A Love Affair Begins

A toddler, a water hose, and a sprayer. Need we say more.

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Lazy Sunday

Just a couple of images from our Sunday. Sam had a great time cooking with Mommy. And then there is Ben enjoying a lazy Sunday afternoon, what life that dog has.

Apples

This weekend after my cyclocross race on Sunday we went apple picking with Cat and Charlton. Sam loved riding on the wagon behind the tractor, and also picking apples from the trees.

I saw this bike in a Tokyo park yesterday and stopped to talk to its owner, a young man who bought it from a friend who owns a "bike bar" somewhere in the city. The friend knows a number of Keirin racers and this bike was once the racing steed of a guy called Murakami. The brand is Samson and the builder is in Fukuoka, a city on the island of Kyushu in the south of Japan. It seems that it's a brand on the rise and that a number of top riders are choosing it. It was a beautiful bike, with the oval seat stays and the glitter paint and the rider's name carved right into the frame under the bottom bracket. Friendly young man, too. He asked if I'd like to take it for a spin (I love living in Japan) so I left my camera with him and rode around the park a little bit. It was actually the first time that I have ridden a fixed-gear bike and it was weird and wobbly for a bit - definitely not something I'd like to be in traffic on - but what a machine built for speed!

Seems a little loose

Though only a year and a half old, young Samuel is already showing great interest in bikes. He likes to spin the pedals on my bike setup on the trainer and also the chain. Here he is testing out some hubs to see if they pass muster.


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Sam on the Swing

Sam learned yesterday how to swing on the big kid swings.

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Paramount rides again part II

The Paramount is back on the road again, after it's rear wheel was eaten again by our old bike trailer. I had a set of wheels the I built up myself two years ago just sitting around, and so I decided to put them on the bike to see how it rode. These are tubular wheels and they


have some old Clement cyclocross tires on them, so the ride is not smooth, but it was still fun to go out for a ride again on the Paramount.


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