Good Morning!

Happy Friday folks; we've made it.

So, I woke up this morning to snow. That's life though; it's winter; suck it up right? After a call into the weather station, I learn that it's 25°F outside which means it's Bell Weather pants and wooly nicker weather. After a bowl of cheerios I'm on my way.

I stop at the atm this morning and pull out 10 dead presidents for lunch. As I'm riding away, up Fayettes St. I hear "HEY BIKER!" ... "HEEEEY.... BIKER!".... I look back and see a typical Baltimore crazy looking guy running up the middle of the street... I'm like... what the? So I keep riding, and stop at the next red light and check my pockets to make sure I still have my 10 bucks and my atm card. He's still hustling up the street... "HEY BIKER!"... oh God.

So I wait for him. He looks harmless... just crazy. Big mistake. This guy goes on and on and on about some English 3 speed bike he has at home. And he describes it in GREAT DETAIL.... this goes on for 8 or 9 minutes while I butt in, as nicely and as I can, with "Hey I gotta go man, I'm super late for work"... he continues on, as though he's gearing up to ask me some sort of question about his Sturmy Archer shifter. So I'm like... "uh huh.... uh huh... uh huh... I gotta go man... uh huh... uh huh..."... Sheesh!... finally as I'm about to Kirk out on him I say "What's your question?!"... he goes.. I don't have a question... but man, the bike is so nice... and the wheels are .... bla bla bla.. I finally say "take care!" and just pedal off... he's behind me now and I hear "Hey, it's a Raleigh and it's got..... bla bla ba.."

I'll never stop for whacky people anymore. He probably meant well but sheesh!

Couple of unexciting pictures from this morning. What a slushy ride in today.

Arby.

Last night I went out to meet a buddy of mine for coffee and decided to take the mtb for a change. (seeing as how I just got her all fixed up for this spring) Had a good time sliding around the sidewalks and hopping whatever was around to hop. Pretty slippery out there. Here are a couple shots I took on the way home from the coffee house:

RB
A street light in the snow:
http://www.phattire.net/snowstreetlight.jpg

The Kona:
http://www.phattire.net/snowkona.jpg

Playing around:
http://www.phattire.net/snowkonastreak.jpg

Leverage on the snowy fence:
http://www.phattire.net/snowfencelever.jpg

as always, great pictures and write up. riding the kona in the snow looks like a lot of fun.

the_dude

Too funny man... you guys get all the fun, I just get to commune with bored looking cows on my commute.

Leverage on the snowy fence:
http://www.phattire.net/snowfencelever.jpg

Holy cr@p, dude... that is a nice shot!

For some reason, there is an unusually high correlation between loonies and bikes (not to say something too obvious ;-). I worked at a bike shop for a few summers and some of the people who would come in... wow. You would end up doing a bunch of work for free just to get them out of your hair. Still a lot of fun, though. I was just glad to be a wrench, so i didn't have to deal with too many problem customers like your friend Archy...

Keep warm, i'll try and send some of our sun your way!

Viva Canada!

Nice photos, RB. I agree, the one of the lever is nice. As far as the loonies go, I have plenty on my route. There are actually a few that I see every day in the same places. Sometimes I'll stop and chat with them for a few minutes, other times I feel like you and can't deal with it. One time in downtown LA in very heavy traffic a homeless dude with barely any teeth approached me at a red light. I guess he'd been watching me ride down the block and said, "You playin' a dangerous game, my man!" I see the same guy a couple of times a week at the same light, and if it's red I'll BS with him for a while. A lot of the people living on the streets aren't whacky though, just down on their luck.
Later