BIKE TO WORK DAY IS COMING!

it is great to see that calgary's edition is getting bigger and more organized. also, very heartening to see the city actually getting behind this in a big way. in the past, this event has been run in the month of april - basically killing any possibility of it being well attended due to notoriously cold weather that is still around.

if you have the option of riding to work on this day, and if you care about cycling in calgary - take the time to ride down to eau claire for some FREE yummy flapjacks and sausage. it appears the weather is going to cooperate too!

pictures are here...

THE "NEW" HARDCORE!

found here...

LITTLE 500


this classic race is happening this weekend - the same race that inspired the movie "Breaking Away", which won an Oscar for best screenplay. over 25,000 people come out to watch the race, with separate mens and womens events. the teams consist of 4 riders each, using the same bike which is setup with a singlespeed/coaster brake. it is run as a relay with teams entering a "pit" area to make the transfers and the track is a flat gravel skin eater!

there is a good article here with more info on the event. if you havent seen the film, its worth a watch - i especially like the scene where the main character is drafting a truck down the hiway at 60mph - in the small chainring!

or maybe its the scene where his dad catches him shaving his legs and singing opera.

in fact, i think my favorite for real is when one of the riders from the italian "cinzano" team takes his frame pump and stuffs it into the protagonists front wheel - during a race! really - who carries a frame pump in a race?

anyway, a good movie, that still stands the test of time.

UPDATE - more on this story, and a video of the finish of this years race here...

CARGO BIKE RACING!


Svajerløb 2009 - Danish Cargo Bike Championships from Colville Andersen on Vimeo.

HAPPY EARTH DAY!

FRENCH RABBIT CABSAV AND MERLOT 2007

i have been searching around looking for more wine selections featuring bicycles on the labels, or bicycling culture in one way or another without much success. while these next selections may not appear to fall under my "cycling wines" category - appearances can be deceiving.

specifically, the appearance (and construction) of the packaging.

if you have ridden bikes whislt consuming/transporting alcoholic beverages, you have definitely dropped said beverage(s) at one point or another. i have lost full bottles of red wine out of my bottlecage - at full speed (trying to beat a red light), dropped 2-4's off my handlebars and otherwise mistreated perfectly harmless liquor. this is always sad.

no worries with this "bottle" of wine. being of the species tetrapak makes this wine perfect for transporting by bike. no broken bottles in a pannier. no ejecting-vino from your bottle cage. lightweight too!

we wont even talk about the twist-off, replacable cap and a shape that fits a bottlecage perfectly!

so, the first one we tried was the merlot 2007. full disclosure, i thought this wine was going to be very average beacuse of the funky "bottle" - however i was very happily surprised by the fruity bouquet and the refreshing flavours. it was actually really good! i am not going to even try to give you some wine-snob-hoity-toity-oaky-tannin shitspeak. its tasted great. i followed the temperature recommendation on the packaging - 16c - and it was very refreshing and yummy.

FILE THIS VIDEO UNDER "HOLY SHIT!"



found here...

DE RONDE VAN COWTOWN REPORT

pictures are here...


24 brave souls assembled at eau claire market, ready to tackle the daunting task of 18 climbs in 78km - with some climbs approaching 20% grades!

the day was pretty much perfect, not too much wind (early on at least), glorious sunshine, and light traffic. the course markings (hi-tech spraypainted arrows) were easy to follow, and the suffer faces on the riders - sensational!

fergus and bix beer market welcomed our shattered legs and lungs with tasty pints, yummy eats and a well deserved rest.

great job to the 8 (out of 24) riders that completed the entire course. for the rest of you (well, me included) - you now have some training to do in preparation of next years event. see you all then!

special mention has to be made for Leon - he rode the entire course on a singlespeed road bike - ridiculous! when asked at the pub post ride if he would do it again, his answer was - "are you fucking kidding? not a chance! i dont know what i was thinking"!

no shit dude! did you look at the map???

SUNDAY NITE IN CALGARY!



here is an audio interview with the filmakers. one of the CUFF programmers was on cbc radio1 this morning talking about the screening and apparently there will also be some bike jousting going on too. should be fun! get your tickets early as this film has sold out in other cities.

CADBURYS BICYCLE FACTORY PROJECT



now all you chocolate lovers can indulge your vice AND help send bicycles to africa at the same time. i must admit that this project gives me warm fuzzys all over - probably because chocolate is so yummy and now that yummy feeling can tickle your charity bone too - all at the same time!

cadburys chocolate is super-good already, now it just got even better! i hope i win the trip to africa - how kickass would that be?!

now, stop reading, go buy some cadburys chocolate and visit the link at the top of this post. do your part and feel good all over.

hello from "tunder baie"!

well...what can i say about this place....hmmm....home of the sleeping giant. i took a drive up to the lookout at mt.mckay today to take in the view of "the giant" and the surrounding area - pretty cool actually. i wish i had my camera - le sigh - so instead, just click on the link above.

travelling here yesterday had us flying over winnipeg, and if you have been paying any attention to the news lately youll know that southern manitoba is dealing with some very severe flooding. how bad is it? pretty bad. from the window of the plane the flooding is beyond description - water overland as far as you could see south of winnipeg, looking very much like a small inland sea. i heard on the radio today that the city of winnipeg has declared a state of emergency and is requesting 600+ more people to help fill sand bags. crazy!

man-o, am i glad i live on top of a hill!

today will involve me running around doing my sales rep thing - and then - and then - i am planning on going to see "the united steel workers of montreal" tonite. its either this show or the cannible corpse show - not sure i need to stoke my tinnitus further at that one! bleeding ears can be fun too, non?

it will be nice to get out and see some live music tonite - being on the road can be a drag sometimes but live music usually makes it all ok.

SPEEDPLAY PEDAL MUSEUM


Epicurean Cyclist - The Pedal Museum from Russ Roca on Vimeo.

found here.

GOLDEN POLO REPORT


my pictures are here...

hats off to the the GTBF - good job!

considering how early in the spring this tourney was held, and how ominous looking the clouds were all weekend - the rain and snow stayed away long enough for the teams from east van, calgary, and golden to start the polo season off with a bang. many of us expected that one of the east van teams would eventually walk away with the title - and sure enough, the team of martin, john and polly cleaned up - but not without a fight from the "old sods" grasscourt team from calgary - consisting of the franzky, bolno and mike.

the weekend events started off with an "alleycat" in golden on saturday night. with a light rain falling, we set off in search of the checkpoints. a few of us ended up getting lost and as a result did not complete the course - opting to head to the finish and get some beers in us instead. i think john from east van was first and polly from east van was second.

sunday dawned with beautiful sunshine and much anticipation for the polo action to come. i wont even try reporting on the matches - just look at the photos and add in your favorite sports commentator voice. personally, i'll never forget howard cosell's voice.

well done golden, see ya in july and hopefully again next spring!

THIS WEEKEND!



there seems to be quite a bit of excitement amongst my friends about this first polo tourney of the season. i think it has alot to do with the horribly long, snowy, and cold winter we had this year - however - i think the excitement is also being generated by the simple fun of bikepolo mixed with a roadtrip to the mountains with buddies.

i am planning on taking lots of pictures and will post them here next week.

happy easter! if you are of the jebus persuasion, well, right on! for the rest of you, eat lots of chocolate, setup an easter egg hunt, and enjoy the the long weekend!

f80

bagged it today - using the venerable bragg creek ride via Hwy#8. 2h45m ride time. at the time of typing this i feel really good, however, ask me in 2 days to get the real story cuz after doing the f60 i was not able to walk for three days after! when i decided to start doing more "road" rides on the fixie i was concerned that the hills (going up) was going to be the toughest part - but i am quickly beginning to realize that the uphills are not as bad as 30km of tailwind at 110rpm - thats hard!

i was hoping to provide you with a fancy-schmancy GPS map but unfortunately my garmin305 died 15km from home.

you'll just have to take my word on it.

SLOW BIKE RIDE CLOTHING


it is extremely gratifying to see that the bike business is finally starting to produce bike-riding-specific clothing that...is designed for cycling, designed to look great, and designed to make you look good on a bike!

why must you look like a racer when riding? why cant we have cycling-specific-urban-chic for all?

this is not the only company selling stylish bike clothing. here are a few other links to check...

osloh clothing
red boots
dromarti
swrve
yakkay

now - the real challenge - where to find this stuff in calgary? any investors out there who want to help me set up a distribution business?

Slow Bike Ride


a few more pics here...

DE RONDE VAN COWTOWN


View Larger Map
inspired by one of the toughest one-day bike races in the world - the tour of flanders - and some guys in portland who have been doing a similar ride in the portland area for a couple years now - i present to you - Le Ronde Von Cowtown.

78kms of "hellingen", begininng in eau claire and finishing at fergus and bix pub. the route is mostly pavement, sprinkled with the odd gravel section or busted tarmac. the ride takes you through many of calgary's urban neighbourhoods - eventually heading up COP road and tackling the hills in coach hill and springbank areas.

UPDATE - i went out today (apr4) in an attempt to ride the loop. i was unable to finish the circuit, as my digits began complaining at the cold wind blowing - however - the course from eau claire to cote de mackay was completed and i must say it is pretty tough. i was even forced to walk a short section of the mur de alley climb - next time i'm gonna crush that section!

CALGARY MTB FILM AND PHOTO FESTIVAL TONITE!


if you are a facebook'r - here is the event page

NICE!


A Taste of The Toast from Michael on Vimeo.