Woman hits a 71 year old man with her car, walks

Link

Wired.com on bicycle messengers in the future

link

This is an interesting article about where bicycle messengering may be headed, and there are some pretty good pictures too.

Austin, TX - Church Gap

There's a place in Austin Texas known as "The Church Gap". Scratch that. There was a place in Austin Texas known as "The Church Gap". It's gone now.
Here are a couple videos:

SOLIDSTEEL Johno & the Church Gap from Clint on Vimeo.

Go to BNQT.com for more videos.


And a couple pictures:

Fixation Trailer

Official FIXATION Trailer from Alex Trudeau Viriato on Vimeo.

"Fixation is a true life documentary focusing on the thrilling world of single speed cycling. Shot over the course of 12 weeks, Fixation captures, for the first time, the excitement and popularity of this growing sport from all perspectives. With the resurgence of single speed bikes we are going to discover the appeal to having only one gear. Single speeds are the original form of bicycles but technology has come so far, providing multiple speeds for faster and easier riding, yet single speeds, fixed and freewheel continue to have a strong following. The range of riders is vast, from professionals to the casual everyday rider. Their styles and motives are different but the outcome still seems to be the same, the freedom of one gear, simplicity and the challenge, is what brings them back to the basics.
We will explore the full spectrum of the style: Messengers, Olympic Racing, Commuting, Bike Polo, Brakeless, Freestyle and more.

With each of these categories we will find there personal story but also the experiences behind riding in the specific city. What is it about the simplicity that attracts these people? Are there life’s so hectic that they need to unwind using bikes, or is it merely a form a transportation.
Each city will have its own personality and terrain, changing the style and culture of the rider. Finally we will be joining the entire nationally ranked San Jose Track Team as they perform on their last race of the season at the Hellyer Velodrome. The motives for a track racer and a messenger in San Francisco are going to be vastly different but still pointing to this one form of riding.
Another side of single speed is that of the businesses. We will explore how the uprising or downfall has an affect on small towns and inner city bike shops."

This description was taken directly from their Facebook page. The trailer video looked like this might be a fairly legit movie, but this description has so many errors with commas, using the wrong there, their, or they're, and generally bad editing. It just makes me think that this movie probably wont be any better than the ones that came before it.

Hopcat Alleycat

There is a saying that no news is good news. Not so in the world of bicycle races. I've asked around, but nobody seems to have any info on this race. It may not even happen.

Far be it for me to say anything about withholding/forgetting details about events, but there is no information available. None. Not even a little. So did we lose one of the biggest alleycat races in this area? I couldn't tell you for sure.

Tour de France cafe raid

So apparently the racers would steal beer and wine (and water...sometimes) during the race. Then the shops would bill the race director after the race. Seems odd to me.

Theories about bicycle physics may need to be rewritten

Who will guard the guardians?

Link to the story

Basically, an NYC Police Officer made up a charge because the NYPD is "cracking down on outlaw cyclists". In other words: police officers are abusing their power. Not really news.

Triple Rush Premieres Tonight on The Travel Channel

Triple Rush - Extended Trailer from Triple Rush on Vimeo.

I don't have the travel channel, but I'll try to find it online.

This is what bike messengers are for

New Sponsor Link

I should have added this a while ago but it totally slipped my mind. Dan's Bike Shop has a new(ish) website. You can see a pretty complete listing of the available used bikes, events, and general information about the shop - including shop hours and phone number.

I had a post about the new site a while ago, but only now added it to the link/sponsor list. Go check it out!

Monopoly Alleycat Results

The new format seemed to work pretty well. There were 8 checkpoints, but it was possible to finish with only 6. Gary was the only person who had to hit 9 to finish. With this format you could come up with a really great route and hit all the checkpoints, but someone could beat you by hitting one less checkpoint and getting really lucky with the dice.

If I use this format again I'll do it with a couple more checkpoints. This will really magnify the effects of the unique strategy of this format. 10 checkpoint would be perfect.

Unfortunately I forgot my camera, so there are no photos this time around. It's only the results that most people care about anyway. So without further distraction, the results:

1st - Josh Rockhold - 8 checkpoints
2nd - Gary Ferguson - 9 checkpoints
3rd - Tony Hotrust - 8 checkpoints
4th - Rich Miller - 5 checkpoints + 3 checkpoints
5th - Paul Downing - 8 checkpoints
DNF - Guy Buckingham - 5 checkpoints

Rich was the first back to the start. He turned in 5 checkpoints, and got 3/4 of the way around the board. Guy returned next. He turned in 5 checkpoints. Then Gary came in with 8 checkpoints and ended up two spaces from finishing. Josh turned in 8 and won the game. Gary had to go repeat one checkpoint to finish. Tony came in with 8 checkpoints. Rich was just behind Tony with 3 more checkpoints. Paul came in with 8 checkpoints.

After the race, Gary/Dan's Bike Shop fed everybody with chips, salsa, guacamole, rice, cookies, puppy chow, apples and beer. Not a bad way to end a race.

Thanks to everybody for coming to the race. Thanks to Gary and Dan's Bike Shop for feeding everybody and for being the start, finish, and hangout for this race.

details. details.

Man, you forget one little detail and everybody freaks out. I mean, how was I to know that people might need to know when the race starts? Or what city it's in? Or where it starts? So here it is. Nice, clean, and all in one space:

Saturday, April 9th, 2011
Dan's Bike Shop
350 W. Main, Ionia, MI
4 PM

...and again...in bold:

Saturday, April 9th, 2011
Dan's Bike Shop
350 W. Main, Ionia, MI
4 PM

and on a picture:

Nearly 260 rpm

That's fast.

Squid putting on Velo City races in Michigan

Velo City is an introductory velodrome racing series put on by world famous nyc bike messenger Squid. The series will make 3 (THREE!) stops in Michigan:

April 30, 2011
Dorais Park Velodrome
Mound Road and Outer Drive
Detroit, MI.
9:00 AM to dusk
Rain date: April 31st

June 12, 2011
Gilmore Car Museum
Kalamazoo, MI.
9:00 AM.to Dusk
Rain or shine

September 10, 2011
Dorais Park Velodrome
Mound Road and Outer Drive
Detroit, MI.
9:00 AM. to dusk
Rain date: September 11th

Now, last I knew, the Dorais velodrome is only a velodrome in that it was once paved, was once banked, and was once used by bicycles. There's a group in Detroit trying to restore it, and these events will help them raise money to do it. If you've never riden on the banked board, this is a good place to give it a try. The banking is low enough that you can ride just about any bike on it.

Linkage:
Velo City Tour
Michigan Events

I'm back!

So I hopped the pond and spent three weeks in Europe. Now I'm back and we've got some racing going on. This coming Saturday, the 9th of April, will be the monopoly alleycat. This ones for bragging rights, so done expect any prizes. Next weekend is the Yankee Springs Time Trail at Gun Lake. I know it isn't really the type of race that this blog deals with, but I'll be there and probably racing.

I just checked the weather for Ionia on Saturday. Looks like there is a chance of thunderstorms, but warmer temperatures. This is going to be a blast!