Bike Jerks

August 5, 2011

Trash Bags Prize Bags for the ACC's!!!

I stopped by Trash Bags yesterday morning to pick up the prize bags for this year's ACC's. Andy had told me that the bag was going to be "epic" but he wouldn't tell me anything more than that as he was clearly enjoying his little secret.
This is the ridiculousness that awaited me.

Hot shot took my Facebook profile picture and turned it into bag art. Pretty funny, but the joke's on him because I'm psyched.

He did a real nice job on the applique work too.

This backpack is his new Garbage Incernator model and he was keen to take me on a tour of it's features, as it is in my opinion, the cleanest most sophisticated design he's done yet.

walk with me...

This thing is massive and can swallow a whole file box

and it's got straps inside for when you fill it up

this is what the bag looks like with that kind of load in it, still closes easily

on one side it's got a u-lock/bottle pocket

and on the other a swing pocket for ease of access

back view

this is a real clever pen holder inside the main compartment, but I didn't shoot it with any sort of context to show you where it is. Sorry about that, but rest assured it's there and it's functionally awesome.

lest you think this large pack would be unwieldy. It compresses down very slim.

Per Andy's request, this bag will be given to either the men's or women's out of town winner. Though I'm not quite sure how we'll decide which yet.

And the in town winner will receive this sweet custom hip pouch

Huge thanks to Andy for making the ACC's substantially more special with this generous donation of his time, sweat, and creativity.

And to you folks out there, remember to support your own.

August 4, 2011

Favorite Things: T-Serv's

My all time favorite city tire has got to be the Panaracer T-Serv. I've ridden it since my first fixed gear, when it was really only one of a handful of performance city tires. It's always been a bit spendy and some say it wears too fast, but holy shit does it grip and I've very rarely ever gotten flats with them. And only then it was typically at the end of their lifespan.

I rotate mine from front wheel to rear wheel duty at the middle of their lifespan, and on bikes that I ride brakeless (and therefore enjoy the odd skid) I only use them for the front as they're too soft to last long for that application.

The best thing about them is the fact that they manage to excel in any of the available sizes. The 25's and 28's make a great city racing tire, and the 32's are perhaps the perfect blend of speed and cushion.

I've been riding them on my road bike all year for commuting with a fair amount of gravel mixed in. These are virtually the only street tire that possess the right amount of tread to truly kickass on hardpack dirt like you find at the Almanzo (this year's peanut butter excluded).

The 37c (in the steel bead Pasela variant) is Craiggles McShithead's preferred tire for the often loose sand of Vilas County

I myself have never liked the Paselas because I've never owned a bike where skinwall was a good look. However now that the Paselas come in all black, I think that they are pretty damn spectacular for the money.

I'm not saying that they're the best or most amazing or any of that. Lots of tires will do the job, but I've put more miles on these tires than any other in existence and I've never had a torn sidewall, or been let down in any fashion. They've always been stellar, and anybody out there who thinks that a Randonneur (not talking about skids here) is a better tire is a complete asshole.

Those things have no pop or feel.

Milwaukee Bicycle Co. Prizes

Big thanks to Drew from MKE Bicycle Co.for sending over this package for the ACC's.

August 3, 2011

Summer Essentials

quite possibly the greatest studio jam ever. ever.

All City Championships: Thursday Night Bandit Cross

In lieu of the trick comp, I've decided to make this year's ACC a little easier from an organizer's perspective and replace it with Bandit Cross.

If you haven't been, Bandit Cross, is an event that has single handedly renewed my faith in the bike community. No bitching, no whining, just good attitudes and a whole lotta fun.

The event is free and open to all bicycles, however as usual, single speeds are preferred.

Meet at 7pm at Hobo Camp
BYOB, but don't make yourself obvious.

It's likely that we'll need a trail day to clean up the course and hopefully expand the singletrack prior to this first race of the season. I'm hoping that I can get some dudes to make a few sweet plywood ramps for this thing so we can make it more of a "hell track". If you've got some scrap wood and skills, please hit me up. Hopefully we can stash some stuff in the woods and use it for the races all fall.

I'll keep you posted about a trail day, it'll likely be next weekend and your help would mean a lot. You've got put in, to get something out.

There are no prizes, and no entry fee. Though if we have enough racers, and I'm hoping this will be the largest race yet, we'll have both A and B classes.

If you want to know how Bandit Cross goes down check out these photos:

danger dollars

be there or don't

August 2, 2011

Bike Share Vid

Nice Ride MN: Minnesota's Bike Share Expands from Streetfilms on Vimeo.

Riverwest 24

Yesterday I got back from Riverwest 24 and I'm super toasted. Last week's travel and sickness combined with a 24 Hour alleycat has gotten to me so I'll keep this brief.

Once more the RW24 proved itself to be a magical time that resembles nothing else that I know of. It's a singular point of unity, beauty, and pride in one's community that is hard to comprehend if you've never been. In short, it was very special.

This year I was on a team with Mark$ter, Tina, Natalie from Fast Folks in Austin, and Sarah Murder from S.F.. As a team, we rode very well and likely finished around 10th place or so (it is believed that we are owed 6 more bonus laps), I accomplished both of my personal goals, and had a ton of fun as always with the MKE peeps (who better get their asses up here for the ACC's).

My first goal was to drop my team off safely in the lead at the end of my first set of laps (about 25 miles or so). Last year we started in 170th or so place and the riders are launched in two's, so I had a good amount of distance to make up and was only able to put us in 3rd. This year we started 61st and I was able to overtake the first place on my fourth lap. It's important to me that I go down and represent Bike Jerks, MPLS, and All-City well with a display of power and obviously I was quite pleased with the result. My other personal goal was to ride a fixed century (on the installment plan) and I was happy to hit 20 laps, although I was disappointed to learn that the lap mileage wasn't what I thought it was so I came up a bit short.

Anyway, it was the normal drunken debauchery in Milwaukee, it was great to see friends from all over the country, and a huge thanks to my teammates and hosts.

Here are some of my favorite photos from the weekend:

Mark

for the first set I broke out the pink onesie as tradition dictates

Wayne and the Zero Squad boys went for style this year, cooler and leather arm chair on board

Kopish and Russell

Jakob

Patsy on a bender, w/ the Housepig

we always park out front of this dude's house. he partied like crazy. one minute he's asleep, then he's smoking a cig and pounding a beer, then he's asleep again.

Natalie stoked

Ms. Murder

Tina busted up her moneymaker

Chris Graham of Bastardized Meat Grinders...Having Explosions, had to improvise after wrecking their race bike, in the Team A category. (in Team A everyone rides the same bike)

the ladies at the finish

two of my favorites, Wayne and Amy

See more images in RW24 2011 album on my Flickr

Phonebooks

Holy shit I hate it when I get phonebooks dropped off on our porch. Not only is this antiquated thing completely unnecessary, but when I think of all the paper and resources they use to make them... It just completely pisses off my entire being.