The following articles were authored by Rider in Chief

How To Solve Any Problem With Fabric.

By on January 7, 2012
This entry is filed under Uncategorized.

This is going to sound really smug, but it’s not like that. I’m actually surprised this is such a mystery to most people. When I was in high school, I’d pore over European fashion magazines, wishing I had a machine that could scan (before scanners) a photo from the pages (usually Gaultier) and make a copy of the actual garment, only you know, at a price I could afford. Well, I went to fashion school and quickly became that machine. I was fortunate to have an awesome patternmaking teacher in Connie Amaden Crawford at FIDM. She helped me uncover my talent for draping & patternmaking.

Continue reading How To Solve Any Problem With Fabric.

Why there are more bicycles in LA than motorcycles

By on December 31, 2011
This entry is filed under Ride Reports and tagged , .

I was really shocked when I saw this GOOD infographic, which states that 0.9% of LA commuters go via bicycle, and so few commute via motorcycle that we’re lumped in with “other”. But when I looked around, I realized I do indeed see way more bicycles on the streets of LA than motorcycles. And now I’m becoming one of the 0.9%. I got a new bike on Black Friday, a Fuji Absolute hybrid. I call her Miss Absolute. It’s immensely more comfortable and faster than the vintage bike I was on before.

Continue reading Why there are more bicycles in LA than motorcycles

Fastest | TT3D Double Feature

By on November 14, 2011
This entry is filed under Ride Reports.

I was so excited about seeing these films, I thought today would be the greatest day ever. Well, maybe not as good as a track day at Laguna Seca, but still good. Being in a theater packed with race fans was awesome, as was Fastest. But the most exciting part of TT3D was the ride home from the theater…

Fastest

Fastest showed two sold-out screenings at the Downtown Independent, a theater I can walk to, always a plus. It was a great movie, as I’ve come to expect from director Mark Neale. He did an excellent job of showcasing Rossi’s talent, going into detail about certain accomplishments the American announcers on Speed TV really hadn’t conveyed. But it was also a sad film. Not just for all the interviews with Marco Simonicelli, but for what felt like the end of Rossi’s career. 2011 has been the worst year of his career, and when they showed him announcing his plans to move to Ducati, I screamed “Don’t Do it!” and the whole theater laughed. Yes, I love being with my people. We understand each other. I cried openly when they read a few lines from the goodbye letter he wrote to his Yamaha, just as I cried when I first read the translation.

Continue reading Fastest | TT3D Double Feature

The motorcycles I have owned

By on November 6, 2011
This entry is filed under Ride Reports and tagged , , , , , , , , , . | 3 Comments

1985: 1981 Vespa P200E

Greatest Memory? Every ride with Cheri (memorialized here), especially the ones where we snuck out at night and rode to the city 20 miles away.

The first time I went for a ride, on the back of Rob Bond’s Suzuki GS550, I knew I had to have one for myself. Sharing was simply not an option. So I spent the next year (until I was 15 1/2) working my parents over. By the time I was old enough to get my motorcycle permit, they relented. Because people (mistakenly) perceive scooters as being safer than motorcycles (it’s the other way around, actually), my parents let me buy a Vespa. I worked all summer in a paint factory to pay for it, but still only had about 50%. So my super awesome dad came up with the other half. The day I turned 15 1/2 I went straight to the DMV to get my motorcycle permit. I passed the test. Back then, you didn’t have to get a car permit in order to get a motorcycle permit. And I hadn’t heard about the MSF, as it was just starting up in 1985. Too bad, it would’ve saved me launching that 1981 Vespa P200E into the bushes across the street in front of my parents and the guy selling it to me.

Continue reading The motorcycles I have owned

Why I want to wear my motorcycle helmet on my bicycle

By on September 20, 2011
This entry is filed under Uncategorized and tagged , , , , . | 2 Comments

This is not my bike, it's my friend's bike. But it goes so well with my dress I had to take it for a spin

I’ve had 5 concussions. The last 3 would’ve been negligible if I’d been wearing a helmet for the first 2. The first one felt like “no biggie”, as most injuries do to a teenager. 40mph into the side of a Volvo? Whatever, stop asking me how my head feels, I just wanna see my scooter. How’s my scooter? And why does this ambulance reek of piss, don’t they ever clean them? Oh. right.

Continue reading Why I want to wear my motorcycle helmet on my bicycle

Dreaming of Mecca, aka The Isle of Man TT

By on September 17, 2011
This entry is filed under Travel and tagged , , .

Thanks Kevin Rothwell for capturing the photo most like my dream, and sharing it!

Photo courtesy Kevin Rothwell via Creative Commons License

 

This morning I had the best dream- I was at the Isle of Man TT, which I’m finally going to in 2012. The only downside of the dream is I was also preparing my next project for the class I’m currently teaching on garment construction. But when I wasn’t doing that…

 

In the dream, there was also a MotoGP paddock, as if the TT were back on the schedule. Somehow I had access to Colin Edwards’ bike. Somehow I knew that if I disconnected the CPU, the bike would run solely on electric power. So I did, then later returned to Colin’s garage and rode off. I wasn’t even dressed to ride, and of course the streets were open to all traffic. But the bike was FAST and so much fun. I careened through the crowded streets and in my dream I was really in some mall (of course), so parts of my short laps were through a clothing store. It was pandemonium but the crowd loved it (as TT fans would). I loved showing them that a GP bike could be fast and fun even without gas. I did 3 “laps” around this little city block, then rode around some real streets.

Continue reading Dreaming of Mecca, aka The Isle of Man TT

I like big bikes, and I cannot lie

By on September 15, 2011
This entry is filed under Race Reports and tagged , , , .

Photos courtesy of Andy Woo

I actually sang this, and completely rewrote the chorus to make my point on Sunday morning. The rest of my (all female) team couldn’t understand why I was so unmotivated. Something about having to fold my knees into my armpits in a suit that never seemed quite cut for actually racing might have contributed to my extreme discomfort on the baby bike. Timeline highlights follow… Continue reading I like big bikes, and I cannot lie

Is LA Suffering an Outbreak of the Crazies?

By on August 20, 2011
This entry is filed under Ride Reports and tagged , , .

I’ve lived and ridden in LA for over a decade. In that time, I’ve seen some messed up driving and survived plenty of threats on my life.  (some perceived and some real). I’ve even grown pretty confident on my bicycle in the 5 months I’ve been riding. But the past couple days I’ve seen some seriously crazy shit. And it’s not even a full moon. What is going on?

Last night I rode my bicycle from downtown to Hollywood and back. I had 2 cars almost run stop signs into me. Then a minivan pulled into the oncoming lane to pick his friend up at the corner just as I was turning the same corner. I discovered I can lock the wheels on my bicycle very easily without crashing. two wheel slide! wootwoot! But just the same it scared the hell out of me.  That kid’s parents will be getting a nasty letter from me courtesy of the DMV’s letter forwarding system if I can find the link on their new website. Although I fear that budget cuts may have led them to discontinue that service. Continue reading Is LA Suffering an Outbreak of the Crazies?

Chasin’ the Dream

By on July 5, 2011
This entry is filed under Ride Reports and tagged , .

So I started this whole cycling adventure with a few goals-

1. get in shape. as in, be more strong, energetic, toned.

2. have fun getting from point a-b.

3. laugh at cops and gas stations.

All of these are happening, so I am raising the bar, as one must do with goals. Now that I feel a little stronger, I wanted to see if I’ve made any progress. Because with the way I get passed (like I’m standing still) by guys on fixies going uphill, I clearly am not ready for the Tour De France. Or even Malibu, for that matter. Malibu is the goal.

One day, I will be fit enough to huff it up those hills with the best of them. Until then, here is my progress so far. (click to embiggen) I think the gps got a little high on the 25th, as it’s the same route I’ve taken on other days and there weren’t any unusual hills involved. Sometimes the gps on my iphone likes to wander off.

It’s kind of annoying that we’re not seeing a general upward curve here. I know those calories burned are cumulative, and that I get stronger with each ride, but I’d like to also get faster…

Riding vs Wrenching

By on June 28, 2011
This entry is filed under Uncategorized and tagged , .

Here's Fred after he was "Pile" for a few months.

Traumatized By Carburetors

Some people enjoy working on bikes more than they enjoy riding them. I am not one of those people. I hate taking time out of my life to maintain my vehicles. Which is yet another reason I’m so gung-ho about electric vehicles. However, when I lived in NYC, I took an awesome motorcycle maintenance class my friends recommended. Only because it’s so hard to find a decent mechanic in NYC, particularly with reasonable rates, that you may as well do it all yourself. I was lucky because the teacher was really cool, the exact opposite of the ogre who taught auto shop in high school and forced me to study carburetors. On my own, because of some heinous and forgotten crime I’d committed as a student. And every time I’d return to him, convinced I knew every thing there was to know about those infernal devices, he’d ask me the one question I couldn’t answer. To this day, I despise carburetors.

Continue reading Riding vs Wrenching

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