This isn't for the faint of heart. So unless you find humor in pain, don't watch this.



ps: Yes, twitter has video postings now. Gross

This is huge!!

I think I was at the Bike Kitchen one even discussing how terrifying it would be if horses were carnivorous predators and somehow fell into the subject of disk breaks on fixed gears. Someone mentioned that they had seen one where the break was actually attached to the chainring instead of a rotor on the hub. Well, I finally saw some pictures of just that today and thought I would share it. Im not sure how well this works but I must admit I like the idea and I think it looks pretty neat. I think it sufficiently maintains the clean look of a fixed gear that makes that style of bike so appealing in the first place. Read up on it here.

If you have ever sold a kidney or your body on the street for some RAPHA gear then you know its usually worth it! The pieces of cycling clothing I own from them are pretty awesome. However, while perusing their online catalog/updating my rolodex of black market organ traders, I noticed a small problem with RAPHA's Country Jersey line. This line of jerseys is designed to pay homage to some of the greatest cycling oriented countries in the world; Italy, France, Belgium, and Britain. Unfortunately there seems to be a bit of a snafu regarding the Italian and French jerseys. With each jersey the national flag is embroidered on the left arm, only the Italian tricolore seems to be upside down and the French flag is actually the colors of the Kingdom of the Netherlands. OOPS. What gives? They got it right last year. Oh well, I suppose that everyone makes mistakes. However, I do think that some mistakes should lower the price of things about 100 bones or so. Good news if you are a fan of GB or can't get enough Belgian cobblestones smothered in cow poo, your jerseys are spot on!

Thanks!

Today Lance and Tony had their talk. Not much to say, Lance kept it cool and Tony is ...probably still an ass. Take a listen here.

Prolly

Tony Kornhieser seems to have a bit of a bone to pick with cyclists in the DC area. Of course, its hard to not feel upset when you listen to him encouraging drivers to, "run them down", but I believe it is important to maintain a cool head and remember that people like him will probably never touch a bike. I would not call him an ignorant person. I believe that most of the things that he said were because his "YES" men were lapping up every word and begging for more. However, if he really does entertain the idea of giving cyclists that are in his way a "tap" every now and again, I think that he might need a stern talking to. Hmm, who would we want administering this verbal spanking? Oh wait! I know! Lance-the pantz- Armstrong! Seems the Texan caught wind of the talk show broadcast and gave Tony a call. Lance's twitter says that he was very sorry, and Lance is now scheduled to come on the show and talk with him. It will be interesting to hear what is discussed. Personally, I would hope for more of a friendly debate between the two. Unfortunately, I think that Tony's apology has already set him up for about 20 min of groveling. See what you think:

Seen at Prolly's joint.

Yo wuz UP! Im Andrew, and I say please ignore the broblablabah at the beginning of this video.

Wicked.

This might be one of the funniest things I've seen in a while:

treadmill footjam from zack gerber on Vimeo.

When you purchase your next bike seat, make sure its color is well chosen.

Submitted by cwallace.

Chris Akrigg is this Scottish (I think) guy who can ride better than you. After making a name for himself by creating the brakeless trials genre (yes, with a freewheel and thankfully nothing like Ted Shred) he gave riding a fixed gear bike a whirl. Here's his second video:

Chris Akrigg THE MAURICE.0 from chris akrigg on Vimeo.

-DNA

This video is cool because he's doing tricks that are really hard, but look super easy when he's doing them. (note the crank slides) But more than that, the tricks are just really creative and make you want to go hop on a bike.

Also, for you bike geeks, note the freecoaster that lets him roll backwards without having to pedal.

Troy Merkle Winter Edit from Hardcore Sportz on Vimeo.

Be warned that after watching this video you may catch the travel bug. I resisted posting this video so much, but the last wall ride to gap wall ride was too much not to post it.

Plus it's one of those videos that makes you all warm and toasty inside.

enjoy. I certainly did.

Train Trip from joe rich on Vimeo.

Remember this trailer? Well here is the full video from that race. Man, looks like fun huh? Should we race soon?

In my mind I see the perfect day: rip pow all morning, then return to sunny, dry streets where we can ride bikes in shorts and a t-shirt. Too much to ask?

Pay attention to the lines being cut on these ramps. I just picked my jaw back up off the ground.

No problem!

Gravity FTW !

Spotted here.

Hipster, trendy, skater, what-the-fuck-ever-- everyone seems to come with a pre-attachted label these days. Well, incase you are unable to come to a consensus with your friends over which social niche you or that kid with the flashy bike would be categorized under, I have unearthed some interesting data. I hope that this will clarify some issues as well as open up new grounds to social stereotyping.

Over Christmas break I was visiting my friend at his mall job. My friend works for a certain, "action sports" clothing store that shall remain nameless. During my visit I came upon a special binder, the contents of which I found too good to be true. I'll let the pictures speak for themselves, however, is the evidence of this binder to say that all these social stereotypes were in fact invented by the corporate companies that now dominate the, "action sports" scene of today?

Fuck yeah I a.... uuh

eeehh... Kinda?

Whats up with those jeans? Their all...huge.

BINGO!!! Good to be home.

Yeah WHATEVA.

So what does this mean? In my opinion, nothing. It just goes to show that some corporate mall company has taken initiative to categorize all the different looking people that walk into their stores-- ultimately in an attempt to further their sales by appealing to each individual group. Cool, its marketing. Happens all the times for pretty much EVERYTHING. I guess what I really found remarkable was the word, "Hipster" written down in big bold letters, like a chapter in a science book. I know people don't go around saying, "Hey, look at that All American Surf /Skate kid." Though the word, "Hipster" gets tossed around more than a beach ball at a Nickleback concert.

So what are you? None of these? Well thats fine, Im sure we could find your style in some catalog. Again, that really doesn't mean much. I think the main point that I take away from this discovery is this: humans LOVE to categorize things. So no matter what it is, or what role it plays in society-- its gunna get a category, a niche, a label. I used to fight it. The labels had such a sting, such a negative connotation. Well, no more. Im down, call me what you like. I am what I am. I like the clothes I wear, I like the activities that I do, and if these come with a label that can be looked up in a mall, "style guide" so be it. I can't speak for kids that look like me, smoke cigs and act like they are oh so too cool for school. Is the phrase, "Don't judge a book by its cover" too cheesy of an ending? Well who cares?! Live free, and PARTY...or don't. Just don't cramp my style MANG. *Oh for anyone that reads this blog, and doesn't know who I am or what I look like-- Hipster-- All the way to the right. Minus facial hair.

Love,

The Bozeman HipSTAR

see what I did there ?

yah gotta do, what yah gotta do. In this case its ripping a wall-ride at about 40 mph. Thats not even jammy-riffic. Thats KABLAMO!!!

I hella saw this hella right here...hella.

P.S. I don't really know why all 4 of these pictures are the same photo.

It's been awhile since I've posted anything here. Get over it.

Anyway, for the past year or so I've shifted focus from our local urban-esque bike scene and set my sights a bit more on what got me into bikes in the first place- mountain bikes. In addition to being more active in mountain bike advocacy I was also selected as one of eight members of Specialized's Stumpjumper Trail Crew- a group of bike geeks who love to share their passion. As part of this group I ride a pretty nice bike, take videos and pictures, and write about riding whenever I can.
Now, since this is Montana and it is winter I have to work a bit harder to get rides in. Sometimes, despite my winter bulk I can ride on packed snowy trails provided the snow has had enough feet walking on it. Usually, though it means getting in the car and going to Pipestone.
This is just what I did for New Year's Day. Bob over at Triple Ring Productions sent out a notice about the possibility of getting some folks together for a little knobby tire action. About a dozen of us converged at the lower parking lot around noon and got in a 3ish hour ride, about a third of which was on trails that were new to me.
While there I also brought SamH's GoPro camera and got some nice footage of some of the trails. Here's what I (finally) came up with:



This is the first video I've edited using OpenShot, so there's definitely some rough edges. By the time riding season is here for real I'll do a better job, I promise.

Anyway, here's another one. This is a continuous shot of one of the new trail Bob introduced us to. It's a fun, fast and flowy singletrack that doesn't ever get too steep yet has enough of an incline to really haul ass:



-DNA