nikcee's blog

Burnaby Velodrome will be holding a SIX Day race from Jan 2- Jan 7. This race is open to all riders. The Elite Madison division will be one of the best fields of riders assembled the North America in recent years.

Racing
For any of you riders planning on doing the Burnaby 6 Day races you will need to have a 2007 Race licence. Those from BC can do this on-line now at Karelo.com and there is a discount if done before Dec 16. US or other international racers will need to have UCI Licence for 2007. Only Canadian racers will be eligible for one event membership under new rules from our governing body so as stated above you will need to have a 2007 Licence.

Very interesting article about how they come up with velodrome designs...

Some great quotes in it as well...
"Football is considered a great game. And kicking, passing, catching, blocking are all part of the game. If football was like track cycling they would line up the quarterbacks and award a medal to who could throw the best (like sprinters) and then line up the kickers and give an award to kicker who kicked the farthest (like pursuiters) and then line up the runners and blockers and give an award to the best (like a team pursuit).

From the largely amusing Surly bikes blog

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Fat Squirrel Season

Everybody knows that squirrels store nuts for the winter. They store them in the ground, probably up in trees and they eat them to get a nice fat belly for the winter. But what I notice most about squirrels this time of year is that they are particularly slow, sluggish, indecisive, unpredictable and psycho.

Case in point, I'm riding my bike in a quiet residential neighborhood this morning (with a 100+ pound trailer in tow) and I see a squirrel walking her dog. She's stopped on the corner of an uncontrolled intersection while the leashed dog sniffs around. From a distance, I ring my bell to get her attention and we make positive eye contact. Knowing it's fat squirrel season, I have my fingers on the brake levers as I approach. About 12 feet before I enter the crosswalk, the squirrel decides that her and the dog are going to test their right of way across the street. I skid the rear wheel and start drifting sideways, just barely missing squirrel and pooch. You know when you're skidding and all you can think of is "did that squirrel want to commit suicide?" but you're glad you have brakes and skills to spare it's life.

So there has been a bunch of discussion on recent rides about bike bling... colour matching and various ways of making your ride that 'little bit more special'... Well after I stumbled on something interesting I thought I'd compile a list of gold bling bikes/bike parts...

It should be noted that I am actually not a fan of gold parts... but it seems like the endpoint of showing off bling (outside of diamond tipped cogs/chainrings... which i haven't seen yet).

The fork legs are 3/4 length GOLD plated, with real gold, NOT gold paint. This was a feature on a limited number of Brian Hayes A.I.S. Track Team frames, to commemorate the Australian Team winning gold on the Track at the Olympic Games. From here...

I created a forum thread for any fixed bikes, fixed friendly frames or related gear...here

Feel free to add to it... comment on it, share it... I have enough bikes (for now) but I know there are others out there who are still hunting.

So I'm sitting here over a month after this race thinking 'Is this even worth it?' but you know I have to have something to show my kids when I get old so if peole are even still using the internet then I'll point them to this post and say... 'Here... I did that, or at least I put that race on!'

The background:

I have had the chance to participate in a few alleycats here and found myself eagerly looking forward to the next one as summer began. I feverishly read stoires of races in other towns, laughed at ridiculous themes, gasped at amazing feats of cycling strength and skill... but where was my chance to test my hard-earned street knowledge?