John Suavecito

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since May 09, 2010
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Biography
Food forest in a suburban location. Grows fruit, vegetables, herbs, and mushrooms.  Forages for food and medicine. Teaches people how to grow food.  Shares plants and knowledge with students at schools.
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Recent posts by John Suavecito

Excellent point, Larry! I have added height by inserting tubes at the handlebars and seat of every bike I've owned for the last 20 years.  It makes a huge difference.  

I'm not a super tall guy, but I have long legs, and being able to stretch makes it way more comfortable.  

Also, instead of leaning all of my weight down on my tiny forearms, I can sit pretty upright and I don't get tired.  It feels just as natural as walking or sitting in a chair.  

I also see much better what's happening around me, and the cars can see me very clearly, including gesturing and facial expressions.  Most of my gestures are cooperative in nature, especially to the drivers of cars that are actually obeying the law.

John S
PDX OR
1 day ago
larry kidd,
Your post was moved to a new topic.
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1 day ago
It takes quite a commitment.  He's basically dedicating his life and finances to the project. He ended up with something wonderful.  It takes a visionary sort of person to do this kind of thing.  Amazing end product.

JohN S
PDX OR
1 day ago
Most of their bikes in the Netherlands looked more like this bike, my old one.  I"m remembering now that I went to one of these groovy, cheap bike shops that had old parts sitting around.  They had the right shape of handlebars that I was looking for but they were huge.  It created some problems with getting the bike in the car or pickup, and got in the way.  I called the shop to maybe swap them out.  In the coolest, DIY, hip way possible, they just said, "You know you can just cut them, right?"



It had never occurred to me.  I just got out the hacksaw and sawed off 3 inches or so on each side.  Now they are perfect.  Unfortunately, I can't just do that with the high bar, so now it's my "B" bike.  It's great as a backup.   Now I"m going to do that with my new to me bike, which also has the right shape handlebars that are huge and get in the way.

John S
PDX OR
1 day ago
Great question and topic.  I wouldn't think that the gassing is probably anaerobic, but obviously, you are going to be able to tell more than I can.  Biochar is porous by nature, thereby letting lots of air in. Its porosity is one of its greatest attributes. It allows drainage to improve greatly in areas with heavy clay soil like mine.  It also allows the biochar to absorb 6 times its volume of water through the tiny pores.  The tiny air pockets make sure that the roots of plants can perform their crucial oxygen exchange that they need to do.

I do think you're smart to put castings, nutrition, etc. with the char. Your customers' results will be better in the long run, and they will recommend your product to others.   However, I think you're right. An air valve would be a good idea.  Thoroughly mixing the nutrition with the char would make sure that there are little pores of air throughout, but I'm sure you've already thought of that.   Sounds like a great business, and I wish you much success.

John S
PDX OR
2 days ago
Earlier, I had a goal to biochar all of the trees that I thought  would readily benefit from it, like pie cherries and American persimmons.  Then I wanted to do all of the yard within a few feet. I waited on the trees that were already doing well.  The medlar was one that was doing really well, so I waited. After biocharring it, the flavor has improved, the length of the season has improved on it, and the size of the tree has grown.  Now I am considering that all of the trees that were already doing well, might also have a clear improvement anyway. So I'm biocharring them too.

John S
PDX OR
2 days ago
Yes, that's the idea of resistant starch.  You don't digest it to the same degree as carbs in your stomach, so it doesn't make you as fat or spike your blood sugar as much.  It feeds your gut microbiome and makes medium chain triglycerides like butyrate, which are a great source of energy.  To make this happen, you have to heat them, usually through cooking first, then cool them and eat after the cooling in the fridge.

John S
PDX OR
I was just watching a video about people cycling in the Netherlands, one of the places on Earth where people cycle the most.   Almost everyone I saw was upright on their bikes, using swooped back handlebars like mine.  It made me think that maybe more people in North America would bike if they knew about that option.

John S
PDX OR
6 days ago
Bicycling was a crazy, raging fad 130 years ago.  They didn't have the undercurled ram's horn handlebars.  It swept the nation. It even led to another fad: motorcycles.  They put a motor on it.  

I often think of the wicked witch image of bike riding. She wasn't racing or doing 100 mile rides.  Didn't really help marketing bikes when I was a kid. Maybe the cool young people like the image now?

John S
PDX OR

1 week ago
A long time ago, I started noticing pain in my lower back from riding a long time on my bike.  I had the regular old school 10 speed racing handlebars.  I just loosened the nut and flipped them up instead of down.  That made me more upright and more comfortable.  It was good for awhile.

Later, I noticed that my forearms were sore on long rides.  I asked the guys at the bike shop about it.  They recommended handlebars that swooped back and out.  They said it was more ergonomic.  It also let me sit even more upright, which was even more comfortable, and put less pressure on my forearms.  No one racing a bicycle would do this, because it would lead to more wind resistance.  I imagine if you were doing century rides, you probably wouldn't want them like this.  I'm an old man who usually rides for 5 miles or less, so it's more comfortable and better for me.  This is what they look like:

Have you done anything different with your handlebars?
John S
PDX OR
1 week ago