Tag: bicycle

Cycling Again

On By Michel McDonaldIn Bike, Cycling, ExerciseLeave a comment

Last month I bought a new back wheel for my bicycle so that I could start getting exercise again.  The same exact day, Chips deceased cousins girlfriend bought a vintage 10-speed road bike because I told her I was getting my new wheel and that if she had a bike we could go bike riding together.  We rode exactly 2 times together last month.  I didn’t ride on my own though.

This month we rode once, yesterday and I told her that if this is going to work we are going to have to do this more often, like every day at least.  Since we are both out of shape then perhaps every other day until our leg muscles are more used to it.

I spent a long time figuring out the perfect route for bike riding and unfortunately she doesn’t like my route because it’s the same thing every time and she likes to take short cuts, which defeats the purpose of the ride.  My route has no heavy traffic to cross, all neighborhoods and when we are on the busy roads they have bike lanes.  I pride myself on my organization skills whether anyone likes it or not, typically nobody likes it but me.

My cell phone hasn’t worked in years and I really need to keep a cell phone with me at all times when I’m out on the bike trail so I bought a refurbished Samsung T401G from Net10 which is the same exact phone Darrin has, only I paid $25 for mine since it was refurbished and it comes with a $25 phone card.  Basically I got the phone for free hehe.  But it’s a very nice phone compared to what I would have gotten had I gotten the cheaper phone if I had gone to Sears to buy it today.

Even though we are going to ride every other day, I am going to ride every day if I can (as soon as my new phone arrives) because I have more weight to lose than she does and I am determined to lose it.

I will be suggesting an alternate route for her which is her car.  We were crossing such heavy traffic yesterday and it really freaked me out so if she wants to do this she can drive her bike there and I can meet her on the trail.  I think that is a good plan.  I get more exercise and she gets the amount of exercise she is satisfied with, it’s a win win for everyone involved.

Why Can’t I Lose Weight?

On By Michel McDonaldIn Diet, Health2 Comments

I don’t understand why I’m not able to lose weight.  I have changed my diet completely, I have basically done a 180° and yet I still can’t lose weight.

I stopped drinking soda, coffee and tea and I only drink water but that didn’t make any difference because I’m still gaining.  I stopped making pasta meals and started eating more veggies and sometimes only eat veggies and yet that hasn’t made any difference because I’m still gaining.

I haven’t started exercising though because I’m in too much pain.  If I had a back wheel for my bicycle then I would be able to ride my bike, although it has a weight limit of 250lbs and I’m 258 now so I would probably have to wait a bit to do that.  I tried walking but I get back pain after like 5 minutes then I have to sit down.  I have degenerative disc disease in my spine which makes it very difficult to do anything really.

I am seeing the doctor this week on Thursday and I know he’s going to bitch at me for not losing weight again this month.  But nobody can say I haven’t tried because I have made the change to my diet.  Until I can get an easier way to exercise, I’m kinda stuck.

Drunk Bus Station People

On By Michel McDonaldIn Doctor, Health, PeopleLeave a comment

Since Darrin is working now and my bicycle is missing a wheel, I have to take the bus to my doctors appointments and anywhere else that is too far to walk. I don’t mind taking the bus, in fact, I recommend it to anyone because it’s green.

Unfortunately, our city has a station in Downtown Bakersfield where all the busses come.  If you have to transfer then you just go downtown and walk over to your next bus. If it’s there great, if not wait.

So I took the bus to my doctor’s appointment, all is well with bus travel. I leave and have to go to the bus station to transfer to the 2. It’s not there so I have to wait.

I’m sitting in one of the seats waiting and the number 2 (going in the opposite direction that I need to go) comes and people get off. I hear a guy taking his bike off the bike rack in the front and turn around and look at how nice his bike is and watch him struggle to put the rack up.

Out of nowhere, another guys face is literally 1 inch away from my face. He said “why were you looking at me just now?” and I could smell the beer on his breath. “I wasn’t looking at you, I was looking at the guy taking his bike off the rack” as if I owe him an explanation.

He backs away and sits across from me, staring at me.

Uncomfortable, I get up and walk 40 feet away. I’m staring off into the distance so that it doesn’t appear that I’m looking at anyone or anything in particular. I don’t want to get accused of looking at anyone again.

I feel like I’m being watched and I turn around and he’s sitting down 2 feet behind me.

Are you serious?

He comes up to me, again 1 inch from my face but whispers into my ear “I bet you watch anus videos all day long, don’t you?” I smell the beer on his breath and it is not pleasant.

“Uh, no, I don’t think so” I say to him with a dirty look on my face. Trying to convey to him that he has the wrong impression of me and hoping he’ll leave me alone.

I’m trying not to look at him, not even for a second and he tries to start a conversation with me but I’m giving him 1 word answers, trying to let him know that I am uninterested in talking to him.

He asks if I have a badge.  Why are people always asking me if I’m a cop?  I mean seriously!  Does a Lego Indiana Jones t-shirt scream cop?  No, it screams video game geek.  I tell him “I don’t have a badge, if I did have a badge it would say ‘The Nerd Herd’” (you know from Chuck) and he laughed and said “well at least your honest.”

He’s asking me questions and finally I said “Look, I don’t want to get into a fight with you, I just want to go home” but apparently that was the wrong thing to say because now he starts laughing as if I just told the funniest joke. “You think you can take me HAHAHAHA that is so funny because I will kick your ass so hard….”

I just walked away. I figured, he’s not going to just let me walk away and wait for my bus, no he’s going to stalk me until my bus comes. And for all I know he might get on the bus and follow me home. Then he would know where I live. I can’t have that. So I left.

I left the bus station altogether. I just kept walking until I got to the corner that City Hall is on right next to the police station. Not to go make a complaint, the bus stops there.

I didn’t have to wait long but if he were on that bus I would’ve hoofed it all the way to the house which is about 25 blocks. My leg is still injured and walking to that bus stop which was about 5 blocks was causing a lot of pain but I would rather suffer a bit of leg pain to avoid that guy knowing where I live.

What makes people do things like that? I looked at the time on my cell phone when he was harassing me and it was only 11am and he’s already piss drunk. I don’t understand alcoholism.

First of all, I don’t know if he was hitting on me or if he was trying to find a gay person to beat up. You can never tell anymore what someones motives are. He didn’t look like a typical gay person, he looked like a typical red neck which Bakersfield is most known for.

And if he was gay trying to get a piece of this action (yeah right, that’s hilarious) why wasn’t he a little nicer about it? I mean seriously, you catch more flies with honey that with vinegar.

Anyway, I NEED to either get my bike fixed or get a new bike before my next appointment because I am NOT taking the bus again. Period! End of discussion.

TerraTrike – The Rover – Official Site Of The World’s Most Comfortable Recumbent Trike / Recumbent Bike

On By Michel McDonaldIn Cycling, ExerciseLeave a comment

TerraTrike – The Rover – Official Site Of The World’s Most Comfortable RecumbentTrike / Recumbent Bike

Have you seen these before? I’ve seen people riding them on the Bakersfield bike trail and I’ve seen them at Snyder’s Cyclry (bike store) but I haven’t seen them this cheap. Although the 3 speed Rover is the least expensive, they go up from there.

I would be too afraid to ride one of these on the streets on the way to the bike trail because I’m too paranoid that I’m gonna get hit. We have some crazy drivers here who don’t care about my safety but instead only care about the thrill they get from turning me into a paranoid nut case. Yes, I’ve been hit by the driver of a pick-up who was looking directly at me when he hit me so I know from experience.

I wouldn’t mind riding one of these on the bike trail though because it does look a lot more comfortable than riding a regular bicycle. For one when you are ready to pull over to rest for a bit you don’t have to get up. Just stay seated. That’s another issue I have with the bike trail, there aren’t very many places to sit and rest. There are a few places but when your legs decide you need a break there is never a bench to rest on.

The downside that I see is that I wouldn’t be able to bring it to the grocery store because there doesn’t seem to be a basket in the back like most grandpa trikes have so I’d still need my regular bike for those trips.

Although, I can’t afford $800, if I were to get another bike it would probably be this. I would have to get a ride to the bike trail if I did get it, that is until I got comfortable enough riding it in the streets.  There aren’t too many cars early in the morning so that is the best time for me to go out on a regular bike or this.

Everyone Deserves A Roof

On By Michel McDonaldIn CharityLeave a comment

I was browsing this website which features a concept design for building a little trailer home for a bicycle and one of the commenters linked this.

Everyone Deserves A Roof aka EDAR

This is meant specifically for the homeless in Los Angeles who cannot or will not go to one of the homeless shelters.  Cannot because they don’t have enough cots or will not because they are too proud or whatever reason they might have.

It’s a cart during the day that you can roll around to collect your cans and bottles for recycling or maybe even perhaps to store your belongings in then at night it’s a tent to sleep in.  If you do decide to go to the shelter you can sleep in your EDAR and have privacy instead of sleeping on a cot with everyone else.

When I was kicked out of the house by my mother when I was 17 I was homeless.  I was living place to place for short periods of time until the person I was staying with no longer wanted me there.  Eventually I had to go to a shelter in Simi Valley and stayed there for many months until the program ended for the summer.  By then I was back on my feet and renting a room in the home of a Vietnamese family.

So when I hear about something like this it makes me happy that there is something to help the homeless during the time they cannot go to the shelters.  But the issue is, where can you set it up and sleep in it without the cops opening the flap up and telling you to move somewhere else?

This is a good thing for homeless people in my opinion.

httpvh://www.youtube.com/watch?v=xCtn_F4JCig

http://www.thenewsroom.com/mash/swf/cube.swf?a=V3571840&m=905116

Tiny Bicycle-Towed House is Self Sufficient

On By Michel McDonaldIn Bike1 Comment

Tiny bicycle-towed house is self-sufficient – from Dvice.com

This is awesome!  I couldn’t think of anything better for a person who is homeless.  Besides it being so claustrophobic I think I could live in this if I absolutely had to.

Of course this isn’t an ideal living space but as long as you are happy with it then that’s fine.

This guy made it “just in case Swine Flu resulted in an apocalypse that required him to be entirely self-sufficient” lol.  It was only meant for him to have shelter during Burning Man but I can see using it some other times.  For example you could go camping with this and you can move around and never have to worry about setting camp up again.

My concern is, where do you store all of your food?  I mean, food is going to make this thing too heavy to pull.  It’s still cool and I wish I had one lol.

The Contortionist Bicycle

On By Michel McDonaldIn Bike, TechLeave a comment

I have seen folding bikes before but this thing is amazing.  It folds up to the height of the wheels and is very compact.  You can take it to work with you and not even worry about locking it up, you can just hide it under your desk or if you don’t have a desk, lock it up in the break room.  You could probably even lock it up outside in the parking lot to one of the handicapped signs.  3 companies are already looking to crank out thousands of copies of this bicycle and charge maybe less than $700 each.

httpvh://www.youtube.com/watch?v=l9_XEgGQBkQ

Can’t Wait to Exercise

On By Michel McDonaldIn BikeLeave a comment

On Monday August 3rd it will be 2 weeks that I haven’t been on the bicycle and I will still have to wait to ride it until my shoulder is totally 100% healed.  I’ve been trying my best to make good food choices but when I can’t exercise at all because of the excruciating pain in my back and shoulder it takes all of my motivation away.

I’ve been finished with the steroid meds since yesterday morning and so some of the pain caused from the side effects from that medicine are gone but the pain that I was taking them for is still there.  I still have 3 more weeks worth of the muscle relaxer medicine to go.  I sure hope I won’t be out of commission for 3 more weeks, that would suck.  It’s basically voiding the last couple of months of hard work.  I’ve already started gaining some weight back.

When I get my check I’m buying a new handlebar which is about $10-$15 (hopefully) and the grips for about $5 I guess then I can start riding again.  Of course it is possible that my brake cables aren’t going to be long enough so I’ll have to buy new cables lol.  If it ain’t one thing it’s another.  And I’m going to buy a new gel seat cover for this new ergo seat so that should top me off lol.

I’ve been out of money for the last couple of weeks now so I haven’t had some of the foods that I love so when I get my check on Monday I’m gonna go nuts because then I can finally buy some coffee grounds and some creamer.  Oh I miss coffee.  I hate being broke so much lol.  Luckily I still have some slim fast though so that I haven’t been worrying about and Darrin buys milk when we’re out so that’s not a problem either.

Monday Monday Monday hurry up and come faster!  The last 2 weeks are going toooooo slow.

Bicycle Of The Future

On By Michel McDonaldIn TechLeave a comment

2_bike_pres

Check out this new bicycle concept by Marten Wallgren who won the award for best concept in the competition called “Future City Mobility”.

This is a concept for the future so basically in 20 years you might see this in London Gardens which they say is a bus and bicycle only zone.

They don’t really give out much information as to how to obtain one of these bicycles other than showing pictures.  You go to the bus stop where you see all of these bicycles in a tree which stores the bikes.  I can only assume that these are all rentals because they each have a number on them like a license plate number.

When you are riding it you are building up the battery power with your peddling power.  If you are peddling while sitting straight up as if you are on a beach cruiser you are building 1x the battery.  If you are more leaning forward in a faster racing type of mode you are building 3x the battery.  If you are sitting up and letting the motor do all the work you are using the battery instead.

How this helps you out though is by you building up the battery to 100% when you get in a taxi or bus with a holder for this bike you get a free ride if you let the vehicle drain your battery.  I’m not so sure about a free taxi ride but definitely a free bus ride.

This is a neat concept but 2030 is a long way away and it’s possible that this is going to be a London only idea or perhaps it will be copied over to the US and everywhere else in the world before too long.

It will be especially neat if we get our flying cars by 2030 then there won’t be any cars to compete with on the roads because they will all be up in the air.

Walnut Hollow Hot Tool Issues

On By Michel McDonaldIn craftsLeave a comment

July 15th 2009:

I just emailed Walnut Hollow with this query but I wanted to post it here as well.

I have a Creative Versa-Tool wood burning kit.  Sometimes the points get black from being used so much or maybe from being turned on for extended periods of time.  The points I can sand with a very fine metal sandpaper which I usually use when needed but the threads on the points also get black.  I can use a wire brush to get the black off the threads on the points but what about the inside of the tool?

I’m having issues getting the points on and even taking them off.  I have to use a pair of pliers to put the points on and take them off because it’s so tight from all the black on the threads.

So while I await their response I’m going to save this post as a draft so I don’t have to edit my post.

I am still waiting for their response but while I was waiting I decided to try my own little experiment.  I tried looking for a wire brush, it looks like a tooth brush but it’s wire instead of the normal plastic bristles your tooth brush has.  I wasn’t so lucky but I did find something that is a bit longer than the average tooth brush with longer bristles and is meant for use in the kitchen.  So I grabbed that and also a can of WD-40 meant to keep my bicycle lubed up at all times.

I sprayed some of that on 2 of my points and it soaked the In ‘N Out Burger napkins on my desk so the bottom of my desk is now an oily mess.  I proceeded to scrub the shit out of the points with the brush and even though I could see some blackness going onto the bristles, the threads didn’t change.

I then squirted some WD-40 into the chamber where you screw the points, not too much, I flipped it over and tapped it on the napkin so in case I put too much in there then it would drip out.  I then tried screwing a point on and unscrewing, you know, to grease the threads and it seems to have helped a little but not too much.  Maybe it just needs that to be done several times to get that shit out of the threads on the inside and on the points.

It’s too late now to get a response so back to the draft this post goes until I get a response hopefully tomorrow (Thursday).

July 20th 2009:
Dear Michel,

I believe that the ‘black’ on the Points and threads is due to a reaction when the metals get hot from the tool. To remove this, you can use fine grade sandpaper. As for any difficulty you have changing the Points using pliers, try using powdered graphite (found at most hardware stores) to help with changing Points on the tool. Powdered graphite is mostly used in locks to make keys slide in and out easier – works on our hot tool threads also.

Hope this helps,

Chris