I spent most of the day today trying to unbury myself after 4 days off and 2 more days in a staff retreat. But I took an hour out this afternoon to ride with my family over to our community garden plot. Here are some photos of a car-free day in Albany.

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Photo by Derek Pearson

I link with much frequency and devotion to the wonderful photographer and Xtracycle enthusiast Derek Pearson’s Bike Rubbish site. I’ve stolen several design ideas from Derek, which he says is OK because I live on the opposite side of the country.

I was offline for several weeks because of our move, and of course that dovetailed with Derek’s completion of somewhere in the neighborhood of 97 new Xtracycles. I strongly encourage you to start at about June 1 on his site and continue forward. He’s got some gorgeous bikes.

WARNING: You will feel an almost uncontrollable need to purchase an Xtracycle if you look at these photos.

Photo by Derek Pearson

Two weekends ago, Jen and the boys and I rode our Xtracycles from Albany to Troy along the Mohawk-Hudson Bikeway. We wanted to check out the Troy Waterfront Farmers Market, which happens every Saturday.

A couple miles along, Jen looked over to the left and said, “Hey, there’s another Xtracycle.” We could see the owner resting under a tree with a little boy. Jen didn’t want to bother them, but I veered off the trail and headed straight for the only Xtracycle I’ve ever seen that didn’t belong to my family. How could I pass that up?

The owner, Reese, and her son were in town for an alternative education conference at the Sage Colleges in Troy. She’s had her Xtracycle since last fall, just like me. The adults chatted for a while the kids played, and then we decided to ride together to Troy. What a blast to ride with three Xtracycles!

We checked out the market, had a light lunch of strawberries, sugar snap peas, farmers cheese and fresh bread. Then Reese and her son went back to the conference, and we went home. It was hotter than the ninth level of Hell, but still a really fun day.

Sadly, I forgot both my camera and my cell phone, so I have no photos of our three bikes together. Oy!

Jen got her new Xtracycle several weeks ago. The fine folks at the Down Tube bike shop on Madison Avenue in Albany put it together on a Trek comfort bike frame. We bought the 700cc version of the Free Radical for Jen’s bike. (Mine has the 26″ Free Radical.) I took the bike to Rochester so Jen could use it for a few weeks before she and the boys joined me in Albany. Here are some shots of the Xtracycle with the PeaPod kids seat on its first day of use.

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I’ve been refurbishing The Packet Boat (Xtracycle) recently with the help of the gang at the Down Tube bike shop on Madison. The two major changes are new trekking handlebars:

And new front and rear disc brakes:

I’m really digging both changes. Those handlebars (which I purchased from Nashbar.com for cheap) give me many new hand positions, which is a big relief on longer rides. I can also grab them down low for more climbing leverage, which I like a lot. When I reach forward to hold the shifters, I’m much lower out of the wind than was the case with my old riser bars. I’m not saying the Boat is aerodynamic, but it’s as close as something nicknamed “The Packet Boat” is likely to get.

The disc brakes, which I also purchased from Nashbar, are a welcome change. Much more stopping power than the old side-pulls, and — from what I’ve been told — more all-weather reliability. Unfortunately, I bought a front-and-rear kit from Nashbar that had a smaller rear rotor than Xtracycle calls for. I also had wheels on my low-end Giant hybrid that didn’t accept disc breaks. So I got a slightly better set of Shimano wheels and a larger rear rotor, and all was well.

Jen’s Xtracycle kit arrived today. It’s going to be built this weekend by the fine folks at the Down Tube bike shop on Madison Avenue.

Xtracycle #2 (in box) next to Xtracycle #1. The other box is a PeaPod child seat for Jen’s X.

Not how I’ll be transporting the boxes to the bike shop…

Documents early days (2000) of Xtracycle LLC, makers of the FreeRadical hitchless bicycle trailer — http://xtracycle.com/ . Shot mostly in San Francisco, where inventor Ross Evans and musician-president Kipchoge Spencer introduce the product to sometimes quizzical, sometimes skeptical, sometimes euphoric people.

I went to the Main Library today to pick up a biography of Laurence Olivier and a VHS (!) called The Bicycle Corps: America’s Black Army On Wheels. (Pretentious Score: 100!) When I got there, this is what I saw:

Bike rack chaos!

On the plus side, I also saw this:

Custom cargo bike

Carries three cups!

I’ve met the cyclist who owns this bike. We chatted outside the Price Chopper at Madison and Main. I think his name is Joe. He said he found those crutches on the curb and decided they’d make his bike more useful. When he goes shopping, he hangs his shopping bags on the crutches so he carry things both inside and outside the basket. He’s a cool guy.

Here’s a wonderful video of a family camping by Xtracycle(s). Now that’s living!

This video was posted on the Roots Radicals Xtracycle group:

…is on the way!

Jen bought a Trek 7000WSD today at The Down Tube bike shop in Albany. It looks like this, or at least it will when it’s built:

We ordered the 700cc Xtracycle kit tonight, and they’ll be building her bike when the kit arrives. Huzzah!

Fittingly, we loaded almost the entire family onto The Packet Boat, our current Xtracycle, to make the purchase. Jen and John rode on the Snapdeck. I pedaled. Bernie rode his own bike. It was great! Our helper at the bike shop? None other than the NYBC’s Executive Director, Joshua Poppel. How can you lose?

Car-free, here we come!

Photo by Eric Breitung

Dozens of friendly people, all on bikes.

What’s not to like?

Since I moved to Albany, I’ve been working a lot and socializing very little. Tonight, I met a huge gang of fun folks all at once at Critical Mass. Much like Rochester, this CM is a very laid-back affair. All different types of cyclists on all different types of bikes, including two guys on unicycles with 36″ wheels. Amazing!

We met at the Soldiers and Sailors Monument in Washington Square Park. There were about 30 riders, ranging in age from 1 or 2 to … um … older than that. Experienced. Then again, I was probably in the top 10 in terms of age. When the hell did that happen? Ah well, we pudgy Pillsbury Doughboy types gotta have our day, too, right?

The weather was drop-dead gorgeous. Perfect temps, late enough that the sun was very mellow, a light breeze. It was everything you could ask for in cycling weather.

Before the ride started, we were approached by an Albany cop who was wondering what we were up to. He was alerted by the presence of the Red Bull crew — two young women who travel in a car with a huge Red Bull can, distributing canned joy for free to all takers. The officer was concerned because there was a run/walk happening in the park, and he didn’t want us colliding with the participants. We told him we were about to split, and he couldn’t have been nicer, so all was well. A few minutes later, we were out on the street.

I won’t recount the route, but we covered a decent amount of territory — maybe 10 miles up Central, through Pine Hills, down Clinton through Arbor Hill, up State (which, as Gavin said, “sucks every time”). By the way, if you’ve never been passed by a unicyclist up a steep hill, it’s something to see. One wheel. No gears. Faster than me. Oy!

At one point, going north on Hackett, we spotted another cyclist maybe a half-mile ahead. A cyclist named Carolyn and I hammered up to 22 or 23 miles an hour to catch up to the guy (and believe me, hammering on the Packet Boat/Xtracycle is quite a challenge). When we got there, I asked if he wanted to join us, and he nervously declined. We looked back, only to realize that the entire group was turning off onto another street. So it was hammerfest number two to catch up.

We also went on a tour of all the homes a cyclist named Marylou lives in or has lived in, including her folks’ place. It was very charming, although we didn’t get to meet her parents.

I was happy to import one thing from Rochester — the tradition of yelling “Happy Friday!” to folks along the route. It really seems to have a positive effect on the folks who see us pass by. Plus, I just like yelling in public.

After the slog up State, the mass had split into two groups. A bunch of us waited at the corner of Lark and Madison in front of the Dunkin’ Donuts, which is a hangout for motorcyclists. I chatted with a guy named Louis who struck up a conversation because of my Silver Surfer t-shirt. After a while, the gang caught up and we headed to the Palais Royale. They don’t have food, though, so about half the group went to The Madison instead, where we feasted on pizza, fries, onion rings, burgers, soda and beer.

Eventually, that group broke up and I rode up Madison toward home. On the way, I ran into Tom, one of the CM riders. He said a bunch of cylists were at Mahar’s on Madison, and he offered to show me the way. Eric, another CMer, joined us, and we met up with the gang at Mahar’s, which is really worth visiting if you’re into beer. And pretty cool even if you’re not.

After Mahar’s, it was off to Randy’s House Of Bike Porn. This is a lovely house just a few blocks north of where I’m living. It features a basement with maybe 30 bikes — tall bikes, tandems, every kind of road and street bike. It’s amazing. Some of us sat outside and chatted while the rest ogled the bikes and took them for test rides.

All in all, it couldn’t have been a better intro to this part of Albany’s bike culture.

I think I’m going to like it here.

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I don’t really have a “commute” because I don’t have an office that I go to each day. Instead, my day is a combination of work from home and travel to the hotels and other sites where our UNITE HERE union members work. Most of the sites I represent are in downtown Albany, but two of my hotels are in Schenectady. Up until today, I’ve driven to Schenectady for site visits, but today I decided to ride.

I’ve been down Central Avenue enough to know that if I can avoid it, I will. It’s congested, there are no shoulders, and it’s just not that nice to look at, either. If you start at my house and take Central all the way to Schenectady, it’s a shade over 14 miles one way. I plotted out a different course, though, and it turned out to be a lovely ride.

Rather than Central, I started out on Sand Creek Road, which goes from Albany to Colonie, past Colonie High School and the Colonie Center Mall. I stayed on Sand Creek until it ended at Watervliet Shaker Road, which is also Routes 155 and 157. I stayed on that road until it became Consaul Road, and that took me right to State Street in Schenectady. It was a beautiful ride. Lots of trees, a fair amount of open farmland, wide shoulders most of the way and relatively few cars. And it’s just over a mile further than the direct route down Central Ave. I made the 15-ish miles in an hour and 20 minutes on the Packet Boat (Xtracycle). The temperature was perfect for the ride — just below 70 degrees by the time I arrived in Schenectady. I wasn’t really even sweating, which was nice, because I did the ride in my work clothes.

After the site visit, I cycled down to Schenectady’s Little Italy, where a co-worker had recommended Perreca’s Bakery. I got some capicola, salami and turket, fresh bread and two slices of delicious homemade pizza. I ate the pizza at the outdoor tables next to the bakery, basking in the sun and the light breeze, then loaded up the goodies in the Packet Boat and set off along the reverse route back to Albany. It was another peaceful and exhilarating ride — if you can describe something as both “peaceful” and “exhilarating.”

When I was at the Adirondack Sports & Fitness Expo yesterday, two NYBC folks — Amy and her daughter Laurel — told me about Buckingham Lake (also known as Buckingham Pond or Rafts Pond), an idyllic little spot right outside of downtown Albany. The lake is nestled at the end of several neighborhood streets. I rode down one of them and found Laurel in her front yard, picking lovely little blue flowers.

“I remember you from yesterday!” she said, and handed me a flower. We chatted for a minute, then I cycled off down the street to the lake.

A sign at the entrance had this bit of history:

This lake has been known by a number of different names. Among them were Raft’s Pond and Berkshire Pond. It is shown on an 1884 map as a portion of the westerly branch of the Beaver Creek. At that time it was just outside the city limits. This body is fed by a perched water table which surfaces in the area of the lake as well as from storm-water runoff. During 1931 the City of Albany acquired property around Buckingham Lake and ordered the grading of the land which continued through 1933. In 1977, the lake was dredged and in 1992 the stilling basic west of the lake was added. Aerators were added to improve water quality in 1997. The park and surrounding area are a part of the City of Albany park system.

Talk about an urban oasis! The lake was teeming with ducks, robins and other birds that someone smarter than I could probably identify. There were joggers, walkers, parents with strollers, adults with kids on trail-a-bikes, mountain bikers — you name it, someone was doing it at Buckingham Lake. I docked the Packet Boat on the shore of the lake and read for a while, stopping to take pictures of the cyclists as they passed.

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After a while, I hopped on the Packet Boat, held my camera in one hand and shot a video of the trail ride around the lake. It’s about 4 and a half minutes long, and a little wobbly in some bits: