The Spokesrider » Uncategorized

End and self-portrait

Spokesrider — Tue, 30 Aug 2011 04:17:05 +0000

These are the last photos I took today, at the end of a 50.5 mile bike ride. This storefront is right across the street from one of Indiana’s county courthouses. It looks like I took a photo of myself again. YTD mileage: 1552.0

Not a Christmas present

Spokesrider — Mon, 27 Dec 2010 04:17:52 +0000

Over at the phred bicycle touring list people have been asking each other whether they got their first bicycle for Christmas. It sounds like some of the guys came from families with even less money for bicycles than mine had. At the time of the above photo (June 1959) we kids had some kind of [...]

Fort Michilimackinac and Bridge

Spokesrider — Wed, 24 Sep 2008 05:37:07 +0000

This is a good photo for a time such as now when I’m too busy getting ready for another bike outing to post much. I presume I don’t need to explain where it was taken. I’ve often wondered, though, how Black Hawk and his large entourage would get across to the other side and/or over [...]

Google maps

Spokesrider — Wed, 13 Aug 2008 06:35:56 +0000

Ken asked me how I do the Googlemaps for this blog. To make it easy, I use a WordPress plugin from Avi Alkalay and do the usual to install it. I’m a rank beginner at editing my own googlemaps, but once I have a map, I copy the link to it — not the code [...]

Mosquito country

Spokesrider — Sat, 12 Jul 2008 03:51:25 +0000

Monroe County, Michigan makes me think of bad roads and deep ditches. This photo was taken on a 3-day tour that took me there in 2003. But now when I look at the road, I have to say it’s no worse than a lot of those in my home county of Calhoun this year, especially [...]

Strange maps

Spokesrider — Thu, 10 Jul 2008 07:13:43 +0000

I discovered a new blog today: Strange Maps. I’m adding it to my list of favorites. A few samples: The South Shall Snack Again, showing that Mississippi is the fattest state in the union. Praise the Lord and Pass the Dictionary, a linguistic map of Europe published in 1730, with samples of the Lord’s prayer [...]

Something like a bicycle

Spokesrider — Wed, 16 Apr 2008 03:16:31 +0000

I learned today that this machine is something like a bicycle, even though it doesn’t move as fast. It’s for boring a path for placement of underground fiber optic cable. I got to see it in operation at my workplace, and later stopped by as I left work to ride home on my bicycle. The [...]

Decrepitude

Spokesrider — Fri, 28 Mar 2008 13:46:10 +0000

It’s just a random old silo and a random abandoned farmstead within a couple hour’s ride from home. It’s a monument to an era and a way of life that is gone, but which has still left traces on the landscape. Why do I like to take photos of old, decrepit things? I’m not sure. [...]

First day in Ireland

Spokesrider — Fri, 01 Feb 2008 03:12:11 +0000

I’m one of those strange people who likes looking at other peoples’ vacation photos. But what I’m looking at may seem strange. I am curious about driveways in other parts of the world. And I like to see what the edges of the road are like. What is it like where pavement meets ditch? If [...]

Fully Loaded Touring Bicycles

Spokesrider — Tue, 25 Dec 2007 20:21:50 +0000

Unfortunately, I don't think I have a single photo of my bike with fully-loaded panniers that would meet the qualifications for this gallery.