Salute to a genius!

Not related to bicycling, directly, but this technology is so phenomenal, it could be used for so many things, including cycling!

Grapevine, Here we come!

On Saturday, I rode to Grapevine, Texas with my friend Shoaib. It was a great day to ride. We rode a total of 43 miles from my home in Irving to Grapevine and back. We rode some trails in Grapevine, near the Grapevine lake and I saw less concrete jungles and that was a great feeling.

I saw richer foliage and different colors along the way. This made my day. I love Fall. It is so nice to see leaves change colors. Here is a tree with rich colors!

On the way to Grapevine, there were little man-made lakes, such as this one, which were surrounded by nice vegetation.

We came across this Dodge truck, which had no windshield. It was a unique looking truck and I thought it deserved a picture. Which year I wonder!

The batteries of this ole truck were outside the truck. I haven't seen such trucks in a long time. I have seen lorries in India which had their batteries outside of them.

This truck hauled this interesting looking boat. I guess the boat was okay. It didn't look broken down or anything. I saw tons of trucks hauling big boats to the lake around here. Not very surprising, I presume!

Pictured is Shoaib's back. He is a strong rider! Up ahead of him, you can see the Gaylord Texan. That's a massive place. Shoaib tells me they have a great brunch on the weekends. Gotta check it out!

There are some cool camping sites near the Grapevine lake. The folks working at the campsite were awfully nice to let  us ride the campgrounds and check it out for ourselves. I am mighty tempted to check out this place on my first S240.

Here is a first look at a portion of the lake. The building pictured below is a lodge that one can rent for weekends and such. It had a great deck on it. I would love to rent this place for a weekend. I wonder how much it would cost...:)

Here is a scenic view of the Grapevine Lake. Lots of sailboats and motorized boats in this lake. I wonder if it is busy all year.

From this point on, we rode the several trails that are near the Grapevine Lake. I was pleasantly surprised by the nice networking of both the paved and Mountain bike trails in Grapevine. Great job, City of Grapevine!

Being a touristy town, downtown Grapevine was buzzing with tourists and holiday decorations. Along Main Street, there were bunches of little shops that sold different things like Cowboy Hats, Jewellery, Women's clothing, etc. Grapevine had the charm of a small town. I even saw a Polar Bear and some Penguins. They got'em all here in Texas, don't they?

Grapevine boasts really nice Christmas decorations! Here is a sample. I think this town would look great in the evenings when all the lights are lit up.

All that riding made us hungry and we chose to get a bite to eat at the Main Street Bread Baking Co. in Grapevine. This place had some good breads, pastries, decent coffee and great music (Arabic, French and Spanish)! It was a great Boulangerie and I would definitely recommend it!! I am so reminded of Return of The Pink Panther (with Peter Sellers) and Dr. Evil, every time I use the word Boulangerie.

Here is the scene from The Revenge of The Pink Panther.

And, here is Dr. Evil's great speech :)

After doing some serious researching of the menu, being a vegetarian, I chose the only Vegetarian sandwich available at this place. I am not complaining! There were breads, bagels, and pastries that I could have eaten, instead of a sandwich, but I was craving something other than just bread. Below is the menu:

This is the Open Face Veggie Sandwich I ordered. It was worth every penny! They layered this sucker with grilled Mushrooms, Zucchini, Eggplant, Red Bellpepper and topped it all off with some Gooda :) The sandwich came with a side of Kettle Cooked Potato Chips and a delicious wedge of a Pickle!

I found this map near the restroom at the eatery. I am really not sure what it is as much of it was written in French, which I can not understand after lunch :) But, the map was pretty and I decided it deserved a picture. May be one of my knowledgeable readers will be kind enough to enlighten me about this map!

Did you know the history of Grapevie? I did not know anything about it when I went there. Here is some fine reading for y'alls who are interested in this charming Texas town's history.

Image above courtesy of Grapevine Convention & Visitors Bureau.

After lunch, we rode back to Irving through Coppell. We rode around Coppell's bike trails a bit. Coppell also has a decent set of trails. Traffic in Coppel is still messy, if you ask me.

I thoroughly enjoyed riding to Grapevine. I would love to ride there again.

Peace :)

Custom Taillight Holder (Design II)

Late in August 2009, I wrote about a custom taillight holder that I had co-invented with a buddy of mine. I was using it up until recently. Sadly, it bit the dust during the Babble Ride.

While I can mount my Dinotte 140R-AA on the seat post, that setup is only good as long as I do not carry my rear trunk, which I plan to use tomorrow.

Ta-da...time to create a new Custom Taillight Holder! I tried creating one tonight and that's what this post is all about :)

Below is what I am trying to replace.

Here is the current state of the functional one above :(

I have attempted to document how I created my Custom Taillight Holder below.


Step 1: I needed the right El Cheapo tube for mounting the light on. I chose an old metallic broom handle.

Step 2: I cut the tube down to the length you desire. I think it is a good idea to keep the tube short! I used a traditional hacksaw to cut the tube down to the desired length.

 

Step 3: It may be a good idea to file off the rough edges caused by the hacksaw. I need to :) For doing this you can use a traditional file or be lazy and use a grinder like I did!

Step 4:  Measured how far apart the two holes on the Tubus rack were. I need to mount the metal tube to the rear rack.

Step 5: Drilled two holes in the tube so it can be fastened to the rear rack. 

Here is the almost-finished product!

 

Step 6: Measure the darn holes in the rack before buying fasteners using a guesstimated diameter!

Luckily, I had some spare bolts at home (not Zinc coated) which I used for fastening the Custom Taillight Holder to the rear rack. I will be (most likely) replacing these with Zinc coated fasteners soon!
Step 7: Wrapped the ends of the Custom Taillight Holder with Green Duct Tape. That's how Green I am :)

 Step 8: Fastened the Custom Taillight Holder to the Tubus Logo Rear Carrier.

And, here is the finished Custom Taillight Holder!

In the picture above the looks cocked to one side but I fixed it after looking at this picture!

Lessons learned:

1. Be precise like an engineer (SteveA, can probably give me some coaching in this area!) :)
2. Measure everything at least twice before going out and buying stuff based on "measurements" and guesstimates.
3. Aluminum tubes are not super strong but they do work.
4. Old mop/broom handles play a very important role in creation of new devices*. 

Good help makes things so much easier!

*When I taught  my daughter how to ride her bike sans training wheels, I found it very difficult on me to have to bend down to hold on to her bike so she didn't fall. I thought very hard about the problem at hand and ...... I came up with a silly but workable idea. I shoved a mop handle under the saddle all the way down, along the down tube, of my daughter's little bike, when teaching her to ride it without training wheels. It worked great and I did not have to bend down to hold the back of the saddle to prevent her from falling.  

Peace :)

Just chilling for a coupla days!

 I got a couple of days of work related events after work at places which are easier to drive to. One of them was a Happy Hour at the end of today. While I do not drink, I still drove today. I have to drive tomorrow as tomorrow's event is a bit farther than I care to ride on a work day. Plus, tomorrow I am giving a coworker a ride to the event and back to her house.

On Saturday, I am riding to Grapevine Lake. I am riding with my buddy, so that will be an interesting (never been to Grapevine Lake) and enjoyable ride (good company). I will post some pics from that ride soon.

Be well my friends!

Peace :)

Amber Xenon Flasher and Cateye LD-1000

Here is a picture of my taillight setup on my daily commuter, the Cannondale T-800. I am still working on perfecting the art of mounting the Cateye LD-1000 on this bike. On Gikma, the Cateye LD-1000 can simply be mounted on the Tubus Logo Rear Carrier.

Below is a video of the Amber Xenon Flasher and the Cateye LD-1000, which I videoed tonight.

The Amber Xenon Flasher is spec'd to run on a 12 Volt DC R/C Car battery. I happened upon a slightly less powerful battery (which was much cheaper) at RadioShack, which is what I am using now. In spite of not using the full 12 VDC, the Amber Xenon Flasher works great.

I feel safe having these two lights on my commuter. The Gikma has the Dinotte 140R-AA taillight.

What is your setup like?

Peace :)

Thank you, Mr. Richardson & Family!

Part I
While I have ridden the Campion Trail many a time, I never knew the exact history of the land upon which it was built. But today, I learned that history first hand and I am very glad to share it with you.

Thank you, Mr. Richardson and family, from me and all of us that use this really superb resource!

Part II
I did not know that helmets were mandatory on the Campion Trail. I am not sure if anybody is enforcing it but rules are rules. Or are they?

I love these rules, especially those which remind us to put our best foot forward, behave civilly.

While the benefits of helmet usage are perhaps debatable, I think Bicycle Trail Use Rules 2 through 6 are splendid ones - things some of the Armstrong-wannabe's of the Campion Trail should be mindful of?

Happy Trails!

Peace :) 

Jackass on the Trail!

I love animals, birds and all of nature! I would have loved to see a Jackass on the trail, had it only had four instead of two legs.

Yes, I did see a Jackass with two legs on the trail today :(

This one was walking around with either a BB Gun or a rifle (I could not tell which one it was). I have seen mostly nice folks on the Campion. So, I was dumbfounded when I saw this guy walking around with what appeared to be a gun.

I wasn't sure he was not headed over to the Shooting Range in South Irving. So, I decided I will just ride around a bit and then come and check on what this guy was up to.

Well, I wasn't suspicious for no reason! This guy was going around and shooting at little birdies and critters. I don't know if he killed any/many. But, what an ass :(

I did my share as a good citizen. The moron had left the area by the time the authorities showed up. I apologized to them for having wasted their precious time. These officers were very nice and told me, "That's what we are here for. Don't worry about it."

Here is to my possibly fallen friends!

I am sorry I couldn't be there for you guys!!

Peace to all :)