Tango, cycling, & technology...from a Portlander. - Transportation

Biking to Sherrard Point (Larch Mountian's Summit)

nospam@example.com (Gregg Berkholtz) — Wed, 25 Aug 2010 21:14:51 -0700

The summit sits at 4055 feet, its parking lot is where the Portland Astronomy club meets to study the night sky. The viewpoint is worth the ride, or drive; on a clear day, you can see four major mountians, with a ~270 degree field of view. As for climbing this hill on a bike...we'll, you'd better be reasonably fit, or the screaming legs of exhaustion will turn you around.

From my house, Google says that this ~36 mile trip:
By car, would take 1.25 hours.
By bike, 4.5 hours.

I did it, by bike, in under 2 hours and 15 minutes. Of-course, I have no ordinary bike; I had help. Google assumes your average speed would be around 8MPH, mine averaged 16MPH.

The assent was fun and brisk, the good company and screaming fast descent were worth the trip. The cougars...well...I could have done without them.
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How to make a TailSock frame for less than $10

nospam@example.com (Gregg Berkholtz) — Tue, 24 Aug 2010 17:51:37 -0700

Our local recumbent parts and accessories manufacturer sells some awesome TailSoks & frames. Although I'm not ready to purchase one of their admittedly well-made aluminum-tube based TailSok frames.

TerraCycle recently started making making their TailSoks with retro-reflective fabric, and so that means they're currently clearing out their old inventory of non-reflective soks, for bargain at $39/each.

So, after picking one of their clearance soks...
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A hotbed of creative engineers: Portland, Oregon

nospam@example.com (Gregg Berkholtz) — Sat, 22 May 2010 08:50:17 -0700

In the past few years I've met some amazing engineers, many are local folks...there must be something in the water.

The list grows daily, and I can no longer track them all manually. So...now comes a wiki page:
http://gregg.berkholtz.net/wiki/diyprojects

Examples:
Three-wheeled leaning vehicle:

Electric Motorcycle:

My list is absurdly-long...keep an eye on the new wiki page

Tired of flat tires? I have a solution

nospam@example.com (Gregg Berkholtz) — Sun, 16 May 2010 12:42:39 -0700

An update to my Feburary posting; the airless Kenda inserts are working great.

Yes, I do feel just a little bit slower off-the-line...but...over the past couple of weeks I've realized that I'm no longer scanning the roads for glass, nails & other crap anymore. Only the largish potholes and other uneven surfaces.

Combined with the fact I no longer haul around pumps, tire wedges and patch-kits. Is it worth feeling slightly-slower off-the-line, yet never worrying about flatting again?

Hell yes!