I visited Los Angeles Flying Pigeon again last Sunday

My light stopped working and a lugknut fell off my seat so they needed to do a little fixing. They were cool, of course, I drank some good tea and talked with the other patrons while they worked on my bike.

I took a couple more pictures, the men's version and a flock of Flying Pigeons out on the street.




I'll have to go again this weekend to pick up some spare tubes. I might go attend the Dim Sum Ride.

Today is shipping up to be interesting...

Left for work at my usual time, was about 5 miles on the bike path when the smoke got unbearable and I took a detour and went to a friend's house. Decided to hitch a ride with her.

Watched the news about the fires in The San Fernando Area.
The Santa Ana winds kicked my ass on my way to my friend's house. Dodged branches flying, dirt in my eyes and was nearly knocked off my bike a few times (I'm a heavy broad and on a heavy bike). The Santa Ana winds are horrible alone, especially to bike in, but you couple it with a fire and all hell breaks loose. (ya rly)

2 hours into work, they decided to have us pack up and calmly evacuate the building, the fire was getting too close to us. Ash was starting to fall and cover everything outside. I made sure I got the other cyclist a ride home (coworker with a truck) and got the hell out of dodge.



The ride home from my friend's house was uneventful, and the smoke didn't bother me too much as I was wearing a mask. The wind may die down in a little bit. It will get worse tonight. I am not sure whether or not I will have to go to work tomorrow, we were all told to call the company's emergency number first thing in the morning.

Now that I am out of work for the day, I planned to just chill out, get some stuff written for www.soulgeek.com/. I got word that there is a neighborhood council meeting tonight in Sherman Oaks where they will be voting on The Cyclist's Bill Of Rights, so I am going to totally have to go to that. Besides, I want to show Stephen and Enci Box (soapboxLA) my new Flying Pigeon.

Christ on a bike!! The Governator (Ah-nold) declared an emergency just now...

I've made a decision about my Raleigh

I've decided to take my Raleigh bike and sell it for parts. I will just take it apart and post the items on craigslist. Toss the frame into the recycling bin.

I attended an interdepartmental meeting today, I'm on the safety committee, I represent the billing department. I have a friend on the safety committee who represents Microbiology. She also rides, and whenever we see each other, we talk bikes. I told her about my Raleigh frame breaking. She told me that's the same bike she rides (down to the same model). She also told me she's gone through 4 Raleigh bikes in the past 10 years, that she get's them for comfort but they fall apart after two years or so. She's on her fifth Raleigh, and after six months, she's already worn out one gear. And she only rides 6 miles a day. She also get's regular maintenance, she just doesn't let them fall apart without doing anything. I put 16-17 miles on my Raleigh a day. I was just shocked.

I've been thinking about this a lot today. Even if they are able to replace the frame on my bike (I still do not know yet), it would only buy me a few more months until something else breaks or falls off.

I have a great all steel single speed Flying Pigeon that is simple, comfortable, beautiful and fast. In a comment in one of my latest blogs, Tiago, from the Ride N Desire blog, told me that if I buy a Flying Pigeon, I have a bicycle for life. The Flying Pigeon HE owns is 60 (SIXTY) years old.

I've been riding 30 miles a day on my Flying Pigeon since Monday and I feel great. I have never been able to ride this many miles on my Raleigh in this short of a time.

Trying to fix this Raleigh would be stressful, costly and a waste of time (good time I can use going out and riding my FP). So screw it, I'm eating this loss.

Learn from my mistakes boys and gouls, don't by a Raleigh (unless it's an all steel vintage that has stood the test of time).

My bike frame cannot be repaired. So I got a new bike!!!

Yeah, Craig at Boulevard Cycles told me that he will see if getting a new frame under warranty is possible, but not to hold my breath. He looked at the broken pieces and said there was very little hope (kept repeating, "no bueno" I think that's the only spanish he can speak LOL).

I wasn't surprised really. I had already decided yesterday that the next time I get paid (two weeks from now), I will just take a few trains up to LA Flying Pigeon up in Highland Park and buy a Flying Pigeon. Like I mentioned in a previous post, it would be just a few bucks cheaper than the piece of crap Raleigh that I had. I said as much to my coworker/friend who happened to show up at the shop while I was there and my brother who gave me and my doomed bicycle a ride to the shop. They were both there with me to hear Craig's grim prognosis.

While my brother and I were on our way home, I muttered a few times "just two more weeks, just two more weeks, just two more weeks". Bro told me that he can lend me the money and I can get the bike now and pay him back in two weeks. So I took that money and got on the train from the San Fernando Valley to LA. I don't usually borrow money from my bro, and vice versa, but I couldn't pass this up. I hadn't riden a bike since Tuesday and the prospect of two weeks with no bike felt horrible.

Flying Pigeon Los Angeles is AWESOME! The guys were really nice and I cannot suggest them enough! Their bikes are pretty sweet. They let me take a few pictures of the bikes. They asked about my blog so I told them all about it and I told them that I heard about them from SoapboxLA (link to the left). I also let them know that I was going to do a little write up about them.

I just wanted to post some pretty pictures.

The Pink is a work in progress





That last one is the one I bought (outside the burrito shop near Flying Pigeon LA). I was *this close*to buying a red one. But I decided on black, it is my favorite color after all.

Oh, I don't know why I didn't take any pictures of the men's Flying Pigeon. But yes, they do have a men's version, in black only.

I decided to stop by Trader Joe's on the way home. The bag fits perfectly in the basket.


I just need some new pannier bags on the back, because the steel is a bit thick and my old pannier bags do not fit on them. Any suggestions? Remember, go everywhere on my bike, so I would need something suitable for work and shopping.

Also, I need some help naming my bike. Any suggestions?

There is hope on the horizon...

I still miss my bike. I miss riding so bad.

I spoke to my trusted shop, Boulevard Cycles, earlier and they made me feel so much better. Craig was the one who worked with me when I attended Boulevard Cycles' free bike maintenance class and saw first hand how bad my bike was. I told him some horror stories about my experience with the guy I bought the bike from. I told those same horror stories to the guy who answered the phone at Boulevard Cycles today. I asked him to please help me out and PLEASE don't make me go back to the crook I bought the bike from. He told me to bring my broken bike in and they'll do what they can for me. <3

It made me feel so much better, because I really didn't want to go back to that crook. I just knew he was going to try to screw me out of my warranty.

I miss riding, soon I'll be back in the saddle again. This bike was an extension of myself. I didn't just ride it recreationally, I rode it to work, to the store, to the movies, running errands. I rode this bike EVERYWHERE. It was a great way to express myself, relax and relieve stress after a hectic day. Being without a bike is like missing a limb. :( I feel so EMO without it (I still listen to better music though).

And to avoid anything like this happening again, when I get enough spare money, I'm going to buy another bicycle. Thanks to SoapboxLA, I found a shop in Los Angeles that specializes in Flying Pigeons and surprisingly enough, the Flying Pigeon Bicycle costs a little less than the bike I own right now (only because the crook I bought it from overpriced it).

And the Flying Pigeon so purty!


So in the future, if something happens to one of my wonderful bikes, I will not have to go without riding while it's being repaired...

My bike broke

I was trying to straighten out my rear wheel this morning on my way to work and I just could not straighten it out right, it would sit crooked in the frame rest. It got so bad that I just walked the rest of the way to work. I wasn't far, just outside the campus so I was still on time to work.

The other bicyclist here at work (see previous blogs) came out to help me set my rear tire straight and it was an EPIC FAIL. He was trying to set the rear hub into the cradle and parts came off in his hand.



That part circled in green is what broke off the frame. The rear wheel cannot even sit in the bike, that whole back area is totally frakked. I cannot roll it home or put it on the bus. My broken bike and I are hitching a ride with a friend who drives a truck.

My bike is a Raleigh Venture and I just got it in May 2008, it's not even 6 months old yet. According to Raleigh's website I have to get in touch with the dealer (the guy I bought the bike from) to see about getting it fixed before I contact them about my warranty.

I'm not even sure the guy I bought it from is a Raleigh dealer. He has so many different bikes there. Usually dealers deal in only one or two brands and stock their stores in only those, right?

But that's besides the point, the guy I bought it from is an ARSEHOLE (excuse my language but I have no other way to describe him). When I bought this bike I had already taken my old clunker bike to him a couple of times for repairs and he would refuse to allow me to watch him make repairs (I wanted to learn) and he CHARGED me to adjust my seat height (I was such a n00b). He even messed up my gears when he put the kickstand on the bike and it took me two months to figure out how to fix it (because I refused to take it back to him, because I knrw he would charge me).

When I took my bike to another shop for a free bike maintenance class we found that my tires were on backwards, the brakes were adjusted incorrectly, etc. When I left I felt I had a new bike, it rode better then when I bought it back in May.

And now I have to take my broken Baby back to this arsehole?!

I don't know what to do :( does anyone have advice for me?

(PS, I gave my old clunker bike away to a friend so I have no other bike now. I don't care that I have to take the bus to work and walk, I am extremely thankful that I can carpool with coworkers. I'm just REALLY sad that I cannot ride. I miss my bike already.)

"I don't cater to commuters...

my main business is the recreational cyclist."

Um, I got told this by two different bicycle shops. That they don't really have anything for the bicycle commuter because they sell recreational bicycles/accessories. They say they can still order stuff for me online though.

Why even bother when I can order items online myself? Ugh, so frustrating!

my new favorite webcomic

I saw this on Tiago's blog (bicyclendesire) and read every comic in an afternoon.

Funny thing my friend said to me...

I got a flat on my way to work today. I pulled to the side and was going to start fixing it when my friend/coworker saw me and stopped on his bike to help. We got the tube all patched up and we went to work.

I told my other friend about this, and about The Cyclists' Code. The Cyclists' Code: When you see another bicyclist trying to fix their bike, stop and help, pay it forward.

My friend compared us to Jedi's, he's a total Star Wars Geek, as am I (original trilogy only though). He says "Silly, you Jedi Cyclists are. Strong in the Bike you must be to defeat Darth SUV. mmm"

I LOL'd

Do I make men feel less macho when I pass them on my bike?

I've noticed this before but haven't written about it, it's now happened so much that I need to include it in this blog. Whenever I'm on my bike and I ride past a male cyclist, most of the time, I notice that the dude looks at me, sees how fast I am going and then speeds up to try to pass me. They don't say anthing to me, but they don't have to say anything to me, their actions speak louder than their words.

About me, I'm not really a fast rider, my regular speeds can go from 9 to 14 miles an hour. I may be a die hard bicycle commuter now, but I rather enjoy riding slow, lolly-gagging if you will. Sure, my main goal is to get from point A to point B, but I will make my time on the bike count. It's a wonderful stress reliever and works me out (EcoVelo even blogged about this "slower ride + heavier bike = better workout").

But no matter how slow or fast I go, I always run into a pleasure rider who tries to outrun me. As if they feel less macho, because I passed them on my bike. Me? With my heavy body and heavy bicycle? puh-lease! LMAO, it even happens when I'm biking in a dress and heals.

It feels kind of nice just flying past these dudes and see them startled when they realize that they've been passed by a girl, then see them pick up their pace suddenly and try to pass me by as if they were trying to make themselves feel more manly and bad-ass. Jeeze.

I'm onto you guys...