Quick no-measure oatmeal - great for camping, bike or otherwise

This morning I tried the oatmeal-in-a-jar trick tipped to me recently by my bike commuting and camping pal, Daniel.

It's simple, fill a Mason jar half with oatmeal and toppings, which for me meant a little sugary stuff, some cinammon, and raisins. You can do that part anytime... you know, like the night before, or as you're packing your panniers. At breakfast time, you simply fill the jar with boiling water, shake and steep for 15 minutes.

It worked like a charm. This will get a shakedown run in October when we take a family camping weekend, and will definitely be added to the arsenal of S24O / Bike Overnight breakfast options.

Originally spotted on Lifehacker (follow their link for the true original source), and thanks Daniel for the great tip! http://goo.gl/1qb7n

Bicycles are vehicles

Coworker: So, I know you ride your bike to work everyday and don't usually bring a vehicle...

Me (interrupting): *Motor* vehicle. I drive a vehicle to work everyday.

Coworker: Never mind.

S24O / BikeOvernight to Falls Lake

There is a Bike Overnight trip to Falls Lake this weekend, please email me if you'd like to ride along, jack @t bingshaus dot org.

What is it?

This is a one-night bike camping trip. You load up your camping gear and food stuffs on your bike and we pedal over to Falls Lake and hang out for the evening.

Want more info on Bike Overnights? Check out these links:

Adventure Cycling's new Bike Overnights site:

• http://bikeovernights.org/

Rivendell Bicycle Works' S24O info:

• http://www.rivbike.com/article/bike_camping/bike_camping_vs_touring
• http://www.rivbike.com/article/bike_camping/a_kit_for_one_night_out

PathLessPedaled Bike Overnight/S24O in Durham last Autumn

• http://pathlesspedaled.com/2010/09/durham-s24o/

Where and when does it start, and how long is the ride?

The route to Falls Lake is 20-25 miles from Durham. We're going to have two starting locations in Durham (downtown and SoDu) and maybe one in Raleigh. We will roll out of Durham around 2:00, will ride at a mellow, conversational pace, will stop at a convenience store for water and stuff on the way there, and expect to roll into Falls Lake around 4:30-ish.

How much does it cost?

Nothing. I got a group camping site at Falls Lake, and y'all are invited. The only thing I ask is that you let me know you're coming as there is a limit to the number of folks that can occupy a group camping site.

Who carries the gear? Is there a support vehicle?

Nope, there are no support vehicles. This is a self-supported ride, we all carry our stuff on our bikes.

What should I bring?

Anything you need to spend one night in a state park. For me, that's a tent, sleeping bag (although I probably won't use it in this heat), toiletries, a change of clothes, food, a magazine and maybe my frisbee.

For the ride out there, please be sure to bring ample water. We'll be stopping on the way, but still...

Yeah, what about food?

With a trip this short, there are lots of food options. You can bring "traditional" camping food, stove and utensils. You can bring nothing and buy food at the convenience store we'll be visiting on the way to the campsite (just plan room for it on your bike). You can pack dinner and breakfast like you pack lunch for school or work. You can load up a bike trailer with the harvest of your neighbor's garden and make a ginormous salad for everyone (like Lee did last Autumn). You can place a take-out order with Kemp's Seafood and pick up on the way. I imagine you can probably even order subs or pizza if you wanted, but I don't know if Falls Lake is in anyone's delivery area.

Its worth noting that alcoholic beverages are NOT permitted at NC state parks.

I'll be bringing home-roasted coffee. You're welcome to some if you bring a small plastic filter cone and some #2 filters to make it with. You can find them at many groceries for a few bucks.

What will we be doing at the campground?

Well, there's cooking and eating, undoubtedly some gear talk, probably some hanging out over by the water. There's a fire ring (but who knows if we'll bother to spark it up), there's plenty of room for frisbee and such. And, Tom Ed will be bringing his violin, so there's liable to be some music (I'm offering to carry another instrument or two, depending on size, if anyone wants to bring more music along - strapping it on my bike is about the only way I'll ever carry a tune...). Oh, and s'mores, there's gotta be s'mores.

More info

• Maps: Google Maps | KML | GPX | TCX
• Cue sheets: XLS | PDF
• Falls Lake State Park

Scene from my bike: the tops of people's heads

Thanks to the groovy folks at the Durham Bike Co-op, I got to ride a tall bike for the first time this weekend whilst downtown at Durham's Earth Day festival.

As a tall guy, I was looking forward to giving it a shot. But, as you can see from the pic, even though the bike is tall, its actually sized for someone a lot shorter than me. Its amusing being on a tall bike that's actually too short for you.

Scene from my bike: Counter Culture Coffee

Durham is the home of one of the finest coffee roasters in the country, Counter Culture Coffee, and I am fortunate to pass within a mile of their roastery on my daily bike commute.

One of the things I enjoy most about bike commuting is the ability to take in my surroundings at a pace that allows me to enjoy them. And, the wonderful smell of Counter Culture's fresh roasted coffee is absolutely part of that. A few times a week I roll by at roasting time and ride in a coffee cloud for a few minutes. Its pretty wonderful.

Ah, that's the way, Patriot

I rode my bike to lunch with a friend this afternoon. In addition to catching up, we had ulterior motives. We had each come across highly sought seasonal beers that the other likes, so we were trading. I was pretty pleased to have received a Rivendell shipment yesterday that had just the right size box and packing materials to travel with his half six-pack. And, tied down with John's Irish Strap, the box was firmly affixed to my rear rack.

My trip across the Triangle with beer strapped to my bike reminded me of this wonderful Erroll Morris commercial from a few years ago. I love the implicit messages in this commercial as much as the explicit.

What I wanna be when I grow up...

Please allow me to present a tremendous inspiration, Mr. Octavio Orduno. Mr. Orduno turned 103 last week and is still going strong, pedaling the streets of Long Beach almost daily.



More on Mr. Orduno from the LA Times. H/T Cyclelicious.

Meditation on the bicycle helmet

This week I enjoyed a lively, albeit mostly invaluable, online conversation about the efficacy and importance of bicycle helmets. Its one of those topics that comes along from time-to-time and gets people stirred up and pissed off. Its a debate fraught with abundant anecdotal evidence ranging from "a bike helmet saved my life" to "I've ridden for 50 years without a bicycle helmet," but is one that probably doesn't really *need* to be resolved, per se. As a hot button bike advocate topic, it ranks up there with bike lanes vs vehicular cycling.

Also this week, I had the opportunity to catch the wonderful Rural Alberta Advantage. The set was, as expected, blistering and amazing.

With that backdrop, here's a couple videos for your enjoyment. If you can spare 20 minutes or so, its worth the effort.

Scene from my bike: Another bike commuter

The bike commuting community in the Triangle is small enough that I feel like I know a decent percentage of the group. So it always makes me happy when I see someone I don't know headed to work by bike.

I've seen this gentleman before, but never spoken to him. So, I chased him through three lights the other morning to say "good morning." Having seen him before, I asked how long he'd been bike commuting. Despite his old school pants-tucked-into-socks look, I was still surprised by his answer - 25 years!

As we rolled our separate ways, Mr. Old School kindly offered me a few words of encouragement. Right back at ya, my two wheeled compadre, keep on keepin' on.

Car-Lite FTW!

Three months ago, we made the move to a car-lite existence. We'd talked about it for years, but when you have a (relatively) reliable car that's been paid off for ten years, its tough to pull the trigger.  Thus far, we haven't run into any conflicts that we haven't been able to solve. We've prepared ourselves for unexpected taxi fares and the occasional missed opportunity, understanding that the benefit is tens of thousands of dollars in savings from not owning a second car.

We also prepared ourselves for the occasional rental car, and today was the first test of that.  I had business meetings all day today in Raleigh, and needed to extend my availability in order to meet with colleagues from other offices before and possibly after the client meeting.

So, last night I strapped a packing blanket on the back of my folding  bike and rode to the rental car office. I signed the paperwork, threw the blanket down in the trunk, folded the bike up and laid it in the blanket,and drove home. This morning, I threw on my monkey suit, packed up my work gear, tossed my bike gear in my backpack and drove to Raleigh.

The meetings went well and we broke a little early.  I was able to gas the car up and get to the rental car office by 4:35, where I turned in the keys, changed into my biking gear and pedaled to the bus stop. I'm on the bus now and will be home in time for dinner.

All told, its a success. I didn't want to spend $60 to drive to Raleigh today, but it is all we've spent on a car for me in the last three months, so I think we're still ahead of the game.

Scene from my bike: Snow - the good kind

Alright, so seeing snow isn't that big of a deal this year. Heck, we had two decent snowfalls before New Years. And already, before Valentines Day, we've had to send the kids to school on a Saturday to make up for all the snow days.

That said, I knew last night that this morning's ride to work could be pretty cool. The forecast was for "snow showers" starting in the morning, early enough for there to be some on the ground, but not early enough to mess up the roads.

I wasn't disappointed. This morning was beautiful, exactly the way I thought it would be. Enough snow to look really great (especially on the American Tobacco Trail), but not enough to mess anything up.  Another great day to bike to work...

Verizon wants you to use Facebook while you're driving

Big Red's legal team must've been asleep (or Facebooking) at the wheel for missing the not-so-hidden message of their new marketing campaign. In a promotional video published a few days ago, Verizon touts the multitasking capabilities of their new VZ Navigation GPS app by encouraging their customers to surf the web and Facebook while driving.

"Navigate, surf and use your favorite apps all at the same time," says Verizon.

In the screenshot below, Verizon illustrates the phone providing turn-by-turn directions while the driver is using Friendstream, an app that gives you access to your Facebook and Twitter friends.

With thirty states and the District of Columbia having Distracted Driving laws on the books that make texting illegal while driving, Verizon's recent video is the height of irresponsibility - actually encouraging drivers to focus their attention on not just one, but multiple other things on their phones while driving. Ridiculous.

• Verizon VZ Navigation promotional video