A Brompton in Paris

I am back from my R&R and feeling very good. My knee pain has subsided and I am able to ride. Yay!

Last month, I was away on vacation in France. I spent a lot of time in Paris. What a lovely place!
I took a boat load of pictures in Paris. I am posting a majority of them on my other blogs.

Here is one that's appropriate for this blog.

I did not see a lot of Bromptons in Paris. I may have seen 3-4 during the time I stayed there. Part of me wished I had taken my Brompton to Paris. But, I walked a lot and that made me burn enough calories, so I can whatever I wanted.

I cycled a bit in Paris. There will be a post about that sometime soon, on one of my blogs.

Oh, by the way, did you know my other blogs? Click on the photos below and they will take you right to my blogs.

Green Comotion

Vegetarian Cyclist

How is cycling in your neck of the woods? Will you care to tell me about it through a comment of through a post on your blog? :)

Paz :)

Resting up for a while!

I need to get my knees in order and start riding.

Currently, the only riding I do is to the Table Tennis club, about 1/4 mile, twice a week.

Since I moved to Texas, this is the first time I have laid off driving my bike to work for an extended period of time. As I mentioned in an earlier post, my knees still hurt and I am not convinced the fix is a surgery. I am taking some Boswellia and that seems to help.

I will be away for a couple of more weeks.

But, I will post from time to time.

Hope all is well with y'all.

Paz :)

Less Green

I haven't posted in a while because I haven't had anything interesting to write about. I have not been riding to work much, as I have had some knee pain and also because the weather here is so wacky. I mean seriously nutty with 40 MPH winds and torrential rains. The winds blow usually from the South, which is the direction I am usually headed in the morning and I am not keen on fighting a 40 MPH wind, especially with the knee pain. So, as you can see from my calendar of cycle commute below, there is only little green on it so far, this year.

Hopefully, things will change for the better.

Hope all is well with y'all!

Paz :)

Long-reach Allen Wrenches

A while back, I posted on the possible need for having a set of long-reach Allen Wrenches, just so I can work on Allen bolts in hard to reach areas.

I explored various options, including the ones available at hardware stores. I finally settled for Park Tool PH-1 P-Handled Hex Wrench Set. This set comes with 8 metric Allen Wrenches (includes 2, 2.5, 3, 4, 5, 6, 8 and 10mm). The kit comes with a tool holder, which is mountable on peg-board in the shop/garage.

Many of these wrenches are at least 3 inches or longer. This long-reach feature helps me reach bolts in those otherwise tricky to access. I would say this is particularly useful when working on compact folder like a Brompton. Don't get me wrong - I am NOT saying Bromptons require lots of tinkering.

Some of the Allen wrenches have a ball head. The ball heads allow usage of the tool at an angle. See picture above!

Since I got the new tool kit, I have made put it to good use. I know there are some other alternatives than the Park Tool brand. I bought the Park Tool brand because they are reliable and very well built.

I will post more test results in the future.

Paz :)

Recycling Jar Lid!

I guess I had too much time on my hand. I recycled lid from the the Maranatha Almond Butter jar.

Behold the power of the homemade small parts holder (tool dish). You can put your little Allen bolts and such in the tool dish. If you are lucky, it might even stick to your repair stand!

Cost: about 25 cents (the price of 1 piece of magnet). The stronger the magnet and possibly the higher number of magnets used, the better the stability of the tool dish, when placed on a metallic surface. I might put another magnet on mine.

Hope your week is going well.

Paz :)

TV Show with bicycles --- Yay!

I have been a long time fan of the Television Series Inspector Morse. I enjoy the show because it is more sophisticated than some of the other detective shows I have seen. But that's not the only reason I am attracted to the show. Much of it is filmed around University of Oxford and I get to see people riding utilitarian bicycles. You know: the kind with pannier racks, fenders, lights, baskets, etc. In a few of the episodes that I have watched, the characters are shown riding a bicycle to get around. Below is one such a scene, with a nice bicycle, from "The Settling of the Sun".

 

I was also surprised by see someone with a Mizzou Tigers (I went spent a few years at Mizzou)
T shirt in one of the episodes.

I guess Mizzou is world-famous :)

I like small cities, university towns and such. The Inspector Morse series reminds of so many of my favorite things: Cycling, music, arts, etc. I do hope I get to live in a quieter, smaller city some day and enjoy the benefits of that lifestyle.

Have a Great Week!

Paz :)

PS. Images courtesy of the Inspector Morse show!

Nice Parking Job!

Brahma parked neatly at the salon! So very compact - I am loving' it!

Brahma is so compact and stows so easily and neatly that most don't even think twice before letting us both into their establishment. I am really enjoying my decision to get this folder.

Need I say more?

Paz :)