Just a reminder- Rockysprints tonight at 317, 8ish PM.
Saturday's sprints at the Muleterro party was awesome- it was great to see so many folks punish themselves.

See you tonight-

-DNA

Sorry for the super short notice. At tonight's Muleterro fête we will be bringing the Rockysprints pain. You've been warned.

8PM Tonight. American Legion, downtown Bozeman.

See you there.

-DNA

I got a call from a good customer this morning. He said he's got a fixie that he found in the road last night. It's silver and has drop bars. If you think it's yours, get in touch with me- bozeman.bike@gmail.com. Then get a lock, mmmkay?

Got this at the shop email today.
Seems suspect.

* Note the use of gnarly rock music.

Says Robin Hamilton, sponsor of HB68, which would legalize Idaho-style stops: " I think it’s going to die. The cycling community didn’t show up at the hearing to support it."

Huh? Mr. Hamilton, next time you introduce a bill that directly involves Montana's cycling community maybe do a Google Search for cycling groups in Montana and maybe send out a couple of emails. I found out about this from someone on Twitter who's in Portland!

Ok, so now that I've got that out of the way, HB 68 is an attempt to emulate a law that Idaho has had on the books for 27 years. Under the law, bikes are allowed to roll through stop signs (provided it's safe...duh) as if they are yield signs. Essentially, this legalizes how most people ride, and I'm fine with that despite my normal position that the fewer special rules for bikes, the better. As far as I know, they are not attempting to include wording that allows cyclists to treat red lights like stop signs (as in Idaho).

Anyway, here's the original bill (pdf), and a list of representatives, so you can find yours.
Send out some emails, show our representatives that yes, cyclists do give a shit!

-DNA

Monday, January 19th. Come on down to 317 for another season of Rockysprints! 8pm.

-DNA

You are not tough.  At least not as tough as this Mountain Dew machine located in the Amtrak station in Havre, Montana. 

Bozeman Bike Polo 2008 - the year in review.

i <3 Bozeman Bike Polo

Answering the age old question...



The original is here

Sometimes, we ride our bikes in order to also skate ski, lest anyone think we have one track minds or anything. We're well rounded people around here.

Last night as I was riding my bicycle home from a pleasant dinner party I gained new insight into my life.  A Jeep Cherokee speeding by me on Olive street let me in on a little secret that it seems I would have known about myself but apparently didn't - that I'm a faggot. 

I've always found myself attracted to the fairer sex and have even dated a few of them with pretty good success.  So you can imagine how much it took me by surprise to learn that not only I, but apparently all bicyclists are faggots.  According to this speeding prophet who was so excited to share his news, stuck his whole head out the passenger window to inform me that, "Only faggots ride bikes!" 

I was quite taken aback by this news as it means not only am I a faggot, but apparently all the people I've been hanging around with lately.  Now I'm a pretty sensitive guy when it comes to peoples life choices and I thought I had a pretty good sense of who people are but this new information has proved me wrong.  I have some friends who I'd have never guessed were faggots.  But, according to the wise man in the Jeep on Olive street those friends of mine are all just faggots. 

So in conclusion I welcome all the faggots in the land to stand up, quit being shy of your faggotness and let the world know just how faggoty you are.  And that you're proud to be a faggot.  Long live faggots! 

Anyone who knows me knows that while I love bikes and ride bikes daily, I still really like cars. However, I'm not a fan of this whole bailout thing, and while I won't get into it here, I will put this up:
See the rest of the story here.
EDIT: Originally from here.

-DNA

Anybody wanna play some polo tonight? eh?

Get your friends, and get to the place at 7.

Today I set up a couple of Utterli groups, one for this blog, and one for the Practical Pedal.
For you normal folks, Utterli takes Twitter a step further by allowing text, audio, and visual posts via computer or cell phone. There's a bit of a Facebook-like quality with Utterli as well, since one can create groups which anyone can belong to. Fix Utterli updates will show up on the big white box to the right. The hope is that stuff not really worth putting a whole post about will end up there.
So yeah, we're going to throw more useless content at you. We're nerds, what can I say?


utterli.com/TheBozemanFix
utterli.com/PracticalPedal

-DNA

If you've ever wondered what it would be like to be your computer on acid while getting hit by lightning enough to send a video to Marty's grandparents in the future and checking it on Compuserve express delivery pants game.

Yes, it's a game. (?)

Over on Fixed Gear Gallery, there's a little discussion about the MPLS Fixed site and forum. Now, I've been accused of being pretentious and snotty (it's lonely at the top, but it's comforting to look down upon everyone on the bottom), and then there's the tri-geek who beat up the cyclist who recommended that he get a light, but I think that the MPLSF guys take the cake.

"Please explain, in a paragraph or more, why you would like to join MPLSFixed and what you hope to gain from - and contribute to - this forum, Single sentence applications like "I like bikes" will not be approved."

To which I propmtly tried to join in, because one of the only thing better than snorting in derision towards the lowly geared riders is hanging out with people who are almost as good as me.



Think I'll get in?

-DNA

Cap'n E picked hisself up a load-haulin' bike that wants to out load-haulin' bike THE load-haulin' bike. Naturally, this prompted the Practical Pedal folks to propose a little Madsen / Xtracycle shootout.

Time to haul some schitt!!

Those of you in Bozeman noticed that since the weather a few days back the streets are a bit slick. And now, after a couple of days, some salt, and some sunshine they're also pretty messy.

That does not mean, however, that you need to stop commuting by bike, much less stop having fun riding through town.

For fun and effective winter riding, you need to focus a bit more on three things: Tires, clothes, and fenders.

Tires: Carbide Studded. That's it (for BZN, at least). Anything less than two carbide-studded tires won't do crap. Sorry, that's how it is. There's one discount brand (Innova) with hardened steel studs but those tend to wear out faster than the MASH SF crews' rear tires.

Good studded tires are expensive- there's no way around it. But if you're serious about winter commuting they're necessary. Can you imagine a tennis player without wristbands? Exactly.
Expect to spend about $150 on a set. Think of it as an investment (they'll last a few years) and insurance (you'll (usually) stay upright). Now that you've made the decision to get a set, you need to decide on what width. In 700, Schwalbe makes a 35 and 45mm. I've got the 35's, so I might be a bit biased.

But that's only 'cuz they ROCK. Nokian makes 45's as does Kenda. Personally, I prefer the Schwalbe's tread for street use. In 26" the narrowest I've seen is 1.8, again by Schwalbe. Full size 26x2.1 and wider can be had by Nokian and Kenda, but if you're looking for the best all-around winter commuter tire, go with the thinnest you can. A wider tire tends to feel a bit more stable and predictable on glare ice, but will wander and drift when you hit deep/churned snow and slush. Thinner tires with a more rounded profile will cut through the thick mashed-potatoey snow a lot better.

Clothes: Multiple thin layers. Preferably wool. This morning, at 9 degrees I had thin Smartwool underwear top and bottom. Mid-thick wool socks, my favorite Endura knickers, Nike soft-shell jacket, a thin cap under my helmet, and fleese-lines leather hardware store gloves rounded out my ensemble. Since I ride clipless, I got a pair of Pearl Izumi GTX Mid GoreTex cycling shoes. A little bit spendy, but less than dedicated winter cycling shoes and they still provide decent warmth. They also look like sneakers.
Aim for being a bit chilly when you first get on the bike, that way you're less likely to get overheated a few minutes into your ride. Sunglasses with lightly-tinted lenses help to keep yer eyeballs from freezing!

Fenders: You wanna know what's worse than having your girlfriend (or boyfriend) find out your secret miniature dachsund puppy porn collection? Bike commuting without fenders. Really. Even when the temps drop to well below freezing there's still plenty of the messy slushy stuff that will get flung onto your crotch from both wheels. How's that sound, Mr. Poopy-pants?


I'm also a fan of fixed-gear bikes for winter. And summer. Spring and fall too. Anyone who wants to maximize their riding vs. maintenance time should consider one. Plus you have more control in the snow and ice. Unless you're riding like this guy.


-DNA

Incidentaly, this is what happens when you mix alcohol and......well thats usually all you need to cause an incident such as this. The snow doesn't help but in all likelyhood this would have happened just as easily on dry pavement. Note the location of the victim v/s the bike. Clearly this guy was high-sided. Clearly!