Report from the Field

Europe is pretty great, but so far I'm glad I was born in The States. We American's are truly lucky. It's pretty crazy how rich even Michigan is. Especially during these rough economic times. It really shows up in grocery stores. We have so many more choices, and our stores are so much nicer. It's wild.

So many more people use bicycles for transportation, and that is really cool. Most of the bikes are pretty utilitarian, but I've seen a couple $5,000+ road bikes too. There are several different types of bike lanes, and the bike lanes have their own street lights that turn green a few seconds before the car lights. There are also a TON of unmarked intersections. I can't figure out who is supposed to have the right of way, and I'm not sure anyone else knows either. You just kinda go and hope for the best.

We're heading to Paris this weekend. I'm excited about that, but I'm also starting to get excited about coming home, sleeping in my own bed, seeing my dog, and putting on this next alleycat race. Hopefully you're excited too.

Monster Track XII

MonsterTrack XII from BODABODANYC on Vimeo.

I love alleycats!

Adiós

I'll see you all when I get back. I'll be the worldly guy who's already done everything you've always wanted to do. (Somebody's excited!)

some changes

I changed the way the blog looks a little. Hope you like it.

Cycling Style Etiquette

If you can't ride good, look good...euro style.

linkage

The New Yorker's John Cassidy: Owned

The link

John Cassidy has taken a position on bike lanes that many cyclists will disagree with. Now I'm not sure if the writer for The Economist is a cyclist or not, but it's a pretty good argument either way.

Here is the link to Mr. Cassidy's New Yorker article.

Shop Website

Dan's Bike Shop has a new website. Go check it out, and then stop by the shop and tell Gary what you think of it.

Beast Lansing

One of the guys who showed up for this year's Snowcat has a new blog called Beast Lansing. He's covering the local polo, fixed and urban riding, and general goings on. I'll be watching for info on Lansing alleycats.

Upcoming Events

I'm going to be off the map (and on another one) from March 15th to April 5th, but I'm all set to do the Monopoly Alleycat as soon as I'm back. I have everything in a file and ready to be printed. I may even get the printing done before I leave. April 9th seems like a really nice date to me.

Here's what I can tell you:
I'm going to be trying a new format for this race. Each racer will have a piece on the monopoly game board. At the checkpoints, the racers will collect tabs with a code on them. The codes match up to a decoder sheet with dice rolls on it. The first racer to get his or her piece around the game board wins.

There will be 8 checkpoints spread around Ionia. Each checkpoint has a unique set of codes designated by a letter. If you happen to be unlucky, and can't get your game piece around the board in 8 moves, you can repeat checkpoints. You must have completed checkpoints A-H before you can start over, and when repeating you may only go to each individual checkpoint once.

Hopefully nobody will need to do 16 checkpoints...but that would be pretty hilarious.

There wont be any prizes for this race. With me being gone, I just don't have time to send out all the emails and deal with all the sponsors properly.

So that's what's up. Get excited. Spring is almost here!