I mean… to think of wood… as in wood fenders being used on my own Mixte project.

What, what did you think I meant?

Thanks to Team Hype‘s Remi for sending us this. SO gorgeous.

http://www.velocult.com/index.php/blog/ … ane_mixte/

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1. More Wood Framery, Now With Wrongness
2. Ride that wood…
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But that’s just out of control.
And awesome!

http://www.cogmag.com/news/2010/05/timber-t-shirts.html

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I have to say, once again half-assed presentation of an issue distorts it to the detriment of both sides. This is a piece built-around some 30s or so of accumulated video taken from one rider’s helmet cam. Now look, none of us want to be hit by cars, and I would wager that MOST drivers don’t want to hit us. But the ‘evidence’ here is kind of dubious and paints two pictures simultaneously: one, the presentation in the report, is that cars are wildly out of control, careening into bikes and running from the scene, and the cyclists of the world are better off with cameras to prove it. The other, however, is more subtle and alarming to me, as a rider who occasionally employs a camera: just because we are on the road doesn’t give us the unambiguously unfettered right of way. The shots in this article show a rider who appears to be largely riding looking down (or let’s say the camera was angled down for some reason… what’s the point…aim it forward to record what’s in front of you) and certainly not scanning for traffic very much, and then suddenly confronted by cars and motoring through their paths. Yes, he gets swiped and it does look like that car takes off. And yes, when I’ve recorded my riding, my visual scanning is often under-represented by the camera because of minimal head-motion. But without aiming the camera forward, it offers very little evidence of fault. Assuming that’s what you have it on there for, right?

In these videos, you don’t have a sense of whether these cars had the right of way (ie already crossing an intersection in front of the rider) and you see very little deviation in his path as cars approach. We all now it’s a two way street out there. And I’m certain few of these cars were signaling (I never even saw a signal), many of the drivers didn’t see him or pushed past him, etc. But nonetheless, use your technology effectively. If you want evidence, aim it so you capture the conditions, not a slanted perception of violent car encroachment from a downfacing camera angle; if you think it offers you some preventative protection, well, that’s only going to be from drivers who maybe would have cut you off to be jerks, but thought better of it when they say the camera rig. IF they saw it. Because most drivers that almost kill me? Never even see me. Seems like if the objective is to avoid accidents with cars, riders like this should wear reflective clothing, use high-wattage bike lights, and ride predictably and defensively.

All of which he may very well have been doing. But thanks to the narrow sliver of tangible data from these supposedly empowering videos? We just don’t know.

Ride smarter, I say: not reactionary.

http://www.cnn.com/video/data/2.0/video … m.cbc.html

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Inspired by the overseas concept of which we are very much aware and enjoy here at Team lope, Cycle Chic Sundays are a series of group rides organized in California to advocate and promote casual riding, fashion, fun and general awesomeness. Check the site out, and get in on one when you can!

http://www.cyclechicsundays.com/

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A blog post about the experience of one interviewee for the Women Who Bike series, this was an interesting commentary on ‘subtle’ censorship, by activists, that could be seen as hurting the cause.

"A friend of mine- Janel Sterbentz- recently volunteered to be featured on the San Francisco based Bike NOPA blog in their “Women who Bike” series. She submitted her responses to the questions, but the editor of Bike NOPA, Michael Helquist (also the winner of the SF Bike Coalition’s 2010 Golden Wheel Award), didn’t like her answer to question number 2, and requested that she change it if the piece was to be published.
This was the question:
2. How often do you bike and what for?
And this was her answer:

“I bike every day to stay mentally and physically fit. I don’t want anything to do with the oil industry’s wars, carnage from motorists hitting pedestrians/cyclists, or the air and noise pollution. To me cycling leads to a positive future and pleasant street environment while driving leaves destruction and unpleasantness in its path. Also, it is just so much fun to bike.”

She declined to remove the offending paragraph and now her interview won’t be published as a result."

http://onthelevelblog.wordpress.com/201 … discourse/

I think it goes both ways. I think the context of the document DOES play a role and that savvy message-shaping is important. Whether this was softening the interview in order to make a puff piece about girls on bikes, or knowing your audience, I don’t know. The author here suggests that the statements are removed lest they appear ‘radical’ but it IS radical to profess extremely violent and negative and extremist statements about a mainstream event that the majority of readership, the TARGET audience, engage in and are defensive about. Just look at every third post by Ironlung. However, as stated at the end of this article, smoking becoming socially-inappropriate only came about because of these ‘radical’ approaches to information sharing, ie. images of blackened lungs and raw statistical data about smoking, death, and more importantly, death in innocent bystanders to second-hand smoke.

The parallel is interesting to me. As a one-time smoker, Lung raged against the attempts by the man to tell him where he could or coudln’t, seeing it as a matter of civil liberty. Yet he quit, and sees the negative, frankly mortal impact of smoking on his own self, if not the innocents around him. But the same applies to bikes and cars. Cars dominate today the way smoking vs. non-smoking publicly dominated 50 years ago. Car drivers are defensive about their habit the way smokers are or were. Images of bicycling accidents, injured or dead riders, scenes of brutal and belligerent driver confrontations, these are all seen as provocative and radical today by the mainstream, but this is how the public consciousness changed over smoking, EXACTLY. Where the smoking issue was partially mitigated by finding compromise points: soicially allowing smokers to smoke, but non-smokers to be free from the second-hand smoke, separated the civil liberty issue from the health issue (to some degree, insomuch as cordoning off smoking areas doesn’t really mitigate second-hand smoke toxicity and STILL represents a restriction of liberty for smokers) in a way that cyclists don’t yet enjoy. Sure, we have SOME separated bike pathways and SOME wide streets with bike lanes appropriately planned in advance, but that’s the problem. Unlike the smoking thing, you can’t just effect incremental changes to a major infrastructure paradigm in the same way (witness bike lanes on narrow streets, or critical mass)… you need to start over, in whatever scale is appropriate, by planning multi-use circulation corridors that don’t eliminate cars, but separate and safely allow pedestrians and cyclists to effing EXIST on the road without the constant threat of a car fender in the face or an enraged driver insisting we ‘get off the road what’s made for cars!’.

So, yes, the comments that were denied print in the target article above were ‘radical’ and yes, they were the kinds of hard reality check data sharing that helped lead to the change in smoking policy. However, the problem of cars vs bikes is very different than the problem of smokers vs non-smokers, and I think the solutions need to be equally different. Broadcasting anti-car rhetoric (yet still using cars from time to time) only gets you so far, and certainly encourages defensive reactions from drivers. Some may be swayed, but most will see you as the nut on a bike unrealistically trying to have cars banned from cities. However, being smart about bike advocacy, and putting those eggs in the proper basket, so to speak, makes more sense: targeting planners and legislators for transportation equality. THATS where the change will come.

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Pedal Pushers is offering free shipping through the end of May 2010 with the promo code:
"midatlantic"

They have some cool stuff indeed!

http://pedalpushersclub.com/tshirts.html

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3. affix fixed AND free hub

Wow, that’s impressive… user-fabricated, too… and apparently raced.

http://www.fixedgeargallery.com/2010/ma … lincke.htm via lockedcog

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These fat (well 25c bu fat within) and heavy road slicks were shown at the show some months back, and are finally available to your LBS through QBP. Definitely the back-tyre-for-skidding solution, as they are heavy, but the point is, lots of rubber, intended for increased wear needs of urban skiddy types like Lung, and available with armor as well. And most importantly, $18.

Cog got some… Freedom makes them…

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The Dreaded CthuLoop

Frenchie and I took what was intended to be the last big ride in preparation for Aids Lifecycle 2010 on Sunday. Ole Left-Handed Looney Lung was staying home to recuperate from a long week, so we took the road bikes and headed out for a climbing and distance plan of some ambition, somewhere between Alpine, Stinson, Pt. Reyes, Nicasio etc or some combination of those. However, Frenchie’s crew was a bit taxed so after meeting me in Mill Valley, we agreed to forgo the big stuff and aim for distance, targeting the San Geronimo Loop. Additionally, while the wind had already brutalized those guys the day before, it was supposed to get much worse, which doesn’t make for tantalizing riding out on the coast without shelter.

Unfortunately, Frenchie’s lady love was burning out and had to turn back. I found out just as I got to the bridge, about 100m or so from the top of the San Geronimo pass, which bridges Drake with the flat stretch beyond. I had bombed up the thing in order to get some needed work in my legs, and was waiting at a turn off for the others, with Bobby soon joining me, before we got the call. So we zipped back down the hill (yes, when actually on geared bikes those descents aren’t the dread courses they are on the fixed, at least for me) and collected the others to ride back to a familiar point along the route in San Anselmo so that our exhausted compatriot could head home. At that point, I wasn’t too thrilled about going back and hitting San Geronimo again (I hate backtracking) so we decided to head back south and do Mt. Tam… but then thought better of it as the tourists would have it packed with SUVs (you have to start early on Tam) so ultimately we elected to do a spirited Paradise/ Strawberry Loop, and man, it was FAST. I mean not just rollers and descents, but even some of the crests… we really pushed it and it was refreshing. I haven’t been on my road bike since my last Tam climb and certainly not with the frequency of previous years.

Of course, what’s a ride for me without a dubious mechanical problem? On the first pass up Chapman, a steep, switchbacky noodle up the back (south direction) side of Camino Alto, I waited too long to chain to my 39 and then sprung it on the steep starting section. Sorry, can’t do that. My Look basically groaned, so I chained a few cogs up the cassette to try to even out the chainline, but it was too late: my bike basically made the mechanical clacking equivalent of "DAIIIIIIIIIISYYYYYY" and then the drivetrain locked up. Of course, just as too much fixie riding got me in that mess int he first place (I neglected to consider shifting at the appropriate time) the lack of fixie business kept me upright, as a locked up chain on a fixed-gear would be an asphalt embrace. I was able to get the chain in place, and resume catching up and onward in no time… but later as Frenchie and I pushed through Strawberry I heard more and more noise and certainly felt friction in the derailleur, so I stopped to consult, and hoooo buddy, what a mess.

The derailleur had bent open, the chain jumped out of the housing, skipped over the pulley, and instead of rolling smoothly on the pulley as it should, it had been neatly grinding away on the top of the housing’s guard plate. Check out that groove in this pic. I nearly sawed through the metal with my chain. A testament to Dura Ace, and certainly chain strength, to be sure, But wow. So we basically beat the thing into submission, and once the pulley was functional again, completed the loop. So, after ALC I have to start hunting for 2003 Dura Ace parts. ha.

Anyway, a good ride nonetheless and I certainly got my workout in. It was only about 45 miles for me, but fast up the climbs, and fortunately, the wind really didn’t pick up until we were both home and comfy (he had some wind up the grade and over the bridge, but that’s normal this time of year) and it began blowing like stink. Solid!

Barring a few shorter runs between now and then, next stop: Lifecycle!

Ride map and profile:
http://ridewithgps.com/trips/44188

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This is a gallery of Crook bike build project photos. Click any image to enlarge it and make clucking sounds of approval!

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