Push Pull

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Check out this video short. They made some great use of hi-res fast rate capture to allow them to slow it down when they wanted to. Also great mix of studio and out on the road shots. This should be what more trainer videos should be like. (I know, it's actually a little old, uploaded 2 years ago. But it's still worth a watch.)

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C'mon Elizabethton Tennessee

Why would you discourage a child from riding their bike to school, less then a mile on a safe route? The Mayor and Police Chief want to arrest a mother for child neglect if she allows her daughter to ride to school. Link here: http://bikewalktn.blogspot.com/2011/08/arrested-for-riding-bike-to-school.html It just seems terribly wrong to me.

Here's a link to SafeRoutesInfo.org for some info about the Safe Routes to School Program. http://www.saferoutesinfo.org/

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5 things I love about dawn patrol rides

Sun rises from the road, with my wheels rolling. 

Getting up before the sun rises is always pretty difficult to do. But the rewards can be pretty amazing. Click through to see 5 reasons why I love getting up before the sun to put some miles in.

Races to think about - Moab 3 day MTB stage race (Furious3)

I just heard about this race from CyclingNews.com. It sounds pretty cool. Not only that it's a 3 day stage race in Moab. But that it seems that mountain bike stage races are making a comeback. I like the stage race format. Back in the early 90's stage races were pretty popular. Then it seemed that unless you were sanctioned by NORBA, you couldn't put on a race. With NORBA fees, there seemed to be a drop in the number of stage races, in favor of one day races. The last stage race I did was a week long race in Hawaii. I didn't do great, but I didn't do bad either. I did have a lot of fun.

Now I don't think I could do a week long event, but if the price is right, I could see 3 days. Pack the car, with the fam, and head over to Moab. Of course I'd have to see what the cost would be and really weigh the cost vs fun benefit.

Anyway it looks like they are planning to have the Moab race on Sept. 29 thru Oct. 1, 2012. So I'd have more then a year to prepare. If I decide to do it.

Link: http://www.furious3.com/index.html

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Happy birthday

To the best gal in the world. My wonderful and sweet wife. Thanks for putting up with all my cycling obsessions. Let's go eat sushi and not pay!

Cyclocross barriers

There is a cyclocross video embedded in this post that you may not be able to view. Click through to the blog to watch it.

So as thoughts turn to cyclocross, I'm thinking I want to build myself some barriers to practice with. I'm pretty sure I'll do the PVC pipe setup, but not sure size and style. It would be nice if I could throw a couple into a messenger bag and head to any park to play around with dismounts, hopping and remounts.

Below are a bunch of links from around the interwebs on building your own practice barriers.
http://armandarekian.blogspot.com/2010/08/make-your-own-pvc-cyclocross-barriers.html
http://www.cxmagazine.com/newbie-news-building-barriers
http://plusonelap.blogspot.com/2005/09/homemade-cyclocross-barriers.html
http://bostoncross.com/learn_to_cross_articles.html
http://www.bikeman.com/thepit/crossbarriers.htm
http://www.instructables.com/id/How-to-make-portable-cyclo-cross-barriers/
http://t.co/gQXYkYv

And finally, a video showing how to dismount, hop and remount.


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DIY Cyclocross Barriers. Build your own cyclocross barriers. CX Barriers - D.I.Y. Homemade cyclocross barriers. Cycling is stupid. Everything about cycling is stupid. Hello Justin Bieber fans.

Bike art - Army of Cats "Ride Hard and Earn the Downhill" ArtCrank print

Sweet 16.5 x 23.5 screen print made for ArtCrank London. Follow this link (http://armyofcats.bigcartel.com/product/ride-hard-earn-the-downhill-silkscreen-print) to purchase one (of 60 available).

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Kashimax promo/production video

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A look at how these legendary saddles are made. Back in the old school BMX days, Kashimax AERO saddles were the $h!t to have. They were remarkably comfy, for a full on plastic saddle. Great to see them bring it back.

On a side note, I love to see how the Japanese really take pride in what they do. This is a small factory, pumping out a few products. But they don't cut corners in making them. I've seen the same thing with other products too, so I have to believe that it's more of a cultural thing.

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Rochester Cyclocross Practice

Image c/o Yuji Yamada.

So over the summer, I've been trying to attend as many MTB practice races as I could. Of course that amounts to about 2 each month. But that's neither here nor there. But as we go into fall, people start thinking 'cross. So starting September, the Tuesday nights at Eastwood will be cyclocross practice.

We continue to get about 7 mtb riders for our Tuesday night "race" lap. Well, as the fall approaches some people are thinking cyclocross, soooooooooo starting in September we will switch to cross laps. Matt Kurke is making up barriers. Mountain bikes are more than welcome. We will still meet at 6pm in front of the small parking lot on the East side. There will be a predetermined amount of laps and off we'll go.

To summarize, 6pm at Eastwood=cyclocross fun. - From the RASC boards. 

I'm gonna put the knobbys back on the orange fixed for this. I may attempt it with the mountain bike once or twice, tho I'm pretty sure it will be slower.

Watch for a future post on the bike art above.

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Superdrome video

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A well done promo video for the Superdrome. One of only 3 Olympic size (250 meter) velodromes in the United States. Located in Frisco, Texas it is run completely by volunteers. Follow me: @AnelloGrande

Ladies Pursuits - Team Mule Bar

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Here's an interesting promo-video for a women's grassroots cycling team from London. In making the short, their goal was to "produce a lifestyle video to show their world and how cool it is to be a female bike rider." It sure looks like they achieved that pretty well.

Anyway, they have a blog (http://mulebargirl.blogspot.com/) worth checking into. Lets get more girls and women into cycling.

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Bike Art - Jen Renninger "Open Road" painting

Sometimes you come across things by accident. I followed a link off twitter to the portfolio of Jen Renninger, where I stumbled across this great painting that seems to capture some feelings of the open road. Click the photo to visit her site and see what else she's done.

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Mongoose: Know your roots

There is a video embedded in this post that you may not be able to view. Click through to the blog to watch it.

This looks pretty interesting. Mongoose was a brand. Wait scratch that. Mongoose was THE brand in BMX for a time. It's somewhat cool that they are still around, even if it's not the same (like SE bikes). I had a Mongoose for a while. Cracked it at the seat tube-seat stay joint. When I got into mountain biking, I thought it was awesome that Tomac was riding for Mongoose.

Looks like this video (this is just the trailer) is gonna cover the history of the 'Goose. Should be an interesting view.

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Canvas Rider

The most fun way to waste your time. Seriously, it's pretty addicting for such a simple idea. You have a stick figure on a bike (your choice of BMX or full squish MTB) that you navigate through a course with bumps, jumps and all kinds of terrain. Some of the tracks have a huge amount of artistic detail, for a simple 2D side scrolling game.

Controls are easy, up arrow pedals the bike, down is the brakes. Left and right are back and forward balance. And "Z" reverses direction.

When you're bored of riding other peoples tracks, take your hand at building your own. Again, like the game, it's super simple. But easy to get sucked in to making jumps and obstacles that are challenging.

Here's a warning, don't do this at work unless you don't care about not getting anything done and losing your job. I don't think you boss will like it much that you're riding and creating tracks on his dime.

http://canvasrider.com/

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Bike art - Jennifer Davis "Bike Ride" print

A very nice 12x16 inch limited edition print for $50 off her Etsy shop. http://www.etsy.com/listing/67973442/bike-ride-limited-edition-print

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Bike art - Jay Ryan/The Bird Machine "In the Shop" print

Limited to 260 prints, 7 color, 18 x 24. Image to be used as cover art for Bicycle Times magazine. Only $30 at The Bird Machine (http://thebirdmachine.com).

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Bike art - Erin Wallace Sweet Ride letterpress cards

Here's a set of very playful cards by Erin Wallace  http://erinwallace.org/index.php?/letterpress/sweet-ride/

Available for purchase here: http://gilahpress.com/greetingcards/collection/07_sweet_ride/

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Bike Art - Justin Santora, Smith Westerns Lollapalooza aftershow prints

This cool 18x24 gigposter for Smith Westerns available here (http://www.justinsantora.com/index.php/store/smith-westerns/) for $20

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Rochester Mountain Bike Team 1st season recap

This from the leader of RMBT:

The Rochester Mountain Bike Team recently completed its first season of racing! The team consisted of 15 students, including 3 girls. We competed at all 4 of the designated high school team races within the Minnesota Mountain Bike Series. We had a total of 29 race starts and 18 podium finishes.

Pretty exciting stuff. I'm hoping that I can play a more active role with the team next year. Please be sure to visit and like the RMBT facebook page (https://www.facebook.com/RochesterMountainBikeTeam) to stay up to date on what's going on with the team!

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Bike art - Paul Shipley paintings

Paul Shipley paints bicycle races and cycling scenes in oil and acrylics. You can purchase prints of the paintings online, or you can commission him to paint an image for you. His work is great, there's a loose abstract style that seems to come alive in them. Visit his site here http://www.veritasart.co.uk/.

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Pump Track?

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So I've been thinking of this for a couple years now. But now especially since getting the mountain bike and actually riding out at Eastwood, I'm thinking a pump track would be a great addition to the trails there. I'm planning on buying the Welcome to Pump Track Nation book and maybe building a secret hidden version somewhere first. Then I think getting RASC behind it and bringing it to the city.

I brought this idea up with a friend and he wasn't sure where at Eastwood would have room for this, but I'm thinking that pump tracks can be pretty small, so it could be placed behind the baseball field, or even near the playground equipment on the east side. Or heck, pull the baseball diamond out (who's gonna miss one?) and build a really big one there.

The bumps are small enough that I don't think there's a liability issue for jumps or anything.

The whole point of a pump track is to become smooth and be able to 'pump' the whole course without pedaling. You can use almost any type of bike on the track. BMX, rigid, single-speed, or full suspension downhill bikes all work. Just a matter of pumping the bumps using the rhythm of the track to keep you moving. From what I hear, even though you're coasting the whole time, you get a pretty good workout.

The addition of a pump track to Eastwood would help attract even more cyclists there, hopefully keeping the people parking, looking for 'dates' away.



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Danny Macaskill - Industrial Revolutions

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Another amazing video of Danny Mac. His riding is fluid.

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Bike Art - Faema Team Car by Chris McNally

I really like this sketch?/Painting? by Chris McNally. Click this link (http://chrismcnally.com/) to see his other work (all excellent).

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Road users

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Not laying blame to any one road user, this video shows how every user interacts and engages with other users. It's a great reminder. As a pedestrian, I've done some of the wrongs shown. As a driver and a cyclist too.

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Bob Haro classic BMX art prints for sale

Screenshot from facebook. Click image to follow link.

The Master, Bob Haro, is selling some of his classic illustrations. I would love to start a bicycle art collection with these prints. It would connect me back to my BMX years, and the illustrations are awesome.

For those interested in purchasing any of my classic BMX art prints please check the link below. These high-quality Giclee prints are printed on 100% acid free, heavy-stock paper using archival inks that are UV resistant. 

Print prices are: 

11" x 17" print are $150.
18" x 24" prints are $250.
24" x 36" prints are $350.

All prices in USD. All shipping costs and are quoted per country. All print are personally signed!

Thank you for your interest - BH

http://db.tt/uURJl7B

Thumbnails of available images. Click to see biggie.

Looks like if you are interested, you will have to contact Bob on facebook, I don't see an online shopping cart or store.

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Bike art - King and Queen of the Road poster set by Jeremy Slagle

Here is a great set of prints by Jeremy Slagle. What's great is that you can hang it any way you want. No correct way is up. And it's a pair. $45 sounds like a good deal too. Follow this link to buy yours. (http://www.quaintco.com/king-and-queen-of-the-road/)

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Sufferfest - Book of Suffering

Sufferfest (Makers of the popular, downloadable training videos for use while on rollers or stationary trainers - click here top see them [affiliate link]) has an e-book of suffering quotes and torture chamber (training room) images to help motivate you to get on the trainer and ride. It's free to download, and could help you get off your butt and ride. Check it out here.

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Bike art - Crayonfire TDF posters

I love these two posters. The amount of information in them is great, you know exactly what happened. The rest of them are great too. Check out all the stages by clicking this link (http://www.crayonfire.co.uk/#1679033/Tour-de-France-Series-Scroll-Down), and if you want, here's a link (http://crayonfireshop.co.uk/) to his shop to purchase the prints.

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You don't have to be in a hurry to enjoy cycling

I know I fall victim to this all the time. This article tells us about the growing "Slow Bike" movement. I think it's great. Just get on a comfortable bike and ride somewhere, check something out, meet some people. Have fun.

...research shows that cities and communities where more people bike are safer for biking. The more people who bike, the greater the awareness around cycling.

Read more: http://www.sfgate.com/cgi-bin/article.cgi?f=/c/a/2011/07/27/NSL51KCRGV.DTL#ixzz1U595bTRO

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I just gotta say...

The coconut chocolate chip Clif Bar is pretty good. Clif does not advertise on this blog. Clif does not sponsor me, or any team I may ride for (at this point). However, I did not pay for this one Clif Bar. It was delivered to me as a promotion at no charge. I do pay retail for my other Clif Bars.

Once again, I enjoyed the coconut chocolate chip Clif bar. It tasted yummy. I will purchase them when they are available in stores. If you like coconut and chocolate, you may like this Clif bar.

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Yet another design oppourtunity

This one to design jerseys. Voler has the “You're the artist” series of jerseys.

Here's how it works (from their site):

1. Design your jersey on our raglan template - download here: pdf or illustrator
2. Send us your completed design* by emailing us at contest@voler.com.  Also, include the following in your email:
   • your name
   • a design name
   • description (inspiration, bio about yourself, etc...)
   • Any pantone colors to match.
3. Ee will then create a page on our website that will allow you and your friends to use Facebook to vote for your design.
4. Once your design gets 150 votes we will put it up for sale in our store and send you your jersey at no charge.

Seems like a fairly good deal, at least on the sort term. Get enough people to vote on your design and get a jersey. Of course you won't get paid anything if they go on the sell tens or thousands of the jerseys.

I have a couple ideas that I'd like to get down, this could be a way to test them out.

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Yup... hit by a truck

In the middle of June, my oldest daughter was a passenger in a car that was hit by a truck. Not just a fender bender. But t-boned at about 45 mph into the passenger side. Being the passenger, my daughter was the most injured in the crash.

The driver of the car, my daughters friend, called my wife (and I sitting next to her at home) and told her they were in an accident. My wife responded asking if our daughter was ok, to which he told her she "was awake"-short pause-"now..."

Jens Voigt Soundboard

This is kinda awesome. As a Jens Voigt fan, this Jens Voigt soundboard is really cool. With it you can put together your own Jens interview. Just ask questions and pick your answer. Click here to check it out.

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Review - Zumbro River Cafe

Zubro River Cafe brunch menu. 

So my wife and I have been trying to find a place for breakfast, that wasn't a chain, locally owned and sourced, with good food, and we could be comfortable with the girls. Well Zumbro River Cafe (not TheZumbro.com)fit the bill for us. I had a Mexican omelette (as did my wife), oldest had a quiche and youngest had the strawberry pancakes. The food was great! As was the service. And price was comparable to Perkins. If you get a chance to, go to Zumbro River Cafe. The next time we go, we're gonna ride our bikes, as it's right off the bike path. That will be a fun family ride/dining time.

Fresh strawberry pancakes. 

Mexican omelette. 

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