What, No Amgen!

Sorry to anyone who would like to see my comments on the Tour of California, but that's just not what this blog is all about. Sure the Amgen was great, and there is old Leipheimer, the winner, and of course Lance Armstrong did great, who knows if July will come too soon for him. But really this blog, Rontos Folly, is more about bikes as a lifestyle, not a race. We talk about touring, sustainability, beer, traveling, and of course bikes. The best thing from the tour for me is this picture of Leipheimer getting some love after the victory!


Personally I would rather be involved in a race like this one above, with a beer in hand! So I just wanted to clear that up for anyone out there expecting me to write about the race, or any race for that matter.

Okay, ok, one more important picture from the tour!!

Finally I found the Molly Video!

For those of you that were following this summer, Molly and I rode our bikes from the Canadian border to the Mexican one along the West Coast, mostly along highway 1 and 101. Anyway, we put pictures, movies, and stories from every day up on this blog and this was the one movie that I could never get to load, but had tons of requests for. So finally here it is, enjoy.



For anyone that has no clue why I would ever post this video, have a look at the archived posts from last May and June, 2008. There are 30 some days of postings from the road, on our bikes, on tour along the coast. That was the reason behind this blog, and now it is transforming into something more, but originally it was to follow our bike trip, our folly. So have a gander, and thanks for coming to Ronto's Folly.

Just click on the title to this post and it will take you back to the first few days of our trip, and where this video took place!

Lost Generation

Have a look at this interesting video submitted to by a 20 year old to AAPR for a video contest. Be sure to listen and actually read the words as they come up on the screen. It's only 1:45 long so take the time out of your day and check this out.



If you cannot view this video click on the title to this post and you will be linked to this video on YouTube.

Beer tax to raise 1900%!!

In Oregon and Idaho beer and wine producers are looking down the barrel of a loaded gun. Legislation in these two states is being pushed to raise taxes on beer and wine for the first time in over 40 years. In Oregon the tax increase proposed will raise the price per gallon of beer from $2.60 all the way up to $49.61, that's over 1900%! Although that's only an increase of 15 cents a beer, local craft breweries will be greatly affected. One brewery, Wakonda Brewing Co. in Florence, would see costs rise from $208 to $4080 for the same amount of beer produced.

In Idaho the proposed tax increase is not as dramatic as that proposed in Oregon, however it will still have a great effect on the states beer and wine production. In a time where the economy and small businesses are struggling are the legislators thinking clearly? These tax increases are due to the states demands for better substance control and recovery plans, and many of the brewers feel the burden should not be placed on them or their customers.


My two cents is that in an economy like we have today, states need to pocket their projects and focus on promoting small business and revenue sources for the people running those businesses. While the government is raving about Main Street they are doing little here to actually support the businesses that are keeping Main Street alive. Breweries and wineries across the west are a great part of the communities that they operate in, and to put the "nail in the coffin" as some brewers call this proposed legislation is ridiculous. I am be biased here, I love beer, I live in Fort Collins the home to New Belgium Brewing, and would hate to see the small guys in the industry disappear taking with them their delicious brews, but hell this is my blog so I am due my opinion every now and again.

Anyway, have a look at the two articles, the Oregon article is attached to the title of the post, so just click on that, and here is the link for the Idaho article:

http://www.boston.com/business/taxes/articles/2009/02/23/idaho_beer_wine_tax_hike_hearing_draws_crowd/

Let me know what you think as well, I would love to hear your comments!!

Spring is here! At least those in Seattle think so...

Have a look at this article from this weekend's Bainbridge Island ride just across the Puget from down town Seattle. The ride was 33 miles, over 2700 vertical feet, and over 4000 people showed up to welcome spring and this year's riding season. I attach this because last year in May, Molly and I started our journey south from Seattle and day 1 was across a lot of this same terrain. Bainbridge is an amazing place to ride and a great getaway for those in Seattle. If you are ever in the area, hop the ferry over to the island and get out and explore!!

Have a peak at our ride down the West coast; every day had a post on this blog with pictures and stories. Go to May 2008 in the archives and us pedaling through Bainbridge is under the post titled "Day 2 May 26th." What a great trip that was!!!

Just click on the title to this post for a link to the Bainbridge article!

Don't Have Bike Lanes, Just Take One With You!

Check out this new idea from Altitude called the LightLane.

This bike light uses lasers to project a virtual bike lane behind a rider, hoping cars and other crazy night traffic will give bikers a wider berth. As more and more people take to the bikes, the incident rate of car to bike accidents is bound to increase. LightLane will hopefully give those on two wheels one more tool in their quiver to attempt to stay off the windshields of night drivers. Altitude thinks they will price the LightLane around 50 bucks, which may well be worth it considering the alternative.

To those of you who only ride at night on the way home from the local watering hole, LightLane will not guide you on your journey home or help you keep an even keel, don't think 50 bucks solves all your problems, but it may keep those pesky cars off you butt!!

Check out the link to the Wired.com article talking about LightLane by clicking on the title to this post. Thanks.

Like bikes but not hills?

Here is an interesting idea from Sanyo, it's a bike that you still pedal, but as you pedal or coast downhill you recharge a battery that will power the bike that last mile or up those difficult hills on your way to work. I know some hardcore bikers will think this is silly, but for the person wanting to go green and take the time to enjoy riding a bike to and from work everyday this may be the answer. The best thing, you don't have to stroll into the office sweaty anymore, if that's not your badge of honor that is!

Click on the title to the post, "Like Bikes but not Hills?" to be linked to the full article.

Want to be Green in Fort Collins? Or maybe just have a chicken or two??

Have a look at Today's Links to Enlightenment! There is a great article in the Coloradoan about classes around Northern Colorado where you can learn about sustainability and going Green! Or if you simply want to know how to raise chickens there is a class for that too!! Have a look and you may even learn a bit about the city's new laws allowing residents to produce their own eggs!

You can just click on the title to this post as well and it will take you to the Coloradoan article.

Back to the Mountains

Just another weekend up in the mountains. We spent Friday at Vail and Saturday at Keystone. The snow was amazing, over 42 inches last week at Vail!! Have a look at some of the pictures.












(There's Tod the God ready for Blue Sky)



(Adam, my brother in law, about to drop off Lovers Leap)







(Madisen, Jack, and my mom going for a walk in Keystone)



(Love birds, this is my Brother in Law Todd and my Sister Tiffiny)




(Little Tanner with his X-games bandanna on, he is read for the hill too!)

(Madisen, all dolled up and ready to rip, has been skiing since she was about 22 months old!!)



(Just a quick video in North Bowl at Keystone)

Our Last Day

We spent our last day getting from La Guayra and Portobelo back to Panama City, and as you may have read earlier, getting around in this part of Panama is not easy. We luckily flagged down a bus on the highway in Sabanita that was headed to Panama City, although there were no seats, we were allowed to sit in the aisle. Nothing too interesting happened in Panama City other than running out of money and wondering how we would get to the airport in the morning. We managed though, and now we're both back in the States!

Think the commute in your part of town sucks! This is on the major Highway leading into Panama City. Glad I was on a bus.


Nighty night! Thanks for reading about our trip to Panama! Stay tuned for the next adventure!

La Guayra

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Caribbean and Captain Morgan!

Yes, this is the road block the locals made to collect money from anyone headed to the beach. It was a bit alarming being the only gringos for miles around!

For our next stop we decided to go back to the other side of the country and hang out on the Caribbean side. Our goal was Isla Grande just off the coast from La Guayra. La Guayra, aside from being difficult to pronounce, is also difficult to get to. We had to hitch a ride from Las Lajas to Santiago, then a bus to Panama City, another sketchy night bus from the city to Colon, which is the last place in Panama you want to be, yet another bus to the historic port city of Portobelo, and again a bus to La Guayra, and lastly a boat out to Isla Grande. Needless to say the journey was arduous, plus leaving the city in the middle of the night on a Saturday takes you on a journey through the barrio to pick up what it seems like every drunken party animal in the country of Panama. Sunday morning came with some surprises as well. This was the first day of summer and everyone from Colon and the surrounding areas, which all seemed to produce people of seedy character, were headed to La Guayra to party. What we though was going to be a quite little beach town was infested with thousands of drunk and loud caribbe folk looking to stir up trouble. Anyway, we made it and we were bound to enjoy ourselves!





Even with all the people, we were still able to find paradise!



Monday morning!! The streets are clear of people, and we have the island to ourselves!!


The beach was a bit of a hike.


This thing is almost the size of my head!




Finally the beach!!

Portobelo is an interesting place; we were luck enough to find ourselves stuck here on our way back from La Guayra to Panama City. Portobelo, founded in 1597, was once the largest port in the Caribbean. It was a departure point for all the booty the Spanish were ravaging out of Central and South America. The Spanish would ship their treasures to Panama City, then hike it through the jungle to Portobelo to be loaded onto ships bound for mother Spain. In the 16th and 17th centuries most of the world's precious gold and silver was shipped out of Portobelo. This of course drew a lot of attention, and in 1668 the infamous Captain Henry Morgan, and his squad of Privateers sacked the city and her three forts. Though of as the unsackable city, Morgan accomplished this feat by landing a few miles down the coast and hiking his men through the jungle, surprising the Spanish and taking control of the town and her treasures.

Amazingly, there are still plenty of remnants from the original forts!




Lastly, we got to buy some hand made jewelry from the local natives, the Kuna Indians, who have continued to live like they did centuries ago. The Kuna still are politically autonomous and live within three different reservations throughout Panama and Columbia.