Santa Fe's Dog on bike

This is the Santa Fe see him everywhere guy on a trike, always with his big dog on the back of his Atlas trike. Alas, he rode off before I got to say hi.


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I also saw a guy riding in Los Alamos today solo on a triplet. I was riding out of the canyon and caught up to him and had a little chat. He dropped off his kids at a day camp inthe bottom of the canyon and was riding up to the ski hill. Pretty cool. Like a nice in line bike taxi.

Road find of the day

Bike Pals headlight, found on a lunchtime cruiser ride over near Rim Road in Los Alamos



The ghostly logo only revealed under flash or polarized light:




Nice Patina!


Push the big button on one side and the front of the light swings open revealing the shattered innards:

Maybe I can polish it up a bit and cram a LED battery light in there.

Flars

Macro on the newish camera is pretty good. Amaryllis photos by Elena.


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Pheonix airport

On the way back from SantaBarbara last month I passed through pheonix airpot. They had this really nice airplane rug inbetween gates. I want one:


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I also saw a complete failure in human interface. While I am sure it is important to have virus scan installed on airport computers, it is probably equally important that the virus alert does not obscure the departure gate information. All the displays were besotted as such, and it took a while to fix it:


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Liberty Seguros quits cycling!

Nice juicy tidbits today as Liberty Seguros pulls it sponsorship of the Liberty Seguros cycling team.

The Velonews Article has the allegation that:

...Saiz was caught red-handed with a refrigerated bag containing frozen blood and €60,000 in cash proved too much for the American sponsor.

Nice! I hope they are considering the possibility that Saiz is a reverse vampire and was trying to buy blood for either personal use, or to inject into his victims, or perhaps in some sort of conspiracy involving Tyler Hamilton's absorbed in utero twin.

Kidding aside, this is bad news for cycling again, but good news for anti doping efforts. When team directors and doctors are arrested and sponsors (the money) pull out, there is a huge incentive from the top to eliminate doping. Score another one for police efforts in catching doping.

The velonews article also mentions that this was the center of a 3 month long criminal investigation involving wiretaps and video surveliance.

Another allegation involves a list found at the flat of the arrested Dr. Fuentes, naming 200 cyclists including Ulrich and Basso who are "linked to doping practices" (source). Ulrich and Basso deny involvement of course.

What does this mean for the team formerly known as Liberty Seguros? I guess they finish the Giro and see if they can pull together enough sponsorship funding to race the tour. I also guess the WADA/UCI step in to try to ban the team from competition this year.

The spectre of criminal investigations bringing down 200 cyclists including such luminaries as Basso, Ulrich and Vinokourov is alot to bear for the average cycling fan. Whether we want to know or not, or even, as I do, think that they are mostly doping anyway, I am not sure anybody wants the house of cards to fall that hard.

I would love to see a few key arrests of doping doctors and team managers, but give implicated riders amnesty who detail what they were on, how they avoid detection and who gave them the drugs.

Tomorrow and the coming weeks will no doubt bring some more exciting allegations and denials. I may have to give up my low level doping commentary if this explodes.


More Doping musings:

dopingpalooza on the beginning of the Saiz/Seguros scandal

Tyler, Doping and baseball

On the IGF-1

Tyler riding in a race

Huge post on Tyler getting suspended with lots of doping links

Early post on the dealy

Wimps

Contains giro spoiler, below the photo.

(poster once available here)

No one really wants to ride their bike over a snowy pass and down the other side through slush and subfreezing conditions and THEN up another moutain pass with 20+% grades that is not paved to finish.

However, no one is going to be making a poster of Piepoli and Basso crossing the finish line on a drastically shortened giro stage, merely crossing the line in rain.

Where is the mud and the guts and the snow, gentlemen? If you are going to dope yourselves within an inch of your lives, please have nards enough to race in the snow and mud. Basso could have trancended excellence to legend status by running across the finish line in stage 17 of the giro carrying his mud encrusted bike 15 minutes ahead of the rest of the frozen/walking peleton.

Sadly, Bobke Strut favorite, super-gallic-cyclo-crosser and climber-come-lately John Gadret crashed out of the giro today, no doubt so horribly embarrassed to be seen with the wimpy roadies that he prefered to break his collarbone instead of tacitly endorsing their behavior any longer.

Raleigh Sprite

As shown before, Elena has a nice Raleigh Sprite she found in an arroyo.

I fixed it mightily for her birthday last year, going from a crappy derailer system to a much more workable SA three speed drivetrain:


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and then went ahead and updated it more this year


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The license plate is Elena's, I added a nice brooks b66 saddle, some different grips and a little handlebar mounted propeller plane:


click pic for movie of plane in action.

Dopingpalooza

Wooo! great week for doping in cycling news.

First, Spain declares itself anti-doping
Good on yer spain. How do we show we are not doping? We raid a suspected drug lab and arrest a doctor, rider and an assistant sporting director of a one big spanish team and a big fish team manager of the other one. see Saiz arrested on doping charges.

So here we have police action uncovering some or a whole metric crapload of doping. Reportedly anabolic steroids, hormones (I speculate human growth hormone or some such, and lots and lots of blood packets with transfusion equipment were found. The general idea is that blood is taken from riders, concentrated to high red blood cell counts, frozen and stored, and then reinjected during races to help increase the bloods oxygen carrying capacity. Sort of a self transfused EPO type effect.

Somewhat unsuprisingly this is a doctor who has been accused before, by Jesus Manzano. I think this somewhat vindicates Manzano who was raked over the coals when he accused the Kelme (now comunidad valencia) team of systematic blood doping. Allegedly his allegations were alleged to have been allegedly investigated and then dismissed, but this time same doctor, same clinic and lots of evidence...

I think, as I have said before (links at bottom), that this is the wave of antidoping future, you test as much as you can, but you coordinate testing with criminal investigation and when you catch a rider you go after their doctor, team manager and get them out of the sport for good. Saiz was released today, but arresting a very big team manager is a good way to send a message about no tolerance to doping. Saiz is by no means off the hook, he still will face judicial hearings on the matter. His team's top rider, Roberto Heras, was suspended due to a positive EPO test in the vuelta last september, and perhaps the rider suspension was only the start of the investigation.

Changing tunes a bit, the WADA is thinking of making altitude chambers, or hypoxic tents, illegal as an unfair competitive advantage(see here about halfway down). This technology allows riders to sleep in a lower oxygen environment to mimic high altitude living. This increases the amount of red blood cells in the body, "naturally", without taking EPO or other blood boosting methods. Athletes can then easily follow the sleep high, train low plan that is optimised for performance. Lance Armstrong, Tom Danielson, Alison Dunlap among many many others use this technique to help their training. Some athletes have rooms that are sealed and "altitude" controlled, nike even has an altitude house for one of their elite running teams to use. See the Colorado Altitude Training website for commercial systems and athletes who use this method.

I think outlawing the tents/chambers/rooms etc. is just plain stupid and borderline unenforcable. Teams can do the same thing by having high altitude training camps, but it costs alot more for the team or riders and it pushes people to more sinister doping methods. I would like to see the WADA concentrating on other antidoping methods, rather than ones that are well established, safe and impossible to enforce.

I think this clearly shows that Dick Pound and his WADA are clearly being eclipsed by law enforcement agencies. Work to stave of irrelevance there Dick.

More Doping musings:

Tyler, Doping and baseball

On the IGF-1

Tyler riding in a race

Huge post on Tyler getting suspended with lots of doping links

Early post on the dealy

Back to the regularly scheduled bicycle moronothon tommorrow with much less psuedojournalism.

Anyone still reading?

Extreme!

Ah yes, it is the mountain dew of fire conditions:



Already this weekend we saw a 115 acre fire in Bandelier and numerous other small fires around the state. There seems to be a touch of the early monsoon season this year mitigating this abit, but we are going to need some serious early summer rain to keep it from being a very bad fire season.

Where do you get that cheap gas?

As I was riding around on the twenty resplendent in straw cowboy hat and shades during lunch today, I pulled a quick u'ie into a parking lot to wait in line at a drive up ATM behind a fetching young lass in a open topped Mustang convertable. As I pulled in behind her, she turned to face me and said,

"Where do you get that cheap gas?"

and then drove off moments later leaving me smiling.

That makes up for about a million "get off the road" or variations thereof.

It even makes up for the two HS girls calling me sir as I held the door open for them minutes before.

Silly tiny bike

Bridgestone Picnica

Maybe not quite as silly as flashy the wonderbike, but pretty silly and a bit more useful.





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folds in 5 seconds to something that fits in the trunk, sans Wink256:

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Pretty much stock as shown, but a long seatpost to get the saddle up to the right height and a clapped out B17. It works well, a no setbackpost with the B17 counteracts the super slack seat tube angle. When I have ridden it before with a setback post and a normal saddle I was right above the rear wheel making it a wheelie master if I was not paying attention.

Maybe with some folding pedals and handlebars I could cram it in a big golf bag.

It is a chain drive, but it has a nice chain case.

For ma

I got the weird trademarked orange tube in the mail




Meaning that yes it is official, I am actually done.

Super custom setback seatpost

This is how to do it.


click for the rest of the bike

Today in Yankee History

Hey look, a baseball post.

Tonight the yankees came back from a 9 run deficit to beat the rangers. The last time that happened, according to the the AP summary of the game, was in 1986. Dude, I was like totally there:

The Yankees overcame a nine-run deficit for the fourth time in their storied history. The last time was a 12-11 win in 10 innings against the rival Red Sox on June 26, 1987. Boston's starting pitcher in that one was Roger Clemens.

Yup, young me and my brother with parents in tow went to see the ageless and then yankee ace tommy john battle the hated Sox and their ace Roger Clemens. It would be epic, it would be a two pitcher complete game, maybe a shut out, it was a fiasco. If I remember correctly (which I likely do not), both pitchers were shelled early and out by the third and then there was a run drought until the bottom of the 10th when someone (I would like to think Mike Pagliarulo, the best third baseman ever, or at least the best third baseman's name as read by the Yankee stadium announcer) hit a grounder into short center scoring the winning run from second. I recall barely being able to stay awake through the mid to late innings.

My memories may vary.

More mountain style biking los alamos

Some quick phots from the slickrock section of the perimeter trail. Lots of off road rides here, but I ride the perimeter trail incessantly. The loop starts less than a mile from the house, ends less than a mile in the other direction and has 10 and 13 mile loop options with a 6 mile out and back addendum. Passes by the bmx track. I loves you perimeter trail.


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Selections from the recent literature

Apparently ground up llamas are useful to see if the local coffee jerks are shorting you a buzz. If I am reading it right, I recommend a pet llama and a meat grinder for those who are concerned about such things.

Road style bicycling in Los Alamos

Like I said before there are not too many road rides in Los Alamos, but the three rides here are pretty darn nice. Here are some photos on the way up to the Jemez mountains out to the valle caldera. Lots of climbing here. Looking down from the second switchback up a 4 mile climb, across bandelier national monument and through the valley to the Sangre de Christo mountains. As monsoon season and afternoon thunderstorms kick in, one is lucky to make it out and back on a evening ride without getting hailed on. It is a good ride.


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Mini movie review: the Lion, the Witch and the Wardrobe

Did you watch those hobbit or potter movies and wish that they had overt christian symbolism in it? Or did you watch the Mel Gibson crapstravaganza and think, "hmm...good, but needs more orcs". Well shucky darn and slop the chickens, have I got the movie for you:

The Chronicles of the Jesus-cat - The good arayans, the bad arayans and the big fur is murder box.

If you liked the books I suppose you will find the movie pretty good. If you like your entertainment sans non bowling jesus's, than skip it. If you love tilda swinton go see Orlando or the recent and most excellent Thumbsucker.

Crap, or just go and watch The Lord of the Rings again. Dream world of magic my ass.

Brill yant

Bought a used Brill Luxus 38 pushmower (reel mower, human powered mower) to mow the "lawn" up here in the super high parched desert. As much as I would rather let it all turn to dust and plant rocks and xeriscape, Elena really likes the lawn. So lawn it is. The luxus works pretty darn well, it does not cut tall weeds, but it gets grass pretty darn well, even tall grass. It is fun to use and it is excellent at dispersing weed and dandelion seeds. I guess a power mower is pretty good at it too, but the luxus shoot the clippings and seeds in a nice benign arc from the mower and you can watch them landing here and there and blowing away to start a new weed family. I also got a grass catcher, which I will use when there is actually more grass to cut and probably will catch all the seeds as well.

I got it used, but a wheel broke in shipping, sunlawn the US distributor for the german made Brill mowers was really helpful and has all sorts of spares in stock. Excellent to do business with.



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Cutest infink ever

So my brother and his wife somehow combined genetic forces and made the cutest baby ever, sophie, at 3 months:


hat by my mom.



click pics for larger bordering on grotesque cuteness.

And she is sweet and happy to boot. I suspect some sort of in utero biophysical magnetic tweezer induced gene manipulation during the early stages of gestation.

Stylin'

On the beach in goleta:



Stylin' indeed.

Snakes on a bike!

Snakes on a bike!
Snakes on a bike!
Snakes on the $%#@#^% bike!
and there's not a damn thing you can do about it.

Downtown santa barbara, cruiser with giant wheeled snake cage, carrying a big albino python, a small boa and a tiny snake:


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Campus flower guy on an overloaded cruiser

Goleta Farmers Market:


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Impressively wobbily set up with stacks of boxes.

Other pals blog roundup

Mark is kicking my ass in the roadfind department in our informal blog roadfind competition. Crap, I gots to get on the stick. $43 dollar whole foods gift card was his latest. Once I found a starbucks card with about half a latte left on it, but it is not really the same at all. Must ride more...

Wenmei is riding with one of those Walky dog things and her large looking pup Cowboy. Sorry for upstaging her with the dog on top tube phots, it looks neat, but always seems super sketchy to me, Cowboy must be a gooddog. Maybe I will invite her guest blog a product report in the future:

click for source, stolded from her blog

Longboard totin, cruiser riding surfer girl

Good bike stuff kept appearing in Santa Barbara:


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I was too busy trying to get the camera out and the pic taken to see the method of carrying, but I think it was balanced on a rear hook mounted on the seat post and some sort of fork mounted stay, stabilized by her hand. Major points for the duct tape ding repair...

Taken in Goleta on the dirt paths on the cliffs above the beach.

Dog on the top tube

Seen in Goleta, north of santa barbara outside the trader joes:


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It appears that the dog rides the top tube in this very position as dad (presumably) rides the bike, kid rides the trailabike and mom rides the otherbike. A family outing!


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The dog was chilling calmly, mostly asleep, on the top tube. Good stuff.

A few more fun bike pics from the trip to Santa Barbara in coming days.

Visit to Renaissance Cycles in Santa Barbara

Update 10/2008:
appears that Baron and Family, due to flooding and space issues, moved the shop inland a bit to Santa Paula CA and is on the web at: www.cafedevelo.com

I jetted off to the coast to visit my brother and took a bit of time to go visit the motherload of old bikey bits at the about to open Renaissance Cycles. The shop is in the last sprint of fixing up and organizing before opening to the public, but I was able to drop in, say hi and chat a while with Baron Corpuz, the proprieter. It was a great place to visit, packed to the gills with nice old cycles bits, not to mention a truly incredible storeroom area with organized loot from raiding european suppliers of their stock.

They are opening their shop on May 14th and having a grand opening. If you are in the general area, go see it! It is well worth a visit, hopefully the pics do it justice.

Click all photos for MUCH larger panoramas, really, they are big, but they show alot more than in the little pics.

Long panorama of the main shop with the coffee bar in the back:


In addition to parts, Renaissance Cycles has a wealth of lugged frames awaiting paint. They are resurrecting the Labadie brand among others. Here is a nice city/randoneery bike:


Campy shipping crates everywhere:


Ralleigh style tube crown on this nice Coppi frame, but filletbrazed:


Some sort of moldering french cyclotourist tandem in the back, beautiful, click for the whole bike (you are clicking on all the photos right???):


A display of Cannibal bikes, with a signed bartali poster and infantry locker (what is the cycling translation of chaussers?)


A display of gios bikes and brooklyn chewing gum jersey, with dutch ladies bike and wool jerseys in the bigun:


Binda toe straps in apothecary jars, click for the big bar paraphanelia and brake display:


Cases and cases of maillard cogs:


A pic by my brother, my meagre purchase, NOS mavic racers for the using, Baron has 100's of sets left, click for still life with pringles:


Click all photos for MUCH larger panoramas, really, they are big, but they show alot more than in the little pics.

Anyhow, go go go go, Baron is a great guy, spent alot of time telling Elena and I about his by-the-container-load scores from obscure distributors in Europe, neat stuff. Big thanks to Baron for taking the time to let us visit and let me take photos.