Happy New Year!

Have  a safe and Happy New Year!
From The Flat Tire staff

Happy Holidays!

Have a safe and Happy Holidays!
From The Flat Tire staff

All Over Again

So.
Finally.
Winter Break.
Time to relax.
Except.
I've got that kadomatsu thing going.
I still have to go in and do semester grades.
Etc.
Well I did have some time off today and that new to me bicycle has been sitting over in the corner glaring at me for well, letting it sit in the corner.
I've ridden it few times and it's on the squirrelly side, I don't know if it's the stem or the head tube geometry or it's just that it's a new bicycle I have to get used to.
I also need to outfit it so it's you know, more than just a bicycle.
I need to make it my bicycle.
I needed a rack and some other things to off I went!
To the bicycle place:

I was going to order a rack but racks are sort of particular.
I mean they have to fit nice and most important, they have to look good.
Image is everything, don't you know.
This Axiom rack might even be the same rack I had before.
It's good for 150 lbs, not that I plan on packing that much hardware, but it's better to be safe than well, sorry.
If you know what I mean.
I also ordered a new bracket for my Cygolite Expillion:

That set me back twenty bucks, a bit expensive, but I needed it.
For some odd reason, I also lost the on/off button, a little rubber thingy that goes on top.
It's odd because it was there the last time I used the light and well, I haven't used it since.
The folks at Cygolite were kind enough to send me two new ones, no charge:

That's what I call customer service and standing by your product.
My Expillion 600 is a couple of years old and I've been eyeballing the newest version, the 850.
After all, two is better than one.
I think.
Anyways, thanks again to the Cygolite folks!
I also got the newish Turbo Super Blinky thingy:

I tried some others at the bicycle place and that's probably the best for the buck tail light.
Yeah that rack is the same as I see now that I have to modify it to mount the blinky.
Finally, I learned my lesson:

I have stubbornly heeded the wise advice of the sage over on One Speed: Go!; no stinkin cards for me JRA!
I gotta say though, that freakin thing weighs like ten pounds and may exceed the weight limit of my new rack.
I may need a separate trailer to carry it around.
Or something.
Okay, now I just gotta put all that stuff on and I'll be good to go!
After I change them grip shifts to levers and change out the handle bars and stem and get a new seat and seat post and get some new pedals and maybe some wider tires and get a new pump and tool bag...
You get the idea.
Stay tuned.

It's New!

Sort of.
I mean it is new but I already sort of used it.
So it's not really new but used.
If you know what I mean.
Anyways, a while back I started thinking that I needed a new hat.
Not just any hat, but like a new high tech version of that bicycling favorite well, the bicycle hat.
Or cap.
Or whatever you prefer.
So off to the eVilness I went and lo and behold I found this:

The Headsweats cycling cap is cap just like a well, cycling cap only the visor is bit longer.
It also has a reflective strip on top and under, you know, for those after dark excursions.
It's made of some new high tech moisture wicking fast drying head conforming stretch material and I gotta say that I like it.
You can really feel the wind blowing on yer head.
Well what do you expect when you're Super Sonic.
Or subsonic.
Flat Tire recommended.
I was quite the hat wearer way back when, now not so much.
Well since I got this newfangled bicycle cap, I thought why not a non bicycle hat?

A really flat hat.
I've always wanted a beret.
I don't know why.
Well now I have one.
Not sure how I feel about it.
Yet.
So then while I was on the hat site, I couldn't help but take a look around.
Just browsing don't you know.
Well I didn't browse for long:

I've never wanted a porkpie hat, but now I have one.
I sort of like it, but the brim is way too small so that's right, you guessed it, I'm now on a Quest For Hats (QFH!)!
It's like now that I'm wearing one, I kinda like it.
Besides, a hat will soon be requisite wear as I groom myself for the uh, Kojak look.
I also need a new helmet since I broke the visor off my old one.
It's still wearable and I suppose I should use it since I got that new bicycle cap.
Speaking of bicycles, I picked this up today:

Oh yeah baby!
Back on two wheels!
New to me bicycle at the scene of the crime.
More on this later.

Sunday Early Edition

So what's up with that bicycle track?

I've been watching them install that thing and I've had a few thoughts.

One more picture:

It's on the left hand side of a one way road.

Reason is the buses use the right lane.

If you notice it's separated from the road by them parking bumper thingys making it a dedicated bicycle lane.

The parking meters are still there, how long I don't know, for there are still parking stalls on the outside of the parking bumper thingys.

Eventually they say, it will run in two directions; they need to install special bicycle traffic lights at the intersections.

The lane runs for oh, I'd say a couple three miles or so, from downtown to the university area.

Lot o'folks have voiced displeasure about it, but that's to be expected, I think it's a good thing.

More on the track later.

Anyways, after I took them pictures, instead of riding with the other folks I headed off to the beach.

I needed to clear a couple of cameras of film, film that's been sitting for a week or so:

Some pinhole shots using my home-brew camera.

I was actually out searching for lunch, but I was sort of in a hurry cause I had to get back to school.

There were a couple of things happening like basketball and soccer.

Oh yeah, and a snack bar.

I had to bust out the ole Super Sonic:

Well okay I admit, I haven't been riding hard in a while and I'm not so super.

More like sub-sonic.

Or sub sub-sonic.

Well okay I'm really slow.

Make that slow-er.

I did manage to get back in time to catch some basketball:

Boy's won their third in a row.

I also got to see the girls soccer win their first game:

I was so pumped up I had to get back to the Flat Tire Command Center (FTCC) to do my own training.

World class laziness drills!

It felt good.

It's Open!

Finally!
They've been working on it for months now and today they held an official ceremony.
Huh?
The bicycle track!
No, not like a velodrome, but a dedicated lane for bicycles on a major road that goes through Honolulu:

Folk gathered at the park up the street from me to do some bicycle stuff and see the Mayor and ride the track.
There were also some bicycle related booths and things:

Of course they had to bless it.
The track I mean:

Here they come!

There they go!

I got to meet up and visit with some bicycle folks I worked with on that cyclovia thing and I talked to some other folks about starting up a bicycle club at school.
Again.
Maybe this time we get it going.
I got a call from Hincapie Sportsware the other day, they got my number from USA Cycling and they said they were willing to help out anyway they can.
Maybe that will bring some kids together.
Anyways, I rode around a bit, not on the track but at the beach and now I gotta go watch some basketball.
Get some lunch too.
Mostly get some lunch.
Full report on the track later.

Do I Really Need Another Camera? or Monday Final

I' ve decide that I don't need all these cameras.
When I got into this, I said I wasn't collecting and I would use all the cameras I have or they would have to go.
So, off they go.
Hopefully.
I'm trying to lighten my load by five or six cameras, but it's been hard.
For one thing, cameras like this keep coming along:

Contax II.
I tried not to, really I did, but when the seller lowered the price by fifty bucks the temptation was just too much!
Well.
What's done is done.
Might as well go out and take some pictures.
The Contax II was first made in 1936 and the serial number on the my lens dates to 1937.
You can read more about the camera here.
It's a lot older than my Nikon even though they look similar:

The Contax has wider rangefinder windows for more accurate focusing and it's a bit larger.
You can even swap out lenses, although only the short focal lengths like the 50s.
The Contax though has that stupid Zeiss viewfinder:

Looking through it is like perpetually squinting so the view is about a stop or so dimmer than nekkid eyeballs.
Advancing the film also feels like you're crushing rocks or grinding pepper.
Or something.
The film transport needed sorting out so I haven't been able to get a whole roll through it.
Here's the test  shots:

The pictures look pretty good but in my opinion nothing real special.
The real test comes when the sun goes down.
Then again with that viewfinder I'm not sure it's a good idea.
The Contax is a pretty iconic camera, much more so than my Nikon S2.
I'll probably be keeping it, you know, for grins and giggles; my main rangefinder will still be my Nikon.
This is just about the last stop in rangefinderland, only the L word is left.
Oh and that Nikon SP.
Oh and that Kodak Medalist.
Maybe.

Happy Thanksgiving!

No, that's not my dinner, it's the closest thing I got to food here.
Well, except for the jello and pudding.
Have a happy and safe holiday!

Sunday Final

Some pics from when I went out with the kids.
I find that I don't have time to do my own thing; well I am supposed to be watching them.
It's a it difficult for they all want to do their own thing and once we get to where we're going I just sort of let them go and do whatever it is they do.
Here they are at the bottom of the shot, wasting good light:

I learned that it's hopeless to offer any help, they're going to do it how they think it's supposed to be done which is a good thing.
Or not.
I still catch them doing crazy things like shooting at an insane ISO in bright daylight.
They still haven't really gotten the hang of the relationship between ISO, shutter and aperture yet.
I think.
Anyways:

Okay, I did have time to peel off some shots.
I tend to have the kids figure out the camera stuff on their own.
I shoot Nikon and we have all Canons at school and I haven't even bothered to read the manuals so I couldn't help them if I wanted to.
Instead of learning the camera, they want the short cut: they just want me to tell them what's wrong.
Nosirreebob.
Not me.
Figure it out, I tell them.
I mean a camera is a camera but both the Nikons and Canons have their little quirks.
After this shoot, I think they are beginning to realize that the camera is pretty much useless unless you know how to use it.
If you know what I mean.
So anyways, back to the drawing board tomorrow as I have some new strategies to try out.
Stay tuned.

Sunday Early Edition

So we're working on portraits.
Use the lighting I tell them.
Two lights minimum, front light, back light, side light, top light, bottom light, whatever light.
Think outside the box.
I'm really getting tired of saying that.
How about 'be unconventional?'
What do I get back?
Year book pictures.
Mug shots.
Seriously?
Lemme show you how to do it:

Figuring how much time they spend online, and all that these kids are exposed to these days, you'd think they could come up with some interesting stuff.
I finally had to take the lead and show them.
Grab the hat!
Grab the umbrella!
See?
The lights!
Use the lights!
Like this:

Look, I tell them, go on the webz and copy something!
I know they see it, but they can't translate it into their own work.
Or they don't know how to deconstruct it.
Or something.
Okay, some of them get it.
I had a bunch coming in on their own time to fool with the lights and work it.
Work it baby!
I think maybe it's me.
I set the expectations too high and they don't want to give me any crappy work.
Don't give me any crappy work! I tell them.
Or maybe they're just ashamed to work it in front of the whole class.
Work it baby:

This ain't like pulling teeth!
Put a dude here, put a girl there, put a light here, put a light there.
Shoot away!
I know they can do it.
I know.
So why don' they?
Really?
Do I need to show you again?
Grab that camera!
Stand here.
You stand there.
Hold this.
Look surprised:

Seriously, it took me two minutes to think that one up.
Wait.
I'm the one with the degree, I'm the one that's supposed to be teaching this stuff.
Can you teach art?
Can you teach creativity?
They got the technical skills.
Mostly.
What I can't give them, not in the time I have, is my background.
They haven't seen all I've seen.
Hell, some of them can't even see yet!
I often forget that some can't visualize; put it all together in your head.
Seems so easy for me I have a hard time relating with those who struggle.
Need a new plan.
Try a different angle.
Or something.
On Monday.

What's In the Bag, Panic!

Walking, walking, walking.
Walking, walking, walking.
That's what I do.
Walk all over the place.
Within reason.
My loop maxes out at about five or six miles, which isn't really that far, except I'm carrying this:

Oh yeah, and my tripod.
I decided to clean out the bag, you know, to lighted up a bit cause sometimes it feels like I've got the kitchen sink in there.
I don't have the kitchen sink, but I did have three spoons.
I gotta say, carrying around three cameras sometimes isn't such a good idea as there are times when I don't use one or the other.
Or there are times when I cannot make up my mind which camera to use.
More on this later.
So anyways, I was a walking, walking, walking with my Rollei loaded up and took this:

Which turned out pretty well I think but then I realize that I got some really slow film in there and like I just took a picture of the sun going down!
I was so busy with my other camera that I forgot about the film in this camera!
I need to shoot this roll like now!
More so because I want to use a faster film later.
So I start walking, walking, walking really fast, taking pictures of anything I think looks interesting:

All the while calculating in my mind and with my eyeballs just how much shutter speed I got left.
Which wasn't very much as I took most of these at 1/10 of a second.
Thing is I got like four or five frames left and it's not like this film is super cheap and I don't really want to waste it but I really want to get it out of my camera:
The film I mean:

No Parking barriers.
Weeds.
Whatever.
As you can see I finished the roll before I lost all light and I guess it turned out okay!
Wow! I should shoot in a panic more often!
So then I reload with the real night time film and all I got of that roll was this shot:

It's shots like this that make me think about carrying around just one camera.
Every once in a while that Rollei will do something for me, make me look like a better photographer than I really am.
Having to carry just one camera around will make my back happy.
Of course, the boy scout in me will never let that happen.
If I decide the Rolleiflex is the only camera I need, I'll have to carry around two of them.
You know, one for the slow film, one for fast.
No need to panic.
If you know what I mean.