Category Archives: Bicycling

E106 – Honky Tonk Prison

December 3, 2012Bicycling, Camping, Cargo, Downsizing, Music, Performance, Travelsprocketpodcast

Honky Tonk Prison is (left to right): Timo Forsberg, Esther Harlow, Chelsea Kline, Ken Southerland, Vivian Yuan, and Amos Hunter.

Portland’s premier bicycle-loving ukelele band Honky Tonk Prison was kind enough to invite Brock into their weekly rehearsal to share some songs and talk about eco-friendly life in the Pacific Northwest, as well as many bad puns and some rollicking laughter! We present an hour of music and conversation as this week’s show.

Fine Print
email us: thesprocketpodcast@gmail.com
twitter: @SprocketPodcast
phone in or SMS: 503-847-9774
web: http://thesprocketpodcast.com
music: Ryan J. Lane (intro & outro) & Hurtbird (headlines)

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E105x – Beer & Bike Talk

November 27, 2012Bicycling, Brewing, Funsprocketpodcast

The Professor and Brock go on a bit longer about beer and bikes.

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E105 – The Professor Does The California Coast

November 26, 2012Beer, Bicycling, Brewing, Camping, Downsizing, Touring, Train Travel, Travelsprocketpodcast

Aaron “The Professor” LaVanchy of Fort Collins, CO joins us for another entertaining discussion of his summer bicycle travel and the fantastic people one meets along the way.

We discussed:
Some beer talk (we talked even more about beer, and you can hear it here!)
Moving & downsizing,
The posse for the journey,
Bit Tai Tai (or Stanley S. Bay) & his omnipresent qualities,
Jugwater & the merits of a bucket for travel,
pizza & beer delivered to a state park,
the sturdy boot technique (Lance Armstrong’s new drug of choice),
meeting epic travelers on long rides,
#hobofabulous & #hoboprophet apply,
Tour De Fat and recognition of a distinct appearance,
“typical Americans with your junk and beer,”
our collective sports illiteracy,
destinations full of interesting people,
a legitimate vacation by bicycle,
a return trip by Amtrak, compassionate employees and the Trails & Rails program,
and sundry other travels as well (Doe Bay Fest)!
and mentions of unique tours including Tall Bike Bobby.

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E104 – Darren Alff Does Europe

November 19, 2012Bicycling, Camping, Communication, Touring, Travelsprocketpodcast

This week Brock speaks to Darren Alff, proprietor of the fine bicycle touring sitebicycletouringpro.com, about his most recent bicycle touring venture: a year on a bicycle, circling Europe and heading towards Africa! We discuss:

Iceland
touring with his old roommate Brandon
the itinerary
touring with Bike Switzerland
bicycle infrastructure in Europe
Istanbul to Bulgaria & Romania
meeting friends on the road
pizza in a bag
unexpected joy in a new city
the tension between travel and maintaining friendships at home
drawing inspiration from other tourists
drawing inspiration from art & fashion
being overwhelmed by information
the value of variety
developing pragmatism and accepting challenges to thought

Many thanks to Darren for making the time to share his thoughts!

We had planned to have Elly Blue & Martina Fahrner into the studio, but a scheduling snafu made this too complicated to be a reality for this week. We plan to have them back in the studio sometime after the new year.

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E103 – Ellee Thalheimer & Lucy Burningham: Hop In The Saddle!

November 12, 2012Bicycling, Brewingsprocketpodcast

Hop In The Saddle is the new book project from Ellee Thalheimer, Lucy Burningham and Laura Cary on bikes and beer in the Rose City! Ellee and Lucy join us to tell all about Portland’s scene.

Headlines
The Oregonian: Aaron has a bone to pick with this article
Atlantic Cities via Brandon: Behold the YikeBike, the Super Lightweight Folding E-Bike That Looks Like a ‘Star Wars’ Droid

Mailbag
from Josh in PDX: The book Waiting on a Train: The Embattled Future of Passenger Rail Service is a real mind blower and will tell you everything you ever wanted to know about Amtrak’s shotgun marriage with big freight rail.

Rance says: On your “Transit Adventure”, you mentioned how often it’s 4:20. This guy talks about how often 4 a.m. is mentioned.

Gus says: So this exists…and is awesome/seems ridiculous…

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E102 – Steph Routh: Willamette Pedestrian Coalition (now Oregon Walks)

November 5, 2012Advocacy, Bicycling, Building, Communication, History, The Law, Transit, Walkingsprocketpodcast

This week Brock sat down with Steph Routh from the Willamette Pedestrian Coalition (now known as Oregon Walks) and the KBOO Bike Show (as well as many other projects & organizations) to discuss walking, bicycling, and relating to the “old guard” in our town about simpler transportation.

Aaron tells stories and gives tips on his experience with walking as a primary mode of transport.

Headline
BikePortland: pedal-powered phone charging for NYC’s public after disaster

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E101 – Bill Lascher: Amtrak Stories

October 29, 2012Bicycling, Communication, Doin' It, Technology, Train Travel, Transit, Travelsprocketpodcast

Bill Lascher is a journalist preparing a book on Melville Jacoby, the first Time magazine reporter killed on duty, and producer of the fabulous Thinkingest Podcast which examines our over-examining tendencies. Today he joins us to share some of his stories of travel by train on the United States’ passenger rail service Amtrak.

After we concluded the show, there was so much to discuss that we kept on talking while the tape kept running. More conversation with Bill Lascher here!

Portland Afoot just published some more kind words about our crossover episode a few weeks back! Thanks as always to Michael, Lily and their crew for the fantastic work they do around low-car mobility and culture.

Also, The Sprocket Podcast concludes its Indiegogo fundraising campaign to underwrite the next season of the show during a year with thin budgets! We have offered many personalized rewards to our backers, most recently Bryan (AKA Orange), Steve, Russ & Laura, and Jeremy! Thanks to all of our donors for their generous support! See the details here!

Headlines
No Tech Magazine via Logan: Bicycle Trailer with Solar Panel Charges Electric Bicycle
Peak Moment TV via Logan: Can Pedals Power the World?
BikePortland: Portland area resident rides every single road in the entire region

Mailbag
Steve laments the lack of an RSS button on the website. We fix it!
Another Steve supports our fundraising effort and buys us new headphones!
Jeremy looks forward to his transit ride with the hosts when he visits Portland.
Bryan (AKA Orange) simply says: “Best. Podcast. Ever.”
Carl visits New England and likes the bikey things he sees there.

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E100 – Brock & Brandon’s Transit Adventure

October 23, 2012Adventure, Alternate Fuels, Bicycling, Building, Business, Car Sharing, Communication, History, Technology, Transit, Walkingsprocketpodcast

Brock & Brandon celebrate 100 episodes of the Sprocket Podcast by traversing the city for hours using every mode of transport they can get into, including TriMet, the Portland Streetcar, the Portland Aerial Tram, and of course Car2Go. Here’s a “lite” version of the 5 hours of audio we taped during the adventure.

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E098 – Tammy Strobel & Logan Smith: Rural Happiness

October 8, 2012Bicycling, Car Sharing, Communication, Downsizing, Family, Housing, Technology, Touring, Train Travel, Transit, Walkingsprocketpodcast

Tammy Strobel, author of You Can Buy Happiness (And It’s Cheap) and editor of the blog RowdyKittens.com, and Logan Smith join us to speak about the book’s release, downsizing and simplicity, and living without a motor vehicle in rural northern California.

Also, The Sprocket Podcast continues its Indiegogo fundraising campaign to underwrite the next season of the show during a year with thin budgets. We will be offering many personalized rewards to our backers! Thanks to this week’s donors: Alison (fly on the wall), Bill (no perk, just $50 generous!). See the details here!

Mailbag
Dan in MN says: “I will miss Mr. Roads [sic] four letter wording. :)”

From Deanna:
“I am planning a Fixie World Tour-Riding a fixed geared bicycle over 30,000 miles, 6 continents, and taking under 2 years to create a documentary and photo book. Check out my kickstarter page!
also the blog: http://fixieworldtour.blogspot.com/p/past-ventures.html”

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