Keepin it goatless for generations to come

Chances are you’ve never thought about castrating goats. Well, these days, it’s easier than ever, with devices like this, the Emasculator. Warms your heart just looking at it, doesn’t it.

Of course, if the truck you’re driving is full of goats, and it flips over, that’ll get the job done, too.

And, apparently, some scientists think goats will help save the world. Maybe someone should send them one of those Emasculators.

Shoulda hired me

Apparently nobody over at Zest or the design agency Zest hired knows anything about bikes, or, for that matter, any people who know anything about bikes. See those little metal round things on the downtube? The threaded holes? Yeah, those are water bottle bosses, and that’s where you connect the water bottle cage to the frame. Not 8 inches up the frame, just magically stuck there. Nice work, photoshopping genius.

Also, the mud sucks. It looks totally fake.

(found the ad in National Geographic Adventure, among others)

following your folly

An amazing convergence of coincidences here:

A few months ago I bumped into Andy Thornley, the San Francisco Bicycle Coalition’s awesome Program Director, on Market Street, just outside of a fine breakfast establishment called It’s Tops Coffee Shop. Apparently, Andy had seen a few ZPG stickers around, and was eager to get his hands on some — so of course I hooked him up.

Now, with the Tour de Fat, a philanthropic bicycle carnival/freakshow that travels the western lands to promote bicycling, nearly upon us, our friends at the New Belgium Brewery have teamed up with the SFBC and put together a rad little video of Andy riding around town with his huge bike trailer. Hence awesome coincidence number one: you’ll see one of my blue ZPG stickers proudly displayed on Andy’s bike, on the pink crate. “Bicycling in the city should be safe, dignified, and delightful — a routine, everyday way to get around,” Andy says, and he couldn’t have said it better. Also, New Belgium seems really devoted to out-of-car experiences, and, at last year’s Tour de Fat, raised $100,000 for local bike-advocacy orgs in Ft. Collins, CO. Superfrigginawesome.

Awesome coincidence number two: my buddy Jeff pointed me to New Belgium’s recent Fat Tire ad, which was shot in Paonia, Colorado, where I lived 5 years ago (after riding there from DC). You can see Mt. Lamborn and Lands End Peak, which loom above town, in a couple of the shots, and I swear i know the EXACT location of that big pile of junk, from which the red cruiser bike emerges, because I used to ride past it on the way back home from the Ridge of Doom/Valley of Death trail combo — one of my favorite mountain bike rides ever. Anyway…enjoy.

recycle and reuse THAT

A couple weeks ago I saw some of these cell-phone Holdsters over at Mojo Bicycle Cafe — they’re made from recycled tires and are friggin great. Someone else — ehem ehem — is also working on some fine recycled-tire products. More on that front shortly…

deep down, i’m a political dork…

…and I heart these videos with the Washington Post’s Dana Millbank

Swing Bikes!

the D.R.E.A.M. Ride

My friend Ethan is raising money for the DREAM ride, a fundraiser for international development in Tanzania, Kenya, Cameroon, Haiti, Russia, Rwanda. The event  — a 2 week, 900-mile ride, from Boston to Montreal to New York City — starts on August 3rd, and is affiliated with CARE, Partners In Health, Doctors Without Borders, the Emory Vaccine Center, International Peace Initiatives, and the Canaan Foundation. Together, those orgs are teaching kids and women how to read; working on AIDS, TB, and Malaria vaccine research; providing disaster-relief supplies; and securing access to clean water. Sounds like just the thing before Ethan starts grad school this fall at Brandeis.

I’m gonna send him a bunch of ZPG stuff, so he can ride in style, though i’m sure he’d accept donations in regular American currency as well…

Send him a note: ethan@brandeis.edu