The Lululemon Mansy

More like Southend-THROUGH-Sea!

In true bank holiday fashion, it's pissed down all weekend. Noah is out looking for wood as I type. I managed to get a few dry laps of Richmond Park in on Saturday before getting soggy and doing some damage to my back. I finally fitted the 135g Selle Italia SLR saddle that's been in the cupboard for 18 months and I'm guessing the position change and too much effort up the hills messed up the old spine.

This is footage of the inaugural Surrey Critical Mass. The ride even got the support of transportation minister Kevin Falcon, chief promoter of the Gateway Project. Surrey is very much a city built around the car, which might explain why there was such a warm response to the unusual sight of 50 plus noisy cyclists riding through the rain. However, there was an incident, involving a dump truck and several cars in a very big hurry.

I use to think that spandie boys in their team kits, matching bikes, and shaved legs were the hottest things around. I'll admit I still really like the shaved leg thing but these fixie boys are something else. No attitude and so many fun times. Their epic rides in the middle of the night in street clothes with beers as hydration just can't be beat. I thought i had good bike handling skills after years of riding on the road and track but never imagined what these fixies could do. No handed track stands and skids.... how can you not get turned on by that? Everyone knows gear inches and has pimped out their bikes in one way or another.

cyborg

noun
a fictional or hypothetical person whose physical abilities are extended beyond normal human limitations by mechanical elements built into the body.

We have all grown up watching movies that have sci-fi cyborgs. You know those crazy half-man, half-machine characters sporting all sorts of amazing abilities due to the extra hardware added to them. At some point many of us dreamed of being one. Guess what? They’re already here, they’re called a cyclists.

I have seen people do some absolutely amazing things on bicycles, from the track racing pushing 70 km/hr in a sprint, to the single speed nuts doing solo 24hour races, to the city fixed gear riders doing no handed skids and backward circles. All are doing very different things, but all of them are doing things that they would not be able to do otherwise.

Perhaps this is why people often have such strong relationships with their bikes. These relationships run all over the board about it being an extension of their physical selves, about it being a lifestyle versus an activity. I mean how many sports do you know about where people name their equipment? Not many.

While these thoughts are all fine and dandy over a bottle of wine or a discount six pack (choose your poison) I wanted to talk to you about a subject that is near and dear to my heart, bicycle fit. Whether you like it or not how well your bicycle fits has a huge impact on not only your enjoyment but your performance as well.

As I got into frame building, I also got into bicycle fitting. I believe to be a good frame buider you have to understand the relationship the rider has with the frame. Specifically, how the rider moves with respect to the frame and how the frame moves with respect to the rider.

Do “we” really need to have a 3d, static position and dynamic movements documented for proper bike fit?

the shit that is suppost to be on the left is always covering up what I am doing on the web site

I don't understand.

Wyatt, Tim

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).

So I set out to make the craziest looking chopper wheel I could imagine. I had a bunch of parts laying around and decided to try and make them work together.

Materials used:

• Alex MX22 single walled 20" rim, 48H, black
• Old Shimano Freewheel hub, low flange, 36H
• 36x 184mm Wheelsmith stainless spokes,
• 36x 14g nipples
• 12x punk rock spikes

Since I was attempting to lace a 36H hub to a 48H rim, I needed to skip some holes in the rim.
To make it really stand out, I determined that a 3Leading/3Trailing configuration would go well with the missing holes.

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.