August 31, 2012
August 30, 2012
August 29, 2012
Transient Bags Belt Pack
The other day some friends from Baltimore were kind enough to lay this sweet little belt pack from Transient Bag Co. on me.
It's handmade in Charm City, threads through your belt, and is perfect for the small essentials like a wallet and phone. The retail price is $40.
check out their website here
August 28, 2012
ACC Bandit Cross Photos by Kelly Mac Vol 2.
As promised, here's the second installment, of Kelly's amazing Bandit Cross photos
Cross Wizard!
See all of Kelly's photos here.
ACC Bandit Cross Photos by Kelly Mac Vol 1.
Our homie Kelly Mac dropped a whole bunch of amazing photos from the ACC Bandit Cross on me.
Here is my first batch of favorites with more to come tomorrow, if you're feeling antsy you can check them all out here.
August 27, 2012
Stolen Bikes MPLS: Peacock Groove, El Mariachi
Got some photos of those stolen bikes I posted about a few days ago
Peacock Groove Cross Bike
Salsa Mariachi 3 29'er
Peacock Groove Cross Bike
- Black All-City Nature Boy fork, low-rise flat bars
- 1 x 9 setup with gray Ultegra rear derailleur and Karate Monkey dropouts
- Stealth Gray with black outline stickers is easy to overlook
- Easily spotted via the bright USA flag stickers right in front of Toptube/Seat tube junction
Salsa Mariachi 3 29'er
- Green paint, black Time Atac Z pedals
- Stock except for Cane Creek ST suspension post, white WTB Vigo saddle and Sun rear rim
Second Hand Stoke: Tim & Eric
If you listen to me at all regarding skate videos that you need to watch, then I suggest you watch this one.
The first dudes part is super solid, but the real radness comes during the Tim & Eric section. They're on some next level Arik Elstran level dork tricks.
party starts at 3:15, be there
The first dudes part is super solid, but the real radness comes during the Tim & Eric section. They're on some next level Arik Elstran level dork tricks.
party starts at 3:15, be there
Why I Love John Tomac
photo Mike Varley
growing up as a teenage mountain bike racer in the mid 90's my walls were plastered with photos from one of four mtb mags that I had a subscription to: MTB (later Mountainbiker), Bike, Mountain Biking, and Mountainbike Action.
Among the countless action photos of Greg Herbold, Hans Rey, Missy Giovi, Brian Lopes, etc were my true heroes, the cross country guys. Now at this time you basically had three options, since no one really cared about the Euro's (Henrik Djernis, Thomas Frishnecht sp?, etc). You were either a Ned Overend, Tinker Juarez, or John Tomac guy.
For me, since the days of my first used Bell Image Pro, there was only Tomac. A rider whom I would consider possibly the greatest all around cyclist in history and certainly the most versatile professional cyclist there has ever been.
As a youngster he won a BMX national title, as a pro he won titles in DH, Dual Slalom and Cross Country. He rode professionally on the road with 7-11 and Motorola, was the 1988 National Crit champ, did the Roubaix, the Giro, etc.
Take a look at his MTB resume:
| [hide]Major MTB results by year | |
|---|---|
| 1988 | NORBA Overall Champion NORBA National XC Champion NORBA National Dual Slalom Champion |
| 1989 | NORBA Overall Champion NORBA National Dual Slalom Champion German XC Champion European XC Champion |
| 1990 | NORBA Overall Champion |
| 1991 | Gold medal - XC World Championship Silver medal - DH World Championship XC World Cup champion NORBA National DH Champion |
| 1992 | Second place in XC World Cup |
| 1993 | Second place in XC World Cup Second place in DH World Cup |
| 1994 | NORBA National DH Champion Cactus Cup winner Sea Otter Stage winner |
| 1996 | NORBA National XC Champion |
| 1997 | Silver medal - DH World Championship |
| 2004 | Mammoth Kamikaze winner |
| 2005 | Mammoth Kamikaze winner |
Not only was he a bad ass in the results, but he was a style icon as well. Dude raced drop bars on his mountain bike, could throw a table top like a mother fucker, made stupid disc rear wheels cool, and made me want a pair of the Nike Grand Poobahs.
Not to mention that his riding was gorgeous and he loved to show off for the camera.
When talking about things like the "greatest ever" we of course must note that he rode in the era before today's modern specialists and was thus able to compete in more races and more disciplines than is thought prudent for a contemporary professional. This is the same note we make when comparing Eddy Merckx to a contemporary champion. It was simply a different time.
But regardless, no one has ever or will ever again dominate both endurance and bike handling disciplines like Tomac. He had a successful BMX, Road, DH, Dual Slalom, and Cross Country career.
He was one of a kind, and one of my childhood idols.
Drink it in.
holy shit I totally forgot about the Troy Lee Designs sticker packs that you could buy back in the day until I saw this photo. So rad.
drop bars suspension fork
My TI Salsa Selma
hung some new parts on my mountain bike last week so I figured I'd take the opportunity to snag some new photos. Fall is mtb season around these parts, and I can't freaking wait. So stoked to spend the next few months riding, camping, and being in the woods.
First just let me say that I love mountain bikes. The parts aren't really all that different in this modern age, but while a properly put together road bike should be elegant and streamlined, a modern mtb is just ridiculously mechanical. The stem and bars look like they're straight out of an Erector Set. It's all angles.
If you're wondering about the rear wheel, three years back I needed a replacement wheel in a hurry and the Velocity Blunt was the hot rim going. They didn't have any black so I got blue which kind of matched my old steel El Mariachi. I'd much rather have a black rear but for the life of me I can't kill this thing and it seems dumb to buy new spokes, nips, and a rim for purely aesthetic reasons. This rim won't die.
The new parts on the bike for this fall are a used set of Truvativ Noir carbon cranks that I traded a track wheelset to Matty for, a carbon Specialized seatpost from my parts bin, and some new Michelin tires. Not a lot of change, but I did shed several hundred grams. (I'm kind of on a lightweight kick right now)
the brakes on the bike are old school Hayes 9's. I've got the pimp juice Goodridge lines and an upgrade to a carbon lever. They're like 8 years old but between the premium hoses, and a lever upgrade last year they feel flipping fantastic.
Truvativ Noir triple carbon crankset. They're sweet but I need a new bashguard as this one only goes up to 34t and I run a 36X19 or 36X20.
one speed specific
Can't wait to put some heavy miles in.
August 26, 2012
August 25, 2012
Summer Essentials
Was jamming out to the Digable Planets bohemian rap classic Reachin' the other day. Possibly the best warm weather backyard hangout album ever.
Stolen Bikes South MPLS - Peacock Groove
Not much info yet, but one of the bikes is a grey Peacock Groove cross bike and a Green Salsa El Mariachi 3.
hopefully I'll get pics soon.
hopefully I'll get pics soon.
August 24, 2012
The Lance Armstrong Saga Cont.
Now that it's back in the media eye, I'd like to make a grab for site traffic by reposting a blog entry from July 8th entitled, On Doping.
My sentiments and thoughts still stand.
If you're not aware, the Lance Armstrong doping saga has gained new life. Several of his old teammates, including George Hincapie and Levi Leipheimer, will be coming forward after the Tour to point the finger at Armstrong and to acknowledge their own abuses, joining Floyd Landis and Tyler Hamilton in piling up the evidence against big Tex.
As I was watching the Tour tonight, I reflected on this and realized that I couldn't possibly care less of his guilt or innocence. Does it really matter at this point? He's retired.
Now let me go on record and say that I of course do not condone performance enhancing drugs among athletes. Except of course unless we're talking about Tom Boonen getting all coked up in a club and dancing his little Euro heart out, do your thing party boy. I'd also like to add that this anti performance enhancing thing is especially relevant as the human race gets closer to getting on some 5 Million Dollar Man shit.
Any sane person will tell you, athletes should compete natural.
Everyone acknowledges cycling's dirty past, from Tom Simpson dropping dead to a hundred other cases of heat exhaustion and bodily failure, it's historically a part of the sport. Few other athletic contests push the boundary of mind and body that is routine of professional riders. Cycling is insane, it wants to destroy you, it chews up and spits out all but the most dedicated, hard headed, and physically gifted. It's what makes the sport so compelling, so beautiful, so brutal. Riders have always been willing to do anything to survive and thrive in that cut throat world.
I also believe, perhaps naively, that we are much closer to having a clean peloton than ever before. Riders are now more specialized and see less action than their contemporaries 30 years ago. The need to survive has been diminished somewhat as new insights into training and physiology has bred modern riders who only focus on a few major goals every season and no longer race 200 days a year. Not to mention that more and more money has been put into developing tests and standards to catch cheats, the biological passport and all that.
As far as dragging up the past and bringing charges onto retired riders though, to me it seems a monumental waste of time.
I have no desire to see the race results of the 80's and 90's revised, hence I have no desire to see the results of the '00's contested. Who cares if the guy who won doped, he probably did. But you know what? The second place finisher was probably on the stuff too, as was the third, the fourth, etc.
Lance Armstrong was probably a cheat, as were all of the guys who are testifying against him. All the guys who rode on the other teams were probably doing it too. They were all dirty. I know that may come off as pessimistic, but I think of it as more a thought of pragmatism. Of course it's possible that some no name riders weren't, but any big name cyclist of the last 20 years was likely guilty as sin of stuffing themselves with anything that they thought was going to help them get over.
Deal with it. Move on.
Lance, like him or not, is the biggest personality in cycling of the last 30 years by a huge margin. He's on the Michael Jordan, Tiger Woods, level of being synonymous with their chosen sport. That's on a global scale, on a national scale cycling was not cool when I was growing up. The fact that some sophomore kid in high school is getting a handy because he rides a fixed gear has plenty to do with the fact that cycling is more popular now in America than it has been since the 70's. How did that happen? Well a big part of that was Armstrong's story which crossed over to the national conscience.
Does anyone really think that dirtying him up is going to be the statement piece that halts doping in the peloton? That it will show major sponsors, which the sport has been bleeding for years, that professional cycling is now clean and that it's safe to once more invest in it?
I certainly don't, cycling needs icons to survive, it needs people who can capture the minds of the general populace. We have that in Armstrong, it's fun to hate him, it's fun to love him. He rode during a time when most were likely guilty of doping. Thankfully that time is looking more and more like it's behind us.
Yes, he probably cheated, but he was never found guilty of it during his career. He is now a retired rider, a legend of his sport, champion of his times and the greatest ambassador that we have. He is the embodiment of the sport to much of the world, and much more valuable to us all if his massive shadow casts a positive light.
Let's concentrate on creating new icons, rather than smashing the old ones. Let's move on.
My sentiments and thoughts still stand.
If you're not aware, the Lance Armstrong doping saga has gained new life. Several of his old teammates, including George Hincapie and Levi Leipheimer, will be coming forward after the Tour to point the finger at Armstrong and to acknowledge their own abuses, joining Floyd Landis and Tyler Hamilton in piling up the evidence against big Tex.
As I was watching the Tour tonight, I reflected on this and realized that I couldn't possibly care less of his guilt or innocence. Does it really matter at this point? He's retired.
Now let me go on record and say that I of course do not condone performance enhancing drugs among athletes. Except of course unless we're talking about Tom Boonen getting all coked up in a club and dancing his little Euro heart out, do your thing party boy. I'd also like to add that this anti performance enhancing thing is especially relevant as the human race gets closer to getting on some 5 Million Dollar Man shit.
Any sane person will tell you, athletes should compete natural.
Everyone acknowledges cycling's dirty past, from Tom Simpson dropping dead to a hundred other cases of heat exhaustion and bodily failure, it's historically a part of the sport. Few other athletic contests push the boundary of mind and body that is routine of professional riders. Cycling is insane, it wants to destroy you, it chews up and spits out all but the most dedicated, hard headed, and physically gifted. It's what makes the sport so compelling, so beautiful, so brutal. Riders have always been willing to do anything to survive and thrive in that cut throat world.
I also believe, perhaps naively, that we are much closer to having a clean peloton than ever before. Riders are now more specialized and see less action than their contemporaries 30 years ago. The need to survive has been diminished somewhat as new insights into training and physiology has bred modern riders who only focus on a few major goals every season and no longer race 200 days a year. Not to mention that more and more money has been put into developing tests and standards to catch cheats, the biological passport and all that.
As far as dragging up the past and bringing charges onto retired riders though, to me it seems a monumental waste of time.
I have no desire to see the race results of the 80's and 90's revised, hence I have no desire to see the results of the '00's contested. Who cares if the guy who won doped, he probably did. But you know what? The second place finisher was probably on the stuff too, as was the third, the fourth, etc.
Lance Armstrong was probably a cheat, as were all of the guys who are testifying against him. All the guys who rode on the other teams were probably doing it too. They were all dirty. I know that may come off as pessimistic, but I think of it as more a thought of pragmatism. Of course it's possible that some no name riders weren't, but any big name cyclist of the last 20 years was likely guilty as sin of stuffing themselves with anything that they thought was going to help them get over.
Deal with it. Move on.
Lance, like him or not, is the biggest personality in cycling of the last 30 years by a huge margin. He's on the Michael Jordan, Tiger Woods, level of being synonymous with their chosen sport. That's on a global scale, on a national scale cycling was not cool when I was growing up. The fact that some sophomore kid in high school is getting a handy because he rides a fixed gear has plenty to do with the fact that cycling is more popular now in America than it has been since the 70's. How did that happen? Well a big part of that was Armstrong's story which crossed over to the national conscience.
Does anyone really think that dirtying him up is going to be the statement piece that halts doping in the peloton? That it will show major sponsors, which the sport has been bleeding for years, that professional cycling is now clean and that it's safe to once more invest in it?
I certainly don't, cycling needs icons to survive, it needs people who can capture the minds of the general populace. We have that in Armstrong, it's fun to hate him, it's fun to love him. He rode during a time when most were likely guilty of doping. Thankfully that time is looking more and more like it's behind us.
Yes, he probably cheated, but he was never found guilty of it during his career. He is now a retired rider, a legend of his sport, champion of his times and the greatest ambassador that we have. He is the embodiment of the sport to much of the world, and much more valuable to us all if his massive shadow casts a positive light.
Let's concentrate on creating new icons, rather than smashing the old ones. Let's move on.
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