Whiskey in a Can
to replace PBRs in all those beer-bandoliers… and the death rate among FGFS aficionados will skyrocket. You’ve been warned.

http://gizmodo.com/5736773/whisky-in-a-can

Follow this topic in the R3 Forum here!

Related posts:

1. fixed gear backflip
2. Fixed Gear Prototype Game
3. fullsized folding fixed gear

i suppose these aren’t so new anymore — they’ve actually been around for a few years now — but the point is that these countdown timers that most intersections have on their walk/dontWalk crossing indicators are probably in the top three of the most beneficial things an urban cyclist has at their disposal. it used to be that you’d be looking at these blinking red hands a block or even two away and trying to time them yourself. i can’t tell you how many times i’ve had to smash a hard turn onto the cross street or lock my wheel up blasting into an intersection because my light went yellow right at the point of no return. but with these things, you KNOW. it’s amazing. it’s totally changed my riding style. i can alter my speed appropriate to the upcoming intersection and my flow is rarely affected in the negative.

they all have different times — i’ve seen some that start at 21, i’ve seen some that start at 16, i’ve seen em start at 5 — but it doesn’t even matter. it’s a PERFECT tool for mash management. i LOVE them.

Follow this topic in the R3 Forum here!

Related posts:

1. what NOT to buy the cyclist in your life
2. Peugeot Has Really Changed Their Game
3. Physicist Argument in Favor of Cyclist Rolling Stops

from bike jerks’ FLICKR.

i love this because it’s kind of sweet. the old man on his way out, the little grrl on her way in, his big three-wheeled bike, her little new bike that she’s not even really riding yet — a total metaphor for life.

"always remember, no matter how bad things seem, one day you’re gonna die."

Follow this topic in the R3 Forum here!

Related posts:

1. The Kids Love It
2. Team Lope LookBack: How I Learned to Love to Bomb
3. Blik’s Bike Love

This was a gorgeous, warm weekend, atypical for January even for us here in Northern California. I’ve been itching to get out for some climbing on the weekend, but between baby illness, adult injury, and the relative dearth of riding partners in this footbal spectacularama season, it just hadn’t happened yet. But I intend to get back to form early this year, and yesterday was as good as any to start. Baby went down for a nap, and I made a break for it on Villain, my road bike. The objective: climbing Mt. Tam.

Observations:

1. I’m carrying too much winter weight. I’m lighter than I was when I started effing AIDS LIFECYCLE, but then again, I had 6 months of riding under my belt then, despite. Here, I was coming off cold, after a pretty gruesome holiday season of illness and pelvic injury. But really, I felt it in my ride. Too heavy. Too much excess being carried up the mountain, burning off too slowly, ha. But anyway, we do what we can.

2. My back ain’t healed. I mean, certainly my chiropractor thinks so, as I’m going every week for alignment. But man my back was aching by the time I got to Four Corners. I took a few breaks (I’m not proud, and see the long view) one at Four Corners and one part way up the mountain, partially to ease the asthma, but also to ease DEM BONES.

3. The weather was incredible. It was warm enough to feel great under the heat of it, but cool enough not to overcook. There were parts that baked me and parts that were chilly, as I passed through the darker patches under tree cover. Pretty great for effing January when our friends on the East Coast are snapping thermometers.

4. I’m proud of building my first road bike, but I have to say, work needs to be done. My shifter cables are either shifting or frayed from all the adjustments I was making. I can’t get into the big 27 cog in my crazy climbing cassette (and yesterday I’d have used it) without locking up the drivetrain, and the front derailleur was slipping a bit and didn’t like the big ring. The worst was that slip between a few gears on sustained climbing, where it hops back and forth between neighboring cogs and throws you off rhythm. It’s all a matter of adjustment, but man, out on the road you’re like COME ON, COUSIN.

5. Afternoon on Mt. Tam can be a freeway in parts. That’s not right.

6. I actually did pretty well, all things considered. I was strong where I needed to be, and I did almost the whole ride seated, and I didn’t stop half the times I contemplated it. Ultimately I got up to the split, took the East Peak route at the fork, but my lungs and my back were really bothering me. By the time I got to the open-air Tam theater, I saw it was 4pm and I was in trouble… this was more than just a quick loop, and I had a sick baby and lots of tasks at home. So I flipped it 3 miles from the summit, and bombed down the mountain to get home. And FAST. Faster than I usually go. It was exhilarating and not a little scary on a few curves.

Anyway, climbing ride 1 of 2011… only uphill from here, in a good way!

Follow this topic in the R3 Forum here!

Related posts:

1. Torquing Your Way Through China Camp
2. Hochdorfer ATTACK!
3. Attack Of the 50 Fixed Women

Our man Jake just picked up a HED/Specialized collaboration tubular for Crook Type 2. No flats no curb hops, all speed!

Follow this topic in the R3 Forum here!

Related posts:

1. Crook Type 3: On the Road
2. Team Lope Bike Bio: Crook Type 3
3. Crook Type 2, Now with Upgrades

A bit warmer commute today, and everything was dialed in. Light, had. Warm gloves for morning, had. No ride bag as I had left my MBP at work the night before, so it was a nice, unencumbered ride. Took the longer way to work, saw someone I knew down by the shop, everything was just right. Not too cold, but brisk.

On the way home, I passed a woman with two kids in one of those double-decker strollers, so I dinged my bell before I passed so as not to startle her, a courtesy I can’t imagine the Porsches give her.

Her twins shrieked with delight and started crying out "BEWW! BEWW!" So I dinged it again, now ahead of them (I took the bike path this time)… and I heard the chant so i dinged again and again… it was like a squealing doppler effect. Pretty funny.

Anyway, no car attacks, no black ices, no slipped bones, and no deaths. A great day!

Follow this topic in the R3 Forum here!

Related posts:

1. Back in the Saddle, Day 4: Wet Wrongbike
2. Back in the Saddle, Day 01: Wrongbike
3. Back in the Saddle, Day 5: Inky Business

Following up on Ironlung’s take on the MASH BLOG with chas, here’s my answers, same. Because I KNOW you were holding your breath…

~~~

what do you ride? (can be your stable or just one bike)
+ I’m enjoying the embarrassment of riches out here in Mill Valley of having enough room int he shop to have several bikes on hand, for science. When we were moving out of the loft in SF, we almost took a condo in Larkspur that had NO bike storage at all. I was going to be down to two bikes: one at the office, one at home somehow, and roate them out on legs of the commute. But as it turned out, I got a bike shop space as large as the house, almost, so I have hooks up and bikes hanging thereon, and even hoteling station hooks for my man Lung.
+ 01 Wrongbike: a fixed, converted 70s Vista, now yellow/orange wrongrobot color, with arc bars and gumwalls.
+ 02 Crook Type 3: a green/white 2010 Cinelli x MASH frame build-up based on the gray version that I rode Aids Lifecycle on, but now with bullhorns
+ 03 Villain: my first all-in road bike build based on a LOOK KG381 Team from the 2003 Tour de France, currently employing SRAM Rival components for the most part.
+ 04 Ye Blacke Death: an old late 60s Mixte frame now converted to a fixed cargo bike, with moon bars, wood fenders, knobby tyres, a front cargo rack and a front seat for my daughter, Wee Z.
+05 Ghostal: a new-parts build fixie based on an Origin 8 frameset, done in all white with chrome, for science. Not for death. This one is being stripped back down and partially sold.
The rest have either been gifted to friends, or are in use by others, or have been stripped for sale. See, I’m condensing!

how long have you been riding and what started you?
I rode a kids bike as a kid, but no romantic tale of me hurtling along with streamers and a #3 emblazoned on my glitter-tee or anything. In Junior High I started riding a KHS mountain bike around town for the same reasons Lung described: getting outta dodge. That was stolen in early High School, and I upped to my first road bike, a heavy as lead Nishiki which I learned to ride properly for distance despite it’s entry-level, again heavy as LEAD nature. I rode my first event rides on it, my first two day ride, and so on. I mashed the HELL out of that thing, so much so that on a climb in one of the event rides, I bent the teeth on the big chainring. Tells you both the quality of the steel used on that component, and the wrongness involved: I was big gear mashing to catch someone up a hill, which today i would have more sense that to do (assuming I had ANY gear choices at hand)… That guy expired and was abandoned when my parents moved, but I was in college at that point, riding a mountain bike, as it was windy and hilly and I was more interested in off road hurtling and alcohol consuming than distance endurance efforts. I upgraded to a much better, aluminum mountain bike when I first moved to SF, but after a few years, while I DID enjoy the shock absorption and relative hardiness while plowing through all the glass and shrapnel on Oak street, I longed for the road bike days of my youth. I bought a 2000 Bianchi Veloce, my first real road bike of relative quality (still consumer level, but with better components and racing geometry) and rode that through all the events and years of commuting before selling it to my man Lung after I had upgraded to my first pro-grade Look. From there, it got out of hand, as events conspired to force me to re-evaluate the one bike for all rides mentality, and Lung taught me to wrench.

do you wear a helmet and why or why not?
Absolutely. I ride all my ‘real rides’ with a helmet, as I do my commutes. I also admit I irrationally forego it on short jaunts to coffee while at work, or similar, but there’s no logic to that. I don’t believe helmets make you a safer rider. But I do believe they protect you THAT MUCH MORE, so why not, right. Definitely has proven a life-saver for me at least three times in my life where I’ve seen the split helmet foam.

favorite shop? why?
Too many, too many. Like Lung, it’s my own bike basement. But also locally, it’s Tam Bikes. I like the pedigree and eccentric selection at Bike Odyssey, but I know the guys at Tam Bikes, so. In SF, I prefer American (fixed side)…

clip or clipless?
I rode, at one point, SPD and Speedplay and Look clips… but now I condensed to all SPD to give me the most flexibility, even though it’s my least favorite system. Some of my townie fixies have half-and-half pedals, SPD on one side, platform on the other.

ride with headphones?
exclusively.

sponsors or teams/gangs/clubs you are a part of?
http://www.teamlopetyreclubbe.com is our life’s blood, ride crew wise. Team Lope started as Jeff Muadib Marks and I, in event rides and centuries we would do together. Then Lung got in on it and it evolved from just being the name used on group road rides, and became a way of life, seriously. Build it yourself, modernize it, give it a new use, funkify it, avoid style rules, push your limits and have fun riding. And anyone in the Bay Area that wants to ride with us, let it be known and come along. In 2011 we’ll be posting notice of our planned rides so you can hop aboard appropriately. We have some local riders who’ve expressed interest in joining us on the road, and we love it. Almost as much as we love taking climbs with roadies who stare at us. Heh.

fav. race?
I’ve never raced. I’ve always pursued my personal best, of course. Every commute ride is a time trial, every road ride where there’s a rider somewhere up ahead means I’m in 2nd place and need to catch them. But overall, never done crits or anything. I enjoy watching professional road racing, though the politics, business and scandal of the sport hurts the vibe. Tole you what though, if we had a velodrome, I’d give it a go.

fav. place to ride or route(s) in SF ?
Tough one, same. I really enjoyed my commute because it was all water’s edge, had climbs, and was beautiful, both in scenery and people-watching, if you know what I mean, and I think you do. My favorite city riding memories are the weekend morning noodles with Lung, takin it ‘teazy, having a cup of coffee, doing dorky bike errands. My favorite roads to ride, anywhere, though are where the trees overhang on either side and create long arched vaults of dappled lighting, and you have some undulation in the road. Good stuff.

fav. person(s) to ride with?
i prefer to ride alone, but of course my boy Lung.
As I’ve gotten older, and family life has taken a stronger grip on my social time AND free time, I’ve especially looked forward to group rides as a way to get the band back together in the first place.

dope chill spot?
Coffee shop! But only at the beginning of a real long ride, not in the middle. I’m looking at you Eric.

why SF (lung edit : you can put your own city, but just specify it)?
I love SF. Other cities I’ve enjoyed riding were Paris, Seattle, Dusseldorf.

what do you do for work?
Architect by day, comic artist by night [ http://www.thirdraildesignlab.com ]

best and worst thing(s) about riding in SF?
Honestly, it’s not SF specific but cultural: I love riding where I live, where there are a great number of diverse riders on the road, lots of choices of route, lots of funky rides to be inspired by, and enough of a rider presence to give us some leverage politically in local legislative issues. On the other hand, the sword cuts both ways: I strongly dislike riders with elitist attitudes, riders who ride 3 wide and block traffic, riders who ride so unpredictably that car drivers grow angry, and trouble makers who happen to be on bike. All these come with the territory when you are in a bike city. And regardless of what Portlandia posits, cities like ours may have a plethora of tall bikes and fixies and fun bikery going on, but we’re still at the mercy of aggressive drivers, and that’s always the biggest dampener on my riding pleasure. So any ride that goes off without conflict is a treat! I aim for those!

Follow this topic in the R3 Forum here!

Related posts:

1. TLTC Ride Report: ALC9 – Wrongrobot
2. Bike Build Process Log: Fix-e 3.0
3. Bike Build Process Log: Rapscallion – Live Load Test Ride

Day 5 of my return to the saddle went great in all the usual, expected ways: the roads were dry and fast, my cadence was clean, and it was a great, if cold, day for my commute. I took Crook in, and ended up staying far later at the office than anticipated. And much to my chagrin, I blew my own process: I took my good light system home, but didn’t bring it back (I got confused int he morning, thinking i left it at the office, like a dope) so here I was, ready to go, and no lighting. Fortunately I have back up conventional Cateye lighting for this reason. I had to use a cardboard wrap to shim the handlebar mount for the light, but I got it up on there. I wasn’t happy about the light quality: here in Marin, the cars are fast and the ambient lighting approaching Mt Tam is poor, so while it’s true that bike lighting really just illuminates YOU, not the road, anyway? This wasn’t enough for comfort. I had a rear blinkie already on, so what I did was strap a second full size rear red LED on blinker mode to the front next to the main light. I figured I could use all the help I could get.

And good thing too, because a Porsche buzzed me on the curve on Shoreline close enough for all my leg hairs to tickle (yes, well, it’s winter. I haven’t shaved) so he wasn’t seeing me.

As you can see, not really much more bike-detection illumination than running dark, but perhaps just enough to keep me alive.

That night: murder, I felt! But just missed.
Anyway, another ride survived and another day in the saddle without injury. My doc says I have a ways to go, but at least my riding isn’t making any healing worse.

Follow this topic in the R3 Forum here!

Related posts:

1. Back in the Saddle, Day 6: Let it Be Known
2. Back in the Saddle, Day 01: Wrongbike
3. Back in the Saddle, Day 2: Villain

Who needs new water bottles?
Not I, says the kid. However, these would be high on the list…
Histogrammerific…

http://mash.myshopify.com/collections/a … ottle-22oz

Follow this topic in the R3 Forum here!

Related posts:

1. MASH grayscale histogram kits are SICK
2. One of the Best MASH Histogram Products Yet
3. de la paz x MASH

An Xmas gift from my sister-in-law… you see what they did there. Actually, my favorite part, aside from the general nukulurr doftness of the shirt itself, is that the ‘connection point’ has been pixelated.

You know, so it’s not too offensive.

Follow this topic in the R3 Forum here!

Related posts:

1. wrongrobot’s right shirts : don’t slow down
2. Bike Build Process Log: Ghostal – Make it Stop!
3. Never Ride Your Bike and Make a Cell Call

« More Current — Less Current »