous sights as they pass them.

Taking a cruise can be a wondrous thing, and there are many lines that offer voyages, near and far, that can be enjoyed. But when I watch the Viking commercial, I can't help thinking what a shame that the passengers will never really see the views that the camera promises. What they see when sailing the cruise line is not what I get to see in the commercial. While they are sailing on water, I am happily cruising the same voyage, but in a concise and more poetical time frame.

Viking River Cruises

The Bear Went Over the Mountain

Song: The Bear Went Over The Mountain

The bear went over the mountain
The bear went over the mountain
The bear went over the mountain
To see what he could see

The other side of the mountain
The other side of the mountain
The other side of the mountain
Was all that he could see

This song, sung to the tune of 'He's a jolly good fellow' has long been popular with children. Its a fun play song that groups of children and adults like to chant together. Years ago when my family heard the song on the radio, we all joined in singing along.

I had never associated weather with the song, but checking its origin on the internet, Wikipedia states the song may have its origin in an old Germanic tradition much like Groundhog Day. When a bear came out of his lair to see if the weather was clear, hibernation was over. If unable able to see the other side of the mountain, it returned to the lair for another six weeks.

Groundhog day is celebrated on Feb 2nd . If the groundhog emerges from its burrow on a sunny day and is frightened by its shadow, there will be six more weeks of winter. If the day is cloudy, Spring will be early.

Wikipedia lists the names of groundhogs that various cities and states use to predict spring. One of the more famous groundhogs is Punxsutawney Phil, from Pennsylvania who is widely televised on all the news networks. Viewers assume his prediction applies to one and all, but not so. The other groundhogs have predictions pertaining to their locations.



Bear

The Bike Shop: You wanna what? by KimB

[Editor's Note: The Bike Shop is a new feature area for the blog which will focus on cycling.]

Intro
Get Educated
Bikes in General

• Road
• Mountain
• Hybrid

Bike Stores

• Department Store Bike
• Sporting Goods Chains
• Specialty Bike Shops

Bike Pricing

• $100-200 Department Store Bike
• $400-$500 Looks Like A Bike
• $600-$800 Pretty Good Bike
• $800-$1500 Great Bike
• $1500+ Competition Bike

Intro

Over the last year, I've learned loads about bicycles and cycling. Cycling has a lot of benefits: it's good for fitness, it's outdoors and it's also indoors. It can be as flexible as you need in both time and cost investment. Bikes can fit nearly every fitness level, and there's nearly nothing that can't be altered to make cycling enjoyable regardless of physical limitations. You can go gung-ho and get into competitions or you can bike for fun and your own enjoyment. There are so many variations on cycling activities these days: there's something for everyone.

One thing that nearly everyone who has not been a cycle enthusiast before will find out: There's more to a bike these days than 2 wheels, a seat and handle bars. A lot more.

As I've been kickin'-the-tires on this issue, I figured I'd pass on the information for anyone who's interested in checking out cycling as a fun activity.

Get Educated

Before you actually run out and buy a bike, it's helpful to “Get Educated”. Do some homework on what you want to do before you head down to the first place you find that sells bikes and drop a lot of money on a bike that most likely won't work for you, won't do what you want, won't be fun and will end up in the next garage sale.

There are a lot of good websites that have basic information and some bike stores and sporting goods shops have "Cycling 101" courses for free or small fee. REI.com, the big sporting goods chain, has regular classes on cycling: some are free seminars and some are fee-based hands-on learning sessions.

Local bike shops often have a beginner course and a good bike shop will spend time answering all your questions and will not pressure you to buy before you are ready and completely informed about what you are getting. Bike shops do a lot of repeat business and they know that once you start cycling you will be a regular customer. They want you feel comfortable and to come back to them if you have issues or need maintenance/repairs. Good bike shops will invest in you as much as you invest in them.

There are some sharks out there too waiting to gobble up your money and sell you anything, so visit as many shops as you can to look at their inventory, talk to as many bike pros as you can to ask why one bike is different from another, the pros and cons of certain types of bikes and their intended use.

There are over a dozen specialty bike stores near me that are privately owned. There are also the big sporting goods stores and department stores too. The amount of information you get from a department store or from an on-line ordering description may not be enough to make a good decision. Take your time and find an outlet that is more than “cash and carry”.

Bikes In General

When I was a kid, I was lucky to have a bike at all. My brother got a 10 speed racing bike, I got a regular bike: the kind with 1 gear that you pedaled backwards to stop (aka: coaster bike). The old coaster bike was heavy, hard to pedal, it was a workout to ride and it wasn't fun. It was transportation but even at that it wasn't very good. I borrowed my brother's 10 speed as often as I could sneak it. It was fast, it was easy to ride and it was fun.

• If you want to cycle; fun wins every time.
  
• Fitness will follow if it's fun.
  
• If it's not fun you won't be cycling very long.
  
• Go for fun. Fun Wins.
  

There are loads of different kinds of bikes and they all have their specialty uses.

Road bikes: have skinny tires, lots of gears and hand brakes. They are lighter weight than other bikes. Designed to go on paved roads and paved bike paths.

Mountain bikes: have fatter knobbly tires, lots of gears and hand brakes. They have shock absorbers front and rear. They are heavier than road bikes. They can go on paved roads and bike paths but are designed to go on dirt paths and dirt trails.

Hybrid bikes: look more like a mountain bike than a road bike. They have fat knobbly tires for dirt paths and may have front shocks. It's an in between bike for multiple uses. Often cheaper than the specialty Mountain/Road bike. It's often the first bike you buy and it's the first bike you get rid of when you find “It isn't fun”. It can be best or the worst of both worlds.

Bike Stores

Bikes come in all price ranges and for the most part you will get what you pay for, unless you end up in The Shark Pool. Good bike stores will help you find the best bike for your money if you explain what you want to do with the bike. Good bike stores will have a variety of pricing options that department stores or chain stores won't have. Good bike stores will work with you and not fleece or scam you by over charging or promoting the “push of the day”. Good bike stores want you to come back; return customers are important for them.

However, be mindful that you can spend a lot of money on a bike that won't work for you. You see these bikes listed on re-sale sites by their owners, hoping someone else will come and take it away and hoping to recoup a fraction of the original cost.

Department Store Bike: usually the cheapest bike on the block. Department stores have limited selections and fixed prices. The bikes may or may not be assembled properly. This is usually the first stop in buying a bike and it's usually a hybrid style bike. These bikes are not worth spending very much money on to fix or upgrade. It can be cheaper to buy a new bike than replace a bent rim. It won't be much fun but often it's the cheapest entry point.

Sporting Goods Chains: the big chains often have larger bike selections. Stores like REI.com have a big selection of all sorts of bikes. Most of the stores with bike specialty areas also have repair shops and classes. They may have sales on bikes but not a lot of flex in last minute dickering.

Specialty Bike Shops: these stores only sell bikes and bike accessories. The often have repair shops and can help modify your bike to fit you properly. Each shop may carry a particular name brand of bike. Visiting each shop will show you which brands they carry. Brand name bikes often have a premium status/cost. Brand name bikes have model years, just like cars, and the bikes change each year. There may be a lot of flex in the tag-price for last year's model.

Bike Pricing

Bike price points will vary by the kind of bike, the brand name, the type of store. Bike manufacturers cater to all interest points and they are in business to sell bikes. If you want a Type-Any bike, you will find it. The main problem with the Type-Any bike is that in short order it's not fun, it's gathering dust in the garage and is the first item out in the yard sale. Buying a Type-Any bike isn't a great investment if you want to cycle for more than a few minutes or on a regular basis.

$100-$200 Department Store Bike: It's not a lot of money to start out with but plan on dumping this if you bike for more than a few days a year.

$400-$500 Looks Like A Bike: A step up from the department store bike but not really by a lot. The bikes will be heavy steel framed bikes and while they may seem to be “just like the bike you remember”, you have forgotten how hard that thing is to push down the road. Clocking in at 30-50 pounds of extra weight you won't want be pushing this down the road for very long. It may seem like a good selection but moving up one or two levels might be a better investment.

$600-$800 Pretty Good Bike: This bike will be a WHOLE LOT better than the previous levels. The frame will be lighter and it will have better quality and quantity of gears. It will have better brakes and wheels. Adjustments/upgrades made on this level bike will have more impact on your riding than the other bikes. While all bikes can have some adjustments, with lower price point bikes it's hard to justify a better saddle when it costs more than the bike does. Adjustments and upgrades on this level bike are “worth it” and move your cycling solidly into the “fun” category.

$800-$1500 Great Bike: If you can hold out for this level of bike, you won't need to “trade in” anything. This bike will be light weight. It might have some carbon fiber in the frame. It will have really good gears and brake system. It's a bike built to be fast and fun. It also has more flex in the price tag if you are looking at last year's model which means you can get a Great Bike for the same price as Pretty Good Bike. Adjustments and alterations here are part of the package. You may need a different seat or handle bar mount and the store will “fit” the bike to you properly. Bikes in this category will need additional adjustments made as you get fitter and bike longer distances. Even a small change can make a huge difference in your cycling experience. Getting a Great Bike makes this easier. Not only is this bike in the “fun” category you may get a few “wows!” when you show up with your bike.

$1500+ Competition Bike: Unless you go into competition, you don't need this. If you do branch out into specialty areas like long distance biking, off road competition or cyclo-cross you will need specialty bikes for each area. By that time, you will have more than enough experience to make your own way through the various bike options.



Hybrid Bike

Mountain Bike

Road Bike