26 February 2013

Nominated For The Liebster Award

All of this work (ha, ha) might make me rich and famous after all.

I've been nominated for an award!  Yes, an award:  the Liebster.  I thank The Accidental Environmentalist for that.




Here are the rules for the Liebster Award:

1. Each blogger should post 11 random facts about themselves.
2. Answer the questions the tagger has set for you, then create 11 new questions for the bloggers you pass the award to.
3. Choose 11 new bloggers (with less than 200 followers) to pass the award to and link them in your post.
4. Go to their page and tell them about the award.
5. No tag backs.


OK, so here are some random facts about me:

1.  I was originally named after my father.

2.  My mother and I have nearly identical tastes in food.

3.  I have taught in a yeshiva.

4.  I attended Catholic school.

5.  At the age of three, I rode my tricycle down the stairs to the basement of the apartment building where I was living with Mom and Dad.  I still have a scar from it.

6.  I have dated two women who were born on Christmas Eve, and two others who were born on Ground Hog Day.  I dated a man born on 15 April (tax day in the US) and another born on Veterans'/Armistice Day.

7.  I was born on the Fourth of July.  And, no, I'm not related to Bruce Springsteen, though I went to high school with his cousin.

8.  My favorite Shakespeare plays are The Tempest, Othello and Macbeth.

9.  I have slept in graveyards--twice, both times during cycling trips.


10.  I didn't touch a computer until I was 41 years old.

11.  My mother would have named me "Justine" had I been born a girl.


Now, here are The Accidental Environmentalist's questions and my answers:


1.  How long have you been blogging?--Four years, seven months:  I began in July, 2008 with "Transwoman Times".

2.  If we had a third party in the United States, which would it be?--One that could become the first or second party.

3.  Dr. Pepper or Mr. Pibb?--I don't know about Mr. Pibb, and I've never liked Dr. Pepper.

4.  What is your favorite bird?--Cardinal

5.  What sport do you watch or participate in most regularly?--Bicycling

6.  When you decide to splurge, what do you spend money on?--Accessories, for myself and my bike

7.  What is your favorite junk food?--Tortilla chips with melted cheese

8.  What was your favorite vacation spot ever?--The Pyrenees

9.  What is your favorite amusement park ride?--I don't know. I haven't gone to a amusement park in a long time.

10. Do you have pets and if so, what pets do you have?--Two cats, named Max and Marley.  They're both rescue cats. 

11.  What era of U.S. history would you most want to be a part?--The 1920's. It seems that there was so much going on in the arts, sports and in science at that time.  I would be part of the 1930's, too, if I didn't have to be poor or unemployed.

And now, my nominees:



Remember, nominations are limited to blogs with 200 or fewer followers.  So, if your blog isn't on this list, it's not because I don't read or like it.
Anyway, you might want to check out the ones I've listed, if you haven't already!

For my nominees/victims, here are my questions:

1.  What is the best or most meaningful gift you ever received?

2.  What was the best-received gift you ever gave anybody?

3.  What historical figure would you be most interested in meeting?

4.  If you were a country, which one would it be?

5.  Was there any part of your schooling (elementary, secondary, university, vocational) that you especially liked or disliked?  Why?

6.  Think of all of the places in which you've ever lived, or visited. Which is your favorite?  If you had one day to spend there, what would you do?

7.  Have you ever Googled the name of someone you hadn't thought about in years?  If so, did the results surprise you?

8.   If you had the opportunity to become the President of the United States or the Pope, would you take it?  Why or why not?

9.   What is the most surprising or unexpected thing anybody could learn about you?

10.  If you could bring five books with you to a desert island, what would they be?  What else would you bring?

11.  Butter pecan, cherry vanilla, rocky road, pistachio or chocolate chocolate chip?

25 February 2013

My First Fixie: A Peugeot U0-8 Conversion

Thirty years ago, the only people who rode fixed-gear bikes were racers.  Even messengers, for the most part, hadn't glommed onto the simplicity and "cool factor" or riding a "fixie."

That meant, of course, that very few people knew about building them and that parts weren't readily available.  Bike books, at the time, contained little or no information about how to build, maintain or ride a fixed-gear bike.  In fact, the authors of those books most likely never rode or owned a track or fixed-gear bike.  If I remember correctly, Bicycling! never had any articles about them.


Back then, I knew only one person who rode a fixed gear.  That is what he used for his winter training; sometimes, he'd take his "fixie" on rides with the Central Jersey Bicycle Club, of which both of us were members.  He was a bit of a gearhead as well as a fitness fanatic; he meant well, but his enthusiasm for fixed gears probably scared a few people off.

One of my few sources of pride is that I wasn't one of those people.  I figured that if he could ride a fixed gear, so could I.  And I couldn't help but to notice that his "fixie" wasn't a fancy bike:  If I recall correctly, it was a mid-level Italian road frame (a Legnano made from Falk tubing, I think) and the components, while good, were nothing special.

So I set out to convert a Peugeot U-O8 I'd been using as my commuter and "beater."  I don't have a photo of it, but when I started, it looked like this:





My U0-8 was the same color as the one in the photo and, from what I can see, the same size. Like most French bikes of its time, it came with French-threaded parts, including the Normandy rear hub.  I knew enough not to thread an English- or Italian-threaded freewheel onto such a hub.  So, I looked and I looked (Remember, we didn't have the Internet in those days!) for a track cog that would fit.  Finally, I located a source:  Mike Fraysee, who imported French bikes into the US and sold them under the name "Paris Sport", had a few. He also had the requisite lockrings.  A few days later, I had both and a Sedis 1/8" chain that Peugeot used on its three-speed bikes.

Although I had worked in two bike shops, I had never worked on a fixed-gear bike.  So, I had no idea that track hubs (or, at any rate, hubs made for fixed gears) had two sets of threading:  a right hand-threaded "step" onto which the cog was installed and, in front of it, a left hand-threaded "step" for the lockring.  That design "locks" the ring against the cog and prevents it from unscrewing when you decelerate or stop without hand brakes.

Well, I installed the cog and tightened the lockring as much as I could in a vice.  Before installing both, I coated the threads with LocTite.  

Believe it or not, I actually got away with riding that arrangement for a few months.  Then, one day, I locked my legs when a taxicab made a right turn from the lane to my left on Lexington Avenue near Grand Central Station.  Although I managed not to run into that cab, I toppled over when the ring and cog unscrewed.  When I got back up, I screwed them back on, but they wouldn't stay:  The threads stripped.

I got the bike to a nearby shop.  "Wut da fuck iz dis shit?," the grizzled mechanic growled.  "U coulda got yerself killed!"

He was right:  Not only did I have an unsafe rear wheel, I had a terrible chainline.  It's a wonder that the chain stayed on the chainring and cog, let alone that the cog stayed on that hub for as long as it did. 

And I wasn't wearing a helmet.  But a parked Mercedes broke my fall and kept my head from hitting the pavement.

I wouldn't repeat the fixed-gear experiment for another decade.  By that time, I had a real job and bought a real track bike.  That will be the subject of another post.


24 February 2013

Bicycles On The Red Carpet

Normally, I don't pay attention to award shows.  I might glance at the day-after newsclips of them, just to see whether anyone wore anything particularly beautiful, interesting, outrageous or hideous.  Beyond that, I have no interest in the shows:  I don't care who wins what; I care only about whether or not I liked a movie or an actor's performance.

At shows like the Academy Awards (which, this year, is being called "Oscar," after the award), I prefer the walk to the talks.  The latter are usually banal and repetetive; at least, when some of them are in their gay attire, they look beautiful walking down the red carpet.

Would the Oscars or any other show be more bearable if the participants rode bicycles down the red carpet?


From M N S Photography