Wednesday, November 30, 2005

minutes nov. 29

...felt like we were back to usual in the attendance department. nice. a good complement of bikers and hockey guys. Even Luke was there.

Reports on the race were positive, although the lack of FGBC members was unfortunate.

A few ice related wipe-outs from the last few days were described.

Sounds like the next race could be on the weekend of the 17th/18th. A number of folks seemed to prefer evening.

It also seems like something is brewing for Jan 1.

Speaking of brewing, the dark was different last night, but the true supporters stuck with the home team. Wow, it won't be long before the thrift stores are full of useless Rickard's glasses.

Saturday, November 26, 2005

Race Results

Good turnout for the first race this morning. Seven riders showed up. I believe that's a new record high for racers. Miriam was the lone fan. FGBC participation, however, hit an all time low. Only Unger and myself showed up. The race consisted of 15 laps around an oval in Vimy Ridge Park. The course featured a mix of untreaded snow, sanded walking path, a token technical dropoff, with a few sections of bumpy ice. It took a few laps for the snow to pack down, but by the end the laps were going pretty quickly. Will look to have another race in a couple of weeks, before everyone scatters for the holidays. A short loop of single track in Whittier Park might be nice. After sorting out some confusion on lap counts, the official standing are as follows:

Chris H
Mark W
Dave U
LeAnn F
Jeff F
Jess K
Elizabeth B

Friday, November 25, 2005

Venue Change

There is a venue change for the race tomorrow morning. It will take place at Vimy Ridge Park. Same time. Same setup. See you all there at 10am.

Snow Crit

Did a little scouting on the ride into work this morning. I'm thinking our race this weekend should be a snow criterium: short laps around an oval in the formal gardens. The first few laps will be a bit slow, and might even require a dismount or two. But it will pack down as we go on, and so the speed will gradually pick up for what will no doubt be an exciting finish. Hal, can you bring your markers? Meet at the formal gardens in Assiniboine park (not the gardens by the duck pond, but the one in the southeast corner) at 10 am. Non FGBC racers welcome. Gears and brakes optional.

Thursday, November 24, 2005

Race

I don't see any compelling reason to assume that the race is not on. The conditions do seem to be ideal. There is snow on the ground, after all. And some ice too. So let it be declared that the race is on. Saturday at 10 am. Location to be determined. Will be posted on the blog. Feel free to recruit other racers.

Race on Saturday?

has anyone heard from the race director? We were tentatively on for something Saturday morning. I've now discovered I can't be there... Maybe post comments here as to whether you might be available and interested. Conditions seem ideal.

trainer for sale?

David Sawatzky dropped me a note wondering if anyone knew of an old or unused bike trainer for sale... Does the MCA site every have such? Put your responses in the comments.

Thursday, November 17, 2005

CX Hal

A few more pictures of our cyclocross star and poster boy. Would look nice in an FGBC jersey, don't you think?





Belgian Club and links

Further info on the Belgian Club is available here. Seems I was mistaken about the number of five Belgians. Honorary membership is available for $10 so long as a mere two Belgians (who need not be members themselves) are willing to vouch for someone's freindliness towards the bike crazy land of Belgium. This still poses a problem. I know only of one person of Belgian descent, and after the fiasco that was the Team Time Trial, I doubt he'd be willing to sponsor us. Maybe if we promise to ride with drop bars and brakes on our bikes. In any case, we'd likely all need to get memberships. Not only would this mean $10 a person not headed towards our savings plan at the F&H, it might require more collective leg work than we can muster. Looks like we're doomed to stay loyal to the F&H for the time being. And why not. They have been good to us lately--e.g., the good tunes last night: Yes, Styx and even the post-Skynyrd collection known as the Rossington Collins Band. I believe I have their entire catalogue available on vinyl if anyone's itnerested.

My right knee hurts from Tuesday's commute--not to mention "Mark Messier" knocking me into the boards after another failed breakaway Tuesday night. 46x15 is too much for 27 cm of snow. So for the time being I'm spinning along on 36x15. Is fine so far, but once it's less icy I'll want a little more.

Stumbled on a couple of websites that some folks might be interested in:

Patrick Humenny's blog. Dig around a little and you will also find his account of the Bird's Hill TTT fiasco referred to above.
The Bike Dump.
And also a list of bike blogs.

Wednesday, November 16, 2005

First FGBCBC race - November 26

Our first race of the new winter season approaches rapidly:
November 26, 10:00am, location to be announced by the race director no less than an hour before the race.

minutes nov. 15

a rather core gathering. all attendees were actual bike club members:
president, hal, dr. h, jonny g, vic, dunger, secretary.

hal reported on the cyclecross race in Minneapolis. Do you have a link to results/pictures/anything for that event hal? maybe a link to that bike shop where you'll be spending more money would be good too...

unger's glutes are not firing.

set date/time for the first FGBCBC (Fort Garry Bike Club Bubba Cup) race of the winter season... yes, the title is a bit of a carry over from a previous era. there was some discussion of considering a biathalon further down the road: biking and curling.

calling all Belgians... dr. h figures we need five Belgian sponsors to get into their club for future post race gatherings.

the new, longer lasting precipitation precipitated discussion on preparing one's single speed for such riding. dr. h reports decent results with his new tires. (note to non-club readers: while this blog may suggest that the FGBC is an extremely hard core group of riders, it semi-regularly needs to be reported that we are diverse. All riders in the club are not so serious, as much as we like to talk the talk... I, for example, am not examining new tire options. I was thinking about maybe brushing a bit of the mud off my bike from the spring ride the other day...)

Tuesday, November 15, 2005

Winter

Cars and winter. A deadly combination. Had to push out three cars on my ride in to work this morning. Dumbass drivers. At least when I get stuck, I can pick up my bike and walk out of trouble. The early verdict on riding fixed in winter is promising. My new CX tires arrived in the mail yesterday. Good timing. They worked to perfection on the snowy ride in. Omand's Creek was a bitch, and the combination of hard packed car tire tracks in the midst of loose snow presented their usual challenges. But so far so good. Tonight's ride home in the dark could be interesting.

Now that the snow's here we can start talking about the winter race series. Put it on the agenda for the F&H tonight.

Thursday, November 10, 2005

drag races and media watch; all things new york

ever wonder what it is like to be a messenger in NY?

from the NY Times...

November 8, 2005
Proselytizer for Pedaling Acts on His Words
By ANDREW JACOBS

Michael de Jong wants you to take your bike to the plane.

It might seem like a loopy proposition, but Mr. de Jong, a Dutch-born millionaire, real estate developer and cycling maniac, is on a worldwide crusade to get industrialized man out of his car and onto the saddle seat. One prong of that mission is to convince otherwise sensible people that taking two wheels to the airport and back is less daunting than it seems. Cyclists, after all, never get stuck on the Van Wyck Expressway, and they do not have to lug their baggage quite as far as they would if they took the subway to the AirTrain.

As part of his pedal-power mission, Mr. de Jong promotes a 100-day bike race across Africa, sponsors bike ownership in the developing world and invents whimsical biking accouterments, among them a traffic-parting air horn and a tent that overnight travelers can suspend from the trees.

"Imagine how much better the world would be if more people rode bicycles," he said with the dead-on earnestness of someone who regularly cycles from Cairo to Johannesburg and Paris to Geneva.

Go here for the rest of the article

Wednesday, November 09, 2005

Icebike 2006

From the MCA homepage:

Icebike 2006:

Good news! It looks like Icebike 2006 is on and the tentative date is January 29th. This will be confirmed at a future date.

Still to be confirmed, but at least worth putting it on your calendars in pencil. The winter race series will help to ensure a strong showing at this important event. Look for the first race to happen in about two weeks. Perhaps something in the vicinity of Whittier, with post-race festivities at the Belgian Club. Or would that be a missed opportunity to add to the impressive progress we've made in "the book" at the F&H? Stay tuned.

links

the link to the icebike site is fixed.

there was some interest in seeing my first go at designing a new website for my friend Marvin at Marvin's Foods... this is a test so far... totally not complete, nor are the pictures final.... but if you really want to see it...
the Marvin's test site
Marvin's current site This is nice... I asked Marvin why he got the domain name "marvinsfood" rather than "marvinsfoods". He told me, because the guy who did it for him doesn't pronounce "s" very well. Apparently this will be fixed.

minutes, november 8

an intimate gathering of five. hal, jonny, dr. h, juan, secretary.

of note:
1. newest merch idea. black hoodies with the logo high on the back. nice. yes.
2. our book total was tallied. approx. $350 spent at the clubhouse to date. things are coming along very nicely... it would be nice to see a few more folks out... if not to talk to, at least to boost our tally.
3. further to team brown discussion... we might not fair entirely well in a full on race, but a haiku down could give us an edge. would be nice to see the vp external weigh in to make contact. we would need to prime jeff r for a haiku down.
4. november is the first month with snow. the race season is upon is. the commitment from the race director has been one a month...
5. hal's bike light no longer reacts to the usual inputs. it no longer turns off when invited to by the switch.

Monday, November 07, 2005

Fixed Gear 101

For those of you struggling to find a gift for that special someone this holiday season, here's a suggestion: download and print this fine little booklet, courtesy of Puma, of all things. This would even pass the stringent criteria set by those Buy Nothing Christmas scrooges--though the Puma sponsorship might leave enough of a consumerist trace to cast that in doubt.

Winter is coming. Will try to make good on the promise of at least one snow race per month. Consider it training for Ice Bike.

Had a conversation with a member Team Brown (though he says they're not called that anymore) this weekend. The idea of a TB vs. FGBC competition of sorts was floated. This strikes me as an idea with some potential, provided we can find an event or two that we might stand a chance at. Perhaps a post-race bullshit contest or some other event not involving a bike.

Thursday, November 03, 2005

cyclocross pics and new world disorder

Some good pictures from the psychocross race last Sunday. Note: there is a huge difference between riding in the A and B categories.

Anyone interested in riding and bike porn in Morden this weekend; let me know.

And from the department of shamless-self promotion (preparing to dismount):