As of Late

I’ve been working like a dog. It’s been good though. Bike Couriers is a good shop, I’m really glad to be there. I’m glad to be here in Louisville, the change for me personally was necessary, and this geographic change has been good.

Louisville is an interesting town. I’m not sure if it’s the town, the new settings, the new bike shop, the general inability to stay in front of a computer for more than an hour or so at a stretch, or what, but I just really haven’t been wanting to post to this site. I’ve taken a few photos here and there, but I just haven’t been in the mood to write exactly.

My time writing this blog may be coming to a close. Perhaps I’ll generate another elsewhere, or redo this one. I’m not sure whether or not I want this site to be a part of my identity any longer. Things have changed; we’ll see how they progress.

In the meantime, who is this guy?

Post Arrival

We’ve made it to Louisville, Kentucky. It was a quick trip across, we’ve been here just over a week, and we’re just about settled. Old Louisville: cool, eclectic, part of town (loving this place, where I’m at right now). Bike Couriers: very cool bike shop, really Louisville’s only urban, inner-city shop (website updating soon); very Magna-rific at times.

I don’t have the internet at my leisure just yet, so this is an extremely brief post.

Bike racks here look like this:

sometimes like this:

and more commonly, like this:

Paring Down

Well, Brooke and I are still heading to Louisville. Our time here in Seattle is dwindling fast—faster and faster as the departure date approaches it seems. We hope to get the chance to see and hang out with everybody before we leave, but if that doesn’t happen, make sure to see us off at the little going away party we’re having at the Rendezvous next week.

One certain thing that is nice about moving, I’ve stated before, is the idea of getting rid of “the stuff”. Not The Stuff from the movie, but all the excessive possessions we find ourselves carting around the country. Sometimes you should really examine it all and question it’s necessity. We had a moving sale last weekend and were pleasantly surprised at how well we did. It certainly lightened our load, almost to the point that we’re wondering if we even need the truck we’ve got reserved—the smallest, a ten-foot step van. Unloading it into a new place in Louisville I bet will be a cinch.

Louisville looks like a cool town too. Many people ask why we’ve chosen there to move to, and of course the answer is for Brooke’s school, but there’s other reasons too. I suspect things will be less expensive there, especially rent. I also suspect that the bicycle community there is just burgeoning and that’s really exciting. Gas is equally expensive there, so it’ll be interesting to see what, if any, bicycle growth occurs in Louisville. It’s already beginning to happen I’ve think. These reasons coupled with the fact that the both of us are really looking forward to some change in our lives. Shaking it up a bit, per se. I’ve been in Seattle for too long, I myself need a change of scenery.

“So you’re moving there blind?” This is another question we get a lot. No, neither of us have been to Louisville before. And that’s part of the adventure! It’s the same way I moved to Seattle, it’s part of “shaking it up”. To be fair though, we’re fortunate enough to have noticed Google’s Street View and this has given us the ability to view just about any and all prospective neighborhoods to live in, what the streets are like to ride on, and generally what the town looks like. It’s rad, but I certainly know this doesn’t really compare to the actual experience of exploring the streets in person! It’s a pretty helpful tool nonetheless.

…too many yellow lines, where’s the lane?

I still have a lot to do before we leave. There’s the going away party, there’s helping Daniel with his Race Across Oregon, a small number of items to still get rid of (minor furniture, an alto saxaphone, among others), and I’m sure a million other things to plan for the trip across. Posts to the website will be sparse for while.

Shredding

I’ve been busy lately, always the theme, just the reason I’ve not posted in some time. The move doesn’t start when the keys turn the ignition, it starts when you begin packing. And this process has started seemingly months early. Yep, we’re still moving to Kentucky. Looking forward to the change—I have heard nothing bad about the city of Louisville, actually quite the opposite. All positive reviews—great to hear, it’ll make leaving Seattle easier.

The process of packing to me really entails getting rid of stuff. This is sometimes what I really look forward to when moving. Call it stuff, call it shit, garbage, detritus, or kipple. I’m always happy to part with it. For the first time in twelve or fifteen years I actually went through my file drawer. I don’t need to keep these old bills and paystubs, do I? No. I feel like I’ve been in some government scandal recently, shredding documents! “Quick before Feds get here!” I’m sure I’ve got nothing of importance, but better safe than sorry, I’d hate to see some old bill of mine go flying by on the street with my social and other “secure” account numbers on it.

In a sense it’s sort of fun going through it all. The old stuff is yellowing and mostly unnecessary to spend any time looking at, but some of the more recent papers and memorabilia is exciting and nostalgic in a way. Some of the old papers I wrote in school was fun to look at, read again, and then shred. (Not that they needed to be shredded per se, but the shredder is fun itself to use!) Science or Faith: Choices to Be Made in ‘Oedipus the King’ is one title that stands out right now, mainly because I’m reading Carl Sagan’s Contact again. The two writings aren’t a lot alike. There are lots of other papers too: culinary arts, stuff on James Joyce, the Psi phenomena, and material sciences and mechanical engineering papers. I enjoyed school, the writing was fun. All through the shredder.

However, I continually question the “to-keep pile”. I have still kept a bit of stuff. A lot of photos; which I whittled down to a quarter or so of the volume. Thank goodness for digital photography, now my computer is cluttered. A small stack of comics, (hopefully getting a good price for the others), a small section of my wardrobe, and a small box of bike parts (all my tools though), and now, three bikes. Just two weeks ago, I was only keeping two bikes, but I just acquired another that I just can’t seem to part with. A Specialized P.2, maybe a little more aggressive than I need, but I can’t rightly take my Coppi off-road in Kentucky, can I?

Anyway, I’m still wrenching at Wright Bros for a several more weeks and am happily getting rid of the majority of my burden of possessions. That’s what they all become, all the things we own, they become burdens; especially when they’re so copious. One can’t possibly enjoy or even make use of everything we have, so why have it? We’re planning a yard sale at the end of June. What was once mine might become yours. I guess that’s the other side of possessions, while they can be a burden to some, they can also be a boon to others. One man’s trash is another man’s treasure, right? (There’ll be lots of books, bits of furniture, some bike stuff, etc etc etc).

Kan-tuck!

I received an encouraging bit of news I was forwarded by Jack whom I met at UBI, I’m not sure if he knew or not, but I rarely pick up Bicycling magazine, either way it was a good article to read. Bicycling has rated Louisville Kentucky the most improved city for cycling. I’ve read about some of what they mention in the article, it seems the city government there is pretty into it.

This is encouraging because my wife and I are planning on moving to Louisville. The question of bikeabilty is always a factor when moving to a new city, we’re both adamantly car-free and intend on remaining so. But still, why Louisville? Well, she’s been accepted to a Master’s program at the University of Louisville and frankly, we’re both excited for the change of scenery.

Photo compliments of mrquick

Kentucky, I haven’t hardly a clue of what to expect; it has never been a place I ever considered moving to. The only two things that it meant to me was bourbon—mmmmm, and a remembrance from the movie Last of the Mohicans, just by the way it’s name was mentioned. However, from what I’ve read here and through other internet research, we’re really looking forward to it; it sounds like things might be happening there, and maybe some things are actually getting done.

There’s some time before our departure, but either way, I’ll continue the Cranked blog.

TARC It Up

There’s many things to look forward to moving to a new city. The research done prior to relocating is usually pretty exciting too; learning from afar about things in your potential new home town. When I moved to Seattle some eleven or so years ago, I didn’t do much internet research, even if I had, I wouldn’t have had the internet of today: Google Maps, unique and descriptive blogs, so many ways to find information. My initial research those years ago made me think it’d be no problem riding from Fauntleroy in far West Seattle to the University of Washington. Sure I could do it now, but back then, I had no idea what the terrain and streetscape was like between those two destinations. The AAA map I had of the city didn’t describe true enough what the route would be. I moved to Seattle nonetheless—albeit never to West Seattle.

Looking into other cities nowadays is pretty easy; and one of the things I’m looking into is the bike infrastructure and culture of cities other than Seattle. Finding this video was remarkably satisfying and entertaining:

From the TARC website.

Finding an equivalent of Seattle’s Bicycle Master Plan was also very appreciated. It’s all in context of course, but positivity goes a long way in my book. A program labeled the Bike Friendly Plan is something I’d put my energy into. It sounds welcoming and encouraging as opposed to the iron fist of a master plan. This might, or might not, just be one of those greener grass issues. We’ll just have to see won’t we?