Posted by Wendy on 03/14/10 |
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MOOTS PARNTERS WITH DIRT, SWEAT, AND GEARS
Moots has teamed up with Dirt, Sweat & Gears as the title sponsor to assist with IMBA/SORBA’s continuing efforts to provide trail accessibility for the Southeast mountain biking community. In addition to event support, Moots will donate one of its signature handcrafted titanium mountain bike frames for the Dirt, Sweat & Gears grand prize drawing. 2010 marks the second year of Moots’ two-year sponsorship commitment to Dirt, Sweat & Gears and IMBA/SORBA.
Each $10 donation to IMBA/SORBA is an opportunity to take home a handcrafted Moots titanium mountain bike frame. Tickets can be purchased on the Moots and Dirt, Sweat & Gears websites.
One lucky recipient will be announced at the Dirt, Sweat & Gears awards ceremony on Saturday, May 15.
The fourth annual Dirt, Sweat, & Gears (DSG) endurance mountain bike race festival is scheduled for May 14 and 15, 2010 in Fayetteville, Tenn. The 12-hour DSG race event on Saturday May 15, is one of five on USA Cycling’s Mountain Bike National Ultra-Endurance Calendar.
Dirt, Sweat & Gears is one of the Southeast’s fastest-growing mountain bike events. In 2009, DSG raised more than $3,500 for IMBA and SORBA for trails, hosting more than 400 competitors from 31 states and Canada including 2009 24 Hour Solo World Champion Rebecca Rush and 2009 24 Hour National Champion Josh Tostado.
Moots will be part of the DSG festivities offering mountain bike demos of their handcrafted frames Friday and Saturday. Several Moots “factory” athletes from the company’s Steamboat Springs, Colorado headquarters are scheduled to compete along with members of the Southeast GrassMoots team.
Pro Men, Women and Single Speed Open classes will complete for an $7,000 cash purse with equal payouts to both Men and Women for the top three finishes. Amateurs will pedal for more than $15,000 in prizes.
Festivities continue throughout race day with live music, a vendor village, random prize drawings and a kid’s race. A bonfire, BBQ and awards ceremony will immediately follow completion of the race. Camping and RV spots are available with port-o-lets, running water, trash collection and recycling.
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Posted by Jim on 03/12/10 |
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Posted by Wendy on 03/12/10 |
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24-HOUR MTB NATIONALS VENUE CHANGE
Yesterday USA Cycling announced a change in the dates and venue for the 2010 USA Cycling 24-Hour Mountain Bike National Championships.
The event will now return to Moab, Utah for 2010, to be held in conjunction with the 24-Hours of Moab event, October 9-10.
The USA Cycling 24-Hour Mountain Bike National Championships were originally scheduled to take place alongside the 24-Hours of Big Bear in Hazelton, W. Va., June 12-13. However, due to financial concerns, 24-hour race series promoter, Laird Knight, cancelled the 2010 edition of the West Virginia race.
“It’s unfortunate that Big Bear isn’t happening this year,” said USA Cycling’s Mountain Bike Events Director, Kelli Lusk. “But it’s exciting to have the 24-Hours of Moab host our 24-Hour Mountain Bike National Championships again. We are certainly looking forward to a great second year in Moab.”
For some, it's not so exciting. Big Bear's location in the population-dense East and its delicious course layout had become a "go-to" event for many racers during the past five years. Speedgoat's own Steve Schwarz and Ernesto Marenchin had circled nats at Big Bear as target events in their respective race calendars.
"I'm bummed out in general about the cancellation," Marenchin said. "I've always considered the GrannyGear WV 24-hour event my 'hometown' course and was really looking forward to racing there, having a ton of support and not having to carry super long-distance endurance so late into the season. The early date was also allowing me the opportunity to specifically train for cyclocross and to hit up the Cincinnati 3-day 'cross series that happens to be on the same weekend of Moab."
"I appreciate all that Laird Knight has done to keep the races going in the past," said Schwarz. "It's unfortunate that Big Bear couldn't happen this year. I know Laird, and I think he's a great guy. He's told me a couple of times that all of his races except Moab either break even, or operate at a loss. So, given the economy, I can understand that he's unable to keep Big Bear going this year. I trust he'll do everything he can to resurrect the races in the future.
"As far as the switch to Moab for 24 Hour Nationals, well, that really takes the wind out of my sails. Having won Big Bear twice in the past, I felt great about my chances at Nationals. Also, I felt like the June race date favored east-coast racers like Brandon Draugelis, Ernesto, and me over guys located out west where snow prevents riding most of the winter and spring. The switch back to Moab takes those factors out of the equation. Also, traveling to Moab is costly and time-consuming, and, for personal reasons, I'm not sure my wife and I will be able to travel out west in October. So, I'm tentative for Moab right now."
On the positive side, I'm looking at this as an opportunity to try some new things that I've been contemplating for years. I'm working out my revised schedule for 2010, but I'm leaning toward doing more of the NUE series races, and possibly doing the BC Bike Race as a solo. I've wanted to do both of these events for a few years now, but there were always scheduling conflicts."
This will be the second year that the 24-Hours of Moab host the USA Cycling 24-Hour Mountain Bike National Championships. National titles will be awarded in fifteen different categories: Male and Female Solo, Single speed, Duo, 4-person team, Junior 4-person team, Master 4-person team 35+, Master 4-person team 45+, as well as Mixed Duo.
For more information about the 24-Hours of Moab, or to learn about registration for the event, please visit the official website by clicking here http://www.grannygear.com.
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Posted by Jim on 03/11/10 |
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Posted by Wendy on 03/11/10 |
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WANTED: 1 MILLION PEOPLE TO SUPPORT BETTER FUTURE FOR BIKING
When Bikes Belong speaks, people listen, which is why - when this message from executive director, Tim Blumenthal, arrived, there was no doubt that something important was going down.
If your wildest dreams include being able to ride your bike more conveniently/more safely in your neighborhood and beyond, then you'll want to keep reading:
"Imagine one million people speaking out for bicycling with a united, powerful voice.
Last night, at the National Bike Summit in Washington, DC, Bikes Belong officially launched peopleforbikes.org – a brand-new initiative to put more people on bikes more often.
We're collecting one million names in support of a better future for biking – one that's safer, more convenient, and more appealing for everyone. And we're giving people the tools to support pro-bike policies and spread the joy of bicycling in their own communities.
At this very early stage, the peopleforbikes.org movement will depend heavily on support from bicycle advocates, enthusiasts, and leaders like you. Please take a moment to visit our website and become one of the first to sign our pledge:
http://peopleforbikes.org
Every day, millions of Americans ride for their health, for the environment, for their communities, and for the pure joy of bicycling. But until now, only a fraction of riders have stood up to help improve bicycling in America.
Peopleforbikes.org is going to change all that. We'll build on the expert work of existing bike advocacy groups – our partners – to develop a powerful movement with the clout and influence to get things done. That means promoting bike-riding on an individual level, but also sending a unified message to our elected leaders, the media, and the public that bicycling should have their full support.
Check out our website and learn more about this effort:
http://peopleforbikes.org
Though peopleforbikes.org is already up and running, we're planning a broader public launch to coincide with the Bicycle Leadership Conference and Sea Otter Classic in April. Right now, your support is essential to launch and grow this effort.
After all, life is better when it's experienced on two wheels. You and I know this – and now we can take this message to millions of people across the country.
Sincerely,
Tim Blumenthal
Executive Director, Bikes Belong Coalition"
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Posted by Wendy on 03/10/10 |
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BIKING DIRECTIONS ADDED TO GOOGLE MAPS
This anticipated bit of news lit up the cycling world via the WWW today. No fewer than 91 emails landed in my Inbox, all of which declared that biking directions had, indeed, been added to Google Maps:
from the Official Google Blog
"Whenever I meet someone who finds out that I work on the directions team for Google Maps, the first question I'm asked is often "So when's Google Maps going to add biking directions?" We're big biking fans too, so we've been itching to give you a concrete answer. I don't want to keep the good news a secret any longer, so the answer is: right now!
Today we've added biking directions and extensive bike trail data to Google Maps for the U.S. My team has been keeping close tabs on all the public support for biking directions that’s been steadily coming in, but we knew that when we added the feature, we wanted to do it right: we wanted to include as much bike trail data as possible, provide efficient routes, allow riders to customize their trip, make use of bike lanes, calculate rider-friendly routes that avoid big hills and customize the look of the map for cycling to encourage folks to hop on their bikes. So that's exactly what we've done." Read on...
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Posted by Wendy on 03/10/10 |
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3 WEEKS UNTIL THE APPALACHIAN ROAD RACE SERIES STARTS
Speedgoat Bicycles proudly supports the 2010 Appalachian Road Race Series
The 2010 season of Appalachian Road Race Series gets underway in a little over three weeks with the Morgantown Road Race starting things off on Saturday, April 3. All categories for men and women plus men's masters (40+ and 50+), junior (12-18) and tandem categories will be contested and it only costs $20 to enter.
Series promoter, the Appalachian Bicycle Racing Association, doled out this advice for racing Morgantown via the race registration page:
"Leave your expensive Flux-Capacitors and fancy wheels at home cause it's WV and we got pot holes, but do not forget your climbing legs, and yes, they can have hair on them too. We don't judge! If you want to climb your legs off come join us over in West "by god" Virginia for some wicked hard yet truly fun grassroots road racn'!! This race course has just about everything a cyclist could wish for in ridge top views, back country road, big climbs and gear pounds flats."
This is the first in the series of six road races, which will take place over the next five months before switching over to a 'cross series.
Speedgoat Bicycles has shown its support for the entire series by providing prizes, which series promoter, ABRA, preferred over - we can only guess - the impersonality of cash.
Win Without Suffering
Each month ABRA distributes a newsletter that highlights vital information pertaining to racing. In addition, each newsletter features a contest that awards the winner some necessary item that any self-respecting cyclist wouldn't live without.
View March's Newsletter here and see if you can win this month's prize, a Camelbak Lobo Hydration Pack.
Series overview:
April 3, 2010 Morgantown Road Race APRRS # 1
May 8, 2010 New Martinsville Road Race APRRS # 2
May 16, 2010 The Crimson Classic APRRS # 3
May 29, 2010 Tour of Tucker County Road Race APRRS # 4
July 3, 2010 Barbour Detour Road Race APRRS # 5
August 14, 2010 Appalachia Visited Road Race APRRS # 6
For complete information and registration, visit the series page on ABRA's website: http://www.abraracing.com/Schedule.html
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Posted by Wendy on 03/09/10 |
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Posted by Matt on 03/08/10 |
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Posted by Jim on 03/08/10 |
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Posted by Dan on 03/06/10 |
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Posted by Jim on 03/05/10 |
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Posted by Wendy on 03/05/10 |
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Posted by Wendy on 03/04/10 |
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PIVOT LAUNCHES BLOG
Debut Post Reveals Humbler Side to Racing
(TEMPE, Ariz.) Pivot Cycles "walked the talk" in mid February by entering a team of Pivot staffers plus one mountain bike magazine editor into the annual 24 Hours in the Old Pueblo. At first they downplayed the event, calling it a "whim" and acting casually about the anticipated outcome. Then, in their own words "once the race started, those old competitive juices started flowing."
The weekend's results equaled a respectable tenth place at the wildly-competitive 24-hour event and an inspired narrative to launch Pivot's new blog. What you'll find in this premier blog article is a report absent of marketing copy but motivating. For everyone who holds down a fulltime job and squeezes riding into the margins of the workday, racing is quite secondary to a career. Racing is fun though, since it allows you to probe deep within and expose your strengths and weaknesses in a way that's privately confronting. You'll learn a bit about that from Pivot's blog and, if all you've ever read about racing is skin suits, power output, speed, cadence, and quirky nutrition habits, you may be missing out. Check out Pivot's blog here.
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Posted by Wendy on 03/01/10 |
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MAN DOWN: ADAM CRAIG
Adam Craig, one of the most prolific racers in professional mountain biking sent out an email this afternoon that started like this:
"Well, do you want the good news or the bad news? The good news is that they didn’t have to amputate..."
After presumably slipping and falling in an icy parking lot in his hometown of Bend, Ore., Craig suffered a blowout to his Anterior Cruciate Ligament (ACL). Surgery was inevitable and - based on Craig's dispatch - successful, but as painful as it was, the fact that Craig has avoided such debilitating injuries in far riskier situations, was a harsher blow.
"Now that I’m two weeks out from surgery it’s all starting to sink in. This is a veritable shitticane. A really hard one to accept and understand. You see, I’ve just started to walk around the house on my own two feet without the aid of my lovely Lofstrand (think Forrest Gump) crutches and can spin complete (albeit slow) circles on the stationary bike. Yet, with all of this progress and a knee that appears, other than a bit of swelling and some incisions, to be healthy, I’m looking at not being able to ride a mountain bike in any remotely risky environment for four months from the date of surgery, February 9th."
Ouch.
As a pro racer, last week Craig was scheduled to debut with his new
European-based Giant Bicycles/Rabobank MTB team. Fox Racing Shox needs him to test new XC fork technology this winter and Shimano had him on the docket for a product launch at Sea Otter. Lest we forget the realities of a professional athlete, Craig spelled it out for us, "This is a full time job for me and it requires use of my lower extremities."
To read the full email, click here.
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Posted by Wendy on 03/01/10 |
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UNLEASH YOUR INNER RACER
(we know he/she's in there somewhere)
By WENDY BOOHER
Know your limits...but never stop trying to exceed them. -Anonymous
photo courtesy of the Sea Otter Classic
Here we are at the start of the North American race season and, if you've never tried racing, here's a small narrative intended to inspire you to give it a spin. It's true, you are your own worst enemy and if you've always told yourself that you're not fit/fast enough to race, who cares?! Go out and try it anyway, you might just be better than you think.
I started racing in earnest last year, at age 39. I've raced a little in the past and I've reported on seemingly hundreds of races but my dirty little secret was always that I could write about racing in theory but rarely in practice. My excuse for starting to race more last year was that I wanted to be better at my job as a routine race correspondent but truthfully, it was a friend who sampled racing in the beginner class who quite frankly, wouldn't shut up about how much fun it was. She was right. There's little else more satisfying than finishing a race utterly spent but a bit high on the sense of accomplishment. My results weren't bad either - never worse than third in women's expert - but I usually raced my own race and if I managed to pass someone or be passed, so be it.
The greatest obstacle to racing a bike is not trying for fear of failure (which - by the way - is a subjective term) or, in some cases, it is a lack of understanding. Somewhere along the line, racing (and training) evolved into a goliath convoluted by training metrics, highly-specialized equipment, and food created in chem labs. The racing process is simple: ride your bike at a sustainable pace for a prescribed period of time or distance. Consult a friend who races about things to know about racing (when to accelerate, when to ease up on the pedals, what/when to eat etc.) Heed the advice above to know your limits, as they will help you manage risks to your physical wellbeing, but also know them in order push safely past them, otherwise how ever will you know what greatness lies within?
So get out there and step right up to the start line, we've selected these upcoming events with you in mind:
April 15-18 - Monterey, Calif. - 20th Annual Sea Otter Classic, the unofficial kickoff to the North American cycling season, Sea Otter started out as a solid local race in '91 and has now grown into an international event with a little sumthin' for everyone
May 8 - Fort Mill, SC - 6 Hour Grind on the "Greenway," a six-hour singletrack mountain bike race, with 805 ft of elevation per lap, and benefiting the Humane Society of York County, Team Up for Type 1 and Girl Scouts Troop 648.
May 21-23 - Hesston, Pa. - DirtFest 2010, presented by Dirt Rag Magazine. A mountain bike advocacy weekend with a little something for everyone. Group rides, night rides, rallies, and creative competition underscore a weekend aimed at promoting exposure for as many facets of the mountain bike community as possible.
May 22 - Weaverville, Calif. - 6/12 Hours of Weaverville, 11.6 miles/1722' of climbing, which starts with three miles of fire road climbing, 1.5 miles of rollers, then 7 miles of downhill singletrack but get this: no one will ever know your place during the race since everyone from the fastest to the slowest will be riding the same course.
July 18 - Ellicotteville, NY - 6 Hours of Power. Solo riders and two-person tag teams compete for the most laps on a 10-mile course on some of western New York's best trails. A pumping transition area, clearly marked course, two water stations and post-race pasta party highlight this annual event.
Read more on the culture of racing in Speedgoat's next Monthly Newsletter, due out this week. Sign up in the top right corner of this page.
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Posted by Chris on 02/24/10 |
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EVIL VS. INCOMPETENCE
I just received an email from FedEx (interestingly, they now have a gmail account) letting me know I had to jump through some hoops to receive a package they're trying to send to me that has $800,000.00 USD in it. Sadly, I won't be receiving the package. I own a few nice bikes, so money means nothing to me, and I have a few really strict policies against spam--even great news spam like this. Besides, somebody's bound to send me another $800K again tomorrow. At the risk of offering advice to n'er do wells out there, I just want to clarify:
Rule 1: On my planet, nobody signs off an email with "Mr." or "Mrs." before his or her name. If you really want to act like a genuine corporation, never give out an actual name. And you know what? When you do, never make it "Joe Smith" or "Alexander Graham Bell" like you do. The only employees at an American company with names like that don't know how to send emails.
Rule 2: If even you clearly lose the thread of the jacked up story you're concocting, just give it up. Don't try to ride it out, thinking if you can't scam a million bucks out of some moron, you might at least accidentally write a Dan Brown novel. So my friend in "CANADA" (logic: Canada is a nation of trustworthy people such that just writing the name in full caps will let me know this is all legit) died in the desert, but his daughter made a fortune with a diamond mine, and he was trying to get this pile of money to me so that I could rescue her from Dante's Inferno and blah, blah. I'm an American. We have icons of types of food on our cash registers. You lost me at "Hello!".
Rule 3: Nobody in America types form crap into emails. This isn't because we don't trust you; it's because none of us can remember passwords or any other relevant information. All that crap is auto-filled on web sites for us by Microsoft or Google. We can't remember which one.
Rule 4: No corporation capable of handling large amounts of money ever "kindly" asks us to do anything.
In a related note, when attempting to commit credit card fraud on the telephone, correcting yourself regarding the spelling of your first name, is widely regarded as suspect.
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Posted by Matt on 02/22/10 |
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INTRODUCING MATT THOMAS
A bore is a man who spends so much time talking about himself that you can't talk about yourself.
- Melville Landon
Let me introduce myself. I am a native of southwestern Pennsylvania, who just relocated back East from a thirteen-year stint in California. I am also pleased and tickled to be the latest addition to the brilliant staff at Speedgoat Bicycles.
My obsession regarding bicycles began with struggling to learn to ride on two wheels. My frustration peaked during the summer of 1976, at age six, as I watched children a year or two younger than me trade in their training wheels for two-wheeled freedom. Later as an adult, I looked upon my son with envy as he shed his trainers - with great ease - just after his fourth birthday. Earlier in the spring of ‘76, my mother had devised an astounding drill. She had me shuttle my bike (sans training wheels) to the top of a grassy slope where she waited for me, chirping with the neighbor lady about Donahue and such. After planting me on my bike, gripping my shoulders, she gave me a firm shove and watched me swerve and wobble to a fiery crash on our back lawn. This was repeated again and again for what seemed like weeks until I too shed those racket-makers from my bike’s rear axle. All of a sudden I was cruising along the streets - silent as a jungle cat but only a month later, I was struck by a car for the first time, a gold Corvette. My father, who witnessed the whole calamity, dusted me off and sent the driver on her way without repercussion. As I remember, she was a tall blonde wearing tight, black satin slacks.
By 1978, I was hooked. I pushed my Schwinn Orange Crate to the top of a huge rocky slope and committed myself to my first downhill run.
Once the 80’s arrived, I was fully caught up in BMX fervor, which developed my interest in bike tech. I was the best garage mechanic around (among the juvenile, dirt jumping riff-raff). I had a mock shop set up in my garage with tools neatly lined up and hanging from the wall with a spray can of WD-40. I also became a young shop rat who scrubbed bike parts after school in a toxic scrub tank in exchange for meager discounts on my heavy parts habit. I was proud of my extensive record of mangled forks.
In 1984 I was given my first road bike. It was a used Schwinn Paramount 7-Eleven replica (lame sticker set) with Shimano 600; I think my father had traded an air conditioner and some railroad ties for it. This was soon destroyed by my second car collision. This car was also gold: a Mercedes Benz sedan and I was descending a left turn when the Mercedes driver made an awfully wide right. I hit this car head on, flew entirely over it, then rolled down the embankment on the other side of the road. I crawled back to the top of the slope, the autumn-browned leaves crackling under my hands and knees, only in time to see the driver speed off down the road. My bike was folded in half – literally - and I had to carry it home under my arm. When she saw me and my crumpled bike, my mother practically went into shock but my father was mad as hell at me and I was banned from the road. The police were never called. I often call this the premature end to my professional road racing career.
Then came the dark years. In my late ‘teens, bicycles faded into the background as punk rock and other trappings of my high school years took over. It wasn’t until I was laid off from my first real photography gig in New York City that bicycles would reenter my life. The cost of living was astronomical in the big city and I needed a job fast. One of my roommates was a bike mechanic and suggested that I try my hand at being a messenger. I thought, “yeah, that’s a great idea!” I would have the chance to learn the city like the back of my hand.” So I lied, I went into the messenger company and lied. I told them, “Oh yeah, I’ve done this before,” so they gave me a job. At the end of my first day I made the mistake of taking a rest on a park bench in lower Manhattan. It was at least an hour until my legs unlocked enough to even begin turning the cranks back toward my brownstone in Stuyvesant Town. During my run as a messenger I had three bikes stolen and was knocked down only once, by a Metro bus. I emerged from that time tough as nails.
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Posted by Matt on 02/22/10 |
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INTRODUCING MATT THOMAS (2 OF 2)
(part 2)
After being thoroughly chewed up and spit out by New York, I spent some time continuing my education at the University of Pittsburgh, where I was firmly introduced to mountain biking. We rode the trails so much I am surprised there is any dirt left in Frick Park. All of this trail moshing required a high degree of mechanical assistance but I soon learned that I no longer had the tools or the know-how to execute this on my own. A BMX or track bike was far simpler and I realized that I would need to glean some new skills from someone. But, the miserable and underpaid Pittsburgh mechanics I knew offered little help. So off to California I went.
I started my edification in Berkeley – where it was “all mountain biking, all the time.” For the most part, when I wasn’t wrenching in the cavernous bike shop on Gilman Street (across from infamous 924 Gilman, the punk rock venue), I was on the trails of the Oakland Hills. We rode day and night. The repair work was endless and most of the bikes were tragic. Mending the wrecks of Berkeley is how I cut my teeth. Now I believe that those types of two-wheeled disasters are truly what make a mechanic great.
Eventually I was recruited by a bicycle company in San Francisco called City Cycle located in the posh setting of Cow Hollow at the base of Knob Hill. There I was introduced to the world of top-shelf machines and my favorite bicycle mentors taught me the axioms of high-end bicycle fitting, sales and service. City Cycle even afforded me the opportunity to attend fitting school at Serotta in New York. After many years at City Cycle I moved on to one of my favorite organizations, Cycle Sports of Oakland. There I was exposed to the racing aspect of road cycling and working on the bikes of pro roadies was a real honor. I was flattered to learn that I was becoming a star-mechanic - Bruce Lee with a wrench was one moniker tossed my way. At Cycle Sports I had the fortune to learn from one of the great bike Magi of the Bay Area, who was the general manager at the time. He had the ability to utter just a few words that would rain down on me like an epiphany. Afterward I could see more clearly and my focus was laser-like.
In 2006 family matters moved me to Southern California. I did not want to go; I was enjoying my experience at Cycle Sports. I liked the people and I liked my boss and I didn’t want to give up another favorite gig as wheel builder for Rohloff USA, which had become a job I enjoyed as side-work for more than seven years.
Southern California was completely different and cycling was no longer the number one sport in the region – surfing was king. I truly missed the trails of NorCal. From the Oakland hills with their lush redwood groves, to the sheer technical difficulties of the forests in Santa Cruz, to the epic, deep woods adventures of the Lost Coast – I loved these places. There was consolation however, I found myself to be the only master mechanic in the region. The volume of ultra high-end road bikes came in droves; it was a dream come true! There were few bikes that were outfitted with anything less than Campagnolo Record and being able to hone my skills on such “bejeweled” machines was a gift.
Hence, family matters moved me once again, this time back to the East, to one of my old stomping grounds in the Laurel Highlands. Here is where you will find me, at Speedgoat Bicycles. This is a sharp operation held in high esteem, even by those in far-away California – my West Coast friends shop here. I am happy, I like it, and I intend to stay.
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Posted by Wendy on 02/18/10 |
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WAZUPWIDIS?: FORCED UNDERGROUND
By RICH DILLEN
From time to time I come across stories that resonate with the times and have the power to engage the reader with useful and/or intriguing information or themes. Most of these stories usually appear in qualified media outlets, such as in this instance. The current issue of Dirt Rag Magazine complements Dillen's story with a couple others, one in the regular Access column and another by none other than Charlie Kelly. Get a copy or subscribe and ask to receive the current issue. -W
(published with permission from Dirt Rag Magazine)
We all know the economy sucks, and we're all feeling the negative effects one way or another. The only people I know of that have benefited from the economic downturn, other than repo men, would be the cyclists that were already unemployed before it all came crashing down, as it's now a lot easier for them to find someone to ride with on the weekdays. Being a bike messenger in the second largest banking city in the U.S. of A., I rely heavily on the continual turning of the money wheels, so I too have been impacted by this recession, depression, crisis, or whatever the pundits are calling it today. There was a time when I had disposable income, and I usually disposed of it by entering expensive endurance races and buying expensive bike parts to replace the expensive bike parts I destroyed at all the expensive endurance races. It's hard to believe that two years ago I was in Costa Rica racing at La Ruta de los Conquistadores and hanging out in hotel lobbies drinking Imperial Cervezas, and now I'm facing the real possibility of a very truncated 2010 racing "season." With a cup that no longer runneth over, I've been looking for another means with which I can satiate my desire to inflict pain on myself in a competitive manner without resorting to street fighting or something even worse...bike polo. Read on...
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Posted by Jim on 02/17/10 |
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Posted by Wendy on 02/15/10 |
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Posted by Dave on 02/14/10 |
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THERE'S A FINE LINE BETWEEN AWESOME AND AWFUL
If you live pretty much anywhere near the East Coast of the United States, you've experienced the ugly end of the weather stick. Here in Pennsylvania, rumor has it that there is a certain groundhog named Phil whose approval ratings have plummeted as of late.
Four days after the little rodent's grim prediction I became ill with Cabin Fever. I'm not sure if it was coincidence or not that I had to shovel for 2 1/2 hours that day but, since then my condition has worsened. It all came to a head last Thursday. After yet another day of having my outdoor riding hopes dashed against the rocks (and my shoveling skills honed once again) I finally declared "Enough!" In hindsight I actually may have used another more colorful and less-likely-to-be-used-around-a group-of-grandmothers phrase but either way, I hit the breaking point. It was time to ride, all I needed was a good reason to dupe any surviving logic center in my brain into thinking it was an acceptable idea.
The epiphany: The automobile that spends an inordinate amount of its time sitting motionless out in front of my house needs to pass inspection by the end of the month. Without intervention we stand more chance of seeing green grass tomorrow than finding a February 2011 expiration date proudly displayed on its adult windshield (yes, it is old enough to vote).
Time to pull the resident Surly Cross x Check off the hook and put on the meanest 'cross tires from the parts pile - even if they don't match and the front tire has red sidewalls. (Up until this point I really had been fancying the Conundrum, but recent research had confirmed that unicycles and slush don't mix.) After airing up the tires and installing a set of pedals I cleared 2 feet of snow from the roof rack, loaded the bike on, and headed for the mechanic's shop. The plan was simple: drop the car and ride home. This appears like a simple and rational plan. What it didn't account for was 1. the mechanic's shop is about 13 miles away, and 2. there was no way the ride was only going to be 13 miles long.
I dropped the car off, headed into the wind, and took the long way home. The ride ended up lasting somewhere in the neighborhood of 35 miles. Yes, it was cold and yes, my fingers got REALLY cold, but I had a "We should do this again sometime" feeling.
Yesterday was part II. This time the roads were clear enough and the temperature cold enough that the 36in wheeled unicycle was the logical riding choice. Some logic, eh? It was snowing, it was cold, it was a great day to be riding. After about 25 miles of fun the ride was over, but the (Cabin) Fever was starting to break.
Today, part III. I came to the conclusion that I may not - in fact - be sane. Same ride as yesterday, different conditions. The temperature was freezing and I'm not sure what the precipitation was. I didn't realize it was possible to do a loop that had a constant headwind.
The upside?
There's a fine line between awesome and awful. From time to time it's good to cross that line.
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Posted by Jim on 02/13/10 |
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Posted by Wendy on 02/11/10 |
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BH BIKES: HISTORY OF INNOVATION
Spain's participation in World War I was good for business for Domingo, Juan, and Cosme Beistegui until 1923, when the brothers had to diversify their gun-making business in order to remain profitable during hard economic times. Domingo's skill at managing capital, Juan's ability to track and capture market trends, and Cosme's technical prowess forged the foundation of their fledgling endeavor to craft bicycles that could ascend the jagged, staccato peaks of Spain's daunting Pyrenees. BH (Beistegui Hermanos or, Beistegui brothers) Bikes emerged as exquisite examples of bicycle craftsmanship and have steered a course marked by innovation ever since.
It all started with Spain's well-known cycling heritage and the challenging riding in the surrounding Basque region, which was home to BH Bikes at the time. It is often pointed out that the climbs of the Vuelta de España are steeper and more frequent than those of the Tour de France. This climbing heritage helped push BH to develop some of the lightest, best climbing bikes in the world. One of BH's earliest successes was victory in the first-ever Vuelta in 1935 and BH has sustained a presence in the pro peloton at the Vuelta, Tour de France and Giro d'Italia since then.
One of the more ambitious product development projects in recent cycling history involved the sponsorship of the UCI ProTour team: Liberty Seguros. BH developed a whole new platform for the team by pushing carbon technology to a new level and exceeding the top professional rider’s expectations.
This development project resulted in the very first monocoque carbon frame under 900 grams with an integrated (extended) seat tube which not only delivered a new level of handling and efficiency but was also among the lightest and arguably best-performing bikes in the world. Extended seat tubes and sub-kilo frame weights have become “the latest rage” among bike manufactures and in the ProTour but, according to BH's website, their technology was first developed by BH for Liberty Seguros several years ago.
At the start of the 1990's, BH Bikes acquired Cycleurope, which owned the Peugeot, Bianchi, and Gitane brands, but later sold it to focus more intensely on Spanish and Portuguese markets. Five years later BH Bikes threw open its doors to the entire European market and even started manufacturing automobile parts for various brands. While widely known in Europe, BH Bikes entered the North American market only three years ago but has had plenty of successes to celebrate due to strong showings by the teams it sponsors in US domestic racing.
BH models have been garnering awards and recognition from the international cycling press for the last several years. The most recent and prestigious of these awards are:
• 2005 – Le Cycle (France) – Bike of the Year
• 2006 – Ciclismo a Fondo (Spain) – Road frame of the year
• 2006 – Cycling Plus (UK) – Bike of the Year
In 2010, BH will sponsor Xacobeo Galicia ("chacobeo galithia") Continental Team, managed by the famed former cyclist Álvaro Pino. The international bicycle firm will provide the Galician team with the highly acclaimed G5 and Aero models, which were so successful last season.
To try a BH bike, visit the "Demo" pages of BH Bikes North American website: http://www.bhbikes-us.com/demo.php. Or, if you already know what you want, find it here.
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