Interupted by a Bike Race

bike-box.jpg Every July most of my projects come to a standstill as I spend all my spare time and then some watching the Tour de France. Here in California the real-time TV coverage starts about 3:30 AM, which is too early even for me. So I watch the final hour when I get up in the morning and then the 3 hour re-broadcast in the evening. This year I thought ahead a little bit and folded another set of my haiku and Winter books during the commericals. Now that the race is over, I guess it’s back to work for me!
Biking was the subject of some of my first bookbinding projects. After I first learned to make boxes, I practiced by making a few “Bicycle Emergency Kits” for friends. The boxes had handlebar tape for the hinge and handle, and inside I made dividers for each part of the kit — a spare tube, tire patches to fix flats, food rations and a little book of silly instructions for dealing with emergencies including a quarter for a phone call in a pocket in the back.