2010 was a great year, and I want to thank all of you for the love and appreciation that you have given Orange 20 Bikes over the last year. Friday the 31st of December we will be open from 12:00 to 4:00 and we will be partying like 1999! We have pointy hats, those noise making thingies plus confetti poppers for our customers. Saturday the 1st we will be closed. Sunday the 2nd of January we will be back for regular shop hours 12:00 to 6:00. Be safe, be good and drop by the shop because we still have tons of special 2010 deals and also animals wearing hats.

A couple of years ago, I encountered a monster pothole on Wilshire Boulevard just west of Fairfax. It wasn’t just big, it wasn’t just jagged, it wasn’t just long and broad; it was more or less a scale model of the Grand Canyon set in the curb lane, right where any cyclists attempting to use Wilshire to head west would find themselves forced to play Evel Knievel while cars, trucks, and buses thundered by on the left.

I (and no doubt others) called it in, and eventually it was filled. And not even as badly as usual! But “patched” is not the same as “fixed”; the underlying structural faults remain. (Reminds you of financial sector regulation, huh?)

So, this menace to rims, forks, tubes, bones, and life itself has started to come back to life. That’s it in the photo, slowly breaking free of its asphalt bonds. It lives…and it’s hungry.

Well, pitchforks and torches won’t help here, but shovels and jackhammers will. I went to the Bureau of Street Services’ Online Request Form and dropped a (virtual) dime on it.

Just as I’ve done six or seven times for the notorious Hudson River. They’ll patch…and then they’ll patch again. And the relentless barrage of cars (and, on Wilshire, trucks and buses) will rip the cold patch up again, and they’ll patch again. If we keep asking.

But at least it’s relief. The monster is sealed in its temporary tomb for a few months more.

If we ever really want to reincarnate LA’s streets as something other than sluices for cars, as streets that accommodate more efficient and convivial modes of transport such as bicycling, we’ll need to get beyond patching to actual repairing…or maybe even redesigning.

But until then, we need to keep calling in potholes, routinely and relentlessly, till they get smart about it. Keeps the chance of putting in hospital time a lot lower.

So, if you see a pothole in the City of Los Angeles, click on over to the Bureau of Street Services and let ‘em know.

Takes about a minute, and keeps your rims and bones straight. Not a bad deal.

… for Christmas Eve! On Friday you can grab all your last minute gift giving ideas here at the shop. Our hours are going to be 10:00 am to 4:00pm. And another reminder, TJ’s Manager Appreciation Sale is still going on so make sure to see him at the register!

… of our sale! Time is ticking. Make sure to stop by the shop before saturday. TJ saw that she was taking full advantage of the rainy day sale and handed her a Juice T-shirt in the new Brown and Orange Color way.

If you came by our shop over the last week, you might have noticed a couple of things:

A: It’s raining outside.

B: It’s been slow because of the rain.

C: The owner has been standing behind the counter while several employees are enjoying Xmas vacation.

and D: I’m on a mission to get rid of anything and everything that has collected dust on the shelves.

So, it’s a rainy day sale, an Xmas/end of year sale, and better yet, it’s my Management Appreciation Day Sale. In full effect immediately, everything non 2011 has to go before New Years.

Brave the “bad” weather and ride your bike in with your rain gear and get 10 to 70% off everything in the store.

I have Kleen Canteen water bottles, usually 22$ now 10$, irreplaceable one of a kind messenger bags and complete bikes reduced to below wholesale prices!

Anguished voices on the Internet bemoan the “crazy weather” here in LA, but, hard though it may be falling at times, it’s still only rain. Unless you’re the Wicked Witch of the West, you’re in no direct danger from it.

From hidden potholes and clueless cagers, yes. Attentiveness will save you from the first; attentiveness coupled with lights ‘n’ brights will probably save you from the latter. This is no week to insist on beatnik black if you’re riding in the mist/drizzle/rain/downpour/torrent (whatever it may be at the moment; I just watched it swing through all five stages while I made a piece of toast). Turn on your lights, and put on something yellow or pink. Preferably waterproof too. You’ll still get wet in the worst of rains, but not nearly as much…and it is only water. (There’s also nothing wrong with sitting out a squall under a bridge or–preferably–in a café.)

I gotta specify that, as I regularly see people walking or riding in pouring rain in cotton street clothes. Hey, a cape or at least a rain shell isn’t that expensive, and it’ll last you years and years here in LA.

Friday I rode twenty-five miles through mostly drizzle that developed into rain for the last five. And, truth to tell, I didn’t put on the cape I’d brought in the pannier–I was testing some of my wool cycling clothes (often available at the 20, by the way–along with fenders and jackets) to see how well they kept me warm when damp. (Quite well, it turns out.) But that was a test. And I was mostly on the Ballona Creek bike path, with not a car in sight, at least till it was time to ride the few miles from path to home through Westside traffic.

That night, during much shorter rides to stores ‘n’ chores, with a stop for dinner, it was capes all the way. It was raining harder too, and my wife and I wanted to be presentable at the places we were stopping. Same thing for yesterday’s Post Office run.

Today I happened to head out to Elat (the Grumpiest Market in LA) when I had finished posting an article, and it happened to be during the eye of the storm. No rain falling at the moment, but the streets sopping wet. The fenders took care of that, and the cape in my bag relieved any anxiety I might otherwise have felt about the weather.

In other words, a few not-very-hip accessories granted me the freedom to ride my bike when I otherwise wouldn’t have.

Or maybe not so unhip. The other day, the young surfer up the block (just getting into urban cycling) noticed my Bottecchia’s black fenders and declared them “sick”–truly a high accolade from the “youth of today.”