Category: Events

We’re trying to get loose ends wrapped up so we can head back home to Missouri in the next day or so. The heat index here in S. FL this morning was 93. Cape Girardeau’s temps were in the low 40s. That’s going to take some adapting.

Third sock solution

I can recall one chilly ride several years ago that I discovered an area that wasn’t covered by arm warmers and leg warmers on fast downhill rides. If the day hadn’t warmed up, I’m afraid I’d have been reaching into the panniers for a third sock.

We’re going to miss some good events while we’re out of town.

St Petersburg Share the Road Ride

The Florida Bicycle Association sent out reminders this morning from some events that will benefit the FBA (and be a lot of fun to participants. Here’s a brief rundown.

Share the Road Ride sponsored by the St. Petersburg Bicycle Club in conjunction with the Bicycle Bash by the Bay.

Sunday, October 11, 2009
8:30 a.m. – Ride Registration Begins
North Straub Park, St. Petersburg

Ft. Lauderdale Bike BBQ Beer Beach Bash

zMotion’s Bike BBQ Beer Beach Bash!
Sunday, October 18, 2009
7:00 a.m. to 4:00 p.m.
Ocean Manor Resort
4040 Galt Ocean Drive
Fort Lauderdale, FL 33308

The event includes a ride, an all-day beach party, BBQ buffet, beer and tons of fun! Activities for the kids with balloons, snowcones and much more!

Ft. Lauderdale’s Share the Road Memorial Ride

Ute’s October Blast – The Share the Road Memorial Ride
Sunday, October 25, 2009
8:00 am – 3:00 pm
Downtown Bicycles
2533 E. Sunrise Blvd.
Ft. Lauderdale, FL 33305

Ute’s October Blast will be 36 and 62 miles along A1A, originating at Downtown Bicycles, 2533 East Sunrise Boulevard in Fort Lauderdale. Riders in the 36-mile ride will proceed north on A1A to the first rest stop at Spanish River Park in Boca Raton before returning south on A1A back to the start. Riders who want to do a metric century (62 miles) will go  north to the second rest stop at Ocean Inlet Park in Boynton Beach before looping back south on A1A to Downtown Bicycles to enjoy a post-ride lunch, music and a complimentary massage.

Lake worth Halloween Street Scene

While this isn’t strictly a bicycle event, there’s a rumor that some of the Freakbike Militia will show up to ride in Friday night’s Soul Parade. Halloween is The Big Ride for the FBM, so anything that can expand and extend the Halloween Season is a Good Thing for them.

For more details about the Lake Worth Event, which sounds like a bag of fun, click the poster.

We have to be home for Halloween Chopper Night Oct. 28

Here’s a quick description from the Freakbike site:

It will be on Wednesday, October 28, 2009, 7:00pm at the corner of Southern and Flagler. Of course this will be a Halloween cruise but this one will be not retro, but our own generation’s horrors!

Werewolves, Dracula, and ghosts are encouraged, but think BLOOD, Severed HEADS, scalp hunting aliens, skeletal bridge trolls who eat slow children! This can be metal like Eddie from Iron Maiden, Sci Fi like Ripley, plastic hockey mask like Michael Meyers, or plastic black man mask like Michael Jackson!

I’ll post more details when we get closer to the date.  If it’s anything like the  Summer of Love Ride, it’s going to be a blast for riders and spectators alike.

I like the West Palm Beach Freakbike Militia folks (referred to hereafter as FM because I manage to misspell Militia and have to keep correcting it) and they tolerate me hanging around, so it’s a good mix.

Remember their Summer of Love Ride? These folks know how to have fun.

When TIII sent out a message that there was going to be a 48-hour bike build at the Hen House, I sort of wangled an invitation.

Another naming convention: I know that most of the FMs have birth certificates somewhere with real names on them. They prefer to go by nicknames like Wet Paint, Accident, Banjogrrrl, KrusherZ and the like. One of them mentioned that it has to do with parole officers, but he was kidding. I think.

Jack the Bike Man

The Hen House is a storage unit in Lake Park where volunteers work on restoring bikes for Jack the Bike Man. You can read all about Jack, his organization and his projects here.

Jack told the FM that he had to move to a smaller place to cut down on rental costs.

TIII set three goals for the weekend

• Build as many bikes as possible – particularly kid bikes
• Repair damaged drywall in the unit
• Empty and remove a huge rack in the middle of the shop, all to prepare for the move.

Drinkslinger drove down from Melbourne

Drinkslinger, in the red shirt, came down from Melbourne and worked at least 40 of the 48 hours. He was cranking out bikes every time I looked at him.

When he wasn’t building them himself, he was showing others how to tear apart and rebuild old clunkers.

“Lots of grease,” he counseled. “That’s the ticket. The kid will probably outgrow it before he wears it out.”

Ricky, in the white shirt, had already knocked out seven or eight bikes when I saw him the next morning.

Freakbikers also teach

Freakbikers do more than just party and build funny bikes. They spend a lot of time working with high school-age kids like Rand, one of KrusherZ’s neighbors. TIII is showing him the finer points of tire valves here.

Think Shop Class with heavy metal

And cool teachers who do this because they love it.

When the crew needed a break, they’d pull out their own pet projects to work on. There are tall bikes that are eight feet tall; and low riders that almost drag the ground; bikes that look like they have scales and bikes that shoot fire. Imagination and the laws of physics are the only limits.

These are not your *-Mart’s Huffy bikes. They may be MADE of discarded *-Mart bikes, but that’s the end of the resemblance.

Building a tall bike

KrusherZ, left, Wet Paint and Accident are starting to work on a tall bike.

“We’re all here because we enjoy what we’re doing and we enjoy giving back to the community,” KrusherZ said. “And it gives us something to do other than sitting at home playing video games.”

Accidents WILL happen

Putting a bunch of young males (and some who are not so young) in a room with instruments that cut and make sparks pretty much insures that blood will be spilled eventually. Parental warning: Nothing REALLY gory happens, but there IS one brief, if understandable, use of profanity in the video.

Tony was using a grinding wheel when he discovered that the spinning blade takes off flesh faster than it does metal. Fortunately, the Hen House stocks first aid supplies. After a debate about which of those supplies to apply first, KrusherZ produced the REAL first aid. “Icy pops fix EVERYTHING,” he said.

The last time I saw KrusherZ and Tony, they were headed off to KrusherZ’s house where Super Glue was available.

Do I REALLY want to run this video?

I sent a message to ask Banjogrrrl if she thought anyone would take offense at the Freakbike Militia First Aid video.

“Oh, I was fine with the video.  I don’t know Tony, but I figure he would be too…I’ve ground a knuckle or two my ownself (although apparently not that badly, or maybe I just have a higher threshold for pain — anyway, not badly enough to require a fainting couch with little girl bike tires as a pillow…)”

OK to quote you?

“oh, lolz, sure.  Again, I don’t know Tony, so I don’t know how he’d feel about it, but I feel like I have built up enough injury cred to be able to get off a little good-natured ranking  :)”

So, Tony, if you have a grinding wheel in your hand the next time we meet, I want you to remember that it was Banjogrrrl who said that, not me.

Hundreds of bikes will go to needy kids at Christmas

I mentioned Friday that I had just heard about the Palm Beach County Full Moon Drum Circle and was planning to check it out.

I learned a valuable lesson from the experience.

I was really bummed out

• I had gotten a late start.
• The moonrise was before the sunset, something I noticed as I was coming over the top of the Lake Worth bridge. That meant that there wouldn’t be a picture of a big orange glow coming out of the ocean.
• Since I was running late, I would have missed it anyway.
• There is no light on the beach. That meant that it wasn’t possible to shoot without flash.
• I hate flash.
• What moon there was kept going behind the clouds.
• I was getting sand in my sandals.
• I was sure the no-see-ums would attack at any moment

Wife Lila showed up at the Drum Circle

While I was griping about all the things that were cheesing me out, I noticed that she was grooving to the music. If she hadn’t achieved the age where she has to worry about breaking a hip, I think she’d have done the Frog Dance right there in front of everybody.

That’s where I realized something important.

Sometimes you have to experience life instead of covering it.

That’s a tough thing to learn when you’ve spent most of your life as an observer and not a participant.

So, here’s a video that tries to capture some of the spirit of the Palm Beach County Full Moon Drum Circle, even if I had to use direct flash.

Put Friday, September 4, (that’s the next Full Moon) on your calendar and meet us at the Lake Worth Municipal Beach around 8 P.M. I may be the guy who is NOT shooting pictures.

[By the way, that’s Wife Lila’s spontaneous review at the end of the video.]