Show Your Colors

Few activities in life can embody a feeling of independence, freedom, and liberty like cycling.  Even though its popularity has come and gone repeatedly over the last twelve decades, the bicycle has remained a revolutionary vehicle for generations of dreamers.  I'm not usually a flag waver, but riding around with the Stars and Stripes blazing on the back of my bike overwhelms me with patriotism and a sense of hope for the future.

Our nation's flag is not only a reminder of battles fought and lives sacrificed, but also of a great land full of natural beauty and a bounty of resources that should be shared, respected, and enjoyed.  While celebrating our nation's independence, remember to respect the freedoms of others.  Happy Independence Day from TBR!

Strength in Numbers

I was inspired by more than a few friends who participated in the LiveStrong Seattle Challenge last year.  I decided to do the ride myself this summer to help raise money and awareness for the Lance Armstrong Foundation.  Like many people, I have close friends and family who have battled and survived cancer.  More people need to know that cancer is no longer the death sentence that it once was.  You can fight it, and you don't have to fight it alone.

I registered for the ride last winter and just a few months later, my grandfather was diagnosed with cancer.  He was ready to fight it, despite it's advanced stage, however other complications with his health were compounded by the cancer and he lost his battle before it ever really  began.  His death just two months later was a huge loss to my family.

My friend Blaine, who visited from Colorado for the Courage Classic last summer, ended up at our house on vacation over the LiveSTRONG weekend in June.  Rather than hang out while I rode the course, Blaine signed up for the ride, too, and raised over twice as much money as me.  It was a dreary, rainy day (in fact, the darkest June day in Seattle in 15 years) and we opted for the 45 mile course.  We rode along with John, another friend who signed up at the last minute and who's family has had it's share of losses to cancer over the years.  It was humbling to ride behind riders decorated with "Survivor" tags and certainly motivated us to overcome the small discomfort that the weather provided.

Many thanks to everyone who donated to my fundraising effort and who rode or supported the ride.

  

Kickstand Fail + DIY Fix

Just a few days after the pre-school year ended, I found this little doodad on the floor of my garage:

It took me a few minutes to figure out that it was formerly attached to the kickstand of the bucket bike, and that it played the important role of "kickstand deployment keeper". [World Cup jargon, in the parlance of our times. -Ed.]

note the hole on the right

I didn't trust the remaining keeper to hold the bike steady for child loading/unloading, so the whole bike was out of commission until I found a fix.  At least the kickstand still held the bike upright and parked in the garage.  However, several days later an unsuspecting houseguest used the Madsen for quick errand to pick up bags of ice and when he returned, the other keeper had also gone AWOL.  The kickstand would simply continue forward until the feet faced the front wheel.

I notified Madsen Cycles of the issue, but haven't heard back from them yet.** Meanwhile, I came up with my own DIY fix.

I purchased a 5/16" bolt and washer for each side and tapped the keeper holes in the kickstand to accept the bolts.  I threaded the bolts in the holes nearly all the way, then added thread-locking compound on the last few threads before tightening the bolts in place.  It seems to be holding up ok, though I'm still cautious about allowing too much weight to be placed on the kickstand while loading and unloading kids.  In fact, I'm making my 50-lb passenger climb out on her own before I put the stand down.

This is the first non-maintenance issue we've had on the bike after 14 months of regular use.  I figure the bike has nearly 1000 miles on it.  Since the bucket is meant for passengers, it's obvious that this failure is a safety issue.  You may want to take a look at those keepers and make sure that they still appear welded in place.

**UPDATE: As Jared Madsen commented, their official fix was very similar except they use one long bolt to go all the way across.  After they realized this was an issue, Madsen Cycles started pre-installing such a bolt on their bikes before they were shipped to customers.  If you still have the keepers on your kickstand and not a long bolt, you may want to consider doing this to avoid the failure.  Contact Madsen Cycles for hardware, etc.

The Freedom to Ride

The Tacoma MOB Riders took over the streets once again last night for the Freedom Ride.  Mrs. TBR and I could only stick around for a few stops, but we had a blast!  

If you haven't been on a MOB ride yet, there will certainly be more to follow.  Anyone and any bike is always welcome.  I've heard that custom t-shirts are in the works, too!

Freedom Ride

The Tacoma MOB Riders are taking over the Tacoma streets once again...

via lordrocktober