WALL-E???

No...

A short while back I received a new set of bike lights from Oz (Australia) made by a company called Ay Up! They kind of remind me of the Disney Pixar character Wall-E. The company name Ay Up (I'm informed by those always, marginally dependable internet definition web sites) is a greeting meaning something like hello or hey what's up...hmmm?

The lights are ultra small, ultra light (you can mount a light and 3+ hr battery on your helmet...did I mention small?), and best of all they light up the night so well that my night riding is as fast as any day ride.

It takes a lot to impress me (not really) and when it comes to the typical bike light and manufacturer's claims I have not been impressed with the product vs. the exaggerated claims. But these Ay Up lights got me a bit giddy when I lit one up out of the box and could see all the way across our 5-acre backyard pasture with ease. Another point about Ay Up, I e-mailed these guys with a question and had an answer in less than 5-minutes...impressive to say the least. Can you say SOLD? I can and I own a set of these lights and now I see better than ever riding into the night.

Summer night rides are on my list of fun this year. The overall plan is when the daytime temps are hitting 100+ I'm planning on starting out on a late evening ride into the coolness of the night. Of course anyone is welcome to come along.

Team Fatty - A Worthy Cause

I got mine, a Fat Cyclist - Twin Six jersey that is. This jersey is hard to come by, highly sought and many have desire to own. Why? Because the jersey represents and shows support for both a single human being battling cancer and a worthy cause, cancer research. Some things are worth fighting for - Susan and cancer research are it.

I regularly contribute small donations to various cancer efforts, especially those that are related to cycling somehow. I am picky about the charity I send money to since I need to have trust that the money is going to the cause and not lining some pig's pockets along the way. The Fat Cyclist has become one of my favorite cancer charity efforts. Elden (the Fat Cyclist) was been spearheading a very successful cancer charity drive in association with the Lance Armstrong Foundation. Elden's has a direct link to cancer, his wife Susan has metastatic breast cancer at this time. The Fat Cyclist has rallied huge numbers of people (mostly cyclists) through his web site and by raffeling off cycling related items.


Recently Twin Six offered 1/2 of their website's income for a single day to the Fat Cyclist's effort and Twin Six offered several rare jersey's like the one I got, which sold out in the first few hours I noticed. Twin Six sold over $16,000 that day, which means they contibuted over $8000...what a great company!

You can donate to Team Fatty's effort through the Lance Armstrong Foundation here--> Click to Donate for Team Fatty

The Winter Rides Continue

My winter riding continues...I am riding as much as possible between providing care for the young 96-yr old Grampa in Grangeville, work, and everyday life stuff. I have developed a real passion for riding around Grangeville with its clean air, cool views, and huge number of options for a different ride any given day.
At home I am finding I have much less motivation to ride after being in Grangeville. This is partially due to a discovery made after riding so much outside the Lewis-Clark Valley...it seems that deep breathing all the filth spewing from the local paper mill and such is causing me breathing issues that I do not seem to have when I ride beyond the valley. I've noticed it enough to motivate me to start looking at housing elsewhere.
Riding one of my steel single-speeds continues to be my choice for pegging my fun-o-rama meter at this time...Just to be sure I was not missing out on something, I went out on a geared road-bike the other day only to find it beyond boring except when I ran into Cori and rode with him up Evans Road at a rather chipper pace. Cori definitely has some GO in him at this time, so beware all.