Some of the best bicycles that roll out the door of any bike shop are not the ones you see reviewed in magazines, or linked between many of the velo blogs. They are the bikes that bring people(and whatever else you can fit on them, or on you while riding them) to their destination in a healthy, environmentally conscious, sometimes quicker, less stressful.........the list goes on..... way. More importantly(at least to me), these bikes give people a better understanding of their environment and perhaps along the way a better understanding of themselves and those around them. Obviously the whole peace and love via biking thing could be a stretch and is certainly a bit nauseating at times. Sill while few would call me the optimist I imagine some sense of solidarity with my fellow cyclist and have made many fast friends, a few worthy rivalries, and only the occasional nemesis.

If a bike is to do any of this, the least it must do is work. If it is even possible for a bike to do all of this, then it must be a bicycle that you want to ride. Obviously the bike we all want to ride is different from person to person, and sometimes different from day to day(me thinking about the next project before the current one even has wheels on it). Whether the thing you need and let us not importantly forget want... be brightly collered parts that you don't need but definitely want, or a front rack that you need to bring home groceries(and a 6...make it 12 pack), a custom built frame, or even despite our namesake a brake, we not only make it our business to hunt the parts down and put it together, well we also enjoy it.

Alyson's bike is a prime example. And the rickshaw I am still working on is another but I don't even have a picture of it.



What started out as a "art bike" from sopo that was the bike that Alyson wanted to ride, soon made it to our doors in the form of a frame and a fork and some other parts haphazardly assembled to it.
The fork steer tube was and still is too short, the bb needed retapping, the rear triangle was and still is bent, her original headset was missing the bottom bearings which was the only way for the "artist" or "mechanic" to cover up the real problem that the fork was too short, the quill of the quill stem was dysfunctional......at the begining and the middle and the end it was apparent that a new bike could and would have been cheaper, which is either the testament or the fallacy of french threaded peugoets and conversions everywhere.
Either way she is riding the bike she wanted to ride.

Procrastination post naccc's

It's been more than a few months since we went to chicago for NACCC's and I finally have pictures up so an article can now follow.


Erin, Bobby, Mariana, Kyle and I loaded all of the bikes and gear up into the van and got on our way to Chicago. On the way up we saw this awesome picture inside a Pilot truckstop above the beverage coolers of some arctic track bike pilot jersey wearing rider with a future helmet.




After many hours we reached our destination and proceeded to fill our faces with Chicago's fine food, this didn't stop for the remainder of our stay. Bloody Mary's, Pizza, Open Faced Deli Sandwiches, Way too spicy Burritos, lots of good stuff. Sadly we didn't get to try this awesome cake that looked like a hamburger

Registration was held at possibly the worlds weirdest sports bar downtownish. And we soon recieved our registration numbers, this year printed on cordura type fabric so as to last longer and look better pinned to a messenger bag. This was my bag/number.

We passed out that night after beers all around town on the bike and then back at our abode. We woke up early for quallifiers. Bobby and Kyle didn't know quite what was in store but I had given them some idea. I believe Kyle and I started on the same heat and Bobby on the one after so we were all out on the course at some point together.

This was my third Naccc's so I had tried to inform my "teammates" with as much of the previous knowledge I had gleaned from the previous events so that they wouldn't be stuck wondering what to do in the middle of the course once they were handed their manifests. The intricacies of the manifest, being able to drop in any order but having to pick up in order, no going backwards, being polite so as to get through checkpoints quicker(not something everyone learns their first lap around the course), stops having both a name and a number(such as a business having both an address and a business name), carrying those fed ex tubes in your mouth if it comes down to it, being ready for any type of ridiculous situation at checkpoints, and all of the other usual little quirks that the NACCC's entail.

The first deviation from my past experience was that this was in reality a cyclocross course. Calling it anything else really doesn't do it justice. This is not a negative thing, but just a fact. Sure there were paved sections, but there were also wood chips, bariers, dismounting, grass, gravel, roots, drop offs, and sand. The two flats I had that day were both a result of wood chips going straight through my tire. So while wishing we had brought some knobbies with us we set off. Kyle and I racing on the second or third heat of ten riders, and Bobby racing in the next behind us.

The "Team"

The second change was one we encountered half way through the race. In years previous you were judged on your best of two shots at a qualifying manifest. Ex. complete manifest one. Rest. Decide if you wish to better your time. And then potentially go again. Half way through the first manifest(which I and many others assumed to be my last) I heard wispers that we were going to have to do two in a row to qualify. This was unbelieveable to me in my state of exhaustion, but in fact turned out to be true. This double manifest situation was the result in Bobby looking like this.

Exhausted Bobby.

Which isn't to say that I wasn't exhausted.

I ended up having alot of fun on the course. Despite it's physical and temporal challenges I accomplished what I had set out to do as my personal pass fail requirements by qualifying under everyone from Atlanta but not qualifying. In this our party was lucky as we were spared the pain of having to get up the next day and race again, and we all took the opportunity to see the amazing sights of Chicago on our last day during the main race.

Erin and I cute and touristy!

They had alot of cool parks and they are making a bid for the olympics. I hope they make it , and I hope we can make it back.