Russ Roca is a man of many bike blogs, including this one and this one and this one, too, all of which have made multiple appearances here at RocBike in our old Links of the Day posts. Now Russ is heading out with his partner Laura on a bike trip.

Not just any bike trip, mind you. Russ and Laura sold or stored all their stuff except what would fit on two bicycles, and they’re going to travel the world by bike for some indeterminate period of time. Cool, huh?

They started a (wait for it) blog to chronicle their travels: The Path Less Pedaled. You can also follow them on Twitter and Facebook.

Today is the day before they leave, and they recorded a little video from their nearly bare apartment:

Good luck and safe travels, Russ and Laura!

Fatty and Susan recorded this video a couple weeks ago before the Livestrong Challenge ride in San Jose. Watch it, and then go here to donate to fight cancer. Thank you.

…and other tales from a bike messenger turned drug dealer.

When my partner and I go on vacations, we always take Zoe (pictured above). We also always want to get out on our bikes. This presents a problem, because it is always too hot to leave her in our car, and the other campers wouldn’t appreciate our leaving her in our tent. We know that she would bark the whole time. Our previous solution has been doggie day care. but this year, I finally convinced her that we should get a doggie bike basket. If you want to bring your canine companion with you, this is a good solution for a small dog. (Zoe weighs 8 pounds.)

Tanya had her handlebars shortened in order to fit her better, so the basket only fits on my bike. It really didn’t slow me down much at all and I kept up with her pretty well, especially surprising since she’s generally faster than me. Zoe was unsure about it at first, but seemed to settle in pretty quickly.

So far, I’ve only taken it on bike trails and side streets. I would be hesitant to bike on a busy and/or hilly road with it, because the extra weight on the bars takes some getting used to, and I felt like it slowed my reaction time.

A great bonus is that it seems impossible for another rider to pass without smiling and saying, “Aawwwwww,” with the inflection rising at the end.

The Xtracycle Life: How to Make Your Bike a Purse

I already loved Bike Snob NYC, and now I have one more reason: he digs Coltrane.

Fat Cyclist: 7 Grapes, 4 Spoonsful of Ice Cream, 5 Bites of Rice

Fuck cancer.

Jill Homer is chronicling her recently completed Great Divide ride on her blog. Today’s story is particularly moving. She is one hell of a writer.

The New York Times has the story.

This video is oddly compelling. I found it at Everyday Adventures, the official blog of Xtracycle.

Charlie The Bikemonger tours Dorset, Somerset and Devon on a Surly Big Dummy Xtracycle bike. More at www.charliethebikemonger.com.

…and you can see it here.

Saturday, July 18, Greenway Bike Ride Meet at 9:30 a.m. at the trailhead in Canawaugus Park on River Road (Rte 251) in Scottsville for a 1 1/2 hour, 14 mile ride south to Rt. 5 in Avon and back. Bring water. Ride Leader: Richard DeSarra. 585-461-5363 or rdsbike@rochester.rr.com.

Me in my snazzy new Team Fat Cyclist jersey from Twin Six

As you may know by now, I’m riding in the LIVESTRONG Challenge Ride in Philadelphia on August 23, along with fellow Team RocBike member Bob Anderson. I’m riding as part of Team Fat Cyclist: Fighting For Susan, about which more here.

My initial fundraising goal was $1,000, and I reached that on Friday. As you can see from the photo above, I kept my promise to shave my head. I was assisted in that promise by my lovely wife, who gritted her teeth and took off my hair, 10 years after she shaved my head on stage during a gig on Hilton Head Island. (About which more … uh … some other time.)

My new goal, suggested by Team Fatty Philly head poobah Jen Yuan, is $1,926. That’s the year of John Coltrane’s birthday, and he’s got a big Philly connection, and all my prizes are jazz related.

What prizes, you ask? Well, for every $5 you donate to my ride, you’ll get a raffle ticket. At the end of August, I’ll be giving away autographed CDs, LPs, and more, all quite jazzalicious.

So you can help fight cancer and win cool stuff. Neat, huh?

To donate, please visit my donation page.

Thanks to all of you who’ve donated so far!

I’ve started riding my bike again to get ready for my Livestrong Challenge ride in Philly this August. (Please donate if you can.) This week, after many months, I also resumed commuting by bike again.

I began working for Capital Region BOCES earlier this year, and those offices are farther away than my union shops were. It’s about 8 miles from my house to BOCES HQ, where I work two days a week, and about 12 miles from my house to the school district office where I work the other three days.

Today I rode from home to the school district in Selkirk, NY, and back for the first time, about 24 miles. I took some photos on the way home.

This is my favorite sign in Selkirk:

From 144 Commute

I don’t know who came up with the idea of putting golf balls and rhubarb together, but it’s a classic.

Most of my commute is on Route 144, a primarily rural route through some tiny places such as Cedar Hill. A couple miles into the ride home, I came upon these lions, liberated from either “Guy Park” or “Cuy Park.”

From 144 Commute

As you can see, the structure they now protect is not particularly imposing:

From 144 Commute

Further on up the road is the somewhat secluded site of the Glenmont Job Corps Academy:

From 144 Commute

I don’t know much about the Job Corps, but this comes from the Web site:

Job Corps is a free education and training program that helps young people learn a career, earn a high school diploma or GED, and find and keep a good job. For eligible youth at least 16 years of age, Job Corps provides the all-around skills needed to succeed in a career and in life.

You can find out more by visiting jobcorps.gov.

Most of the commute looks like this, plus a hill here and there:

From 144 Commute

And here’s a gratuitous picture of the Packet Boat, ready for action:

From 144 Commute

Sprinkled along 144 are forgotten houses like this one:

From 144 Commute

And here’s another wonderful sign. I like the idea of a wrathful Mother Nature:

From 144 Commute

A relic from a bygone error … I mean era:

From 144 Commute

I didn’t even know what this was at first, but it turned out to be a vintage electric car:

From 144 Commute

This is the bottom of the hill at Second Ave and Pearl. This is the start of 3/4 of a mile of climbing, much of it at a 7% grade. The picture doesn’t do it justice:

From 144 Commute

My legs were jelly at the end, but I made it the whole way.

It sure does feel good to be back on the bike.

The rest of the pictures from today’s ride are here.

DONATE NOW!

My mom, Sally

As I mentioned recently, I’ve joined Team Fatty for the Livestrong Challenge Ride in Philly on August 23. I’m trying to raise $1,000 for the ride. If I make it, I’ll shave my head. That will greatly annoy my mother, which, while not the main reason for the fundraising, is certainly an excellent fringe benefit.

Last week, my grandfather, Bernie Flanders, died at age 96. He was my childhood hero, and he is a huge reason that I became the person I am. He had cancer, as have so many members of my family. I miss him a lot, but his memory makes me that much more committed to the ride.

All through August, I’ll be raffling off cool jazz prizes — LPs, autographed CDs and more. Every $5 donated toward my ride gets you a ticket (including all donations up to this point). So please DONATE NOW!

Jill Homer just finished the Tour Divide! What an incredible accomplishment.

Jill agreed in the past to be a guest on the RocBike Review, but we never quite made it happen. I’ll ask her again, so we can get a first-person account of her amazing ride.

Tom Low, Town of Brighton Commissioner of Public Works
585.784.5225, thomas.low@townofbrighton.org.

NEWS RELEASE
Brighton, NY, July 3, 2009 – The Town of Brighton will hold a Public Meeting to review the concept of a multi-use trail connecting Town Hall and the Erie Canal. The meeting will be held on July 27th from 7pm-9pm at the Brighton Town Hall, 2300 Elmwood Ave. The I-590 Bicycle / Pedestrian Bypass Trail Feasibility Study is nearing completion, and the Town wishes to gather additional feedback on the preferred trail alignment identified in the Draft Report.

In its 2000 Comprehensive Plan, the Town identified a concept for a trail connecting the Town Hall Complex on Elmwood Avenue to the Erie Canal at Meridian Centre Park. This Feasibility Study explores the viability of the whole corridor of the I-590 Bicycle / Pedestrian Bypass trail, with consideration given to location alternatives, design recommendations, funding sources, and phasing strategies. The Preferred Trail Alignment map, along with the full Draft Report, is available on the Town’s website:http://www.townofbrighton.org/.

All are encouraged to attend the meeting and provide comments and suggestions.

I really enjoyed this post over at Let’s Go Ride a Bike.

Mind the Gender Gap

It’s an interesting criticism of the way many articles address the topic of women on bikes. Their focus is usually narrowed to fashion and safety. I love the bit where she summarizes the attitude of the articles as men are more likely to ride bikes than women because “men are just much less self-absorbed and a million times braver”.

Only with something like an Xtracycle can you be concerned about overpacking when bicycle camping. Emily loaded what she could onto the rack of Magdalena, her blue road bike, and the rest went into the ample bags of my longtail.

The weather report is saying 10% chance of rain, so we have high hopes that these cloudy skies will leave us alone. We’re heading first downtown, the taking the river down to Genesee Valley Park where we meet up with the canal. Shouldn’t have any difficulty reaching Holley tonight, where we’ll make camp.

Emily says there’s only two things to worry about when packing for camping trips: warmth and rain gear. As we get ready to bike the canal for three days starting tomorrow, she organizes her clothes into neat piles and readies the Zip-lock bags.