Mini Bike Commute

I had to bring our van in for service on Wednesday. As I've taken to doing in the past year when I get a car serviced, I bring my bike along and ride in to work. The auto shop is very close to my office. It is roughly 1.5 miles and only takes 6-7 minutes. I've been to the dealership nearby in the past and used the free shuttle. One time it took almost an hour for me to get dropped off, between waiting for the driver and having other customers get dropped off first. The short bicycle ride is definitely more convenient for me. Anyway, it was good to ride in to work again. I'll be back at the shop on Friday to get something else fixed, so I know I will get to ride my bike another time this week!

The photo of the day is a leftover from my twilight ride on Monday. No filters/post-processing on this image!

That ride reminded me that I still need to pick up a new rear blinky that will attach to one of my seat stays. I was a little under-lit with only that tiny Knog rear light (you can just make it out in the photo). I'm leaning towards the PDW Radbot over the ubiquitous SuperFlash from PlanetBike (or the new SuperFlash Turbo).

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I should learn not to foreshadow future posts, because then I end up not getting around to writing them, but...I'll have a couple more recommended blogs for Friday's post.

The Real Deal

It's pretty cool how much traffic the blog has gotten the past few days. I would be doing you a disservice if I didn't point you toward some real top notch "cycling p0rn," though.

I can start off by still keeping it local to the San Diego scene, but with perhaps some of the best bike photos you will find anywhere: Velo Cult Bike Shop. Their blog is tops, but you'll want to check out the online "museum." Better yet, drop by their shop in person. If that's not enough for you, take home the first volume Velo Cult Book. 79 pages chock full of the best images from resident photog Anthony Bareno.

By the by, owner Sky Boyer and his crew at VeloCult are also behind SDBikeCommuter.com, a great forum for local bikey people, and the Bike Commuter Discount program - another Best of San Diego highlight.

Another great cycling destination on the Interwebs is EcoVelo. This another great site for bike photos and the focus is on transportational cycling. As with VeloCult, you're going to mostly see steel bikes. While VC skews on the vintage side, the EcoVelo husband & wife duo, Alan & Michael, can usually be found testing late model commuter bikes and gear. There is also a large Flickr stream and a somewhat new Bicycle Commuter Profile section where people submit photos of their own rides. The site is updated almost everyday, it seems, so the content is always fresh.

My last recommendation for today is BikeHugger. This site has a staff of bloggers, lead by head Hugger DL Byron, covering the gamut of the bicycle scene from racing to commuting and more. They cover all the major industry events and product launches, so you'll find the best of what's new in bikes. New content is appearing all the time, and you'll also want to follow along on Flickr and Twitter.

I'll have some more links as the week continues, but I'll leave you with today's photo. I actually haven't biked to work much lately. I took this a little while back. Here's a tip: it's not the greatest idea to take photos from your bike using an iPhone. Especially self-portraits like this. I'm lucky I haven't dropped my iPhone. Yet.

Photo of the Day for Tuesday

Black Mountain Ranch sunset, originally uploaded by JuanRoman.

Here's a faux-HDR shot taken from my iPhone last night as the sun was setting. The colors in the sky are slightly exaggerated, but true.

Best of San Diego?

Well, well...if you are visiting my blog for the very first time after seeing the mention in San Diego Magazine, welcome!

I think there's been a mistake. Or someone is messing with me.

In case you missed it, the August issue of the aforementioned San Diego Magazine (and this is a reputable magazine, mind you) has listed this very blog among its Best of San Diego highlights for the month. And what exactly is it best of, you say?

Best Cycling Porn


That's right. I know. It sounds weird, but it means they think I've got drool-worthy bike pics.

In any event, I'm hugely flattered and honored that this little blog would get picked for 'Best of' anything. I never dreamed in a million years that this blog would gain any recognition whatsoever. I'd like to know what writer, editor, or intern selected my blog for the list. I'd like to buy that person a beer, or a coffee, or a gallon of gas. No, probably not the gas. I'm supposed to be advocating bike commuting here. And never mind that they cribbed my Twitter bio for half the write-up. It's all good.

I get props for all the "caress-me hipstamatic pics" of my bike. Again, flattered. I don't even feel like I've posted that many photos of my bike. Especially recently. But let's get this right. My photo app of choice is Camera+, not Hipstamatic. Though that's a cool app, too.

I'm getting long winded here, but in light of this honor that has been bestowed upon me, I am going to make an extra effort to live up to this cycling porn title. My goal is to post a new photo every day this week. After that, all bets are off.

To get things started, here is Monday's cycling porn of the day: