Tell Your Friends

There's going to be a lot more dummy sightings starting Friday...

Thanks for a great design Dad!

My New Timbuk2

I watched the totally awesome movie Quicksilver the other day. It changed my life.

No, but it is about bike messengers and I just got a new messenger bag for my birthday hooray!

(This is actually way better)

Actually, I got a lot of goodies for my birthday this year. Not only did my special someone get me tickets to a most wonderful Andrew Bird show, she also got me a sweet new bag. At first, I didn't think I needed one. My orange Adidas backpack, although not so attractive, has gotten a lot of use lately, and I could usually cram a decent amount of stuff in it. But now I can take so much more crap, and I just love that option.

This Timbuk2 size large bag is perfect for the person who rides an Xtracycle and a road bike. When I take the Trek on the Metra I always have it with me, and it usually has a few changes of clothes, bike tools and lights, a few notebooks and textbooks and anything else I want to throw in it at the last minute. It's a messenger bag so it's designed to be used on a bike, which makes riding in the city with it on pretty convenient. But the real purpose was to have a good, large waterproof bag for my Big Dummy. Backpacks fit nicely in one of the four spots in the back, but nobody is going to carry two backpacks around because they have a ton of stuff. The messenger bag is wider and as you can see, it looks like it was made to plop right into the xtracycle bag.

So far I have used it to carry anything from only two books to filling it up almost completely, and it has worked out great. I had it out in some heavy rain last weekend and everything was dry like it should be. They're also built to last, and I don't expect to buy a new one. Ever.

oh it is on !

I fiiiiinally got the pizzaloader set up after going on a screw rampage. It's nice and snug with the countersinking/longer screw combo. Tomorrow I'll be testing her out in the real world.

Whatever would I do without DK's great artistic abilities?? This puppy is one of a kind.

I bet you the goomba gets it

Back From Tennessee

I'm back after seeing the tallest man ever, St. Louis Arch, Elvis' Graceland, Sun Studio and bears at the Great Smoky Mountains.

Unfortunately Dollywood didn't open until this weekend :'(

'09 Golf Rule Change

"If one wishes to play golf with me, he/she must throw his/her clubs on my Big Dummy and ride his/her bicycle with me to the course of choice."


I was going to wait until I actually went golfing, but some recent comments warranted these pictures. As you can see, golf clubs are one of the many items that can be easily transported with an Xtracycle. I don't see any problem carrying up to 4 bags back there. I'd like to have a pair of WideLoaders and possibly a LongLoader to make them more secure, but just the freeloader bags will have to do for now.

IKEA Route Maps

Here is my route to IKEA. As you can see, I did what any car might do, take 3 direct streets. It sucked.



This is the way back. Janes is pretty good so I stayed on there for a little while. I wanted to avoid 75th completely. Hobson is good because there is a path on either side of the road, one being paved. After that, neighborhoods are always fun to ride through.

Riding the Metra

On Friday, I decided to take my bike on the train to go to the city. I don't know why I've never done this before, but I've always been a little nervous about the Metra people bugging me and more importantly, riding in the loop during rush hour. I had a great time, saved lots of potential CTA money and got to my destination in 15 minutes instead of 50. Riding downtown is so much more exciting than the suburbs. The whole time, I was really focused on not getting doored, hit by a bus or flung from my bike after hitting a nasty pothole. Then I saw a bike messenger fly by while looking down and texting on his cell phone. Maybe after years of riding down there I'll have the same confidence and level of nonchalance as those guys.


I didn't want to try to bring the Big Dummy, althought I have a feeling that about 15% of the Metra staff would let me on with it. The rules say that there is a 70 inch limit, which is a good 15" shorter than the bike, but there's tons of room in the handicap section, especially when you have the entire car to yourself! I guess getting it on in the first place might be the biggest hassle.


I got some crap from one of the workers at the station when I was walking towards the train. He kept on saying that I better have a chain to secure it to the rail on the train or else he wouldn't let me on. Some Metra workers are way too power hungry. I was a bit confused because the guy working on the way there didn't bother me at all, so I expected the same coming back. When I told him I have a U-lock, he almost didn't let me on because it wasn't a chain. I think all you really need is a couple of bungee cords or straps that can tie the bike down. Just make sure you've got something and there isn't much else to it.