(Above: Me at Grand Teton National Park - Photo by Gary "Jake" Jacobson)
(Below: Me at Swan Lake, Yellowstone National Park - Photo by Gary "Jake" Jacobson)
(Below: Stuart and I under the elk antler arch in Jackson, Wyoming - Photo by Stuart Dahne)
(Below: Jake and Stuart in Yellowstone National Park)
I had a blast with these guys photographing in Yellowstone and the Tetons. Thanks again guys for one heck of an awesome trip! Jake and Stuart are both fantastic photographers... do yourself a favor and check out their work:
Jake's website: http://www.frozenshutter.com/
Stuart's website: http://www.stuartdahnephotography.com/
Enjoy!
We invited the gentleman to join us on the dock, and a fest of bicycle photography and discussion ensued.
Apparently, he collects photos of people photographing him. So this is my picture of him, taking a picture of me taking a picture of him.
And this is his picture of me, taking a picture of him taking a picture of me taking a... Really, the philosophical implications are staggering. You can see this and many other bicycle related pictures on verdammelt's photostream on flickr.
Here is a shot showing off his bicycle better (admittedly posed in what Steve A. calls my "Lenin in Finland" stance). The bicycle is a vintage BSA 3-speed step-through, which he found abandoned, rescued, restored back to health, and now uses as a winter bike.
Here is a somewhat blurry close-up. Our new acquaintance is proof of how common these rare vintage bicycles are in Boston. A BSA randomly left abandoned on the streets? Yup. It is a pretty cerulean-blue colour with nice lugs and a beautiful fork crown. You can't see them here, but the bike also has shimmery red grips on the handlebars that set off the blue frame quite nicely.
And I love the unusual saddle. It is sprung pleather, with the look and feel of an old leather jacket - not the texture one normally sees on saddles. Overall, this is an excellent rescue, and the owner seems to care about bicycle and to like riding them very much. We enjoyed meeting him and thank him for posing for these photos!
As I have already mentioned, Vienna has a fairly well developed bike share programme: 
For a tourist who wants to explore the center of Vienna by bicycle, Citybike is great. It also works for locals who both live and work in the city center. Sadly, I work in an area of Vienna that is not covered by the Citybike network and there are no stations near my office. In order to commute to work and back, I would have to rent the bicycle for the entire day, which would be financially prohibitive: The rental costs are calculated on a sliding scale, where the first hour is free, but the second hour is 1 Euro, and subsequent hours are priced increasingly higher. According to this scale, it would cost me 30 Euro per day to commute to work and back - which would of course be madness.
Even to go for a short recreational ride before or after work is not an option, because the bike's basket does not accommodate my work bag.
This is the bag I carry to work when I am in Europe. It contains my laptop and the documents I need for the day. As you can see, it does not fit in the basket - and since it's a one-shoulder bag, cycling with it in traffic is not something I want to do. This bag goes with me to official meetings, and switching to a messenger-style bag would not be appropriate in my line of work. I think that any city implementing a bike share programme must take this factor into consideration. In my view, it is a design flaw when professionals are unable to use the bicycles because the basket will not accommodate a standard laptop-sized bag. As you can see below, there is no rear rack either.
For those who want to cycle in the center of Vienna as tourists, the Citybikes are certainly well fitted for this purpose: step-through frames with adjustable saddle height; swept-back handlebars for an upright sitting position, dressguards, a chainguard,
fenders and mudflaps,
non-slip pedals,
a wide saddle with springs that is probably fine on short rides,
and the newer Citybikes have 3 speeds, which is sufficient for the central (non-hilly) parts of Vienna.
An additional reason I do not rent Citybikes is that, frankly, I do not wish to turn myself into a mobile billboard. In the photo above, you can see the juxtaposition of the Citybike moto "Vienna for free!" (this refers to the first hour of rental being free of charge - though there is still an initiation fee of 1 Euro) and the yellow adverts for 
The OYB Pannier is a small Swiss army surplus bag, modified via the addition of rack attachments and other features byJeff Potter - the owner and author of the project Out Your Backdoor ("indie outdoor lore and more"). I purchased this bag asa smaller alternative to the enormous shopper pannier I normally use. My criteria were durability, classic aesthetics, a trustworthy attachment system, a reasonable price, and a size just large enough to snugly fit my medium format camera equipment or my (very small) laptop.While I am aware that these same bags (without the bike-ready modifications) can be purchased from several other sources, I opted for the OYB version because I wanted the modifications to be made by someone with experience and because I wanted to support the "Out Your Backdoor" project, which provides some great resources for its readers.
Compact and boxy, the pannier is a Swiss military bag made of a thick, stiff, olive-green waxed canvas with brown leather trim and steel rivets. The OYB leather patch is a lighter shade than the rest of the leather on the bag, but this can easily be changed with a modest application of neatsfoot oil or even Proofide.I am not sure whether this particular bag started out as new-old-stock, or whether it had been used in its previous life, but to me it looks more like the former. The condition is better than I had expected based on the pictures and product description on OYB.
The closure system is simple and secure: That very stiff leather cord pulls out of the metal loop, and the thick leather strap lifts up off the loop to open the bag. For those curious, the imprint on the leather reads "Fritz Gerber Sattlerei, Goldbach."
The attachment system is a combination of metal hooks and bungee cords, with which the pannier is secured to the rear rack.The rack I have on this bicycle is theConstructeurrack fromVelo Orange, which is quite small.
Here is a close-up of the metal hooks. They are riveted on to the bag.
And here is a close-up of the bungee attachment. Together, these two attachment points ensure that the pannier does not sway or bounce against the rack - a good feature when you are planning to carry camera equipment. When the bag is not being used as a pannier, the bungee hook attaches to that small leather strip you see on the back of the bag - so that it does not hang loose. [Edited to add: I am now told that the bungee cord is supposed to go through that leather loop before you hook it to the bottom of the rack - oops.]
In addition to the rack attachments, the OYB pannier can be ordered with a number of other optional features, including shoulder strap attachments with a removable shoulder strap. I asked for the strap, because I pan to carry the bag around when off the bike, and this set-up essentially this gives me a camera bag and pannier in one. Other options include lights mounts, and a variety of other attachments.
To give you a sense of scale, here is the pannier in relation to me and to the entire bike. It is a small bag. Dimensions are listed as:8.5" tall, 4" deep, 11.25" wide (5.4 liters). Inside, the length of the bag is listed at 10.75", but I was hoping against hope that it would fit my laptop. OYB gives instructions for stretching the bag out with magazines in order to make it fititems of that size, and I will give this a try.If I can get my laptop to fit, I will be thrilled - but I am not getting my hopes upand am prepared to content myself with this being a camera bag only.
If it were not for the laptop fit issue, this would pretty much be my dream pannier. The mil-spec colour scheme is not for everyone, but I love it, and it suits almost all of my bikes nicely. The durability of military surplus items is superb, and I appreciated getting the bag customised by Jeff atOYB. This is a classic, versatile, and reliable little pannier refashioned by someone who loves bicycles.
