This post sponsored by babyblue bicycle, reporting modest adventures since 2007 with forthcoming features such as, 'Pending fatherhood drives man to buy carbon bike' and 'Baby enjoys Burley ride when it's 20 degrees out???' Chad won the opportunity to sponsor this post by winning the photo contest embeded deep in the SSWC09 report. Well done!
Last year on a nice ride with the babybluebike folks I found this excellent rusted tooth:
Then just this week I found its cousin:
It was found in a groove of freshly grooved pavement. I thus conclude it was from a pavement groover! And now I am two teeth on the way to assembling my own!
So I can get on with the writing about the weather and my mighty harvest, here is the race report from last weekend.
Elena, Aida and I left the house Friday morning at the scheduled hour of 9:00am 10:30am to head up to the race. But first we got hella breakfast burritos to sustain us for the 4 hour trip up to Durango. After one hour of baby napping and much screeching we finally arrived around three. We checked in, I rode downtown and picked up my race packet, bought a t-shirt, ran into bike zoo Jay from Tennessee and his wife Jen and then I headed back to the Holiday Inn and collected Aida and Elena and we walked over to steamworks for an early dinner. It was early enough that they were pouring 1 dollar 10 oz draughts and I had three different ones with my burger. Yum. Aida was perturbed we did not let her throw the beer glasses upon the ground.
Then it was to bed for the ladies and I rode up the hill a bit for the big pre race party. It was cold and rainy, but there was beer food and peoples and after a while I was having a good time. I met new people and ran into old people I knew, such as Ned, alleged internet stalker "gas sucks":
Jay from TN again:
and my old pal Jeff Lockwood fresh in from belgium:
There were some good bands and a pretty silly karaoke contest for the first round of the SSWC10 hosting contest. Italy killed it though. Somehow more beers were consumed and I ended up riding a 36" black sheep mtb, not crashing it and ended up rolling to wendy's with what I presume was lockwood and some dirtrag homies. Biggy fries please:
Most people got cheese burgers, I got some trailmix from a nearby convenience store and Karen Brooks (?) and I nearly got flying west nile avian pig flu from a death rattling convenience store worker who should be nominated for co-parents of the year with her baby daddy for leaving their sleeping children in a running car parked out front while they closed the shop. After that horror, I rolled back into town and sort of slept.
Thankfully the race did not start until 11 and thankfully Elena and Aida woke up early and went for a walk and brough me espresso and muffins for breakfast. I got ready for the race and rolled downtown, not feeling all that hot, but excited for the race.
I got to the start line with about 15 minuted to spare and was wowed by the mass of single speed humanity. I took a bunch of photos and videos to give you the feel.
After a bit of photo taking, I noticed Jacquie Phelan had coalesced next to me:
I introduced myself and explained that I was a big fan and we both are lapsed bloggers on veloquent. After that she was even more friendly. It was great to finally meet her for real. A big biking hero of mine wearing a beard sewn from her own dreads.
Also check out her excellent bike made by her husband Charlie Cunningham:
Anyhow, the race rolled out and I was solidly in the smack dab middle of a billion singlespeeders.
We rolled through town and up into the hills on progressively steeper streets leading to steep bikepaths and then to singletrack and double track and then to a conga line of walking cyclists and then to a steep hikabike. I went pretty fast up this, but was not feeling great still, but having fun just rolling along. We had a nice break in start and stop traffic which allowed me to take lots of photos and recover a bit, but it was pretty hot and my camelback contents were not sitting well with me.
The conga line up the slope with the stunning views across the valley:
Cycling legends were just behind me, here is Greg Herbold:
There is something special about the two photos above, first correct answer in the comments gets a sponsored blog post and a pile of crapped up single speed freewheels. Answer is not Greg Herbold, although he is pretty special.
Anyhow, as we passed from scrub oak to pine at the top of the ridge we began to ride.
Using my tiny 32-20 gear I spun around a whole bunch of people, got a nice beer feed from the crowd at the top, blew the log pile obstacle and continued onto the ridge.
The ridge! It was technical, exposed and had great views and severe consequences if you actually watched the view while riding. There was also a hug thunderstorm on the next ridge over that convinced me to be expedient on getting the hell off the ridge. I took no pictures here, but I was pretty pleased with how much I cleaned, and when I did not clean it, I was pretty smoothly crossing on and off and making good progress. Greg Herbold passed me easily and I passed a bunch of crashed and cramped racers, but I was pretty much riding on my own for most of the ridgeline. It was pretty sweet, especially after the long lines to get there. After what seemed like half an hour of technical descent we transitioned into an area of really really steep descents with tricky bits thrown in. I rode it all, but not that fast, lots of people were passing me at this point. I did see a bunch of good crashes which steeled my resolve to finish the race without hurting myself! I was feeling a little ill at this point, none of the liquid I had been drinking was processing, just sloshing around in my stomach. Stupid pre race party. I was also periodically eating gummy clish shot squares which usually are my go to race candy energy food, but again they were just sitting there. Yet still I pressed on. After a bit more riding I could hear loud crowds screaming and music apumping.
It took me about 5 minutes from first audible evidence of the crowd to hit the start finish line. It was great. I was grinning like an idiot, the crowds were packed and screaming and it was really loud. They routed us through some fun loose chicanes and I got another extremely tasty beer handup and quickly quaffed it and took off for the second part of the course. I was very amped for the rest of the race for about 5 minutes and then I realized I was pretty much feeling like crap and probably would bonk soon. 9 miles or so to go.
The second half of the course was a blast, especially if you had not done the first half. Technical short descents mixed in with rolling smooth singletrack and steady climbs. It was almost all singletrack and it went by reasonably fast. I had pretty much drained my camelback but alas, I was still bonking hard. Lots of people were passing me, but still I pressed on. Actually I rode this pretty well and was having fun, but was dreading cramping up. There was a last demoralizing hike-a-bike and I got some fresh bacon and whisky feeds that were actually pretty welcome before heading on the last few miles of descending. The last bit was sandy twisty singletrack with no sight lines due to scrub oak tight around the trails. Almost immediately I started making pretty bad descisions on lines and speed and weight distribution so I shut down my already slow pace and survived my way to the finish, I think it took me somewhere around 3:15 of riding time for the 21 ish miles of the race, but I am not really sure how long I was out there.
When I got to the finish, I noticed piles of beer cans everywhere, lots of loud music, lots of partiers, lots of racers, yet no actual beer. Alas, I had ridden slower than the party. I was pretty cooked, so I sat in the shade, snapped some pictures and met a flickr/blog friend Lauren Haughey and her husband morgan, I would have loved to talk to them some more, but I was almost incoherent with the bonk. Next time.
Me with salt stained jersey, look closely, you can see the face of the jesus in it:
Gratuitous crowd shot:
I think I have made it clear that I was not feeling so hot, so I rolled on into town, found Elena and the baby, had a shower, failed at napping and headed to a nice dinner where Aida impressed with the mad spaghetti skillz.
I finally felt better and ate two dinners worth of food including a plate of olives, delicious salty salty olives, and drank about 2 gallons of water. We headed back to the hotel and I was feeling good and left Elena and Aida for the evening and hoped on the bike again and rolled a couple of miles up the nice Animas river trail system to the huge party at Ska Brewing company. There was quite a crowd there including pretty much everyone in durango who knew what a bicycle looked like. There was also lots of food and beer at reasonable prices. I got some hoppy beer and third dinner from an airstream based Zia taquaria and settled in for the festivities.
I watched the atrociously played but well uniformed Italy vs NZ match for SSWC10.
I ran into Curtis Inglis and spoke with him for a while:
I checked out the color contest/art show, which was actually pretty well done:
"I spend them all on the goats" no really, click through and read it:
And finally I watched the impressively sunburned Heather Irmiger get her SSWC09 winners tattoo for a bit. Go on, click through for the cheesecake. With that I was getting sleepy and was pretty much all partied out, so I rolled back on to the hotel and slept like a rock. Until 7 the next morning when Aida convinced me that it was time to go for a walk.
It was a pretty fun weekend indeed. I wish I had been able to digest on race day, but that was my own fault probably. Other than that, it was pretty much all good. This was the fourth SSWC I had attended, Rancho Cucamunga in 1999, Minneapolis in 2000 and Downieville in 2002, they were all pretty much different. I think I still enjoyed the one in Minnesota the best, but overall they were all really fun. I did 1999, 2000 and this year on the same Kelly Singlespeed Cruiser. I might actually get a new bike now, 10 years is long enough. I think I might be getting too old for the shenanigans part, but NZ would be a nice place to visit next year, we will see. Huzzah bicycles and silly races.
After 15 days of travel, 13 at sea level, 10 sucking down some serious second hand cigarette smoke in Cairo and 0 days riding, I am back in training for SSWC, which is in 5 days. My plan consists of remembering how to ride my mountain bike without crashing and building up calluses on my hands. The goal is so I can finish the race somewhat quickly and have fun without unnecessary crashing and bleeding and blisters.
Hope to see some of you in Durango this weekend.
Pics from Salt Lake, NJ and Egypt may arrive at some point this week.
You may have seen this linked on every bike blog on the internet, right?
But did you notice in the last 10 seconds they set out a net? You know what that is for? Well it is for this:
Yeah! Cycleball! Cycleball! Much better soundtrack than artistic cycling! Dig them crazy bikes. I wanted to link to an even better cycleball video showing two stars of the sport with awesomely bad video jump editing and a hilariously good thrash metal soundtrack, but can't find it... Anyone?
In other hail news, we got the insurance settlement for the house and it is good. We have some contractors lined up and just hope to get the work done before winter. We shall see. No word if Zach got a new saddle covered under his insurance company.
On sunday's grocery/hardware store ride, I found the following:
I have seen lots of locks on the side of the road, especially near the pool. This is the first one I bothered to pick up because it had a key in it. Clearly it had been run over a few times, but it works.
The knife I found mere steps from this previous find. Cheapo german steel knife, blade is pristine, but for tar on the tip, maybe it fell point down. Seems odd. But good for a tool box or travel mess kit or something.
Well almost. I think there is a story behind this thing, I have seen it around and about town, I think I see environmental monitoring station behind it. Perhaps I have said too much. I picture towing this behind the big dummy when I go all pro and stuff next year. Hang the race bikes and skiis on the back and travel colorado and NM in search of easy cash winnings. Oh yeah. Watch out Neil Armstrong, I am coming for you!
The trailer looks to be functional cousin of the VW Ball
I almost linked to this when it came out earlier in the year, but I decided not to as EVERYONE linked to it. But I just got an email from a pal asking if I had seen it. Yep I said, I sure have, but boy do I not ever get tired of watching this. And on the off chance you, dear reader, have never heard of Danny MacAskill, you are in for a treat.
I have had conversations with many non cyclist people who find out I ride bikes incessantly that go as follows: oh you bike, eh? Have you seen that video of that guy in the city jumping things? I have. But it is not fair saying we both ride a bicycle, he and I don't occupy the same universe. I can't even process some of the stuff he does in the video.
Watch and enjoy if you haven't before, or watch again and again:
For the non-cyclists who read the blog here is what I can do that is shown in the video: 1. Stand in place with my bike between me 2: Ride forward in a straight line. That is about it, I can fall too, but not like he can, not without dying. Thankfully I am old enough to be satisfied with replicating only those skilz.
I bet you thought I was going to link to performance, no?
Around 10 pm as we were wressling the sleepless infink to bed, Elena suddenly remembers that she saw a bike encased in a curbside brushpile around the corner. Hot damn I says! I put the baby to bed and saddle up the big dummy with visions of that special Schwinn Typhoon or Raleigh sports curbfind, or, maybe, even better!
It is pouring rain, east coast style nightime soaking rain that we don't see much of. I head up the block, round the corner, up the block and spy yellow bicycle atop a stinky brushpile, clearly headed to the dump tomorrow. My heart quickens, I scan the bike. Stamped dropouts, stem shifters, crap, sears brand free spirit. I scan the bike again, pop it off the brushpile onto the dummy and ride on home. To quote my dad "Why, son, why?".
why, son, why?
Well let me tell you why pops!
Worth it for the reflectors alone, but check them crazy pinstripe fenders
Super deco rear rack and faboo rear reflector to compliment the front
Unbelievably craptastic chainrings and chain guard that might have actually had some design thought applied...
Excellent graphic design AND cheap repair inspiration, bonus points for using strapping tape on a bicycle, but not as a replacement for rim tape
Looking for unique color combos for your next custom frame? How bout yellow, offwhite with adobe accents, thank you 1978!,
So aside from excellent graphics and color inspiration I will most likely strip the frame and keep: The fenders and rear rack. The servicable diacomp brakes and touring levers. The pretty fresh looking rubber block pedals. The one piece crank and possibly save the small chainring for replacing the ridiculously large chainrings on stock schwinn one speeds. I will probably save the bars and stems for replacements for other similarly crappy yet functioning bikes. Seat post could be useful if free of corrosion for replacement. Saddle clamp hardware. I will definitely save all the reflectors for reflector festoonage upon winter bikes. If any of the plastic clips holding the cables to the braze-on-free frame are still functional I will keep them. I will keep any bolts that come out easily. They are not metric, but they might be useful for working on other similar bikes. This includes hub bolts washers and locknuts. This one is a shitty 10 speed, so derailers and shifters are probably complete junk, but I will look em over.
All of the above things are probably worth checking out on any bike. But if you find a sears/free spirit/montgomery ward type bike from this era please check these additional things before you pass it up: Rear hub, often a SA three speed. Keep it. Occasionally bendix single speed or possibly kick back coaster brake. Keeeep!!!! Chain guard? Keep it!!!! Hard to find good chainguards these days. Metal clips holding cables on? Keep for use on better bikes with skinny tubes and no braze ons. Any internal hub shifting stuff should be kept, cables housing and shifters! Check to see if the saddle is remotely useable. If it is, and if it has saddlebag loops, it might be worth for putting on your rain/winter bike that you might need a saddlebag for.
The frames, rims, spokes are probably junk and will make their way to the transfer station as it was headed. I would probably never spend any money at a thrift store or garage sale on a bike like this, but if it is free and you can spend an hour or two stripping it down to the useful and not so, it is worth it. If it had a bendix two speed coaster hub, or a pre 1970 sturmey hub, I might actually pay a bit for it, but otherwise, just a fun project. Many of these bikes were 590 wheels, but those fenders will work for 650b and 559xskinny and might be shoehorned onto a 700c beater bike if you don't mind bending metal, so it is usually worth keeping a couple sets, just in case. That is, if you are me, and you have a bike dungeon or the like and you have a predilection for picking up half complete project bikes.
I would not really recommend keeping the frames on these for anything as the welding/brazing is crappy, and some of them look to be galvanized steel under the paint which means they are somewhat to very toxic for future torchwork, so careful.
Other donorcycles I have now stripped Thats two other searsish bikes, one with a SA hub, and a crappy peugot, bad frame, lots of useful french threaded bits for replacing parts on a older more desirable peugot! Go packrat me.
Riding a bit, baby wrangling a bit, insurance and contractor wrangling a bit, working a bunch. Too pooped for words. I assume short updates with pictures is better than no updates at all?
This view used to be on my "the long way in" morning commute, that slowly became the default way in.
This is on a fairly regular after work short loop (for the where do you ride pool), quemazon-pipeline-home
I am not sure I will ever get used to seeing this first thing in the morning:
Seen at the Los Alamos Rodeo Parade: Not pro the subject matter, just the best picture taken, the rest here
