Qatar

Forget Copenhagen. Let's move to Qatar. Cycling paths kept nice and cool with cold water misting. Check it out. We might want to modify things to suit our particular needs. Winnipeg does not get quite as hot as Doha, so cool mist is arguably unnecessary. But heated bike paths would be a nice touch for winter.

I have successfully probed the Ass. Forest. It looks better than I had feared it might. There's actually a decent amount of singletrack in there. What is lacking in hills is more than made up for in kidney-jarring rows of logs. Between logs and the holes left behind by the horses, there will be some bumpy sections to keep things interesting.

Also, it looks like the CMU Bike Co-op is officially a go. We've got a place to hang out and some cash to hire a student. Now I need to go order some tools.

into the Ass. Forest

Rode the XTC into work today so that I can delve into the Ass. Forest over lunch to scout out potential courses for the CMU Homecoming Bike Race (which happens on Sept. 23, 11am). I'll be leaving around 12 noon. Anyone who wants to help is welcome. And if you can supply a front end loader to help create some hills that would be nice too. Looks like it'll be a rather flat course, but we'll see what we can do.

busy day on the blog

pictures of last friday's bonfire and wasp killing event at dr. h's. pictures are of wasp killers examining the death spray; dr. applying said spray from the roof on his house; dr. h impersonation of a cat on a roof; and the said bonfire (burning of last year's christmas tree).

life is good

Arrived at work this morning to stumble upon this sublime scene. If you can make it here (North Campus) by around 10:15 this morning, I'd be happy to share. Otherwise I'll have to eat them all by myself, and take the long way home.

the next project

make your own helmet cam

jersey fitting party

the sizing kit has arrived. a full complement of club cut jerseys from size s to xxl. maybe your size is in there somewhere.

meet at dr.h's at 9:00pm on Monday. then we might ride a bit and end out at the clubhouse. thought it might be better to be modest on the sizing effort. ie. baring our buffed uppers for sizing might be better left to a private residence. some sorry people need to start working again on the next day so it likely won't be late...

what's known re pricing is that there will be a price for fgbc regulars to purchase one jersey which will reflect some of our hard work on sponsorship, but friends of fgbc and regulars who want more than one jersey will be welcome to add to our order as well, at a price somewhat related to cost.

Monday night ride report

Sweet ride tonight. Johnny N, Jonny G, Unger, Juan Eppstein, and myself put in a very casual 40 km this evening in and around our fine city. For some reason we ended up in NK. Don't know why that happened. We even rode down Irving Dr. Perhaps we were unconsciously sensing the absence of the President and the Secretary. Also hit up the Belgian Club in honor of Hal, and payed our respects by visiting the more tortured rendition of Louis Riel behind CUSB. Met up with some fellow cycling enthusiasts at the F&H on what was otherwise one of the deadest nights ever at the clubhouse. Some dude at the urinal assured me that I was doing a good thing by riding my bike. That's always nice to hear. The dark was just right. This allowed us to move on to more pressing issues like assessing the relative merits of the tube tv vs. HDTV vs. computer projection units. Not sure we reached a consensus on the matter other than to agree that it is likely best not to drop your old tv.

Not sure whether a Labour Day edition of the MNR will take place next week or not. Stay tuned.

Jealous anyone

So Johnny S. and I were at a frisbee party the other night and some how ended up with a pair of FGD glasses.

Quick hands buddy....quick hands.

I am in for a ride tonight. What is the style of ride?

Monday night rides

This might just be one of the best times of the year. Ultimate is done for another eight months (for most of us). The Living Legends, as has come to be expected, closed out the season with a win. And Hummelt hockey is still 5 or 6 weeks away (for some of us). That means that for the next little while there's an extra day each week for bike riding. This won't happen again until April. Seems like we should stick with Mondays for now, since Jonny G still practices on Tuesday. We'll try to throw in a couple of races yet--another alleycat, perhaps an inner-city xc race--but we'll start with something a little more relaxed.

So if you want to ride, meet at my place at 8pm. Not sure where we'll go, exept that we'll eventually end up at the F&H.

FGBC friends Paddy and Tomek (the pusher) and others showed em how it's done in Saskatchewan this weekend. See full report here. Nice work fellas. Then again, it can't be too surprising that some folks from MB beat out a bunch of SK hillbillies. It can't be too easy riding a bike with a banjo. Bring on the Riders. Go Bombers!

The jerseys sure look sweet. Can't wait to see how much faster they make me ride. I think I'm going to go crack a dark to celebrate the completion of the proof process.

jersey - designing is done

so, this is the final design on the jersey. now we wait for the sizing kit to come... this should work out to be everyone's fav Christmas gift... if we're lucky.

spring ride 2006 - the movie

ok, it's not going to win any awards, but after taking a bit of sass (from the Duke, no less) at Jonny S's on Saturday, I thought I better throw something down. so, here you go, 5.5 minutes of memories.

It's actually on our website... so my $35/yr is worth it...
http://www.fortgarrybikeclub.com/media

Copenhagen

Not the kind that comes in a tin. Though that reminds me of my good friend Pete.

Pete goes through about a tin of Copenhagen every day or two. Some of you met him at the F & H a while back. Pete's father is Ethiopian, his mother's from Lancaster County--Floyd Landis country. The Lancaster connection goes some way to explaining the fact that he's as redneck as they come--cowboy boots, Willie Nelson, pickup truck, and the aforementioned smokeless tobacco, even though . . . well let's just say he doesn't exactly fit the stereotype. Growing up in Lancaster can be harmful for your health, or at least your lips. Pete claims that there are all kinds of old Mennonite churches in the area with spitters for your dip.

In any case, I'm referring to Copenhagen the city--the city of cyclists. Check out this documentary on Copenhagen's efforts to accomodate cyclists, courtesy of the bike advocacy dept. Kind of makes me think Winnipeg is a lost cause, unless something miraculous happens in the civic elections this fall. But I suppose we can always dream. While we're dreaming, some of that architecture would be nice too.

My ribs are still hurting pretty good from ultimate on Monday. Makes it hard to accelerate on the bike. So it's nothing but cruising for the next little while. Hope my rickety old body is good enough to go for the ultimate champeenships on Saturday. Here's to peaking at the right time: Go Legends!

rider down

LeAnn had a close encounter of the vehicular kind this afternoon. Some dude talking on his cell while driving down Main St. decided to turn across two lanes and ran her off the road. Luckily she is okay and the bike looks to be fine too, but the dude's car got all scratched up. That's nice to hear, actually, as these sorts of encounters usually turn out the other way around.

Ride carefully boys and girls. It's a jungle out there.

erotic cycling

Yes, you read right. Perhaps we should try to get this exhibit over here for an FGBC fundraising event. Read more here.

must be the Belgian beer

More Belgian fun. Check out the crazy finish at the Benelux Tour today.

From VeloNews:

The Eneco Benelux Tour ended bitterly for George Hincapie (in the red jersey) on Wednesday after arch-rival Stefan Schumacher (in yellow) hooked him in the final 50 meters, sending the Discovery Channel leader sprawling to the ground and causing him to lose the race on time bonuses. Schumacher started the 201km seventh and final stage three seconds behind race leader Hincapie, but the German rider bounded ahead to finish third behind winner Philippe Gilbert (Française des Jeux) and runner-up Manuele Mori (Saunier Duval-Prodir) to earn a four-second bonus that nudges him into overall victory in the eight-day Benelux tour by one second.

Read the full of the story here.

And Hal thought he was taken advantage of at the race on Sunday. Either Hincapie was robbed or he's a whiner and should just shutup. It certainly hasn't been a banner year for him. Snapped bars at Paris-Roubaix, a lacklustre performance at the Tour, and now this.

okay....

jon friesen making the road gap in lethbridge. see the rest of his pics at pink bike

dude, where's my bike?

Hey man, sweet bike! I can deal with a curse that makes me speak a bit foo-nee so long as that frame helps me ride faster as well. So far so good. I heart singie speeds.

keep yer dang feet out of my spokes!

This is why I don't like racing criteriums. On the other hand, this is why they're popular in the US. It's like NASCAR without the noise. One little bump and it's all over. This took place in the Women's race at the U.S. National Criterium Championships this weekend. The good news is that she wasn't seriously hurt. Cyclists may be smaller than average, but they're tough as nails. Pics courtesy of cyclingnews.com.

race report

#9 - #9 - #9

wasn't my day. felt great at the start of day - the preride was good (except for one pitch over the handlebars). any ways, when our group went off i was feeling pretty confident, after all i had ridden well against all the guys in our group (the same ususal suspects). well 5 minutes in on the up hill lead in, i was being dropped. what the hell. for the next 20 minutes guys kept passing me (this was starting to get on my nerves) finally during a run up section i discovered that my back wheel had shifted and was rubbing against my brake - baddly. so out come the tools and i start to fix the problem - more guys pass me. as i am working on my bike this guy wearing a woodcock jersey pulls up beside me and says "can i have a drink of water, i dropped my water bottle." before I can answer the dude picks up my camel back and starts to drink from it. i can't believe what i am seeing. i tell him, "i have enough water for my race," he says okay and continues on. shit. not only is that bad form, it is illegal - i can't believe he did that. finally, i get my wheel issue straightened out and start to get back into race. slowly i start to reel some guys in, thinking all i have to do is to stay smooth, keep the pedals turning, and i might be alright. well no - how about a flat. f*#k, so now i get to fix a freaking flat. well i have a C02 inflater which i've never used and manage to discharge half of it on to my hand as i am inflating the tire - at least my hand was cool now. so i managed to finish the race with about 20lb of pressure in the back tire - but i finished ninth overall. not stellar, but still a day of racing in grand beach which is always fun.

ciao.

maah daah hey

Check out the article on the MDH in the NYT. Will have to get back there some time.

Bummed to have missed the good times at the Belgian Club last night. No doubt it would have been more fun than digging up my driveway.

A ride sandwiched between two bbq's. Does it get any better than that? I hope I can make it. Depends on how the driveway goes today. Might even have the xtc ready for her maiden ride.