a little Key Wierdness to warm your day

Handcuffs for bike locks are as common as rusty fenders here in Key West; but this awesomely strange combination of handlebar and bar ends is certainly not. I wondered who the rider was as I passed this bicycle going into the Bottle Cap Lounge as well as when I left. Perhaps the owner was sitting next to me? Perhaps they are seven or eight feet tall? Or enjoy riding standing up with good posture? I dunno, but bless them for making me smile!


Many people here simply do not have cars and use bicycles for everything; commuting to work, grocery shopping and towing their jet-skis! This dude prolly ain't getting into the large chainring anytime soon.


A fixie with a basket isn't too weird, but jumping sharks!?!? Really!?! Luckily we didn't have to dodge any this night during our pier tour. I bet a bite from one would mos def leave a bruise.


But...if a jumping shark had attacked us, I would have whipped out my sword and used my pirate skills to battle to the death! I have also found it to be very effective when drunk tourists stumble into the street in front of me while riding. A loudly yelled "ARRRRRRR" and a sword over my head usually sends them running back to a sidewalk of laughing bystanders. (yeah, go ahead and call me trash for not yet taking down my Christmas lights!)



We've all seen the Hartford messengers stacking their fixies on parking meters and poles in front of Mad Dawgs, Vegas and other spots. Well, down here in Key Weird, we hang our cruisers in trees when going out for swanky dinners. There's actually a second cruiser in the back of the tree and both are locked up in the branches.

a few more after the jump...




This installation, part of Sculpture Key West can be found at Fort Zack until April. Have a seat here in the shade if the sun and beach gets too hot for you.



Considering I took this during the Holiday Lights Bicycle Tour, it isn't really weird. There were also a few other bicycles with dogs, actually a lot, but only one trike with a dog and so many lights. Well done!


Read more!

Do office chairs belong in bicycle racks?

Sometimes you don’t want to walk to the bar. Obviously (i hope) driving isn’t an option. I suppose for some reason you may choose not to ride. And, every once in a while, i am sure we all will ask a friend to push us to the bar in an office chair. It happens. Where should the chair be left? This and other hardhitting deep issues of Key West bicycle culture are being discussed and debated. Well, maybe not, but they sure make funny photos. I'm going to continue to post random postcards from this crazy little tropical island as well from roadtrips on the BBB every now and then, but mostly I will be writing and photographing for my new blog, Key West Velo.


Expect more of my same blurry photos and long winded stories but without any snow or ice...ever. Although, I must admit, the cooler weather down here lately has been great for riding. Mid 50's at night are chilly if you're sitting around, but feels great if speeding around on a bike. And we got lots of bicycles here of every type and rustitude. Here's a typical sight outside El Alamo when Scott, Dave and I are cruising around. There's thousands and thousands of bikes everywhere, I love it. Its truly the best way to get around.


Here's an unusual sight inside on Christmas night...IT SNOWED!!! Even though it was plasticky and not cold, people went nuts! BTW, this spot has $1 PBR's and $2 Yuenglings all day every day! mmmmm!

I will also be contributing to the Fixed Gears Bicycle Shop Blog and writing and photographing all the assorted road, time trial, cruiser, choppers and various crazy looking bikes that come through the shop. Its my new fulltime job; managing, organizing, learning and having a great time at Fixed Gears Bicycle Shop. The links between the two are hard to find, so here they both are. That was an awkward paragraph, my bad! But life is good, i encourage everyone to follow their hearts and manifest their dreams.

Fight the winter blues and live vicariously someplace warm through the blog, or plan a trip and come on down and visit! Hope to see y'all down here smiling and pedaling.

Ride on,

chillwill
Key West Velo

click read more for a naughty elf picture





Read more!

Showdown In Old Town recap

“I have two boats in dry dock, a busted longboard and a fuckin’ busted-ass bike.” Words spoken by Jonathon, the winner of the Summer Showdown in Old Town. Actually, RJ and Rydel arrived 5 or 10 minutes earlier, by they forgot stop #7, which was to pick up a free copy of the Blue Paper. Prolly about half the racers had to run back out of Cowboy Bill’s and around the block to the Parrot, the nearest spot to grab a copy of the weekly newspaper. Suckas! So due to this and that, the winning bicycle, a $20 cruiser, beat the roadies and the fixies!

17 people met up at the end of the White Street Pier for the island’s first alleycat race and all had a great time. We had a few DQ’s due to missed stops, but most everyone finished and got a prize. All racers got a water bottle from Fixed Gears and a koozie from Cowboy Bill's, who also hooked us up with $1 PBR’s all night. yeeee-haaaaaaw! Thanks again to Re-Cycle , Guy Harvey's Help Yourself , Conch Traders, Turtle Kraals and Bad Boy Buttitos who were super kind with donated prizes, thanks y’all! Miami Bike Scene also covered the race.

johnathon conch cruiser
pedi eddie conch cruiser but i should have had him as a roadie
rj
rydel fixie
jason
david
amy fixie
travis conch cruiser
sasha
nick
lou
george conch cruiser
matt conch cruiser



Instead of putting the manifests and maps into envelopes, they were tucked inside waterbottles donated by Fixed Gears, which was the start of the surprise coconuts and mangos checkpoint tasks. Instead of signing manifests, Ray was handing out coconuts to be delivered to a house on Olivia Street. Thanks to Randesh for the coconuts. You can find him at Help Yourself chopping them open with a machete for the delicious water inside. Help Yourself was also a stop and they made everyone do a shot of super cold juice!


Brian and Agnes worked the Olivia Street surprise stop, where conch cruisers got their manifest signed, but roadies had to take a freshly picked mango back to Fixed Gears to get a signature. I am not sure how many people realized the Bill Butler Park checkpoint was down a tiny alley only two houses away!


Maya kicked ass and rode off into the sunset on the steel (and cardboard) horse she rides. Inspired by the race, she actually made a horse for her bicycle. Well done! She worked the checkpoint on the stairs at the corner of Duval and Front and made the racers go and find a tourist and make them yell, “yeee-haaaawww!”


This is a crazy story. George, on the left thought he had DFL and realized he had lost his wallet while racing. He rushed out of Cowboy Bill’s to go look for it and Matt, on the right, showed up and stole DFL from him. Matt also had a wallet he found on the street; which turned out to be George’s wallet! Dang, this town is getting small…


This was the most fixie riders ever together on this tiny island….six of us! Amy, Amy, Patrick, ChillWill and on the far right; Peppermint Patti and Rydel who drove down from Miami for the race. Riding around Saturday night with everyone was awesome. We had road bikes, fixies, conch cruisers and even a Penny-Farthing

Click Read More for a basket full of more photos!




Patricia arrived at Turtle Kraals and climbed the stairs to the Tower Bar but could not find the checkpoint person. She borrowed a menu to prove she was there. Good thinking!


Yep, someone really raced a Penny-farther! Scott also builds custom chopper bikes. I’ll mos def get a post out soon with some of his work and contact info.


We gave Matt, DFL, this rope lock hoping his bike would get stolen and he could get a faster bike! Ironicaly, Jonothn, who came in 1st place, actually uses a rope to “lock up” his bike at racks. Really, he does it all the time. I love this town!


By the way, Matt was one of the out-of-towners, visiting from Ohio; not for the race…but on honeymoon with his beautiful wife! Congratulations! They were super cool, hope to see y’all when I’m visiting Columbus in August.


Robbie was making people, like Jason here, go down the slide at Bill Butler Park.


RJ, in between Peppermint Patti and ??, prolly could have been the winner if not for a bit of disorganization on by both of us. He arrived at Cowboy Bill’s with Rydel an out-of-towner from Miami following his wheel, and they could not find me. They got back on their bikes and pedaled all the way to Cowboy Bill’s Reloaded, a smaller sister bar towards the northern end of Duval and returned…still looking for me. I was taking photos at three checkpoints as fast as possible. They forgot to pick up the Blue Paper and while going out to get them, Jonathon and Eddie arrived, putting RJ and Rydel in 3rd and 4th.



Scott, on the left, is the rider of the Penny Farthington. I don’t remember what Peppermint Patti was showing me and Patrick is blurry and out of focus…as promised.


An adorable couple and their bicycle basket of mangos! Thanks again Brian and Agnes for helping out.


me and lou


Rydel killin' the wings! At some point at Finnegan’s Wake I wrote down a quote from PP, “I’m not surprised he has chicken in his tooth hole!”


Rydel and the King of the Wild West, Jonathon, who bought a round for everyone!

Peppermint Patti chillin'


these tats were da bomb!


peppermint patti hugging what may have been the inspiration for The Giving Tree infont of the house where Shel Silverstein lived.


david on the penny! It was a bit awkward at first, but I liked riding it. with a waaay bigger front wheel than a 29’r, curbs were nuttin’!

Read more!

drop it like its hot

Last week, locked up at the rack at Home Depot; I spotted this bicycle; which, apparently, can work it, twirp it and make money money. This bike has more moves than that last sentence has commas. 21 speeds of delight! Yeah baby yeah, your bicycle’s ass is making me randy. I was at home depot picking up parts for a prototype rack I am building to tow my kayak.


We have all ghostridden a bicycle before. Maybe to a friend’s house or back to our own spot. Its not an uncommon sight. However, seeing someone ghostride a bicycle while on a scooter is something I haven’t seen before. This dude banked a sweet left at the intersection like it was nuttin’ and just motored on his way. But where? And why? Perhaps he is enroute to have his paltry rear suspension upgraded to a Fully Active Rear.


Ironically, this is a common sight! This guy and his wagon/dog trike caravan pass by Guy Harvey’s Island Grill pretty much every shift I work. He makes decent time with a solid pedal cadence in the afternoon. But whenever he passes by at night, he pedals one slow stroke, rests for a second, and down goes the pedal on the other side.







Read more!

bicycles and sailboats and jugs of wine

I get to write about a blog appropiate afternoon of sailing that actually involves a few bicycles. Sweeeet! My unexpected day on the water began when I shouted “hoo-dee-hoo” from my yard as my neighbor Maya rode by on her bicycle. She swung a u-turn and came back into my driveway and asked if I wanted to go sailing on a 19 foot sailboat for the afternoon. Five minutes later I had a drybag packed with a few sailing sundries and was pedaling with her and her roommate Redbeard towards Garrison Bight. We arrived at the Key West Sailing Club and locked up our bicycles on the half-full rack. Maya checked out a sailboat and soon we were on our way; powered by the wind and totally enjoying the ride.


We cruised past Rat Key and through the Seaplane Basin towards open water and just wandered aimlessly for a few hours as Redbeard and I shared a jug of wine he had brought along. On our way back, we spotted the cruiser on the side of the sailboat and circled around for a good shot of the bicycle. Thanks Captain Maya! I love seeing bikes on boats. Another person doing the dingy/bicycle commute and avoiding paying rent on land!


Yep, another hard day in paradise. I really wish I knew some Viking songs. We were really wanting to sing Viking songs as we passed several different Navy SEAL boats on training missions that kept messing up our tacking. I hope I spelled that right. There was talk of outlaw canoes taking over the Navy and controlling the oceans. I am not sure I still think that’s a great idea. Anyways, we made it back to the dock and pedaled home, quite content and sunkissed.

Click READ MORE for an inappropriate photo for the blog!







A few weeks ago Mary Beth and I were returning from a kayak trip around No Name Key. We spotted a waterspout about a mile away and watched it slowly grow and drop down from the clouds to the water. We threw on our life vests and watched as we pretty much just continued paddling towards it to get to the take out. We were far more worried about the lightening suddenly coming at us from two different storm cells. It began to dissipate in 10 minutes as we continued hugging the mangroves on the coastline under the flashing sky. Its official…summer in the keys!


Read more!

The Showdown in Old Town alleycat race

Key West's first alleycat race! And its gonna be tropical craziness! There's a lot of surprises in store for the racers and prizes for both fast riders and those on obligatorily rusted conch cruisers! I have certainly slacked on my blogging and organizing here, but this will more than make up for it. We got a lot of great local sponsors already supporting us with prizes and help. Props to Patrick at Fixed Gears, a bicycle repair shop on Simonton Street; Charlie at Help Yourself, a wonderful organic and green food spot on Fleming Street, Billy at Cowboy Bill's, the island's only Honky Tonk Bar, Charlie and Ron at Conch Traders, a great little gift shop at Clinton Square Market and hopefully a slew of other supportive businesses. Yeeeeehaaaawwww!

OK, enough with the bill paying, what about the race? You will need a basket or a bag and please don't forget your lock and lights. Meet at the end of the White Street Pier at 6pm to register. We need volunteers for checkpoints, please come a few minutes early and wear a cowboy hat if ya got one or bring a bandana to wear around yer neck to help the racers identify the checkpoint peoples.

The final checkpoint and afterparty is at a bar, so, unfortunately this race is 21+. But...I have worked out $1 PBR's all night for racers and volunteers!!

I'll post more details as the event gets closer. To all my peoples in da 'Beat, c'mon on down. I'll find you a hammock, tent space, floor space, whatever you need to get down here.

Here's the back of the flyer incase y'all have no idea what an alleycat race is all about:






no hints here about the checkpoints.....sucka!


Read more!

The Space Shuttle is in town! and other weirdness

Last Friday I caught a glimpse of what seemed to be the Space Shuttle driving down Duval Street. The spacecraft was a little smaller than expected; but the tailfin and color scheme is pretty dang recognizable. It must have been it, but I couldn’t get my camera out fast enough; that thing is a freakin’ rocket ya know. A few hours later I took the above picture, catching the ship moments after it safely sopped at a stop sign and continued along down South Street. I did see the Space Shuttle…I did! I did!



Houston, we have contact! I saw the Space Shuttle again, at 12:00, heading straight for me with nothing more than a mere double yellow line separating us from a deadly head-on collision! I quickly pulled over and parked my pedicab and snapped a few photos as the ship slowed and stopped next to me. The pilot said he saw me snapping photos earlier and asked if I wanted a postcard. Hells yeah! Nice people.

I learned that the Shuttlevan hangers in Texas and was built to celebrate 25 years of flight. There’s even a 1,700 watt fog production machine! Check the website!


Six or Seven years ago I was riding my bicycle down Greene Street and strangely heard a piano approaching me from behind. I turned to see a man in the middle of the street alternately pushing a piano on wheels from behind and then playing it from the side as it rolled. I took a quick photo and have never forgotten the sight. I have no idea of the what and the why. A few days ago I saw what must be the same guy and the same piano on Duval! He wasn’t playing it this time, only pushing it down the street. I love this town.


I saw these two Konas with crazy camo tires one night after sloppyhour. Pretty sweet.


Another wonderful night at the parrot. John’s singlespeed and my fixie. Let the revolution begin!

Want more photos? More bicycles? Want to see the newest fixie on the island, built just days ago? And welcome a new Surly to the neighborhood, a sweet Traveler’s Check? Click on read more and enjoy more bikeporn my dear blog reader(s).




Eddie, dayshift manager of Perfect Pedicab, just finished building his first fixie. Its got some aggressive geometry and begs to be ridden fast. Great job dude! Get some straps already!


And Eddie’s the very proud new owner of a Surly Traveler’s Check. He travels a lot and enjoys bringing a bike along for transportation and adventure. I think he's also doing some kind of hypnotism shit with his eyes too.


Another sexy shot of the frame in detachment action. 


This man rides around town on his trike pulling a trailer and sells mangos, coconuts, avacados and other yummies. Roy stopped him the other night infront of our apartments for a few tomatoes.



The funny thing is that the tongue weight of the trailer causes the trike to do a wheelie whenever he dismounts. Pretty funny scene every time I see him.
Read more!