Its back!

I hadn't give up the hope it would find its way back to me and recently if finally did.



The long version:
I got my purple Pake (PAA-KAY) back after mistakenly misplacing it.
"Mistakenly misplacing it" meaning I was a little drunky riding home from a party early one Saturday morning and crashed it. I got up and for some reason wandered away with out the bike.
I realized this when I "woke up" walking home. At first I thought that I had decided to leave my bike at the party until I realized that my u-lock was in my pocket and my helmet was on my head.

Shit.

I was pretty close to home and kind of bloody from the crash so I decided that the best choice was to go home, clean up and then go search.
I got home, cleaned up and passed out.
A few hours later a friend came by and we set out on the search.
Obviously we come up empty handed.
A couple days later I took a look at Craig's List just to see if by chance anything was listed.
I found an post in the Lost and Found section:

"Found - Brookside trail
Found bicycle along the Brookside Trail - 57th and Wornell - Describe to claim"

I sent an email with the description of the Pake right away
I waited a couple of days and didn't hear anything back
So I tried again. No answer. Again. Nothing. Again. Nothing.
This went on for almost 4 weeks. I was getting frustrated. I put up my own Craig's List post.
Nothing.
Then out of the blue last Saturday I got a text message from my old boss at BikeSource. He gave me a name and a number with and suggested I call it because he thought they had my bike.
Sure enough.
Turns out that the gentlemen that found my bike never got any of my emails.
He finally decided to try and track me down.
He typed Evil Pedalphile Kansas City in to Google and one of my blog entries comes up as the first result.
I couldn't believe it so I tried it myself.
It works.
Freaky.

Through my blog he found BikeSource.
BikeSource contacted me.
I contacted him.
I got my bike back.
Happy days are here again.

Bike Commuting. Do you do it?

As we move into the cooler temps of fall are those of you that commute still commuting?
And if so how far into the winter months do you commute?

This year has been a banner year for me as far as commuting goes (everything else has kinda sucked).
When I was working for BikeSource out at 135th I was commuting 30 miles a day pretty much 5 days a week
I parked my car elsewhere (Father's shop in Grandview) at the end of April forcing me to ride full time (amazing the motivation to ride this creates).
The only driving I did was for going to/from the events that I worked for BikeSource in the company van.
I didn't drive my car until I headed north to start the RAGBRAI in the last weeks of July.
Once I got back from the RAGBRAI I got right back in to daily commuting for a couple a months.
Then I started to slip a little.
Since my van was in my driveway I found myself making excuses to drive on occasion.
The brief period that I was doing some work at the new BikeSource location (opening January 2011) my commute dropped from 30 miles a day to 10.
Seemed strange for it to take 3 commutes to hit the mileage that I was previously getting in one day.
The upside to the shorter commute was I figured I could do it year round no matter what the weather decided to do.
Now that I'm unemployed I don't really have a "commute" to do.
Should be nice to get back to getting my mileage from "pleasure" riding

Back to the point...
Are you still commuting?
How far is it round trip?
How far into the fall/winter will you commute?
Do you have s specific bike that you commute on?
Is the weather what determines if you commute or not?

Tour de BBQ this weekend

LIVESTRONG Day! Get out and join the ride, the cause the community, 10/2/10.


Whether you are a racer, a rider or you like to volunteer, we can use you. There is a 15, a 30 and a 60 mile option. Don’t have a bike? Borrow one. Need a good excuse to buy a new bike? Can’t think of a better one! Concerned that you don’t “race”? No worries, this is a ride from BBQ stop to BBQ stop. You know how to ride, right? You know how to eat, right? Then you can participate! Don’t ride? Volunteer and eat BBQ.

Details:
http://tourdebbq.com/

DATE & TIME:
Saturday, October 2, 2010
Day of Registration: 6:00 AM (*If you register the day of you are not guaranteed a t-shirt)
Ride Start Time: 7:30 AM (Staggered start, everyone must arrive no later than 7:30 am)
Concert by Smash Mouth: 3:00 PM
Register today!

LOCATION:

Kansas City’s Power & Light District
1100 Walnut Street
Kansas City, MO 64106

*Riders will line up on Grand Street to start the ride.

LIVESTRONG Pavilion: Walnut Street will house the LIVESTRONG Pavilion with barbecue, Boulevard beer and a concert (in the KC Power & Light Living Room) sponsored by GEN X Radio 99.7 FM. Stay tuned for more details on barbecue restaurants featured and a special concert announcement later this summer.

AM ride around Longview Lake

33.39 Miles
17.7 Average Speed
1:52:28 Ride Time
Not bad for a chunky one eyed guy

Busy busy busy...

Spent the morning to do working up my event schedule for the season.
Not events that I am riding in, events that I am working for BikeSource.
*Granted there are a few events in there that I'm riding mixed in there.

Lots of good stuff again this year.

May
1 - KC WOW (Women on Wheels) Bike Festival and Expo at Shawnee Mission Park
16 - BikeSource Heartige Park Tri
22 - Lone Star Century
23 - Kansas City Triathlon
25 - Kansas City Corporate Challenge (KCCC) Time Trial day 1
26 - KCCC Time Trial day 2

June
4/5/6 - IronMan Kansas 70.3 in Lawrence, KS
12 - KCCC Mountain Bike Race
12/13 - *Dirt Burger 2 in Decora, IA
20 - KCCC Du/Tri at Shawnee Mission Park

July
11 - Shawnee Mission Park Tri
24-31 - *the RAGBRAI

Aug
1 - Cider Mill Century
8 - Hillsdale Lake Tri
14/15 - *HSP Rapture in Misery 6/12 at Crowder State Park
14 - Sunflowers to Roses

Sept
11 - Olathe Medical Center Women's Tri
18 - *HSP Kansas City Cup CX Race at Swope Park
19 - *HSP Kansas City Cup XC Race at Swope Park
25 - Bike MS Kansas City (MS150)
26 - Bike MS Kansas City (MS150)

Whew... looks like I'm gonna be a busy fella.
Gonna be a good season with a lot of this:

Spring is in the air...

Which can only mean its time for the BikeSource Ultimate Spring Sale!!



We have the gear you need to make your cycling experince the best it can be.
Come in March 25th to April 11th for some of the best deals of the year!

Now for some shop propaganda...

For more info come visit us in the shop or on line

The joys of working in a bike shop...

Some days we get to work on some pretty slick looking rigs here at the shop.
The latest is a long time customer's new anniversary edition Moots MootoX YBB 29er:

Moots MootoX YBB anniversary edition 29er frame
SRAM XX drive train
Industry Nine wheels
Edge Composites stem and bar
Pretty sexy!
More photos of it here along with other fine looking rides we see on a regular basis here at BikeSource of Kansas City