Palm Beach Bike Tours – Page 26 – Two Wheels, one GPS and a Camera

October 9, 2009September 29, 2010

NiteRider MiNewt Mini-USB LED Bike Light Review

NiteRider MiNewt LED Headlight Summary: It works and it works well. I bought one. Eight of the 17 people I rode with last night own one. It’s bright, small, has a three-hour run time and costs under $100.

NiteRider MiNewt Versus NiteRider Trail Rat

For years I used the NiteRider Trail Rat. It was bright (thanks to its halogen bulb) but had a lousy run time (thanks to its halogen bulb). It cost about $100 new. The Trail Rat was the perfect size unlike the NiteRider Digital Pro 12E which was always too big.

1999 Technology Versus 2009 Technology

In every way, the MiNewt Mini-USB is superior to the Trail Rat.

NiteRider Trail Rat

Battery Life: One Hour
Weight: 1,055 grams
Size: Bigger
Charger: Chunky Wall Wart
Temperature: Hot
Light Color: Yellow/Orange

NiteRider MiNewt Mini-USB

Battery Life: Three Hours
Weight: 172 grams
Size: Smaller
Charger: USB
Temperature: Cool
Light Color: White/Blue

MiNewt Weighs 883 Grams LESS and Runs Three Hours

I’m no weight weenie but the difference between the Trail Rat and MiNewt is amazing. As you can see from the above photo, the Trail Rat is a beast compared to the MiNewt. The weight difference is so startling, I had to break out the scale.

Did you see that? Look again. The MiNewt Mini-USB bike light weighs just 16% of what the Trail Rat weighs: 172 grams versus 1,055 grams.

USB Charger for NiteRider MiNewt Headlight

Use any standard mini-USB cable to charge your NiteRider MiNewt Mini-USB LED headlight. This is more exciting than it sounds.

The MiNewt Mini-USB headlight charges from a standard miniature USB cable. Chances are, you already have such a cable for your digital camera or cell phone. Chances are, you already bring one when you travel. I can’t tell you how nice it is not to have to bring yet another charger when traveling. Best of all, if you do forget your cable, the hotel will probably have a spare. It is that universal.

Make Sure to Get the 2010 Model of the MiNewt Mini-USB

The earlier models had no charge indicator. You couldn’t tell if it was charged or not. The 2010 model has a light in the power switch. Red means charging. Green means full and ready to use. The recharge time is only four and a half hours so you know it will charge overnight but the indicator light is a good way to double-check.

Lots of stores are trying to pass off the older models as current. The earlier years are fine as lights but I would certainly expect to pay less for the model without the charge indicator light.

Support Your Local Bike Shop and Save Money

If you buy the NiteRider MiNewt Mini-USB from Amazon, we make $5.64 at its current listed price of $94. The light is worth every bit of $94 and Palm Beach Bike Tours certainly appreciates it when you support us by ordering through our links.

On Your Mark Performance Center NiteRider MiNewt Mini-USB Reciept Still, if you’re looking for a great deal, check your local bike shop.

My local bike shop, offers a 20% discount for club members. I paid $85.19 for the Niterider MiNewt ($9 off the Amazon price) and got to walk out of the store and use it that very night.

For the $35 membership fee, you get the 20% discount (if you spend more than $175 on your bike in a year, you’ll make your membership fee back), supported rides and nice folks who organize local events such as the Criterium Training Camps at the Camp Murphy Circuit Course and the Dyer Consequences Cyclocross in January.

—Matt

October 7, 2009

We’re Heading Back to Cape Girardeau

We’ve just about finished loading the stage coach for our annual trip back to Cape Girardeau, MO, to get in some cool bike riding, recharge our spiritual batteries and to celebrate my mother’s Birthday Season.

I’m also going to be shooting After Pictures of scenes around Cape to go with historical photos for a web site I’m launching. I just started scanning prints and negatives going back to my high school freshman year. Since I worked for the school yearbook and newspaper all four years of high school, and for the tw0 of the local papers through high school and until I left for Ohio University in 1967, I have a pretty good snapshot of the era.

Debate road trip

Here’s a sample. Here’s the A Team of the Debate Squad getting ready for a road trip. (I’m the serious-looking guy second from right. My debate partner, John Muller, far right, and I were undefeated my freshman year.)

The 1960s Class Reunion is going to be held next summer, so I have to get working to make it in time. Wow, I remember laying out newspaper pages with class reunion pictures and saying, “Look at all those old farts.” Be careful of what you say when you’re young.

None of these majorettes dated me

Hey, what did you expect? I was on the debate team and a school photographer. I was a nerd before nerds had a name. (Confession: I actually had and used a pocket protector.)

I DID go to kindergarten with the gal top left, if that scores me any points.

Gonna be a slow few days

I’m sure I’ll have fresh content once we get settled in back home, but things may be a little slow while we’re on the road.

If you don’t want to have to keep checking back (which is OK, because it boosts my traffic stats), you could sign up for a Twitter notification when new stuff is filed or you could sign up for the RSS feed.

Twitter is at the top, left of the page, under “Follow Us Socially.” The RSS link is at the top right of the page.

October 6, 2009October 6, 2009

Fire Dancers at Full Moon Drum Circle

I feel like I’m in the bag for the Lake Worth Full Moon Drum Circle and the Freakbike Militia because I write about them so much.

It’s just because it’s hard to go wrong with people riding funky bikes and people playing, as Wife Lila says, “pleasingly primal” music on the beach under a full moon.

October Full Moon Drum Circle Video

I really hadn’t planned on shooting anything, so I didn’t have a tripod; my digital recorder ran out of battery and I didn’t delete the videos I had shot of D-in-L Carly’s 5K run from the morning. On the other hand, when I saw that big, bright moon, I couldn’t resist.

This was our third Drum Circle

Last month the moon part was a little short-changed because of rain, but it was still fun.

Our first Drum Circle encounter was what sealed the deal for Wife Lila. She’s become a Moon Missionary (not to be confused with a Moonie, although I have a few pictures when she did look a bit like a flower child).

Follow the links above to get a taste for what we’ve seen.

October 5, 2009

October Coming Events

We’re trying to get loose ends wrapped up so we can head back home to Missouri in the next day or so. The heat index here in S. FL this morning was 93. Cape Girardeau’s temps were in the low 40s. That’s going to take some adapting.

Third sock solution

I can recall one chilly ride several years ago that I discovered an area that wasn’t covered by arm warmers and leg warmers on fast downhill rides. If the day hadn’t warmed up, I’m afraid I’d have been reaching into the panniers for a third sock.

We’re going to miss some good events while we’re out of town.

St Petersburg Share the Road Ride

The Florida Bicycle Association sent out reminders this morning from some events that will benefit the FBA (and be a lot of fun to participants. Here’s a brief rundown.

Bike Bash on the Bay Share the Road Ride sponsored by the St. Petersburg Bicycle Club in conjunction with the Bicycle Bash by the Bay.

Sunday, October 11, 2009
8:30 a.m. – Ride Registration Begins
North Straub Park, St. Petersburg

Ft. Lauderdale Bike BBQ Beer Beach Bash

zMotion’s Bike BBQ Beer Beach Bash!
Sunday, October 18, 2009
7:00 a.m. to 4:00 p.m.
Ocean Manor Resort
4040 Galt Ocean Drive
Fort Lauderdale, FL 33308

The event includes a ride, an all-day beach party, BBQ buffet, beer and tons of fun! Activities for the kids with balloons, snowcones and much more!

Ft. Lauderdale’s Share the Road Memorial Ride

Ute’s October Blast – The Share the Road Memorial Ride
Sunday, October 25, 2009
8:00 am – 3:00 pm
Downtown Bicycles
2533 E. Sunrise Blvd.
Ft. Lauderdale, FL 33305

Ute’s October Blast will be 36 and 62 miles along A1A, originating at Downtown Bicycles, 2533 East Sunrise Boulevard in Fort Lauderdale. Riders in the 36-mile ride will proceed north on A1A to the first rest stop at Spanish River Park in Boca Raton before returning south on A1A back to the start. Riders who want to do a metric century (62 miles) will go north to the second rest stop at Ocean Inlet Park in Boynton Beach before looping back south on A1A to Downtown Bicycles to enjoy a post-ride lunch, music and a complimentary massage.

Lake worth Halloween Street Scene

While this isn’t strictly a bicycle event, there’s a rumor that some of the Freakbike Militia will show up to ride in Friday night’s Soul Parade. Halloween is The Big Ride for the FBM, so anything that can expand and extend the Halloween Season is a Good Thing for them.

For more details about the Lake Worth Event, which sounds like a bag of fun, click the poster.

We have to be home for Halloween Chopper Night Oct. 28

Freak Bike Militia's CHOPPERNIGHT Oct. 28 Here’s a quick description from the Freakbike site:

It will be on Wednesday, October 28, 2009, 7:00pm at the corner of Southern and Flagler. Of course this will be a Halloween cruise but this one will be not retro, but our own generation’s horrors!

Werewolves, Dracula, and ghosts are encouraged, but think BLOOD, Severed HEADS, scalp hunting aliens, skeletal bridge trolls who eat slow children! This can be metal like Eddie from Iron Maiden, Sci Fi like Ripley, plastic hockey mask like Michael Meyers, or plastic black man mask like Michael Jackson!

I’ll post more details when we get closer to the date. If it’s anything like the Summer of Love Ride, it’s going to be a blast for riders and spectators alike.

October 2, 2009

“She’s a Good Drawer,” Says Malcolm

I saw this over on the Cycle Jerk yesterday and sent it over to my 5-year-old grandson, Malcolm, who is laid up with some kind of intestinal disorder that I hope he hasn’t passed on to me.

Artist, not dresser

His mother replied, “He liked it. He said she’s a really good drawer. That’s draw-er, as in artist. Not drawer, as in dresser.”

That brought back the Nightmare of Art 101

Art 101 was a requirement for Ohio University photo majors.

I was pathetic.

I couldn’t draw a conclusion

One of the first assignments was to fill a sketchbook with renderings of a common object you see every day.

We weren’t on the same page

The first problem was that we weren’t on the same page when it came to defining “rendering”

He was thinking, “picture: show in, or as in, a picture; “This scene depicts country life”; ‘the face of the child is rendered with much tenderness in this painting’.”

My work came closer to “melt (fat or lard) in order to separate out impurities; ‘render the yak butter’; ‘render fat in a casserole.'”

My first subject was my desk lamp

After a number of attempts that made primitive art on cave walls looked advanced, I tried to fake it with a collage.

Some of the sketches showed some real bursts of talent

That’s because the girls working on either side of me, recognizing that there was no danger of ME raising the grading curve, agreed to “help” me with my sketches if I’d “help” them with their required photo course. After a couple of contributions, I had to pass on their work. The contrast between my stick drawings and what they were doing, even after I asked them to “dumb it down,” was too obvious.

Here’s a photographer’s workaround

Then I found that I could put a negative in the enlarger, project the image onto my sketchbook and use my pencil to make the reflected image a solid gray color, ending up with something that actually could be identified.

This, obviously, wasn’t a good long-term solution.

I become an object of pity

Finally, the prof said, “This isn’t working out. You’re trying, but….

“Since you’re a photographer, I’ll accept a photo or a contact sheet of whatever you’ve taken for the day as being your “sketches.”

At the end of the quarter, he pulled me aside and said, “I’m going to give you a passing grade, but, thank god you’re a photographer.”

My sketch book is available for purchase

If anyone sees real talent in my primitive art, I will make my sketch book available to the highest bidder.