My Schwinn is tuned up

The weather lately has been perfect for bicycle guitaring: slightly cool but not cold, warm in the afternoons but not hot, little wind. A couple days ago I left my Schwinn at the local bicycle shop for its annual tune-up and for them to check how true the recently-built new wheels are. I just picked it up today, and it is sweet. All the cables are adjusted for smooth and easy shifting and braking. The chain was cleaned and lubricated. My Super Sportabout tracks straight and true when I ride "no hands" playing guitar on it.

Last night I played solo guitar at my bass player's house. Rocky had a few of his friends and family over, and a good time was had by all.

been cold around here past few days

It's been way too cold here lately for me to ride the bicycle and play guitar. It's not good for the wood of the guitar when it's this cold, and not good for my fingers or hands either!

I charged the battery of my 1965 Ford Falcon Ranchero yesterday. Tomorrow I will get a couple gallons of gasoline into it and try to start the engine again. If it doesn't work, then I'll ask for help from people who know more about mechanics than I do.

A few days ago I recorded yet another version of my cover of the Beatles song Help! and posted it to my web site. I've been practicing this song literally thousands of times the past few years, and my playing is getting smoother and smoother. My latest insight about the song came about a week ago and involves the spiraling arpeggio riff played by George Harrison at the end of the intro, each chorus, and the outro.

There are many groups of three in this song, three evenly spaced bass notes between chord changes, three verses, etc. However, that spiraling arpeggio riff consists of sixteen evenly-spaced evenly-stressed notes. It is played by picking four strings of a hand position then moving that same hand position down three more times one fret at a time, in other words, four groups of four notes! Not only that, but that riff is played four times during the song. How much more "fourness" can you get? Well, okay, I see that a riff of four groups of four notes being played four times only references the number four three times! But then, that reinforces the "threeness" in this song.

The "Minstrel Cycle" of The Bicycling Guitarist

Yesterday I joined "velospace, the place for bikes" and posted some photographs of the Schwinn I have ridden for decades now while playing guitar. Details of my ride are online at The "Minstrel Cycle" of The Bicycling Guitarist. I edited the description on that page today, giving more information about the specifications of Schwinn Sportabouts compared to the better-known Varsity and Continental bicycles.

I don't actually call my bicycle "The Minstrel Cycle." If I refer to it at all by any name, I just call it Schwinn. I made this pun decades ago. It was a natural joke to make considering I have been called a traveling minstrel and the bicycle is red. Okay, I will make no more jokes about menstruation, period! The joke is even funnier since someone called Lijemtu added "only if you play ragtime" (May 21, 2009 at 11:01 a.m. in the Welcome Wagon thread of Tunesmith songwriting forums).

What's going on

It's been more than a month since my last posting. In mid-April I received a series of emails from a bicycle enthusiast who offered more information about the history of Schwinn lightweight bicycles and suggestions for how to improve my ride. With his permission, I edited and posted his content on my web site. The new pages are

Schwinn lightweight bicycles history

Suggestions to upgrade my Schwinn Sportabout

My 1965 Ford Falcon Ranchero is still sitting in the driveway with a bent driveshaft as it has since the summer of 2007, but last month I got a replacement tailgate skin for it (not yet installed) and this month I got a spare hood. Both parts were very reasonably priced from a local man who had them left over from his own ranchero restoration project.

Namaste TBG

New Front Derailleur on my Schwinn

It really is new too, still in the original package. Of course the package is more than thirty years old, but it had never been opened. On June 11, 2008 the old Shimano Positron front derailleur on my 1977 Schwinn Sportabout was replaced by this NOS (new old stock) SunTour "Spirt" front derailleur. The clamp was a bit too big around and needed a shim to fit my seat post.

I have also polished the metal parts of my bicycle the past few days so everything is very shiny. I will put a web page up eventually to show this, hopefully not before all the shininess fades.

new lights for my Schwinn ten-speed bicycle

Cateye EL530 headlight and LD1100 taillight are the brightest battery-powered bicycle lights available. The EL530 is 1500 candlepower (50% brighter than the 2005 model). The LD1100 (new for 2008) is 100% brighter than the 2007 model. I placed a special order for them today from the local bicycle store. I also ordered a cam lock mount for the headlight, because I read of many complaints about the stock mount being flimsy.

These will be a vast improvement over the Cateye lights I bought five years ago that are currently mounted on my Schwinn. Bicycle light technology has advanced considerably in the past five years.

A Sunny Day

After weeks of cold and wet, today was really nice outside. My bicycle had its chain cleaned and lubed for a quite noticeable improvement in performance. I am amazed at how much easier it is to pedal the bicycle afterwards compared to before the chain was cleaned and lubed. Some people in passing cars waved and honked at me when they saw me riding the bicycle while playing guitar.

I rode to the store to get something. First a little dog chased me and tried to bite me. I kicked at it, twice, then turned the bicycle and chased the little dog back to its yard. A few blocks on, a little kid (about ten years old) chased me yelling "Give me that guitar" and "I want to kill you." As before, I turned and rode back towards him. He and his friends gathered around and I played a couple of riffs on the guitar for them. He said he wanted to steal the guitar. I told him I hope he gets one someday. He might be a great rocker.