I’ve wanted to design a logo for Biking To Live for a long time now. I just hadn’t gotten around to brainstorming designs and making one. That all ended last week after I decided to start mocking up some drafts and seeing what I came up with. Below is what was come up after collaborating with Darryl over at Loving The Bike.

I owe Darryl a large debt of gratitude for his help in coming up with this design. We went through several versions before zeroing in on what you see below. His insight into helping me make the connection between my blog and the logo was awesome. Thanks Darryl!

Biking To Live Logo

After some changes (made the cyclist bigger and removed the heart):

BTL Logo

With the logo above I’m trying to convey a sense of accomplishment, victory, or achievement that someone can attain by making cycling a part of their day-to-day lives. Cycling lets us make connections to Family, Health, and Life.

• Family. Cycling has a way of keeping families in touch with each other. We all probably started riding bikes as kids and, if you were like me, rode them with brothers and sisters. Many parents today actively ride bikes with their children as a way of establishing a bond, teaching them how important fitness is, or using it as a motivational tool. Cyclists as a whole are a large family as well. Even within the circles of blogging, cyclists develop friendships all because of bicycles.
• Health. For many (myself included), we started cycling because we wanted to improve our health or fitness. We had weight to lose or were motivated by the death of a loved one. Whatever the reason, cycling is the tool we use to turn back the clock.
• Life. Cycling has a way of giving us new a perspective on life. It’s us and the road mano-a-mano. It makes us look within ourselves to see what we’re really made of. Cycling takes the pressures of the day and throws them to the wind by providing both a physical and mental outlet. Cycling gets us outside, in nature, where we can experience the beauty of the world. It can also provide us an opportunity to make a difference in a life through charity work like Livestrong, Bike MS, and the Wounded Warrior Project.

Here’s more particulars on the logo:

• I had to have a cyclist in it somehow. The one above symbolizes victory with the traditional finish line salute.
• I like to abbreviate Biking To Live as BTL hence the prominent B, T, and L.
• The ‘v’ in Live was replaced with a red heart to symbolize the healthy aspect of cycling.
• The colors were set to match the blog colors.

What Do You Think?

I’d really like your feedback on the logo. It’s certainly not set in stone so feel free to tell me what you like or don’t like. If you have a suggestion fire away. I won’t guarantee I’ll change anything but I’ll listen.

Yesterday I explained in length how I was missing the compression nut (actually called an ‘External Crank Arm Fixing Bolt) on my cranks and that’s what was causing my left crank arm to keep coming loose. Remember how I went to the bike shop in town that sold Specialized bikes to get the part? Well, they sold me the wrong one. Go figure. This was discovered when I took my bike to my favorite local bike shop to have yhe bottom bracket serviced and the nut put on (due to needing a special tool).

After some searching, the mechanic verfied they don’t have what I need in stock and couldn’t find one via their online sources. They will call Sugino (the maker of the cranks on my Allez) to see if they can get the part. If they can’t, I did find what looks to be the right part on Amazon. It also looks like you don’t need a special tool for it but I’ll have my BB serviced anyway.

In short, it looks like I’ll be without my road bike for at least the weekend and into next week. Why, oh why didn’t I take care of this when I wasn’t riding.

This mornings ride was very low key because I can’t ride my road bike right now (see below) and because I’m taking it easy until my body readjusts to riding again. I took the hybrid out for a short three mile loop. I’ll ride the hybrid for a few more days until I get the Allez back from the shop.

Why I Have A Crank Problem

Yesterday you may remember that I had a problem with left crank arm again where it wants to come off during my rides. I’ve replaced both bolts that hold it on to no avail. Yesterday, while heading to Lowes (a local home improvement store) to get some Blue Loctite, I stopped into a local bike shop to talk to a mechanic about my crank problems (no jokes please). It turns out that I’m missing the compression nut that screws into the left-side of the crank arm. The mechanic says that without that nut I’ll never be able to keep the crank arm on. Here’s a diagram of what I’m talking about. The compression nut is part #5.

Dura Ace Crank Diagram

This particular shop would have had to order me a nut (no, my nickname isn’t Juan Pelota) because they don’t sale Specialized bikes. I left there and headed over to the shop that carries Specialized bikes to pick up the nut which was only $5. Today I’m going to take my bike back to shop #1 to have them overhaul my bottom bracket and put the nut on. Just so you know, that nut requires a special tool (TL-FC16 in the figure above). It looks like a large allen bolt but it isn’t. I went to Home Depot to see if I could make a tool using the nut and bolt trick but nothing fit (standard or metric). So, because I have to take it in to get the nut put on I’m going to have the bottom bracket overhauled at the same time. I’m taking it back to first shop I talked to because they are my favorite shop in the area. Even though I didn’t buy the part from them, I’d rather pay them to install it and do the maintenance. You can follow that shop on Twitter @bicyclesetc.

The Shut Up Everything T-shirt

If you follow professional cycling I’m sure you’ve heard of Jens Voigt. If not, he’s one of the most respected riders in the peleton and is known for his gutsy riding style and giving 100% effort all day every day. He’s also known for the quote “SHUT UP LEGS”. See the video below.

While typing up yesterday’s post, and thinking about how sore I was all over from my first ride in a couple of months, I thought of Jens and his ‘SHUT UP LEGS’ comment and mentality. If I applied that to myself at the time it would have to have been ‘SHUT UP LEGS, NECK, SHOULDER, HANDS, FINGERS, WRISTS, TOES, BUTT, ETC.’. I thought that might look kinda funny on a t-shirt.

Shut Up Legs Tshirt

As promised, I returned to riding this morning with my trusty new headlight. Waiting until 6 AM to get up made for a pretty good nights sleep. It wasn’t pitch dark outside since sunrise was at 6:30 but it was humid. I’m talking sticky-bun humid. Crazy. The stats for today’s ride aren’t huge but it was my first day back in the saddle after a long layoff. The numbers are over in the DailyMile widget. Here’s the workout on DailyMile.

Nascar Drivers in Training

As I predicted, traffic was very light for the first 35 minutes or so with no problem areas until I got about a quarter mile from home. That’s when I lost the bike lane and have to carve my space out of one of the two lanes going in the direction I am. It’s not bad but traffic by 6:45 is starting to build and folks here like to pretend they’re training for Nascar. If folks would simply drive the speed limit it wouldn’t be bad at all. I know I’m asking too much.

Lots of folks out exercising

Before I went to Dallas for 18 months, I got up at 5 AM to ride. I’d see a few dedicated people out at that time in the morning but not many. With me rolling out of the garage at around 6:10 this morning I saw many, many more people out getting the early morning sweat on. I saw no less than two dozen runners and a couple of cyclists. One guy passed me on on his tri bike. No ‘good morning’ or ‘on your left’. I did get a little finger wave though as he blew by me.

Knowing that I was out among those exercising this morning made me feel good. Every morning I drive to work I see people out running and I always felt guilty because I should have gotten my exercise in. No more.

The Crank Problem Came Back

I was just about ready to turn into our Condo complex when I noticed my left-side crank arm was starting to come off again. I had purchased a new bolt to replace one of the two that was damaged and put some ‘glue’ on the threads to help them stay tight but it looks like it didn’t work. I say ‘glue’ because it’s a Loctite brand glue my wife got because I told her someone suggested I use Blue Loctite on the bolts. Well, this glue came in a blue bottle so she thought it’s what I needed. I gave it a try but today will go get Blue Loctite. If I have the problem again the bike is going straight to the shop. I can ride my hybrid in the meantime.

A Potential Riding Partner

Last night, while taking pictures for the Cateye HL-EL450 review, my neighbor pulled up. Turns out he’s a road rider himself who doesn’t get in as much riding as he should. He’s a single college student studying micro-cellular genetic engineering…or something like that. I just know he’s way smarter than I am. Anyway, we talked for a while, he showed me his Trek 1.5, and we discussed maybe doing some riding together. I was up front in that there was no way I could keep up with him (he’s easily 12 years younger and 100 pounds lighter than I am) but he seemed OK with that as long as he got some more riding in. We’ll see how it goes.

How Do I Feel?

Well, I can tell it’s been a few months since I’ve ridden. I’ve got some aches as I sit here writing this article on my lunch break. My body has gotten really soft and it’s time for some pain to get it back where it needs to be. I feel much better having ridden but it’ll be a couple weeks until I’m comfortably back in a routine. While sitting here, I did come up with an idea for a t-shirt based on Jens Voigt’s “Shut Up Legs” statement. I’ll get something drawn up and get your opinions.

PHOTOC: David M*

As I eluded to in my post yesterday, I needed to get a new bicycle headlight so I headed to the local Bicycles, Etc to see what they had in stock. The selection wasn’t great but I did find a Cateye HL-EL450 that would fit my handlbars and give me some light out front.