Labor Day Weekend

We will be closed Sunday, September 2, and Monday, September 3 for the Labor Day holiday.

Don't forget, though, that we'll be meeting here starting around 10 to ride to the "Save the Trinity Trees" picnic. It'll be a short, casual ride, so EVERYBODY is welcome. We will have the register open for those of you who need to buy sunscreen or snacks for the picnic. Ride to the picnic leaves at 10:45.

Join our email list!

On the right, you probably see a box to sign up for an email list. We're going to start using a new email system, which requires building a new, opt-in list. If you want updates from us, sign up now!

Bicycle! Bicycle!

Steve-o has a review of the Fort Worth Symphony Orchestra's rendition of Gustav Mahler's 9th Symphony.

I bring it up because when I went to the FWSO site to read more, I found this cool banner with a picture of Mahler on a bicycle:



I was instantly reminded of the famous picture of Einstein on a bicycle:



Does anybody know of any other photos of geniuses on bicycles?

Hot Hot Hot!

Read about this bike.

Ride to the Cats game with us.

This Friday night, we will ride our bikes to the FW Cats Baseball game. Ride leaves the shop at 6:30, and tickets to the game are free for anybody who rides with us.

Weight loss plans...

After a very strong start, my weight loss goals have been derailed. I'm blaming it on Taqueria San Luis, the greatest taco shop on earth:

Mad Dogs and Englishmen (Thanks for the title, Ken)

Yesterday was the hottest day of the year so far, but we rode anyway. Still, I'm glad it's 10 degrees cooler today.

Tomorrow (Friday) night, Bryan and I are going to do another night ride... we're making it a weekly thing, so we need a ride name. Or at least a name for our band of merry riders. How about "The Friday Knights?"

Anyway, if you want to ride with us be at the shop ready to ride at 8.

Building bike culture in the 817

Looks like the critical mass was fun this month... we should join them next time...

Labor Day Trinity Tree Ride.

Hello Fellow Riders and Stewards of the Earth.

On Labor Day, September 3, 10:30am ish.
From PCB, we will be Riding our Bicycles to the Trinity
Trail grove of trees.
Come for the Ride, if your in town, to help support
this threatened area.

The Grove is located next to the Capstone Church,
1700 Rogers Road.

Everyone is invited, Ride anything U want, Come as U are.

We will have Rahr on Tap at the shop.

Check out www.trinitytrees.org

Thanks
Jason
PCB

Trinity Trees Meeting

I recently got word from the office of former City Councilmember Wendy Davis (thats right... I said "former." She just resigned her position only three months after winning the seat. More on that at my campaign blog) that there will be a public meeting about those Trees on the Trinity Trail just west of Rogers Road.

Here's the word directly from Ms. Davis:

Friends,

I will host a Community dialogue with members of City staff and Chesapeake Energy to discuss Chesapeake’s intention to
drill on the wooded property adjacent to the Trinity River Trail System off of Rogers Road and west of Capstone Church.
The details are as follows:

Date: September 6th, 2007
Time: 6:00 PM to 8:00 PM
Place: Capstone Church 1700 Rogers Road

Please feel free to call the City Council office (817-392-8809) should you have any questions.

I look forward to seeing you at this important meeting.

Sincerely,

Wendy Davis

What did you do last night?

I rode with these folks. Plus Pete, who turned toward home before making it back to the shop, and Bryan, who is behind the camera in this picture.

8 riders... the biggest Monday ride we've had in a while. Now that our string of 17 consecutive rainy Mondays has been broken, isn't it time you got back in the groove and rode with us every Monday?

PCB and Park Tool present:

I've had a lot of requests over the years to teach classes on bike maintenance, so we've teamed up with Park Tool to present the Park Tool School. This unique program offers lots of hands-on instruction, and a great curriculum and textbook designed by the bicycle repair masters at Park.

We will be offering three different classes in the series. The first class, Intro to Home Mechanics, is a 6-hour class designed to give you a working knowledge of your bike and how to maintain a clean, well-adjusted machine. Topics covered include cleaning and lubrication, brake and gear wear and adjustment, tire and tube repair, basic wheel truing, and on-the-ride repairs.

Later we'll also be offering Intermediate- and Advanced-level classes, so stay tuned if you've already got a grasp of basic bicycle mechanics and are looking to further your bicycle education.

Tuition for the Intro to Home Mechanics class is $100, and this INCLUDES the textbook for the class, Park's Big Blue Book of Bicycle Repair, a $25 value. You can subtract the $25 if you already own the book. Students will also get a 20% discount on Park Tools purchased during the class.

Class size will be limited to four students, so that everyone gets plenty of hands-on instruction and supervision. The class will meet Tuesday October 2nd, 9th, and 16th from 7 p.m. - 9 p.m. I expect the first class to fill quickly, so email me if you're interested. I may add a second class if the response is good enough.

PSA

If you're new to our group rides, when you come to your first one PLEASE don't drive off just because you don't see any cars with bike racks at the shop. We all ride our bikes here, so there are rarely any cars in the parking area on Sunday mornings.

This morning somebody in a vehicle I didn't recognize pulled up in front of the shop. I was inflating my tires, and I saw the blue Toyota out front, but when I went up to unlock the front door and let the new rider in... he/she had driven off!

We missed you, whoever you are. Please come again.

Thanks Brad and Bryan

We had a great Friday Night Ride. A little over 40 miles, at a nice brisk pace. It's nice to beat the heat by riding after dark, and the temperature by the river is 5 degrees cooler still.

We're thinking maybe for an end-of-summer night ride, we'll load the panniers with some Rahr, and take our swim trunks along. There's a decent swim area out at the lake...

Night Ride

Bryan and I are going to do an after-dark ride tonight. We'll be riding in some secluded areas, so a powerful light system is a must for this ride. Meet us at the shop at 8:30 if you want to come along.

Bicycle Ride... Free Beer...

Those are two of my favorite pairs of words. This Saturday is the first Saturday of the month, and that means it's time for our ride to the Rahr & Sons Brewery!

Meet at the shop at noon, and the ride leaves shortly thereafter. The ride will be just a few miles, at a very casual pubcrawling pace. Free Beer awaits!

Tour de Cure

I met with the fine folks at the Fort Worth office of the American Diabetes Association yesterday; they're putting on a Fort Worth version of their very successful Tour de Cure on October 20.

The nice thing about the Tour de Cure rides is the first-class support. Even a novice rider can attempt a ride like this without fear, because the volunteers there to help you are first-rate. If you've never done a ride like this, you should try it. You're pretty much guaranteed to have fun, and you'll support a great cause at the same time.

We'd like to get a team of at least five riders together to ride this event, so we're looking for someone who'd like to serve as the team captain. Our fundraising goal will be $150 per rider. Email me if you're interested in joining the team or being the captain.

New inhabitant of the Blogosphere

Our buddy Ben has a new blog. If you have time, go check it out... and pay special attention to his sweet header!

You missed out...

if you didn't make tonight's ride. Ken, Micah, and I had a great ride. A flat tire lengthened the ride time a bit, but we all had lights so we we continued the full ride distance. We even forded a stream and played bicycle limbo along the way.

All this was without getting rained on, too. It threatened, but I never felt a drop. Since our ride photos lately seem to have a "backside" theme, here's a picture illustrating how nice the weather was... you can hardly see the mud stripes!:

Wednesday night ride

We're looking forward to the Wed. night ride tonight... the group has been growing, and we've been averaging 5-6 riders. Come and join us; let's see if we can't hit ten riders some Mon. or Wed. night soon. Here are a couple of pictures taken by Rowdy on this weeks Mon. Night Ride:





Ride Starts at 6:30. Be there.