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[16 Nov 2009|12:39am] |
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"Bikes! Little fold-away bikes! Don't weigh a thing!"
- Dr. Who on Mars base transport
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[13 Nov 2009|10:13pm] |
Hey Twin Cities pirates! last minute announcement of awesomeness! We the bikers of Macalester College, in accordance with St. Thomas's BEAST, are holding an alleycat race tomorrow afternoon! Come join us! Any extra proceeds go to Sibley Bike Depot
Here's the facebook event, and the description from said facebook page:
MacBike and B.E.A.S.T. Present:
Outerspace Alleycat Bike Race. Wow. If you like space, maps, bikes, scavenger hunts on wheels, weird games, and have a competitive yet free spirit then you are invited to this unconventional bike race. Arrive on Bateman with a friend (it's fun to have a partner!) and we'll give you a map and our secret locations which you will have to get to and perform the wild tasks we have come up with. They're awesome. We have some very excellent prizes for winners that may tempt you to delay returning home and instead party with us at the after party later in the evening (Dayton and Fry, time to be decided). Please bring $5 and DRESS to IMPRESS your fellow OUTER SPACE friends. You must dress up to participate.
Free soup following the ride.
After Party = 10:30pm 1630 Dayton. Your spoke card is your ticket to a drank. If you like bikes but can't race, you're still welcome -- $2 cups. This is a fundraiser for Sibley Bike Depot!
(Bateman Plaza is the plaza in front of the Macalester campus center, at approximately 1600 Grand Ave. in St. Paul, and lift off is scheduled for 2:15pm. Also, I highly doubt you'll be turned away if you really want to join in but don't have a space suit handy.)
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| Rain pants |
[13 Nov 2009|06:07pm] |
I need a good pair of rain pants for commuting and general city riding. They must be a bit breathable and not too tight so they can fit over my pants, and not crazy expensive. I have also read some reviews with people complaining about length for women's pants, so even though I'm not that tall (5'4"ish) I still want to be sure the length is good.
SO what are your favourite brands?? Bonus points if you're from Canada and can comment on the rain pants at MEC.
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| USGP cyclocross |
[13 Nov 2009|09:09am] |
anyone racing USGP cyclocross this weekend? im racing sunday in the C men's, that STARTS at 8am, have to get up super early and only for 30 minutes of racing but hopefully it'll be a good course this year.
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| Purchasing a New Bike |
[13 Nov 2009|03:15am] |
Hello all.
I recently posted how my bike had been stolen. I have written it off as a lost cause.
It lived a good life and served me well. Now, it's time to move on and get a new bike. This prospect excites me and I'd like some advice on the matter to whosoever has the time.
Right off the bat; I'm not into fixies. Nothing personal. I'm (very slowly) building up a single speed, so I think practicality urges me to get a 10-speed. I've only ever bought used bikes before. I think it's time to try and own something new/shiny. I only have about $500 to throw around at the moment, and while a Bianchi would be great, well, it's entirely probable that it's out of my spending range.
What are my options?
NOTEL If anyone in the greater Boston area know any good leads/are selling a reasonable, sturdy bicycles, I'm not totally adverse to buying used.
So, get back to me. Thanks!
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| Sweet video |
[12 Nov 2009|02:53pm] |
Some random punk at the health food store dropped this album on my coworker. I likes.
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| Bike chain wall clock |
[11 Nov 2009|05:38pm] |
"one of our favorite wall clocks, the catena wall clock harkens back to traditional mechanical clocks. copper digits mounted onto a bicycle chain place emphasis on the cyclical nature of time. this clock is a striking clock, literally and figuratively."
Too bad I don't have a spare 2 grand lying around.
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| Dear fellow pirates |
[11 Nov 2009|03:38pm] |
I'm cleaning out the garage and came upon these, Shimano SPDs I think they saw little used for a year then i sold my mountain bike and went road 100% anybody want them, I'm thinking 20$? i may put more stuff up depending on what i find.
( Read more... )
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| base training |
[11 Nov 2009|02:49pm] |
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Does anyone have any suggestions for books/websites on base training? In a couple weeks I want to start some sort of a training plan for myself in preparation for the 2010 Collegiate road season and I'd like to get more specific advice other than to ride my bike a lot. Thanks :)
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| Base training |
[11 Nov 2009|02:46pm] |
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Does anyone have any suggestions for books/websites on base training? In a couple weeks I want to start some sort of a training plan for myself in preparation for the 2010 Collegiate road season and I'd like to get more specific advice other than to ride my bike a lot. Thanks :)
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| Racing 101 |
[10 Nov 2009|10:39pm] |
Can anyone suggest a good book/guide/website to help with criterium-specific tactics and training?
It's very likely at this point that I'm going to have to continue to coach myself instead of obtaining the services of a cycling coach..
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| Gunned down in Broad Ripple |
[10 Nov 2009|03:54am] |
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mood |
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determined |
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music |
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Soul Control - Cycles |
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I was hanging out in Broad Ripple with a bunch of kids the night before Halloween. Around 3:45 am, I was bored and decided to walk my costume to my car. Normally I'd be parked in the Jimmy Johns lot, but it was super packed, therefore I parked a block away.
I dropped my costume off, put a hoodie on, and started walking back towards JJs. This is when shit went down. Four guys were walking towards me on the sidewalk clowning around and being silly. I thought nothing of it. Then all of a sudden two of them approached me. One of them said, “Empty your pockets bro.” I said "Are you serious?" as it was Halloween and I thought they were joking. Then the other hit me in the back of the head. I turned around and looked at him and said “Seriously?” And then the other guy pointed a gun at me.
I looked at the gun; it looked fake. I didn't think anything of it and said, "Get that toy out of my face, I'm out of here." I started to walk towards Jimmy Johns. Then I heard him say, "Forget this, I've got him," and heard the bang. I felt pain in my side immediately. It knocked the wind out of me. Then I saw blood on my hands.
I grabbed my side and then the guys bolted. I wisely called 911 quickly and cops showed up within five minutes, EMT in seven. I gave them all of my information and then they loaded me into the ambulance. They rushed me to Methodist Hospital. I was in the emergency room answering a barrage of questions from doctors, police, and nurses. Then they put me under so they could work on my chest to try and find the bullet and make sure there was no major organ damage.
I woke up about two hours later. They moved me into a room where they could monitor me continuously. After surgery I had a tube in my chest to drain blood and fluid, a tube in my nose to drain fluid from my stomach, three different iv's: right arm, left arm, jugular in my neck, and a bandage from my sternum to my belt line covering an incision that took 24 staples to close. I started on IV fluids and had a morphine drip for pain, although I only used it 3 times.
Saturday was rough. I couldn't really talk due to being severely dehydrated. Eventually they let me chew on ice and rinse my mouth out. Sunday I got moved into a different room after they took the nasal-gastro tube out and allowed me to drink water. They switched me to a clear liquid diet next, and removed my IV fluids once I could keep that down. Eventually that changed to all liquids and then to solid foods. One by one my life support systems came off. By the last day I just had one IV for my medication and a blood oxygen monitor.
Honestly, I'm not even upset about this whole ordeal. I'm not looking forward to paying bills for this, as I do not have insurance. I'll do whatever I need to take care of it and I have faith that I will figure something out. I have created a Paypal button if anyone cares to donate, I would greatly appreciate anything.
I'm happy to have the friends I have. My deepest thanks go out first and foremost to my parents Bruce Urban and Cindy Critchlow and my roommates Charles, Kevin and Jo. Charles was there when I needed someone right away with my parents being 2 hours away. Thanks to my parents for taking care of me while I was stuck in the hospital and after. Thanks also to everyone who visited and sent me things: Adam Riley, Jim Barron, Russian Mike, xRyanx, Barret, Steve, Owen, Scott Thomas, Josh and Robyn, Kurt, Danielle, Matt Gorman, Chris Kellar, Alex Latus, Doug Gigowski, Chad Horsey, Alison C, Liz W, Erica W, Shea and Tori, The Coreman Condo, Eric, Matt, Scott; My co-workers from JJs: Evan, Claire, Lance, Brent, Ginny, Brandon; Hot Box Pizza: Kyle, Turkish, Nikki; and last but certainly not least Christina Cooper for being here every day by my side.
Moral of the story, don't stand up to muggers unless you can take a bullet. My PMA is still alive.
Brad
Hanging out in the hospital.
24 stitches, hole from my chest tube, and then the bullet hole is above the chest tube hole.
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| brake levers/hoods for single speed |
[09 Nov 2009|11:37am] |
I recently got a kona paddy wagon
http://www.konaworld.com/09/09_paddywagon_en.cfm
it absolutely rocks and I love it except for the break levers
and I'm not riding it fixed gear yet so they matter :P
so, to adjust the positioning of the break lever on the handlebar (or to tighten it so it didn't slide a bit which mine did when I got it) the screw is located behine the lever so you push out a little piece and the lever flips out forward and you can access the screw
unfortunately this little piece is just a straight little metal cylinder which will happily slide from side to side and work itself out
the right one did this and successfully lost itself somewhere when I was riding yesterday (knowing roughly where it is give or take a block in autumn with leaves everywhere was sooo not helpful)
cut up a wire coat hanger and put it through the empty hole (and bent into O ring so it wouldn't lose itself) but it's not wide enough so there's too much space so the break lever is fine from the hoods but a bit of a stretch to reach from the drops...
so anyway, I was wondering if anyone had any brilliant suggestions for fixing this better or recommendations for great break levers/hoods for a single speed that aren't designed so crappily?
or maybe the world is just trying to tell me to ride fixed gear and not use breaks?
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| spring mountain cyclocross |
[09 Nov 2009|10:51am] |
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mood |
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sore |
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music |
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pinhead gunpowder |
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november 8th, 2009 spring mountain cyclocross, schwenksville, PA C men, 53rd out of 75ish and wearing my new skinsuit that shows off all my sexy curves(sarcasm) haha good race, kinda muddy but a lot of fun. next up is USGP in mercer county NJ.
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[08 Nov 2009|02:25pm] |
simple question:
whats the best, dankest, dopest, killer pair of slim not bulky gloves for winter riding?
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[08 Nov 2009|02:17pm] |
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music |
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Rainer Maria - Life of Leisure |
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Hey everyone!
I'm doing my first single speed build and I wanted to get some opinions on decent parts to get. It's almost don, but I still need a wheelset and tires.
Anyone have any reccomendations for a soild wheelset set-up? I've been digging around the internet but I haven't found anything yet.
I've been thinking about possibly going with a flip flop hub, so if you have any good reccomendation for those, I'll take 'em. I'll also take any tips that'll make assembly a little easier. :)
Thanks, guys!
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| 3 Things I've Learned |
[05 Nov 2009|02:54pm] |
I've been doing a lot of wrenching and riding this last week and have discovered a few things.
1. Fixed off-road is friggin' awesome.
I went riding with Topanga Creek Bicycles on Sunday morning on an easy-paced 20-mile ramble along the nearby fire roads of Topanga Canyon and Dirt Mulholland. There was nothing really technical, but a fair amount of climbing. I had mentioned putting together a fixed cross bike before using a dingle cog. Well, I finally got that bike together and this was its maiden dirt voyage. The bike climbs like a champ. Like a serious mountain goat. So awesome. This was countered, however, by my perhaps over-cautious downhill descents. I was running slicks so I didn't want to wipe out, and yet while I came close a few times I was able to recover thanks to the feedback from the fixed wheel.
Also, it was an absolutely gorgeous day. I needed that ride if only to get out of the city for a little while. Here's a crappy iPhone pic. Forgot to bring a real camera.
2. You can remove a front derailleur without breaking the chain.
How did I not discover this until now? The mechanism is so obvious. As a result of this newly acquired knowledge, I spent last night moving derailleurs around between bikes testing different crank/derailleur combinations. It's something I'd been meaning to do but put off because I thought it was going to be too much trouble.
3. Hooray for downtube shifters!
I had always been more of a bar-end shifter kind of guy, but liked the look of downtube shifters for their simplicity and elegance. Well, the indexing on my bar-end shifters for my main ride had been feeling funny as of late. I think it's because I had been running my cable housing underneath my entire handlebar length instead of having the cables come out the front as usual. The extra housing length and bends were probably causing too much friction. At any rate, I had a pair of Suntour downtube friction shifters sitting in my parts box so rather than fiddle with the bar-ends I put those on. So pretty. So simple. So pleasant. I'm still a fan of my bar-ends. I'm saving them for one of my next bicycle projects - putting dirt drop handlebars on my mountain bike.
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| how do you keep your ears warm? |
[05 Nov 2009|03:22pm] |
hi all!
I'm working on trying to figure out how best to keep warm when riding a bike outside in the winter... do you all have recommendedations re: what to wear to keep head/ears warm that's compatible with a bike helmet?
thanks!
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