5.12.11

Since Blogger screwed me over last night by being down for maintenance,  I'll just have to make yesterdays post today and pretend I didn't miss a day.  Pretty funny because I didn't really have much to post yesterday anyways....

I'm riding my bike almost 90% of the time to work now.  It's amazing.  Saw this yesterday on my ride

I did a full day of errands yesterday as well.  Took the bike on a short fun ride, then to the store to get a drink, then to the vet to get cat food, then the bank, then Safeway for food.  Yup, TP and cat food on the front rack. 

5.4.11

First day back at the studio after about a week off.  I'm always amazed how easy tattooing seems after a long period of time off.  Everything just seems to work better than it did before taking a break.  My stencil went on perfect, machines were running great... I guess even tattoo machines need a bit of time off...

Anyways... Today I tattooed this fun Dr Seuss piece on Naissa's foot.  Kinda crappy photos since it's fresh, but I'm really happy with how the tattoo turned out.  It was a really fun tattoo to work on. ( and obviously the infinity symbol/numbers we there before and not done by me)

Revolution Cycle hooked me up with a few free tubes since my bike came with 2 flats

It's always a good Idea to try something new at dusk, right?  Trying to figure things out in the dark?  Great idea...

Teagan took this photo with Instagram.   If your an iPhone nerd, download this app, it's amazing.  I'm not sure how to post a direct link, but your can follow either of us.  Our user names are teaganbeglaw and shawnoconnor.

The new bike has an internally geared hub, which made it a bit tricky to figure out how to change the rear tire, but I think I got it... I guess I'll find out tomorrow when I ride it to work...

5.3.11

I forgot to post this the other day.  Awesome drawing by a hungover Teagan of how I felt most of the plane ride home... It was pretty rough... especially the take off and the first big bank turn... extra points for the drawing being on the air sickness bag.

So today was the first day trying to avoid using the car.  Other than driving Teagan to school this morning, I did everything on my new bike today.

Went to Safeway and bought a backpack full of groceries.

Rode it to my massage/chiro appointment and saved almost 20 mins compared to driving and trying to find parking.  Oh right... also saved $5 on parking that I would have spent driving my car.

 

Picked up a second cable to lock up my front wheel on the way home and bought beer for a bit of BBQ tonight.  Crushed the beer box, but that doesn't effect the beer in any way.

I was really excited to ride to work tomorrow...however... I should have figured this out when I found the bike in the basement at Revolution Cycle yesterday... Like I said, it was last years model, and when we pulled it out from the rack, both tires were flat.  I found a bike pump and filled them up for a test ride and didn't think about it again...

...Those flats should have been a huge red light... both tires have flats and I don't have any tubes to change them tonight.  Unfortunately I'm not exactly confident I can cross the city without them deflating....

5.2.11

So... I bought a bike today... Teagan and I live a bit further away from the shop than the last house we rented, and I really miss commuting on a bike.  The last 3 years, I've tried to commute the summers as much as possible on a few different fixed gear bikes.  Even though I do have a lot of fun riding a fixed gear bike, there are definitely a few draw back for commuting on one where we currently live, like the fact that Edmonton is the most UNFRIENDLY city to commute on a bike by having horrible roads and even worse drivers, as well as being drenched in sweat when arriving to work.   Visiting Amsterdam this year obviously completely changed every view I had about bicycles and commuting daily on bikes.  So it was time for a change.

Revolution Cycle is right next door to our studio, and in my opinion, by far the best bike shop in town.  They always have a huge selection and amazing staff.  Hiding in the basement, I found the only remaining Globe Live 2, and since it was last years model it was a great price.  After a few test rides to compare it to the Haul model, I was confident it was exactly what I was looking for in a commuter bike this year.  This obviously isn't a pic of my actual bike.   I'll take a few pictures of it in the daylight tomorrow.  I'm super excited for a summer of riding comfortably on a bike, not wearing a backpack, coasting and using multiple gears.