Corn "Maize"

Kathryn and I rode out to the hinter lands and got lost in a maze of corn a couple weeks back. The first half of the maze was pretty easy but the second half sucker-punched us and we had a pretty difficult time finding our way out. Here are some pics in no particular order:

Can you solve this "cornundrum?"


Dead end:


Plenty 'o maze-goers:


View from the Saint John's Bridge:


Many squeals of delight were heard from these kids riding in steel barrels converted into a cow train:


Haybale Mountain:


A lot 'o corn in that maze:


Kathryn wandering:


Trees kinda looked like exploding fireworks:


St John's Bridge:


Hole cut for cars in this willow:


Pumpkins!

mountain biking

A couple weekends ago I got to mountain bike near Mount Hood for the first time. The trails are top notch with terrific views and huge trees, but perhaps best of all is the lack of mosquitos and black flies.

No heat

Now that it is late autumn it's getting cold at night. Sleeping is always best when the weather gets cold. Here's a good passage from Moby Dick on the virtues of a cold room and a warm blanket:

We felt very nice and snug. The more so since it was so chilly out of doors; indeed out of bed-clothes too, seeing that there was no fire in the room. The more so, I say, because truly to enjoy bodily warmth, some small part of you must be cold, for there is no quality in this world that is not what it is merely by contrast. Nothing exists in itself. If you flatter yourself that you are all over comfortable, and have been so a long time, then you cannot be said to be comfortable any more. But if, like Queequeg and me in the bed, the tip of your nose or the crown of your head be slightly chilled, why then, indeed, in general consciousness you feel most delightfully and unmistakably warm. For this reason a sleeping apartment should never be furnished with a fire, which is one of the luxurious discomforts of the rich. For the height of this sort of deliciousness is to have nothing but the blanket between you and your snugness and the cold of the outer air. Then you lie like the one warm spark in the heart of an arctic crystal.

Oregon Manifest

I got to show some of my prototypes to the public for the first time at the Oregon Manifest handmade bicycle show this past weekend. A friend was kind enough to lend me his cargo bike to move the entire show booth from my house to the venue via pedal power:


The booth basically consisted of our dining room table, chairs, some prototypes, and cookies that Kathryn baked to lure people in:


Bike Portland was kind enough to include some good photos of the products in their slideshow from the show. Check out pictures 25-30.

It's a small world

Damn, it's a small world:

Hi,

I'm running a small distribution in Japan and a sole distributor of
Tonic Fabrication and Black Market bike.
I found your products on flickr of bikeportland and looks very cool.

I'm happy if I could sell your products in Japan.

Cheers,
Teisuke Morimoto

Wow

A sweet sweatshirt like this is almost enough to make a guy become a Vikings fan...

Cyclocross

Cyclocross racing in Oregon? Crazy. 1,267 people raced last Sunday in the rain and cold. I've never seen so many people at a 'cross race. All photos courtesy of Bike Portland:

Bike to Work

Last Wednesday I helped the BTA out with their bike to work challenge party. My job was to draw a line that would show people where to line up for free beer (all kindly donated by Widmer.)


And line up they did! We had three taps going at once and I was in charge of the Brrr! Seasonal beer (8% ABV.) I just left the tap open and poured beers until one barrel was gone and I had to roll out another. Luckily my shift ended while there was still beer to be had.