Fun in the Sun

I rode roughly the first quarter of the Iron City Populaire yesterday, taking advantage of the fine spring weather. Some folks had grumbled on the Bike Pittsburgh message board that Kittaning Pike, out of Sharpsburg, looked long and steep. Upon further review, they are correct. It is a very nice climb–generally in the neighborhood of […]

Iron City Populaire

So plans to go to New Jersey to do the Frenchtown Populaire fell through, so I decided to organize one myself. Given the initial response from friends and folks on the Bike Pittsburgh message board, this may be start of bigger and better brevet-style rides here in the ‘burgh. More details about the ride can […]

Wet Sheep and Flat Tires

After riding to the Co-op on Thursday night in shorts and a t-shirt, Friday morning brought temperatures in the 30s and steady rain. Good fun. I do think I hit the clothing selection on target, outside of my gloves. Wool shirt, rain jacket, helmet liner, wool knickers, tights, wool socks. I started with neoprene gloves, […]

Bono, Money, and Humanitarianism

Ryan Anderson, writing at First Things, wonders if Bono, with his (RED) campaign, hasn’t drowned out the very voices he is trying to help. Bono’s campaigns rarely ask individuals to sacrifice much of anything (in fact, the (RED) campaign advocates more consumerism)–we simply attempt to have other shoulder the financial sacrifices (whether it be Congress, […]

Laptops and Liberty, and the Autonomy of Technique

Those watchdogs of our civil liberties, the folks who bring you BoingBoing, point out this Austin café which has prohibited the use of laptops. Cory Doctorow takes us down the slippery slope to an Orwellian nightmare where we will not even be able speak will eating in a restaurant. If we do not stand up […]

Localism, Again and Again

A friend gave me a copy of Jacques Ellul’s Perspectives on Our Age and tried to give me a copy of Bill Kauffman’s Look Homeward, America. While in many ways the books’ subject matters are far apart, in another sense they are quite closely intertwined. Both Ellul and Kauffman are committed localists, preferring the joys […]

Switching Gears, Again

Cannondale, Revisited, originally uploaded by anklebiter_pgh. The Cannondale has been reborn as a utilitarian commuter/randonneuse. The North Road bars and Technomic stem provides a rather upright riding position that it is very comfortable. I’ll be curious to see how it feels over the longer commute, but I have trouble imagining it would less comfortable than […]