Bike Hugger 

Back in the day, Gingerbread men paid attention to the road and heard someone yell, “RIDER BACK.”

Now it’s all about them.

Our mobile readers may have already noticed that we started serving RWD images today like these of a Redline SSCX in the mist at Sea Otter.

Front

The images are widescreen and will fill the screen of your phone or tablet in portrait or landscape mode. To see it on your desktop, click through to the mobile version.

Downtube

RWD is the web designer/dev de rigeuor and for those into that, read more about what we’re doing in a G+ post. Everyone else, please just enjoy the images formatted for your device and our commitment to content. After we get our mobile site how we like it, a rev is coming to the desktop that’s focused on being more readable.

Oh and that’s a custom spec Redline. I’ll race on it this Fall when Cross season starts.

The film spins a visual ballad between the two cyclists experiencing the city in their own unique ways. Both cyclists are city dwellers who amidst the chaos of the concrete jungle have created a private and peaceful psychological space as they traverse the streets. They are both alone and yet they are both very much aware of each others presence. The film speaks to the harmony with one’s environment that can be found while riding a bicycle in a city and the synchronistic connection we can have with those we have not even met.

Built at NXNEi 12 poster

A poster announcing our trip to Toronto and the next stop for Built. See you there. We’re talking about the web, making things, the bike, and riding all over.

If you’re there too and got something you want to share, we’re still accepting talks.

Thanks to Dahn for the artwork.

A street person asleep in the bike lane under 99, along the Seattle waterfront

Seen many street people in my rides, but one asleep in the middle of the lane was different. Like a human sharrow.

A risk analyst likely has a formula to determine the rate of failures based on amount of bikes ridden and for how long – we’ve got a fleet of bikes at Hugga HQ and ride them almost daily.

What I know is after two ride-stopping failures in a week, I’m even more diligent about checking my equipment before a ride. Like a pilot of a plane; especially when I’m heading out for a long ride or race. Both of these failures are unusual, but they happen. In the past year, I’ve been in two races where I rode through the shrapnel of an exploded tire.

First a fork cracked at the tip.

Crack starts middle of the fork at the tip

Maybe it was from stresses induced by the roof-top rack or something else happened either when riding it or when it was manufactured. Heard it snap and carbon makes a very distinctive crackling sound when it goes.

Then this tire sidewall ripped apart. Never seen that happen before.

Did a snake bite that?

We were just riding along and POP! That fork is out of warranty and Reynolds doesn’t make them anymore. I’ve shared the tire photo with the manufacture and remembered the “tubeless incident” from last year.

Seems like some investors noticed too how car companies we’re selling bikes and attached an infamous car brand to a bike, in this instance DeLorean. I didn’t see 1.21 gigawatts mentioned anywhere in the marketing copy, but they are road bikes with hydraulic disc brakes. With the 11-speed, electronic shifting, and the right training, you can probably hit 88 miles and hour.

Aside from the name, the story here is stainless steel from Sarto. Not an easy material to work with and probably 1/2 the cost of that build in Italian labor and $5,500.00 price tag.

Note: a bike like this, or an over-the-top Cross bike, a good local builder can make you.

The DeLoreans were shown earlier this year at NAHBS. If these sell, maybe another investor group could make a Tucker bike that was a cruiser shaped like a torpedo and had a crazy, directional headlamp on it.

Mayor McGinn and a yellow vest guy

Rode with the Mayor of Seattle to celebrate Bike to Work Day this morning. Got out a bit late for the 7:45 AM meet time, so TT’d over on the Soma Tradesmen.

Strava this workout!

At each commuter station, asked the attendants to just toss the schwag in the buckets.

A well-traveled bag

Then at City Hall we heard speeches and met other commuters like these two with bike style.

Outrageously photogenic couple

Hung out with the Cascade crew and they unveiled their new Eco-Totem.

Mr. Cascade

After coffee with SeaBikeBlog, introduced myself to Neodandi (though not dressed for it), rode back, and saw the Trippy Space Van.

Fashion in Pioneer Square

Also a cyclist with a Travoy Trailer.

See the rest of the photos light boxed on G+ or Flickr.

On left/right

Spotted this LED turn signal prototype on a bike in a rack yesterday. It’s for bicycle running and turn signals.

Both on or left/right

People don’t understand how much work it takes for a sprinter to get close enough and actually have a shot at the win. – Creed the Water Carrier

Lot of this, riding along looking at each other

People don’t understand what the sport takes, besides those ingrained in it, cause the sport is so poorly shown and managed these days. We’ve reached the epoch of boring, when we’re profiling the domestiques. It’s so predictable and played out, the last minute is all I’m watching of the Giro and the ATOC.

Just Tell Me Who Won and is Winning

There was a time, when there was a media drought and we’d lap up any cycling coverage. Now by the power of the Internets, we’ve got streams, live Twitter coverage, with countless blogs, sites, and coverage; including dedicated work like the quote above from Podium Insight.

More like this

Photo: amgentourofcalifornia

Post Lance we’re back to hour-long recaps that are more likely to get pre-empted by bull riding or an ESPN wannabe news hour. Watching the stage last night, Phil and Paul have either lost it or are calling it like Big Time Wrestling with an entirely scripted narrative. Zabriskie and his nuts are so bored, he did a little attack. While Paul bellowed about how Dave could win and Phil scrambled to put the words together, they cut to the rearward facing camera and you can see the peloton reacting. Dave wasn’t going to win, didn’t think he was, and he’s done that move since he was a junior; including at every ATOC he’s raced in.

So before this gets int a bitter old dude, snarking the sport, let me say that I love racing and the bike so much, I publish independent media about it. I’ve also spent decades racing.

In person, at the local level, the sport is a wonderful and engaging as ever; especially Cross because of the crowds. I’m sure the cities that the Tour rolls through are thrilled.

It’s on TV where we’ve got a problem and I blame the directors and management. Race radios and specialists like Cavs. How tightly Vaughters wears his argyle socks is more interesting than Zabriskie going up the road or Creed carrying water bottles.

Seriously, there’s more action at a Charity Fondo than the ATOC.

Faced with declining viewership or TV time, other sports would convene to figure out what to do, like a shot clock, to reengage or make it compelling. What cycling does, is just plod along, never the master of its own destiny and hoping for a savior like Lance. Also that their house of cards built out of lies doesn’t come crashing down from another set of subpoenas.