Crazy days biking and bees, sort of....

At first this post may seem slightly off topic and a bit random, but bear with me and I’ll bring it around back to bees. Al-bee-it in a round-about-way but nevertheless we will eventually talk bees.
One of my other passions besides beekeeping is bike riding. Not that sissy stuff you’re thinking with the flashy, tight lycra with all the painful-over-the top logos. Me pimping my package up and down the highways and byways around the valley. No sir, I prefer to spend my time in the great outdoors riding what we call “single track” in the hills around Northern California. That colorful lycra is for those road jockeys, my taste in riding cloths is either a pair of my grandfather’s hand-me down slacks I lopped off just below the knee. Or when I want to ratchet it up a notch I sport my couture beekeeping/bike knickers made by Nan at B Spoke Tailor. Really, these knickers are far too nice for a biking bum like me so I had Nan add a couple extra side pockets for my hive tool and digital camera to use them as beek pants too. Soo nice I’m scared to get them dirty.... I read on Nan’s blog - http://bspoketailor.blogspot.com/ - she’ll even whip your grand pops ol’ get-ups (or those special duds you grabbed at the goodwill) into a pair of amazing bike knickers. When not out working bees and I’m able to get in a quick spin I tend to spend most my saddle time locally at our homie stomping grounds Skyline Park. We are so blessed to have some of the best mountain bike riding in the area right here in our own backyard. Skyline, or as we call it “The S-K-Y”, has hellish climbs, 3 or 4 creek crossings, crazy-fast technical descents, and at least 3 bee trees I know of.
Yeah, it’s true, Skyline is the biking bomb but every Thanksgiving the Skyline Riders pack it in to head west for new trails in Marin. Some call it the Turkey Trot, some call it the Appetite Enhancer, whatever it is we look forward to the ride in Fairfax all year long. I think we clock in at just under 23 miles in about 3 hours. Incredible climbs and epic downhills, and even one DH that shaped the early stages of mountain biking called Repack.

What’s all this got to do with bees you ask yourself?.

*Well, the painfully obvious would be that both Bees and Bikes well,  start with the letter B. 

*Earlier this year I read on Boing Boing A directory of wonderful things about a swarm that landed on a bike seat. 

-http://boingboing.net/2009/08/06/bees-swarm-under-bik.html

2 Wheels, 2000 Bees

Bees swarm under bike seat: the thrilling conclusion
* Burley makes a pretty cool  Honey Bee Bike Trailer for kids
http://www.burley.com/products/child/bee.cfm
*This gal kind of has it going on, I couldn’t navigate her site but it all sounds good to me:
Bees.. check, bikes.. check, beer... check, buzz... got it.
8tracks.com/chrissimelissi/beesbikesbeerbuzz
*Brooks leather bicycle saddles come in a honey color.
This is the one I own:
http://www.brookssaddles.com/en/Shop_ProductPage.aspx?cat=saddles+-+road+%26+mtb&prod=Swift+Chrome
* Mr. HONEY BEE – Z1 is a motorized bicycle which to me just feels wrong.
http://www.grubeeinc.com/USA/4%20Cycle%20Honey%20Bee%20Moped.htm

* These fools deserve to be stung

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=UbGJPbU7-YY

See, and those are just a few of the many unswerving correlations between bees and bikes. My relationship with bees and bikes is directly linked to my graduate degree in art and overwhelming desire to be on a team. Since none of the local bike shops in town would sponsor me because I break too much of my gear I decided to start my own bicycling team, Team Larves. That’s right, larves... like the undeveloped baby bee. The thing is, I felt there needed to be a strong bond between all the team members. My idea was that we would all consume a handful of drone larvae before each race as our competitive edge. I guess I was the only one who saw the benefits of a fist full of male bee protein before a race because currently I’m the only member. Although I don’t have any jerseys made at this point, I have created a number plate for race day and numerous spoke cards with bee imagery. If you’re interested please feel free to shoot me an e-mail with your biking experience, pre-race strategies, spoke-card ideas, and your post-race decompression protocol.

Catch ya’ on the B side.

Team Larves!

Spoke cards on my single speed - Race day get-up at the Sea Otter 2009

Waggle dance spoke card on my Breezer in Tahoe.

 Queen bee spoke card on my Breezer - Thanksgiving day ride Fairfax 2009

Torpedo spoke card on my Kona - Nice heavy IPA - My friend Tony Auston designed the label. Made from a 6pk side panel - For Real... and remember, you can't spell beer without bees.

Spoke cards on my breezy breezy.

 
Mark Weir passes me while I'm fixing a spoke card flat.

 
Skyline Riders

Spoke cards that never quite made it to the spokes:

BEE CAL

For H20 overdrive with bee wallpaper background.

Full Nelson!

Ride-out to the honey comb hide-out!

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