Behind the scenes, moving and shaking.

As I'm sure most of you know, I am an insurance agent. As such, I think differently than most of you because I live, eat, and breathe insurance. I also love bicycles, and it's an exciting time for cyclists here in Dallas - aside from the cold. There are new bike lanes popping up all over and the cycling "scene" is booming. The epicenter of all of this seems to be in Oak Cliff, and one of the exciting things that is on the horizon is a potential car co-op. For many people, car ownership is not an attractive option, either financially or because they just looove the Earth so much. However, living in Dallas sometimes means needing a car. Often, what could be a two hour excursion using bus/train/and bicycle might be a simple half hour trip if one had access to a vehicle. There are plenty of cities that have for profit hourly car rental, but a co-op is something a little different. I have contacted the organizer and I should be working behind the scenes to make this dream a reality. Where there are cars there is insurance, and where there are multiple owners there is complicated insurance, and that is what I love.

In addition to co-op, there are also new bicycle related businesses popping up all over as well. One new business that I am excited about is Switching Gears, a new bicycle shop on Exposition, across from Fair Park. I rode down to Fair Park a couple of times last year, and I'm excited about the prospect of a new bicycle shop opening up down there.



I'm excited because they will be bringing some new brands to Dallas, and in a place where now there is no shop to service the people that live there. I'm also most excited because I am doing the insurance for the shop (and getting them a great deal). In this case again, I am the guy behind the guy, and am very pleased to be. I know that starting a new business is a huge, scary adventure. I'm glad to be able to help these folks get the insurance part in order, so that they can focus on the more important things that go along with opening a new shop. I'm looking forward to going down to the grand opening.

I did ride my bike in today, but this morning I just rode to the train station. I will be riding all of the way home, and I'm sure that will result in an "oh, I am out of shape and slow" post. Since it was cold this morning and I wasn't riding far, I thought I would try out the coffee holder that my lovely wife gave me for Christmas.



Here it is mounted on my High Sierra. I want to start by saying that I am a huge coffee junkie - I drink at least 6 cups a day and am afraid of what will happen to me when I stop. However, I have never been a coffee to go type person. If I have a long drive somewhere and we are out of joe at the house I'll stop and grab a cup someplace, but generally if we have it at the house or office I will brew a cup and drink it before I leave. This morning, however, I brewed myself a cup in the travel mug you see above. Once brewed, I put the cup in the holder, and away we went to give this thing a test. Overall, it performed very well, and is much more secure than the other holder that I already had. This Bell holder is a solid piece of metal, and it is lined with some sort of neoprene that holds the coffee cup securely. This is a very well designed cup holder, and if that is what you are looking for, I suggest that you go pick up one of the Bell Cruisin' Joe coffee cup holder - at $5.99 it does a fantastic job of securing your coffee cup on your handlebars. The cup is secure, the handlebar clamp is a very sturdy aluminum, and the only problem I had was going over a bump with the sipper spout of the cup open; I had a little splash that you can just see on the handlebars in the picture above. I will say it was nice to have a hot drink at the first stoplight I came to, and it was even nicer to have coffee while I waited for the train. At the same time, I question the need to have a coffee holder on a bicycle. You can't drink while you are riding, and I can just about guarantee that any driver that sees you sipping coffee at a stop light will be enraged by the fact that you are riding a bicycle and drinking coffee instead of being a slave to the oil companies like they are.