get your romance on

In other BCC-related awards, our gracious sponsor, Second Empire, was voted the "Best Romantic Restaurant" by the Independent Weekly. So go grab someone special, take them to Raleigh, and when you get there, ask the chef (and BCC member) Daniel what he eats to make him so fast.

Also of note, The Bicycle Chain (various locations), was voted best bicycle shop. It (they) edged-out the Clean Machine (also a Bicycle Chain chain). Maybe you say it's not fair that multiple shops beat out other solo stores, but that's just sour grapes. This is just good old fashioned teamwork. Nice work folks.

Friend of BCC, Dain and his place (cleverly called Dain's Place), won Best Burger in Durham County (beating out Cook Out) and Best Bar Staff in Durham County. Check out the link and you'll see that he didn't win best website, but I guess it tells you what you need to know.

Congratulations!

all hail the new Brian!

Props to new BCC team member Brian H who got up on the podium in the singlespeed division at the TORC Tarwheel xc race in Chapel Hill last weekend. Now all he needs is a good nickname.

Gettin' High or How I learned to Chase Goats

Greetings Flatlanders. A few days ago I headed out on quite an adventurous day of road cycling with a couple of my co-workers from Wheat Ridge Cyclery. Adam de la Pena (former Durham Cycle Center Employee), Kit Recca (17 year old future Pro Tour racer) and I headed out for what would soon become one of the most memorable and momentous days I have ever had on a bike. We departed from the outskirts of Denver around 8am, with temps already soaring at 7,400 feet.


Halfway up Evans at Summit Lake (before the switchbacks)

Now a few stats:

1) Our starting point of the day was higher than the summit of Mount Ventoux by over 1,000 feet!!!
2) L'Alpe-d'Huez ranges between 6,100 and 10,900 feet.
3) Mount Mitchell tops out at 6,684 feet
4) Mount Sinai in Durham is about 100 feet tall.
5) Mount Evans tops out at 14,240 feet.


The three of us at the summit. 40 degrees in June....fun. Take note of the kid with the $9,000 S-Works....you will hear much more of him in the future from Europe.

Below is our route (out and back) and elevation profile of the day.

Baby's First King

(Not, not that King, that would just be scary. This King.)

In my never-ending search to be as cool as the cool kids I made my first Chris King headset purchase last week. Never mind that this is years after CK headset became de rigeur among cycling's elite and wannabes alike, and that as of yet the headset isn't actually on my bike, not to mention the fact that I bought it used in a shady eBay transaction (is there any other kind?), now I can proudly lift my head amongst fixie-hipsters, retro-riders, and big-hit bombers alike. In short, I have arrived. (Or will when I press the damn thing in.)

I'm going to ignore the facts that current internet scuttlebutt says that King's O-ring design is inferior to the Cane Creek 110's, and the even the cool Kingers have moved to the sotto voce design, because -- dammit! -- I want in the cool kid club!

I'll let you know if the damn thing miraculously takes a pound off of my bike, I'm suddenly admitted to some uber-hip Albany bike speakeasy, ladies begin to swoon before the Ferrous, or I suddenly get a lot more street cred. (At this point I'd be OK if it makes the 13 year olds at the park quit making fun of me, but whateva.)

So, yeah, I'm cool now. Really, I promise. And my bars spin like grease on ice. But I'll never be as cool as this:

Then again, what is as cool as that? That's right, nothing. NOTHING I say!

Werd.

tech report: the rightness of spring

As featured in my previous post, tech reports from the Shanghai bicycle scene show some stunning new trends. And, as pointed out in the comments, one particular new development was worthy of its own post: the bicycle saddle. Yes, while the bench seat offers great storage capacity and the potential for side-by-side seating options, it is also hard and splintery. So what kind of saddle offers the spring-loaded comfort and traditional styling of a Brooks,


as well as the channeled air flow and testicular retention capacity of an ISM "clipless" saddle,

and of course the grundular hair removal capabilities of a beauty spring (i.e. one of these):


The answer is, of course, this:
Show up to the World Naked Bike Ride (beware of this link) on one of these saddles and you will be the envy of the entire peloton. The springs will allow you to sit comfortably over even the roughest pavement. The tensioned scrotal clamping mechanism will keep you seated (an important climbing skill for gear-mashers to practice). The ample ventalation will keep you cool, even as the mercury rises. The patented hair removal capabilities will produce a neatly-shorn nether region. And, the retro styling will look great on a lugged steel frame.

Plus, just think of how much you'll save on chamois creme! You may, however, need to get a tetnus booster shot and also probably a large supply of bandages.

a bike cultural revolution

Bike messenger culture in North America has morphed into a bunch of weird sub-genres ranging from urban fixed-gear hipsters, who take all of the impractical elements of bicycle messengering and eschew any of the practical ones, to cargo hauling cyclists, who take all of the practical elements of human-powered transport with nary a care in the world about any of the stylish elements.

However, this view lacks a global perspective. My brother sent me these pictures from Shanghai of Chinese bike messenger culture.

This is one of the few pictures of a cyclist I received, but I'll make the reasonable assumption that this guy is completely representative of all Shanghai bike culture. If you're following component color schemes, white is out. Dingy, rusty gray is in. Also, apparently, white socks are out and for that matter, shoes of any color. Hats and helmets are out, as are bibshors, but pant retention is still critical as evident by suspenders. And while a lot of people in "the west" discuss how comfortable a bike is to ride, we have totally overlooked how comfortable our bike is to lounge in. Horizontally compliant? You bet.

Comfort bikes are only one part of Shanghai bike culture. There is also anti-comfort:

Bench seat technology has been a staple for pickup trucks, crummy American sedans, church pews, and...well, benches, but it has never crossed over to bicycles--until now. There's a lot going on with this U-Haul of bicycles. But if riding on a wooden plank doesn't sound anti-comfortable enough for you, also note the head-clearance on the U-Haul style "Mom's Attic". (I wonder if this bike has U-Haul's "rub rails". See link for details. Also, today's blog: sponsored by U-Haul.) Tall riders beware; this is an ideal rig for hunchbacks who need to transport all of their hunchback stuff around town. It should also be noted that this bike has transcended the no-brakes movement all the way into the no-cranks zone.

But the modest storage capacity of the previous bike is no match for a bike I like to call the Iceberg:

To hell with the xtracycle, which only gives you a modest increase in your hauling capacity. Eric only sent me a picture of the front of this one, but I'm willing to bet that it is over 100 meters long and it has a BOB trailer behind it. The Iceberg is the Titanic of bikes. (Iceberg. Titanic. I'll bet it's safe, too.) Plus, it's got a basket for that little something extra. I'm not sure what's in all of those styrofoam boxes, but my guess is some sort of savory oysters that the shipping company couldn't be bothered to ship in a fast, air-conditioned van, but rather, decided to keep it real by sending them by bike courier. In any event, once these bikes hit the streets of America's major cities, you can be assured that the styrofoam coolers will be brimming full of ice cold PBR. I've already ordered one.

And finally, what's cooler than cool? Ice cold? No. On fire! Just because bikes don't need petrochemicals to fuel their travels doesn't mean that Shanghai's cyclists aren't extreme enough to take that danger with them.

I'm not a big fan of riding with panniers, but the propane bike is a concept I think I could really get behind. And by "get behind" I mean "never even consider riding behind, but marvel at from afar". This would be a nice ride to discourage wheelsuckers, fuel shortages, and certain people (ahem, Geoff) from smoking cigarettes during training rides, while encouraging bar-b-cues, wheelies, and spontaneous combustion.

Thanks to Eric for the pictures.

il mio video

Kranked - REVOLVE Teaser from KRANKED/ReJeK+ on Vimeo.

Some of us are aging wanna-be shredders but as this video, which dropped earlier this month, shows there are some among us who are out ripping all the gnarly Front Range shit, racing Super D, and spreading our radness.

dinosaur senior

J.D. was wearing a Dinosaur Jr t-shirt on our recent, fateful trip. It reminded me to post this recent video:


This video speaks to me not just because it features bicycling or it features indie rock, but because it features old dudes posing as bmx shredders [editor's note: the term "shredders" is probably woefully out of date, but was the most appropriate and coolest word the author could think of, further illustrating the author's disconnect with the current bmx scene or youth culture]. This furthers my theory that all cyclists seceretly long to be a bmx-er. And as an aging bmx poser, I am glad to see I am not the only one.

Ali to Astana? Trade Rumors Swirl...

Trouble on the Bull City Front? Ali was recently spied in an Astana kit on his new Trek time trial bike.



Le Tour is upon us and I suspect Ali will be attacking. Too bad his bud Hollywood will be watching from the sidelines or rather the Italian Riviera.

Ciao, il mio nome è Hollywood...

Non vi perdete di me?

CSI (Crash Scene Investigation) Wilkesboro

Fortunately, the injury to Ben's elbow was not too serious, meaning that the time we need to wait to make light of the situation is very short. In fact, it ends...now.

So what caused the crash? This photo taken less than an hour before the incident may provide some clues. 

Exhibit A: Linus, Ben, JD, Ali (L to R, not pictured, me)

Based on this photographic evidence, it appears that Ben is already leaning precariously, suggesting that he may be too tall to remain upright and was destined to fall from the beginning. Everyone was decked out in the full team-issue BCC kit, so that's not the problem. We do, however, see that Ben is the only one not wearing a black helmet, so maybe wearing white at Dark Mountain or before labor day is a big fashion no-no and he was struck down because of this. 

But I have a white helmet and was okay (knock on wood). And black-helmeted Linus crashed on a bridge. 

Ben was the only guy not "rocking" a 29er, except for Ali, who had a size-corrected 29er which features a 26" wheel in the back but has a 26" wheel in the front. This could have led to Ben's problems. 

He also rides a carbon bike, and riding carbon bikes is such a roadie thing to do. We all know that true roadies can't mountain bike (just as true triathletes can't ride in groups larger than 1), so perhaps this factor led to his mountain bike crash. But Ben is actually an excellent mountain biker. Furthermore, the crash actually happened on a roadway, so we cannot blame this roadie-like tendency on his accident. Further tests must be run to determine if Ben is actually a triathlete.

Perplexingly, Ben also insists on still using V-brakes, instead of trendy disc brakes. Could the adequate, but less modern stopping power of these ancient relics have led to the crash? BCC-CSI is still performing the computer simulations to test this theory.

The final piece of evidence we have to work with is the alleged "confession" in the emergency room. Ben supposedly admitted to the fact that the crash was his fault. However, this confession may have been given in a post-traumatic state, possibly skewed by blood loss. Ben didn't take any pain killers, but I'm still not sure this confession would hold up in court. 

In the end, we may never know the true cause of this crash. We were unable to find the missing flesh (which was probably carried away by hungry vultures) so some of the CSI's most ridiculous analyses could not be performed. Since the true culprit may still be out there, please be careful on your rides.

Chris Horner speaks

Chris Horner prepares for the Tour de France