Yeah Cross Season

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After racing Kruger’s Kermesse last weekend, Cross season started in Seattle at North Seatac with a good turnout. Cyclocross is like the United Nations, or the Justice League, of cycling with roadies, mountain bikers, urban, and track all intermingling and racing each other. We see faces we haven’t seen before, families, and tailgate parties. They all come out to participate in the event for fun or race it seriously.

Concentrate

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The women’s field all looked very determined on this short, steep, descent section. I told Sandrine McFadden she caught the men with her compression socks.

Race Face

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Mahan was there to transition from road to Cross and went into his zone at the starting line.

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Red crank, egg beaters, and ready to race.

North Seatac - Traitor Single Speed

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In our 5th year, we’re remixing the Mobile Social Interbike with:

  • Ignite Bikes — inspired bike talks
  • Mobile Social — ride the Strip

and, of course, our blog-focused event coverage.

Bike Hugger Mobile Social Interbike 2009

Ignite Bikes takes places after the Ready to Ride Fashion Show at 4:30 in the Urban Lounge on Thursday September 23rd. Then Meet outside the Sands Convention Center — the Bike Valet entrance — for the Mobile Social. Ride the Strip with us at 6:30.

Bike Hugger Mobile Social Interbike 2009Post ride we’ve got choices of Gold Sprints at Las Palmas, Here Comes the Corn at the Peppermill, and an after Fashion Show party with Kickstand Mag.

Details

  • Event: Interbike 2010
  • When: September 23, 2010
  • Where: Las Vegas, Nevada
  • Who: Attendees, Industry, Bike Huggers
  • What time: 4:30 for Ignite Bikes and 6:30 for Mobile Social.
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Camper Trailer

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Planning a cross-country bike tour? Considering self-contained with panniers, doing it credit card style at hotels, or this!

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Photo: AP via Daylife, from Caravan Salon fair in Duesseldorf, Germany.

So it’s attached to a electric assist comfort bike and you could cover the top of the camper with solar panels to generate electricty. It’s a Digital Bike Nomad’s hotel at SXSW or a Cargonista’s dream vacation. Even a place to stay warm at a cross race.

Likely influenced by the Kevin Cyr concept from last year.

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Design student Christian Breig wrote to tell us about Adiubik

Biking with clipless pedals increases your effective power up to 40%. No Wonder that bikers like to use this system on their daily rides. But the use of clipless shoes and pedals isn´t comfortable in everyday life. Our lifestyles changes daily we won´t be limited to one pair of shoes with a stiff sole. My Design allows to use every clipless systems with nearly all kind of shoes. The product has been awarded with the eurobike award 2010.

and we’re interested, as users of both clipless pedals and old-school PowerGrips.

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Images: Christian Breig

Rather than take two sets of pedals with me when I travel on business with a bike, I use the Time Z Downhill because I can clip in and also wear it with regular shoes. With Breig’s design, I could take one set of ATACs and clip this into it for the regular shoes. While appreciating Christian’s design, do wonder about how quick you can get your feet out of his adaptor or clip out and step down on the street in a hurry.

You've Got the Look

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You've Got the Look

A look like this only comes after lots of hard work.

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Tommy Bahama Electric Bikes

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It’ll take a Tommy Bahamas to sell an safety-vest orange, upright cruiser with discs and electric assist. Queue Lee Iacocca in a Hawaiian Shirt.

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World Caliber Chainring

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Our Bro Wes just got a 4th at Masters Track Nationals in the Mens 35 - 39 category on this 47 tooth chainring. His coach Jennie Reed loaned the ring to him. She previously used it to win bronze at the World Championships.

Wes also sent us this photo of his 60 MPH warmup, roller speed with that chainring.

60 MPH on the Rollers

How is that possible? A 97.6” drivetrain, spinning over 200 rpm. The sprints in Wes’ race were topping out at 41 MPH, on a 45 degree banked track with 2-3 Gs pushing you down. No wonder the athletes that win at this level are pushing 200 pounds.

Banked Oval

Freight trains.

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The sky was a swirl of fluffy clouds and blue when I opened my eyes. People were talking to me, their silhouettes blocking the light and I was laying in the dirt and I felt awful. I sat up, and immediately regretted it, as the feeling of nausea swept above the pain like storm surge flooding a levee. I was in a farm field, but other than that, the only thing I was sure about was that I wasn’t in Florida….well, pretty sure I wasn’t in Florida. Clattering past my bed of dust and gravel were lycra-clad cyclists and in the distance too. I thought those are bike people…I’m bike people…I think I’m here for the same reason that they are…what was that reason? postcrash.jpg The silhouettes kept a steady interrogation, and I realized that they were asking me if I was all right. After a while I was beginning to think that they might know something that I didn’t, but I told them I was ok. Still they kept asking…asking if I was sure. And I thought well, you got me there.

The clouded sky still seemed obscenely bright…probably because my prized Rudy Project Tayo glasses were broken…and my LAS helmet nearly split in two. Okay, I’ve seen this sort of thing before. This is a bike race; I do these sorts of things. My clothes are ripped, I’m covered in dirt, I’m bleeding, my head’s in a state…I’m pretty sure I crashed, and I think I’m not racing anymore today.

There was a repeated suggestion of a ride to the hospital, and I could only think,”No thank you, I’m poor!” I understood the scenario: I better not say anything freaky, or I’m gonna end up in an ambulance whether I want to or not. Any moment now they are gonna start asking questions, and I better have some answers…..quick!…what day is it?…shit!…I have no idea…I’m not working today…is it Thursday?

Concerned faces were asking me how I got here, and I had to stretch a little to come up with an answer. A snatch of memory leapt to the surface…. a car ride involving frantic GPS usage to get to the race…iPhones and Volvos and bikes on the roof…

“I came with Byron…”

“Byron who?”

“I came with Byron and his wife Pam…”

Apparently that answer was enough to allay their concerns. Later, I would contemplate the concept that a man’s entire identity can be summed up by his choice of spouse, and whether that was a good or bad thing, and for whom….but at the time I was thinking, whew…they bought it. Regardless, I would have had problems articulating other details like where the car was parked, phone numbers, blood type, etc.

As a woman walked me back to the first-aid tent, I began piecing the jigsaw puzzle together. This was Kruger’s Kermesse at Sauvie Island, just a little outside Portland. More or less, Kruger’s could be described as a cyclocross race without any need to dismount. I still believe I would have placed well, had I not crashed. I was picking riders off one by one, though I would have needed to be quite lucky to finish higher than 10th. Somehow I crashed pretty hard on the slight downhill, but I’m not sure how. Several people said I hit a divot in the gravel road, but I don’t think that would have been enough to put me down. After all, the course was full of patches, and I was feeling pretty comfortable with the roughness. Though my bike was mostly unscathed from the crash, my handlebars had rotated down quite a bit; still I cannot verify whether the rotation was cause or collateral to the crash.

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Testing, Testing, 1 2 3

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Elite athletes get tested in the off season so they and other elite athletes can become more elite. Russell is at a lab in Premanon

Home

After the jet lag passed I’ve found the groove in this place. We eat at certain times as a group, all 25+ of us including staff. Each day thus far we have been tested in a lab about 14 miles away. So far it’s one of three tests; CO2 re-breathing (yes, CO2 like what comes out of a car’s tail pipe), VO2 max test, and a 30k Time Trail on a trainer that includes a wind gate test. So far none are super tough although I haven’t done the TT yet. We will do 6 VO tests and 8 TT’s so i’m sure we’l be well drilled soon. Just today some of us get our first of two muscle biopsy’s. I can hear the rumblings in the hall ways right now, not good. Some folks are in serous pain. Some not so much. I get mine tomorrow. Not stoked on that…

I’ve done two Vo2 max tests and both were the hardest thing I’ve ever done. The second one was worse because Nurse Ratchet delivered the test and started texting her nurse homies 1/2 way through it. She ignored my bulged eyes when I glared at her trying to indicate a bonk was imminent. Her attention snapped back to the task at hand, when my eyes rolled back in my head, Undertaker style, and I did my best Linda Blair-exorcist grimace. She finally turned the torturous Vo2 contraption off after I slapped at the phone in her hand. Never went back to that lab, but hope they’ve got new, “no texting while testing rules” in place after my experience.

Even without a disinterested nurse attending you, the test is uncomfortable because the air is dry and seers your lungs. To simulate the test on your commute next week, do this:

  1. Ride as hard as you can on the bike path
  2. Return home
  3. Rush into the bathroom
  4. Turn hair dryer on low
  5. Put the nuzzle it in your mouth and breathe deep until you get dizzy.

You won’t get the numbers to determine how fit you are for the next big Bike to Work effort, but you will better understand that Pro athletes are genetically qualified to go fast. They also suffer far more. This is their day job.

Lab

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Summer Sale 2010

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