Mr. Dahon goes to Washington Jeff City

This is the new folder in front of the Missouri State Capitol. I took it with me on the train to Jefferson City this weekend for our quarterly board meeting of the Missouri Bicycle Federation. The little guy travels great on the train, folded up and stowed in the luggage rack. However, the train conductors were a little perplexed to see a folding bike, and wanted to charge me the fee for a full-sized bike.  Fortunately I had done some research and brought a copy of the Amtrak policy that says folding bikes are treated as carry-on luggage. Here is the policy, and an Amtrak employee memo on the topic.

The train trip was as enjoyable as always.  Coach was a bit noisy, so I spent another $10 for business class. On the outboudn trip I was the only one in business class, so it was like having my own personal train.  Unfortunately Amtrak still struggles with coal train congestion on the Missouri line, so the train to Jeff was an hour and a half late and the return train was an hour late.  But it was still better than driving, and I had the bike to get around town.

This was the first time I spent any appreciable time exploring beyond the city, which has some awesome historic neighborhoods and a decently-maintained High Street in the Downtown area. It’s sad to see so much energy focused on the suburban-style sprawl on the edge of town, but at least they seem to be making some a few attempts to improve the city’s core.

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Teh new hotness

It’s the Dahon Speed D7. I picked it up at Family Bicycles in Waldo, where they still had some 2007 models left.  That’s good thing because the 2008 models are going up 20% in price thanks to demand for raw materials in China and the cost of transportation.

Anyway, it’s a great little gizmo. I took it down to the hardware store and it was a joy to ride.  It runs surprising well, especially for quick trips. Riding RAGRAI might be a bit of stretch.  And it sure has a novelty factor.  I’m used to getting some funny looks every now on then on my full-sized biks, but everyone I passed by did a double take or pinted at my little green friend.

If KC was flat, I’d ride the hell out of this thing. The 7 gears were OK for cruising the neighborhood, but I might need to get in a little better shape before I try riding it Downtown and coming back up the bluff.  I think it will come in handy on my short commute to work, riding to the bus stop, or on Amtrak trips.

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Twitter Updates for 2008-04-13

• Finally throwing out that big stack of Zip disks that have been gathering dust since about 2002. #
• Dear Lucky Strike Lanes, you are certainly the sexy young thing in town, but I’ve decided to stay with my dear old Ward Parkway Lanes. #

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Twitter Updates for 2008-04-12

• New poison: Jim Beam Rye. #
• There is a Starbucks inside this Target. Am I really in KCK?!?! #
• why is it so hard to find non-fugly furniture? we are contemplating moving to an Ikea city. #

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Twitter Updates for 2008-04-11

• Clipping fingernails in the office should be subject to lethal injection. Groom yourselves at home, folks. #

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