Kickin it back old-skool!

I'll be up front about this. It's mine, so I'll not be included in the voting. But I didn't want to excuse myself from all the fun.


edit: In case you're wondering who the guy on the right is.


-DNA

It's Tuesday, and you know what that means...

Right now at The Kitchen I have two individuals who are engaging in a little carpentry project. Hey I know the chicken coup we're operating out of isn't glamourous, but that is no reason not to fix it up a little. My point is that even if you aren't the best mechanic, there are still ways to contribute.

If you don't have any idea what this is all about, you can check The Kitchen out on the ultranets OR just stop by tonight. We're just behind (south of) the adult learning center off of Durston (SW of 11th and Durston). Listen for the good vibe. BTW, things usually get rolling around 6:15.

C

The included instructions said to include this statement:

"Greetings fair weather protesters. Bring us something substantive and we'll respond in kind. Until then, you get what you give. So, while we're ready to share, you will continue to feel put upon. Tough.

Casey"

Staring a computer screen all day does two things. What things you ask? Well, it makes me fat(ter), and it makes me stir crazy. How fat you ask? Real fat.

Update: By 'Staring a' I of course meant 'Staring at a'. Now you see how effing nuts staring at a computer makes me. I loose all skill with grammar and/or spelling.

Here's a link to sEtOH's pics of the Clunker Downhill. I didn't even ride and I had a good time. Imagine what you missed...

C

This week we're going to have to switch the day we play polo. The Bicycle Benefits people are putting on a movie night at the Emerson where they're showing Rad and Breaking Away. And I want to be there. So,

We'll play Polo THURSDAY night this week, ok? Let me know if that presents any problems. Same time.

-DNA

...with a Haiku:

The Protest
a Haiku by John Parker

It was saddening
to see the signs held out
rolling by, said "hi"

Here's the details. We'll meet at Spectator's at 2pm (so you've all got plenty of time to get over your hangover) and we'll pack up and head on up to Moser. Greg knows that area well, so we can ride a few different trails and the road if we wanted an all-out drifting extravaganza. Casey can't ride yet, so he graciously offered to run the shuttle.
You can pretty much ride whatever bike you want, as long as it's not a mountain bike from 1990 - present. Cruisers, 80's era mtbs, whatevah.
Shoot me an email if you have any questions.

-DNA

Yes, he did it with MS Paint. Great jorb!

-DNA

Here's a good entry for the Photoshop/GIMP contest:

So. Who's got something to bring to the party? I'll extend the deadline to next Wednesday. Fuel for fire and all that.

-DNA

So an early morning Mtb ride turns quasi epic. Luckly for the C-note it turns out to
be a A/C joint and or rotator cuff injury.

Ok, so there's a pretty heated discussion going on over at New West about an article regarding some off-trail protesting of a mountain bike ride. John, Greg, and a few others from MMBA were the subjects of said protest. Anyway, read John's post on the Trail Report and the article at New West.
Then the fun starts. They provided a picture of the three of them protesting. In the spirit of FARK's very irreverent Photoshop contests, I'm going to do something similar. Get the original picture here, do with it what you will to, uh, 'improve' it (nothing obscene, keep it rated R-ish), and send it to me at bozeman.bike@gmail.com. I'll resize and post them, then we'll vote for the winner. Winner gets a pair of Native Triumph sunglasses (ret. value $100), Courtesy of Stan with Native (I know, you said use 'em for an alleycat. I thought this would be fun).
If you don't have Photoshop and can't afford it (or don't want to steal it) you can get GIMP for free here. I've been using it for a couple of years now and I'm a fan.

Okay? GO! The contest ends Sunday. This Sunday. Get them mouses working!

p.s. if the image gets pulled I saved it on my compy. No worries.

-DNA

Old bikes, cruisers, anything but modern mountain bikes. This Sunday afternoon, probably Moser in Hyalite.
A few of us are going to get together for a nice Mt. Tam style clunker downhill. We'll shuttle via truck and send someone down first with a walkie-talkie to make sure the path is clear. Then we'll drink some cheap beer. So get your ratty old jeans and flannel (unless it's hot) and an old cruiser and stay tuned for the details. Nothing competitive, no prizes- just fun.


-DNA

Last week good. This week GREAT! Even with the Bite of Bozeman going on, it was flat out awesome.

POLO IS ON IN FULL EFFECT!!!!

Thirteen fellas and some Hella good games. That's right, Hella Good. Wednsday nights. 7:30pm ish Hawthorne School playground. Be there 'cause we're all squares.

Here are the pics of the Curly Lake ride. I posted a meager description on the Trail Report. Go ride it. It's fun.

After an interlude last Tuesday, due to me nearly getting blown to Oz in a thunderstorm, the Bike Kitchen will be up and running this evening at, or around, six pm. The Kitchen is located just north of the bleachers, which are just north of the field north of the high school...bring a compass. We get bicycles in the hands of people who need them, and we rely on you to help us do that.

Polo happens tomorrow at the Hawthorn school, somewhere between the Great Lakes and the Midwest. I'll be there with the mallets around 7:30. If you're going to drink, keep it discreet!

C

I won't lie to you. I had some fun this last weekend. I wish I had it in me to discuss it in detail. But, frankly, a gentleman doesn't speak. Suffice to say that word on the street is that something of this nature will happen regularly. For those of you that missed out...you missed out

Here are the pictures. Buy the way, Ruben fell into a pothole the size of a kiddy pool and then laughed about it and asked me to take a picture. He was either drunk (likely) or just thought it awesome (also very likely as Ruben is awesome).

Shit might be off the hook next weekend, keep your ear(s) to the ground.

100

Booooo "No Trick Riding"

Hooray Beer!

Is the Apocalypse Nigh?

If you read BSNYC, and if you are reading this chances are that you do, then you are likely familiar with Snob's rants about the impending fided gear apocalypse. Well I put it to you that an impending sign of the coming rapture is the "Zumiez" like "Fixies". Clearly this type of store is approaching our reality like a recession in our econmy. As a hick boy in the big city it takes very short amount of time to notice how things are vastly ahead of our own town. Hipsters are everywhere. Everywhere you look; tight and I mean jumped into tight, jeans are pedaling bikes. More often than not they are fixies. I see the day when the local mall has a "Fixies" store for all the up and coming hipsters get there garb. Everything from ironic t-shirts and CHIPS sunglasses to tightpants and bowler hats, all comercialized and marginalized the way of punk rock in the 90's. America, is that really
you?

Ok, so alot of people do ride bikes here. But there are over a million people in the city limits. My question is simply, how many people per capita ride bikes here in the Rose city? Threre is no doubt that Portland has superior infrastucture for cycling. You cant cross the street here without tripping over a bike lane! To boot, all of the mass transit systems, trains and busses acomidate bicycles. Easy to get on the train and take your bike, get off the train and keep riding. Fantastic.

Tonight's (7/25/08) pubride will include a barbecue at an undisclosed location. But, much like an alleycat, you have to be at the beginning to find out where the end is. So be at Chalet at eight, with bells on (not literal bells, you'll get laughed at downtown).

C Note

Being in a very cycling friendly city such as I am, I wonder why more Portlanders dont ride. I am currently sitting near the heart of the beast and honestly, where are all the bikes? I am doubtful that per capita, more people ride bikes in Portland than Bozeman.

Who Makes the Coolest Stuff?

Hint: "Pretty and Strong"

Chris King Precision Components are located in NW Portland along the "dirty 30"hwy. Hard to find? kinda. Worth the hassle? oh yeah! Factory Tours? Sadly, no. Not Yet anyway.

Thanks to Cameron for giving a few minutes to chat with a hick Montanan. He told me that even after four years in there new location they are still working on getting the place sorted out. Obviously mfg. is up and running but they are still working on a lot of stuff around the place. For example, the building is still unsigned. Unless you count the outline of the former occupant's sign "River City Textiles". The previous occupant to the textile mfg. was a coffee roaster. Cameron told me the they were building a bistro in the old roaster area. Sounds cool. Hopefully in the near future, factory tours will be on the list.
Thanks Chris King for Making fantastically durable and beautiful stuff......

Next stop.....OREGON BREW FEST!!!

NEXT STOP....KING CYCLE

I'm not really posting this, well I mean I am, but this is our own Captain Entropy corresponding from Portland Or this week. You can check his twitter feed for updates in real time these internets are wonderful. --->

Truly Portland Oregon is the most cycling affluent city in the world. A city where one can find, in the same block, a bakfiets, a pizza joint, and a huffy clad in fur. From the looks of things this bike is the Portland equivalent of the Aspen fox fur boots. Unfortunately I was unable to see the owner of this animabike anywhere. Of course it was early in the morning, perhaps this bike had been left after a raucous night at the bar. It couldn't be that hard to find your fur bedazzled bike outside the bar at 2am, unless this really is a Portland trend and everyone who's anyone is sporting a furbike. Its a good thing I brought my passport cause I am definitely not in America anymore.

We hears things on the streets. And one of the things we hears is that there's a pubride comin yer way. Friday (7/25), meet at Chalet at eight pm (although it would be novel to start a pubride at eight am one of these days) for some booze cruzin'.

Bring yer bike and yer liver.

I'll try not to pull a hamstring playing cricket this time.

C Note

At long last, we had some real games tonight! About eight people (8.5 if you include Ryan, who stayed for two (2) games) showed up. What made me happy: two were new folks, never played polo with us. What made me a little sad: we're a long way from the 25+ we had showing up last year.
I wonder if those missing have a fever....
See you next week: 7:30, Hawthorne School, North Rouse.

-DNA

Bike Kitchen tonight. Polo tomorrow at the Hawthorn school. For those people who don't check timestamps that's Tuesday and Wednesday respectively. We're gonna try to get some teams going so bring yer ringers (to polo I mean, the kitchen is all the same team).

Here at The Bozeman Fix, we are not only bike nerds, but plain old nerds in general.
(Disclaimer: I am writing this on Sunday Morning, kind of recovering from drinking Schlitz and PBR with C-Note last night. My syntax skillz are still asleep.)

Anyway, if your life is monotonous and you need something else on the internets to distract you, I've started a Twitter stream and it gets repeated over there --->
Or go to twitter.com/ChunkStyle.

-DNA (aka ChunkStyle)

Bozeman has this thing called Music on Main, and it's basically evolved into an excuse to drink while walking through the middle of main street. In order to keep everything all benignly American, local bars hand out bright pink wrist bands after people show an ID at the door, and then serve drinks in an 'inconspicuous' plastic cup so people don't have to be alarmed by seeing a bunch of twenty somethings walking around with 'gasp' alcohol. It's amazing how four years of high school so completely dictate everything about how people behave in every single facet of their lives.

Sorry I digress...how does this pertain to bikes? These wristbands have emblazoned on them an admonishment against Montana's second favorite pass-time.



(For those of you not savvy enough with the internets to click on the above picture, it says "DUI, you can't afford it. Be Smart. Ride the Bus" (Not-so-cleverly edited by yours truely)

Me being me, I felt the need to alter it a bit to turn it from a rather preposterous suggestion to a far more practical alternative to something powered by fossil fuels. Seriously, what would you rather do; sit on an odd smelling bus full of strangers (that you waited twenty minutes for), or have a pleasant midsummer evening ride on the most efficient form of transportation yet devised by man?

It reminds me of King Solomon who said 'there is nothing new under the sun'. I've remarked many times to sEtOH, Captain E, DNA, and the Coyote that over the last eight weeks, more and more people have been riding bikes around Bozeman. Every day on my ride into work I see another middle-aged guy wearing a Bell helmet with a neon yellow nylon cover riding an old school touring bike down one of Bozeman's main drags.

What does this all mean? I have no idea. But clearly you are smarter than American Big-Business. Cuz some generic ad company is pushing riding a bus, and true blue patriots are naturally falling into the most spontaneous solution to the sloth of fossil fuel that there is. (OK, Miller isn't really the 'true blue patriot' I'm just as much of a slave to a clever ad campaign as the next idiot. But hey, they play to a certain crowd.)

Whatever. Share the stoke with the other riders you see. They get what so many others continue to refuse. They get what you've probably embraced for far longer than it was fashionable. But hey! They get it! And even if they don't get it, you should help and encourage them until they get it. Cuz the future looks bleak for American obesity and increased habitual cycling has all kinds of benefits. And, even if it weren't for any of those things I know for certain that there is something about riding a bike, and if we get everyone to get that then everything else will be ok.

Be safe out there! Make sure your family knows you care, and tell your friends that they kick ass!

--Hundred Dolla bill ya'll

The first part of this post is me being pissed and the last part is me being stoked, so if you'd rather read the good stuff, skip to the end.



I got the following email from youtube tonight.

Dear Member:

This is to notify you that we have removed or disabled access to the following material as a result of a third-party notification by The Collective Films claiming that this material is infringing:

RockySprints - Seasons Premier: http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=-3MRcRM4vH0

Please Note: Repeat incidents of copyright infringement will result in the deletion of your account and all videos uploaded to that account. In order to prevent this from happening, please delete any videos to which you do not own the rights, and refrain from uploading additional videos that infringe on the copyrights of others. For more information about YouTube's copyright policy, please read the Copyright Tips guide.

If you elect to send us a counter notice, please go to our Help Center to access the instructions.
Be aware that there may be adverse legal consequences in your country if you make a false or bad faith allegation of copyright infringement by using this process.

Sincerely,
YouTube, Inc.

Apparently The Collective thinks that me posting video of ya'll racing RockySprints somehow falls under the jurisprudence of their copyright. I was so irritated about it that I sent them an extremely inappropriately crabby email about it (sue me, it pisses me off when people suck at life).

Here's another example of me 'infringing' on the holy copyright of The Collective (who at this point, can officially kiss my ass). Watch it quick, The Collective's lawyers are probably huddled around computers as you read this waiting to pounce. For anyone from 'The Collective' (what are you, The Borg?) who reads this, it's all in good fun...oh, and get over yourselves, it's not like you're Metallica, actually since there isn't a shred of your intellectual property in anything I posted, you're worse than Metallica. Congratulations, that's hard-core douchebagdom.

I'm sure it's all a 'misunderstanding' just because I mention in the info that it's at the Seasons premier. But c'mon, what do you pay those lawyers all that money for?
>:(

On a happy note The Kitchen was flat out humming tonight. That place is really starting to develop a good vibe. Every week there are new people showing up with this look on their faces that I can't describe, but you can tell that they are stoked to get a bike running. It's a really addictive environment, and I walk out of there every night tired and happy. DNA dropped by and got a 24-inch-wheeled Giant running for a little girl whose parents couldn't really afford to buy her a bike, or get her to soccer practice, since gas is about 30 dollars a gallon now. That's what we get out of The Kitchen, we get to hand somebody something that will make their lives better. If you have the time, money, or spare parts, I promise there are worse places or ways to disseminate them than getting more bicycles on the road for people to get around.

So, I guess I got to see the good and the bad today. I s'pose they call that life and it's up to me to chose to take the good and leave the bad.

Ride safe out there!

C Note

Update:

I got an email reply from the collective. It went like this:


Relax dude. Your video was accidentally caught up in a bigger attempt to get
pieces of our complete film off of youtube so we don't have our material
ripped off. Sorry. You can put it back up if you want and I'll do my best to
make sure it doesn't happen again.

Take it easy.

Jamie - The Collective


I now of course must apologize for equating them with star trek villains and greedy rock stars...and the douche-bag comment may have been a quarter step too far...

I recieved the following in a Bike Kitchen email today.

...tonight the city commission will be working on the buget for 08-09; taylor told us that the streets department will be asking for a large budget increase, part of which will cover a new street sweeper to specifically focus on bike lanes. you can email the entire commission at agenda@bozeman.net

I know there are varied views on bike lanes, but clearly Bozeman is receptive to bikes as traffic. If you feel strongly about how the city spends your tax dollars, then weigh in. We are the practical cyclists in this area and the city commission is deciding on infrastructure for bicycles. What do we want to see happen in Bozeman?

C Note

The next morning we awake, after a surprisingly pleasant fitful sleep. Groggily three of us stumble out of a tent, one out from under a poncho which, being tied to a Big Dummy, stayed up without complaint. The standard early-morning-after-backcountry-revelry thoughts and actions took place. Squint. Rub eyes. Dig in recesses of memory. Did we hang the food? Uhhh. Pretty. Mm. Need coffee. Coffee's in bag. Bag's in tree. *sigh*.
Eventually C-note and Capn. E did retrieve the food and foodstuffs while I sloshed through the marsh to get to the creek to filter some water. Filters work a lot better when they have little to filter.
Time for breakfast. Well, by this time we're pretty ready to get rolling. Oh, and there's that part about two of the six eggs being broken, handily gluing the remaining intact eggs to the container, the container to the inside of the bag. Pop Tarts, then.
We pack up, load the trailers and Xtracycles and head back towards town. We've got a bit of singletrack and the one creek crossing, followed by the eight or so miles of downhill fire road and then ten miles of downhill pavement. Easy.
With the BOB trailer, my bike is fairly stable at speed, requiring a bit more rear brake than normal. It did have a bit of wiggle in turns. I think that if I were to do any long-distance off road touring with a BOB, I'd definitely stick with a hardtail. I don't really like to think about all those lateral loads the swingarm bearings are withstanding. Plus, with half (or thereabouts) of the trailer weight borne by the axle the suspension is doing little for you anyway. Increased unsprung weight and all that.
The ride down goes like this: ride fast, wait. Ride fast, wait. Ride fast, wait. E was taking it easy- he was riding the least off-road capable bike and prairie schooners are not known for good high-speed handling characteristics.
I was a tiny bit concerned when, on the third or fourth time waiting, I noticed that one of the wheels on E's trailer was angled slightly. Positive camber? Interesting.
We take a Pop-Tart break at the bridge, and while E is busying himself bending his trailer axle back a racer-looking guy starts barging on through. We have a decidedly one-sided conversation with him:
"Good morning!"
"grunt ugh grunt" *angry glare*
"Hey, it looks like you're winning! Woohoo!"
*shakes head, mutters something*
"You don't lose any time if you say 'Hi!'"
"mumblegrumble"
I hope he won. I didn't even know there was a race.
Traveling northward, rolling downhill, catastrophe struck.
A smooth fire road, a home-built trailer, a bit of speed, and a single rock. One of the wheels of the trailer ever-so-slightly contacted the rock. The Conestoga pivoted up on the other tire. It kept going, now completely airborne until at 270 degrees the right wheel landed on the ground sort of on its side. The force of impact was too great for the 10mm axle, so it snapped cleanly off at the bearing. But that didn't keep the trailer from rotating about its hitch. Before long, the other wheel managed to snap off in the same way. The result: One wheel-less trailer, two 20" wheels laying on the trail, and about 12 1/4" bearings scattered about.
Unfortunately, I missed all this, as I was about a quarter mile ahead. I did have a passing cyclist say to me,
"Are you with some other guys with trailers?"
"yep."
"Well, I think they're having some problems- they're standing around in the trail and there's parts all over."
When I ride back up the wheels had already been retrieved. We discussed getting the trailer and gear out, settling on merely strapping the Conestoga (sans wheels) to the back of the Big Dummy. C-note took the wheels and we were, once again, off.The rest of the trip was fairly uneventful. A nice, clear, speedy ride on smooth pavement back into town. Well, there was that instance where we were catching up to a guy on a bike on the road when Wiley mutters to me, "Think we can catch him?"
I reply masochistically, "Yeah, let's get him on the climb."
And we did. And he tried in vain to pass us. Hah! On bikes, sometimes, it always is a race. Try to do that with a car.

So we had our first real night of Bike Polo last night. 8-9 peeps showed up, we played some good hard polo. Nice, right? Yes, except that it was obvious that it was the first game in 9 months for all of us. Games were a bit slow, but wrecks hilariously frequent. It seems that there was a bit of a mad skillz disconnect between brain and bike and brain and mallet. And a fixed cog lockring that decided to pop off its hub. The results, directly involving a wall, were predictable and included a bent fork. As everyone got more fired up the incidents of contact became more frequent, until Captain E and I collided spectacularly. I sort of got thrown forward, landing on the side of my front wheel. No big deal, really. Except that when I got up, I had to extract a spoke from the skin on my shin. Yes, it was still attached to the hub and rim. Surprisingly, the wheel is still quite true.
In lieu of gory details and pictures, use this and your imagination:
Next time, I'm wearing pants.

By the way, we're still on next Wednesday for polo. 7:30.

-DNA

Tomorrow we will have bike polo. Last week I dragged the mallets to the Hawthorne School to play, and ended up getting hammered with C-note and the Code Monkeys (also an excellent name for a band) out at the 19th Hole because not enough people showed up. Let's all pull together and do our part to keep this disgrace to our community from happening again.
Polo starts at (or around) 7:30 on Wednesdays, behind the Hawthorne school on Rouse, across from the old library. It's a SCHOOL so be sure to keep any drinking very discreet; dip into your bag of tricks from high school if you must.
For the uninitiated, we play the urban style of bike polo; 10 minute games of 3-on-3 played on pavement or concrete. We *used* to play in a concrete box coated on the inside with infectious diseases and a grotesque shape-shifting monster in the corner and sharpened rusty knives at shoulder height, insuring only the strong of will and skill would play. That is, until the cops came and kicked us out because they were worried about us. (it's my blog, I can tell the story any way I want).

But really, it's a whole lotta fun, you should come and play.

Ok? Tomorrow. 7:30. Polo. Hawthorne School playground.


-DNA

Late last week a few of us talked about a quick bike camping trip up to Mystic Lake. Considering the distance and time frame are relatively short (20 miles, less than 24 hours) we discussed the merits of packing to have fun and to be comfortable rather than to pack light. And since my small backpacking stove was damaged the last time I went on a bike camping trip (by dropping it out of a tree) I was forced- FORCED! to bring my hefty two-burner Coleman stove. Well, since I'm not going to be going light (and I'm not particularly light myself), then why not bring a cast iron frying pan? And a couple of coolers, so we can have nice cold beer. And we'll stop and get some steaks, too. Oh- and a couple (well, more like 4) boxes of wine. And stuff for breakfast.
We met at the shop on Saturday evening. Cap'n E and I had ridden our loaded bikes to work, mine a Specialized mountain bike and his a Redline Mono-Cog converted to an ersatz cyclocross bike with the addition of 27 speeds and drop bars (lovingly referred to as...The Brown Streak). E loaded his gear onto his homemade trailer, a two-wheeled device constructed out of a nordic ski flexing bench, some steel shelf units, two milk crates, self-tapping screws, and plenty of zip-ties. As loaded, with two folding wooden deck chairs jauntily placed on top, it bore a striking resemblance to a Conestoga Wagon,...or the Beverly Hillbillies' truck,
...here it is:
As we shove off, all the minutiae that I forgot to pack start coming back to me- things like food, matches, knife, and a bunch of other small but crucial things. So we take a ride down to Heebs grocery (yes, that's their real name, and no, they're not jewish) for some supplies. In the haze of rushing to get out and the sinus infection I was battling I forgot a few more things after we left Heebs. A quick stop at Joe's Parkway solved that.

Finally, we start heading south (and up). Ten miles of uninteresting asphalt pass. We reach the Sourdough Canyon (aka Bozeman Creek) trailhead and pause for some stretching and airletting from the tires for more traction and coosh. The four of us start out all together, but gradually drift apart the way a slowly-pulled slinky would, with Wiley (fresh off a weeklong Great Divide trip) at the front, followed by C-Note on his road/mountain/city bike/xtracycle mixed-breed, me on the inappropriately fully-suspended Specialized FSR XC and BOB trailer, with Cap'n E navigating the bumps with his trailer. Plenty of sun and a slight breeze made for a quite enjoyable ride.
Once you get to the 5 mile mark, you have a choice of routes to take to the lake. Five more miles of pleasant fire road or two miles of fun (yet challenging- with a long bike) singletrack. Since one of us had a trailer that was wider than the trail, we chose to take the longer route. It was an easy ride until we got to within a half-mile of our campsite. There's remnants of an old earthen dam, and a swift yet small creek that needs to be forded. From there on it's narrow singletrack.
For the final half-mile, I decided to ride behind the Conestoga, thinking that there might be a bit of excitement. For the most part I merely giggled as the thing merrily bounced along, one wheel on the trail and the other trying to mow down some brush. Well, until he encountered a sizable rock:Thankfully, there were no injuries.
We did find a pretty nice spot,and after setting up camp we cracked open some beers and cooked up our dinner,...and drank some more beer and wine,"Guys, close yer eyes sho I don't get anny redeye, kay?"
"uhh, but that will make me look drunk, ride?"
*click*
The rest of the night was campfire, wine, an amazingly clear sky (itsa satellite! no it's the Space Station!), and blissful moments of sleep punctuated by an idling chainsaw sitting next to my head. We all snored, according to Wiley. But he was sleeping under a poncho tied to his bike, so take what he says with a grain of salt.

Later- the return trip.

Polo Tonight!
7pm, Hawthorne School. Across Rouse from the old Library.
Drinking must be discreet.

Woohoo! Living large, car camping with bikes. 2 trailers, 1 Big Dummy, 1 Xtracycle, 4 steaks, 20 cans of beer, 2 boxes of wine, 2 cans of bear spray, and 10 miles to go into National Forest up towards Mystic Lake. One fantastic night.

Yes, it's about damn time. I know.
We're finay going to put on our first alleycat of the year this Sunday. The start is at Centennial Park, which is at the northern terminus of Willson. That's all the locational help you'll get from me.
Show up at 5pm with five bucks and be ready to race.

See you there!

-DNA

Eight hours, one 18" breaker bar and six bottles of High Life later, my car has a new timing belt, replacing a...pretty new timing belt. Oh well, now it's good until 400,000 miles.
This happened while attempting to get the harmonic balancer bolt out. It took a specialty tool (graciously lent to me by a Honda mechanic) with a three-foot long handle and a 1/2" drive breaker bar with a seatpost slid over the handle. And lots of torque. Things went well once I cracked open a Cold Wrench. "That bolt was torqued on in Japan."

Summer just arrived, the weather is beautiful, trails are opening up and for once, it's not (currently) windy. The 24 hour Rapleje race is currently in progress and about half of the local cycling community is over there.
And I'll be working on my car. After going car-free for nearly a year I got a good deal on a well-made car that gets great mileage. Unfortunately I have no idea when the timing belt was changed last, and with 307,000 miles on the clock, it's probably prudent to replace it before I am forced to go car-free once again.

Get out there and ride, folks. I'll be with you in spirit. *sniff*

From the Trail Report

Bozeman local John Parker, co-founder of the Montana Mountain Bike Alliance has been accepted as a semi-finalist in Santa Cruz's annual Hellride. This is no mean feat and just to be picked as a semi finalist you need to prove to the Santa Cruz guys that you've got Moxie. Now John needs the help of his local scene to make it as one of four finalists that Santa Cruz will bring down to Cali to throw down in a 75 mile race involving 12000 feet of elevation change on a decked out Nomad.

Go here to vote. Help John represent Montana!!

The Bozeman Bike Kitchen will be having a bike maintenance clinic this week. It will occur at the Kitchen (north of the high school, just off of Durston and 11th) at 7 pm on Thursday 6/19/08. We will be doing this on a semi-regular basis all summer. The clinics will be lead by a local, professional mechanic, who is one of the very few people I would personally trust to work on one of my bikes.

We won't be performing repairs, but we will get you started with the necessary skills to fix yer own bike.

Send The Kitchen an email if you have any questions. info@bozemanbikekitchen.org

Cheers,
C-Note

I cross posted this on the Bozeman Trail Report.

DNA and I were having a chat last night at the second annual Bozeman Meatloaf and Martini Challenge (I'm not sure if that's the official name, but there was a meatloaf competition and lots of martinis, you get the idea). One subject that came up was our responsibility to other trail users whilst out on a mountain bike ride. I'm not talking about IMBA's rules of the trail, although you should certainly obey those. I'm talking about rules of etiquette, which should govern your behavior towards the people you meet in your travels. This is both because we have obligations to treat our fellow man/woman with respect, and because I'm tired of being treated like a second-class citizen because of certain cyclists who scare the shit out of hikers and make us all look like speed crazed gravity junkies who spend all their time watching X-games and drinking Red Bull.

Be aware of the number of people that may be hiking or riding horses on a particular trail at a particular time, you may either have to check your speed in anticipation of meeting other trail users, or perhaps make some logical decisions about whether you should ride a particular trail at a particular time. Sypes canyon on a Saturday afternoon in June is a bad time to walk your downhill rig to the top and make a 20 mile/hour decent. Ride somewhere else at that time.

Acknowledge other trail users. Say hi. Be friendly. Don't just shoulder past a family of four and be on your way. We're supposed to be having fun out there, share a good vibe with the people that you meet. Leaving people with a good impression of cyclists is probably going to more than anything else to change the sometimes negative light in which we are seen.

Don't intentionally skid on the trail, and especially don't skid up behind hikers. It does trail damage and it frightens people. Again, sometimes you have the responsibility of preemptively slowing down in anticipation of meeting another trail user. There are downhill specific trails for your eight inch rig. Part of riding on a multi-use trail is being aware that other people will be present and adjusting your speed accordingly when you can't see far enough ahead to pass people safely and humanely.

I'm sure there are several other specifics that one could codify, but in general we simply need to apply some Golden Rules to our riding. It is our responsibility as mountain bikers to treat other trail users with respect. Part of the fuel for trail closures is the fact that cyclists appear as a threatening presence to others, we owe it to our sport and our fellows to change that.

Cheers,
C-Note

Ok, so this is a bit out of character for me. No, not the "drinking Olympia while sitting at a bar" part. The "into a BASKETBALL game" bit. You see, I really haven't ever cared for basketball, to me, the game was always something to do in gym class when there's nothing else to do.
But here at 317, when I've been sitting at the bar longer than anticipated (thanks to the owner for giving me a couple of free drinks), and I find myself getting fairly excited about the Celtics/Lakers game. Maybe it's because it brings back high school memories- the last time there was a Boston-LA final I was really into the Red Hot Chili Peppers and BloodSugarSexMagik was new (to the uninitiated- they have a song about Magic Johnson (on Mother's Milk)). Maybe it's the unadulterated competition, Maybe it's the slick, wiley moves each team relies on to score. Which, in an entirely non-linear way conjures up memories of racing alleycats. Regardless, I'm having a hell of a time, getting involved in basketball is a passion I normally eschew.
I suggest you try it sometime.

No, it's not a name of a band (although that's not worst band name ever). This Friday at the Zebra, Big John Bates and the Voodoo Dollz.
If you didn't catch when they came through last year, let these two words pique your interest:

Flaming. Pasties.

See you there.

-DNA

So...it's June right?



We had a rather abbreviated polo game tonight. I think people were scared away by the fact that, even though it's June, it was f*%king SNOWING!

DNA implored the skies for something other than flurries, but alas...



I'm moving to Mexico...

Here's a thought:
Bike polo, this Saturday. 6pm. Just east of the south end of Pete's hill. How do you get there? Go up Pete's Hill, head south until you get to the water tank, then look left (east). There's a bunch of new roads, many of which are nice and smooth fresh pavement. There will be pylons there too. We'll try that spot out until we figure out where we want to play. Ok? See you tomorrow.

-DNA

Well first off It's just stupid. But, stupid is as stupid does so we had to try it. We stumbled across It on the way back from Old Chicago where $1 PBR's were flowing like, well, PBR's. It was located at Smiths where the purvey everything you need for a summer of fun. Food, beer, lawn funiture, Its'. It was not secured to anything so we decided It needed a test ride. Here's C-note on a bit of a pleasure cruise astride the It.
Riding the It can be described in lots of words, but two will do for now, "It sucks". Its hard to pedal, awkward, unstable, and bonus! It comes complete with friction multiplying go cart front wheels. Fantastic!

It's maybe not the most glorious of bike shops, but it's the only one of it's kind...in Bozeman anyway. The Bozeman Bike Kitchen is officially up and running. We didn't have an incredibly numerous turn out for the first work night of the summer, but the folks who did show up were all experienced mechanics who came to throw down on some used bikes.

Amongst the eager volunteers was Steve, who is not only a ridiculously qualified mechanic that showed up with an entire bike shop in the back of his Suby, he also brought a portable sound system, with which he turned me on to Groove Armada. My iPod hasn't played anything else since.

I'd say we got three or four bikes together on our first night. I considered it a good start, since we're trying to get ten bikes up and running to provide to a local chapter of Americorps, who will then distribute these bikes to local persons in need of viable, affordable transportation. We're also trying to get weekly bicycle maintenance clinics going, but at this point I'm not sure exactly when that will happen.

So, if you have mediocre/exceptional (or no) skills as a mechanic, and (most importantly) you think that bicycles are a good way for people to get around, send the Bike Kitchen an email at info@bozemanbikekitchen.org, or better yet, come down on Tuesday nights at 6:00 pm. We're located just north of the high school on Durston Ave and we are always looking for help getting bikes ready for people looking to find a responsible way to get around.

We're also very happy to except donations of used, but quality (no 'huffys'!) parts and bikes. So, if you've got an old 80's roadbike sitting in the garage that you want to get out of the way of your lawnmower, we'd love to put it to use as someone's commuter.

Just to be clear, the mission of the Kitchen is first and foremost to provide transportation options to those in need. If you have a bike you need fixed so that you can get around, please see us. If you're just looking for a frame to build a chopper, you'd be better off cruising garage sales.

Cheers,

C-Note

I posted this elsewhere, but thought it had relivance here...

I just don't understand what manner of insecurity evokes people to yell out of the window of a moving car towards a cyclist.

DNA and I were at some local bars tonight and on my way home I broke the chain on my fixie (try to avoid this if you can). For some reason, after retrieving my broken chain from Durston avenue, a drunken gentleman in the passenger side of a half-ton Chevy pickup felt the need to yell 'there's no blahblahblah in Bozeman, you Fuck'. In general, this would elicit a U lock thrown though the window from me, but on this particular night I only felt disdain tinged with ambivalence, yes I'm serious, I felt completely ambivalent.

The normal anger this act would elicit any other time just wasn't there. In that moment I went past feeling anxiety about drunken idiots driving motor vehicles to feeling far superior to those insecure enough that they feel the need to yell obscenities at people on bicycles. I don't really understand why people think driving a particular type of mechanical conveyance is reason to feel important. You bought a car? Great. That says nothing about your character, it only speaks to your credit rating. If you're not sure what the difference is between your credit rating and your worth to society, well, you prolly shouldn't be reading this blog.

I will state emphatically, at this point, that people who ride a bike to work every day do, in fact, think that people who drive everyday (you) are weak. You're not just being insecure, people on bikes feel superior to people in cars. We've tried to hide it for years, but to no avail. After enough passive-aggressive incidents, it's bound to come out. We think daily drivers are soft and pathetic, and that you have made yourselves unwitting slaves to that which makes you ripe for enslavement. Granted, that's harsh, but the world's a harsh place. Now, slowly take your foot off of the accelerator and put the power to the pedal. It'll be ok, I promise. I've done this for hundreds of miles now.

I am ambivalent to someone issuing inanity out of the window of a car because I find those who drive daily beneath my concern. So, pay four dollars for a gallon of gas America. You are weak, and soft, and you deserve to reap the reward of your slovenlyness.

C-Note

Last night at 317 we had our final night of RockySprints. Amidst teary goodbyes we all did a big group hug and reminded each other that, yes, in a mere few days, we will be getting back together for some


Bike Polo!


So let's get together at the basketball court behind the school across from the old library. Is it the Hawthorn school? I sure don't know. But it's on Rouse, and I'm pretty sure that it's the only elementary school on that road, so if you're the slightest bit unsure then just keep riding up and down Rouse until you find it. Meet there at 6pm. If you're goin to be drinking then keep it really discreet, going so far as to bring your empties with you- our buds down in Boise had an issue with beer cans being left in the trash at a school.
EDIT: Saturday. This Saturday. Ok?

So the final night of RockySprints- Went well, with a slightly reduced crowd. I did a great job of planning the final night on a holiday, so we didn't get too many folks in to race, despite the article in the Chronicle. Squeaks (Ian) won the Men's division (again) narrowly beating out Guido. Sprout (Sprout) bested her formidable opponent, Tits McGee (yes). Winners got, for all their dedication and pain, a pint glass, sloppily etched by me.

Now the serious part:
I'd like to thank all those that made sprints possible. Wiley at the Practical Pedal for lending a projector and cantankerous laptop AND providing prizes a few nights; Specialized Bikes for donating one of the bikes; Adam and Paul for volunteering to be Code Monkeys in my basement; C-Note for buying wood, metal, and magnets for the bike mounts, for schlepping the stuff over to 317, for being loud, and for running the show at the bike swap when I had to work; to Steve for providing one of the sets of rollers (uhh...you want those back?) and for having the sprints on stage at the Emerson during the Seasons movie; to 317 for letting us play stupid bike games in the bar on Mondays; to Girls Outdoors and Bangtail Bikes for prize donations. I'm sure that I've forgotten someone, and I apologize. Honest.

Seriously, this would not have happened without all of your help. I'd have given up the third time the program made my computer crash.

And very sincere thanks to everyone who showed up to race, and everyone who wanted to give it a shot 'cuz damn they're racin bikes in da bar!! We're all working to make Bozeman a bike town, and all it takes is everyone sharing a bit of their passion.

ok, I'm done with the sentimental shit. Better watch your back Saturday at Bike Polo.

-DNA

This coming Monday, Memorial Day, May 26th, is going to be the last night of Rockysprints until next winter. I've been working on getting some prizes and like always, I'm making no promises.
However, Expect a couple of these:There's more to be done, but suffice to say that I am only making TWO (2) of these, and if you want one, you need to:

1. Show up Monday
2. Win.

Simple. Ok, I'll see you there.
9pm (expect to stay 'til midnight at least)
317.

-DNA

The brain needs a few moments to boot up completely when one wakes up on the side of the trail.

Eyes open slowly after awareness of the outside world arrives. Hm. I'm sitting upright, thighs numb from supporting the weight of my head via elbows and forearms. Ok, so no wreck, apparently. Slight moistness in the corner of my mouth. Look left, there's the familiar ruddy brown of the trail...a trail. Which one? Some snow to my right, and a mountain bike. The sky's kind of grey. Slight breeze, more than I remember. Oh- and a pervasive foggy pain occupying roughly the same physical space as my head.
How long have I been here? The first memories to return are of sitting down and resting my head on my hands. The next one comes, then another, like reading a book in reverse.
Then the big one. Last night. At Plonk. Bourbon. The thought of that word in my head is a vision of giant Nixie tubes spelling out the letters: B-O-U-R-B-O-N, but as they buzz at 60 hertz (give or take) they radiate alternating shades of orange and green. Ugh.
Yes, I was on a bit of a roll last night. One of those brief times when I can harness some of the cascading thoughts always emulating Niagara Falls, a couple dozen blobs of highly-energized Flubber, U-238 achieving criticality, or a Formula-1 race on Orlando's famed paved figure-eight. Or some combination of all.
So I'm writing and drinking, one feeding off of the other and the very generously poured glasses of Knob Creek on rocks going down at a speed comparable to the value of Zimbabwe's currency or Dante's girlfriend Veronica. Then C-Note dropped in and had a sole mojito, not enough to get him drunk but sufficient to drive his exuberance quotient up a notch or two.
Anyway, this morning I woke up feeling a bit, um..."bleh". Not terrible, but a far cry from all the peppy people on those allergy medication commercials. Well, the ones in high-saturation full technicolor, anyway. I could empathize with the pre-medicated poor saps struggling in their disheveled business attire doomed to toil in their greyscale-with-a-tinge-of-morose-blue environments.
But it's my day off, it's warm out, and I've got work to do for another blog. I cruise to the shop, grab a rental bike, and head to some trails to see if there's any good mountain biking to be had.
Back on the road, the road trip itch getting harder to scratch (patience....patience) as I head up to Grassy Mountain.
I hop aboard the bike and start climbing. The climbing hurts, more than I remember. Much more. I figure it's mine to deal with, I've got nobody to blame, so I'm not going to hide in the confines of a bottle of ibuprofen. Nope. It's water, corn dog, and fried chicken for me. And a good hard ride. Sweat the ick out. Except that it's not working so great today.
Another pedal stroke, another vivid memory of a swig of sin. Finally, after clambering over a big snow pile without any coordination (fell face-first on the bike, on the snow), I reach a wall. The trail's clear, but I can't move on. Must...sit...sleeeeep...

And then I wake up. After a (somewhat) quick location assessment the concept of excise taxes pop into my mind. You know, they're sometimes referred to as sin taxes and are placed by various forms of government on various forms of goods that serve to keep the populace satiated and content. Things like liquor, tobacco, and gasoline. But it seems that these goods also carry along another excise tax that is unspoken and unavoidable. With alcohol, it's the hangover. Your body punishes you for poisoning it the way you did last night. Tobacco; bad breath, yellow teeth, lung cancer, smelly clothes, kisses like ashtrays.

And oil?

Well, we're about to find out. My tack is to ride bikes. It mitigates hangovers. If you smoke riding helps to counter the damage done to lungs (it's still gross, though).
Think of the potential of bikes with oil. Hmmm.....


-DNA

This got me to thinking.

I commute around 10 miles a day, which is about 300 miles a month. It's actually a little more than that, what with random grocery trips n such, but I digress.

My 4runner gets about 15 miles to the gallon, so that's about 20 gallons of gas per month. If gas is 4 dollars per gallon, that's around 80 dollars per month, just in gas, not counting oil changes, tires, etc, which all add to the price of driving, here's a more realistic calculus for the cost of driving a car.

My xtracycle cost me around 400 dollars back in November. If it hasn't paid for itself by now, it will have by the end of the summer.

Said in the Bozeman Chronicle today:

And yes, we do.
Check out the online version of the full story here. And don't forget, May 26th is the FINAL night of RockySprints until next winter. My goal is to have a good bunch of prizes.
-DNA

So...when DNA first told me about GoldSprints (by way of a text video he sent from interbike) I thought two things. One, that would be f%&king awesome, and Two, that would be f$%king awesome! When DNA first told me that he wanted to get GoldSprints going here in Bozeman, I though one thing, 'ahh...ok, how the eff do we do that'? Well, eight months later and it looks like I was the wet blanket, cuz we's got's GoldSprints, only here we call it RockySprints.






The next installment will occur Monday 5/26 at 317.




We've got one more night coming up. Are you ready to throw down? Here's an idea of what to expect.




And then, of course, there is always the obligatory Beer Race...

Yeah, that's right, we have people chugging beer and racing on bikes. It's awesome here! So come down to three one seven in two weeks and check us out.




Here's a link to more pictures.


C-Note

RockySprints is returning to 317 this coming Monday (5/12/08)

This will be the penultimate night of racing so quit making excuses about why you don'ts gots whats it takes

These guys gots it...



See you Monday.

C-Note

I found a really interesting link on fixed gear gallery. Maybe some of you have seen this...perhaps all of you have seen this, I would gather that most of the readers of this site also check FGG. Ether way, this is an artical discussing the physics of riding fixed. Now, I don't know all that much about classical phisics, I'm more of a quantum guy. But, I do know that John and I were on a ride today, both of us on a fixie, and about midway through we were passed by a dude on a pretty standard road bike while making a sustained push into a headwind. I was in the lead at this point, so I tucked in behind our 'benefactor'. After a mile, I slacked off a bit, but we still hung within twenty feet of the freewheeler. Coming back into Bozeman from the East on Frontage, there's a pretty good climb up what turns into Main Street. It was here that DNA and I blew past the guy on his high end carbon road bike using good old fashioned American muscle (just not the kind you find in a '69 Chevelle) and even though I was dying on the downhill, we never saw the guy again.

So when you reach into the quiver, remember, not only do you look like a badass on that fixie, but you have a ninja-like advantage as well because you and the bike have a spiritual connection not afforded by other 'technologies'. Also, the 'laws of physics' are on your side, although I'm not sure what advantage that is.

C-Note

DNA and I were hanging out in his backyard discussing paltry topics like the meaning of it all, when I noticed a gentleman riding by on a fender-equipped cruzer. That in and of itself would be incredibly unremarkable...except



Hey, at least he wasn't driving a Hummer.

C-Note

A couple weeks ago some locals brought Seasons, the latest film from The Collective to Bozeman. If you've never seen anything by The Collective, go directly out and buy Roam, trust me.

Before the premiere of the movie we held RockySprints on stage. Here's a sample of the awesomeness that occured therein...



Want to get in on the Action? We'll see you at 317 May 12th and 26th!

C-Note

As DNA stated earlier this week Sprints was frikkin unreal last Monday. I'm in the process of gettting some of the video up on YouTube And I'll post a few here as they are available.

Here's Sprout starting her route of the Women's bracket. This girl DOMINATED and she did it with a broken foot/leg/something...





More pictures are here.


I'll get some more posted later...for now DNA just showed up and we've got some drinkin to do

C-Note