Skip’s Tips

Greetings Friends,

It's time for a new installment of Skip's Tips - a handy guide to bicycles, string theory, and the art of child rearing. Today we're going to talk about racing on your bicycle. I've compiled a few of my sage words of wisdom regarding the passtime of riding bikes real fast in order to gauge self-worth and fitness. They are in no particular order - except that they're in order of importance. Here they are:

1. It's nearly Spring here in the MiddleWestoftheUSA. The snow has largely melted into largely dangerously swollen rivers. Whenever possible, when out on your "training rides" stop and look at the rivers. Comment on how swollen they are. Chuckle to yourself and your riding partners that you just said "swollen" and move on down the road/trail/sidewalk/mall food court.

2. Remember, when "binge drinking" (or as I call it, "drinking") you should probably drink the same kind of liquor or beer all day or night or both. This keeps the hangover cures simpler and takes the guesswork out of what is making you "feel so bad."

3. Training is the act of riding your bike to increase your fitness. While I do not in any way condone getting any fitter than you are right now - you're perfect you beautiful pasty flabby wintery thing! - there are a few things that can help should you choose to ignore that first bit. Ride a heavy bike. No, I don't mean ride a Surly instead of your carpet fibre TDF rocket machine - I mean load your bike up with a bunch of shit. Whenever possible, add a WALD gigantic front basket and fill it with rocks and garbage. If you have the means pull a Burley trailer with your 39lb pre-schooler. Barring that, fill your shirt with cans of paint. Also you might:

4. Eating is important. I start each day with a bacon grease raw egg smoothie. It has bacon grease in it for quickness and a couple of raw eggs for rockiness. Remember, doubling over with the pukes is great for the abs.

5. I've said this many times and each time I do it sounds truer: I don't race because racism is wrong.

Remember kids, riding bikes is fun. No one ever anywhere has ever had any fun while racing their bike. They may say they had fun (or in bicycle parlance "podiumed") but they are lying their asses off. Racing hurts and you know it. Pain isn't fun for anyone but Army Rangers and people who wear cheese grater underwear. Slow it down and have a fun ride where you stop once in a while for a conversation or to knock back a cold one while looking out over fabulous vistas (or snaggly burnt-out slums). Enjoy yourself a little and stop trying to think you have to win all the time. Life is hard enough.

Thanks,

Skip

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For So Very Long Nothing Else Mattered

Play this:

Then this:

Welcome to Friday.

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Do These Tires Make My Bike Look Fat?

Our friends from Dharma Wheels Cyclery in Park City, Utah sent us this link to a cool Pugsley video. 

Thanks friends!  (Actually, they aren't really our friends (but they might be some day (IF THEY'RE LUCKY)) but that's more for their benefit than for ours).

And this other friend of ours, Marlin Ledin, who shares my last name in some Asian countries and really is a friend of ours but usually denies it unless he knows he'll get free beer, sent us this video of himself on the local news up north.  Having just spent last weekend ice fishing and hearing some really cool sounds in the ice makes me wish I were able to do something like this. 

Finally, here is a photo of our own Super Thor mixing it up, throwing down and pwning the nubes on a Pug at Buck Hill last weekend.  Sorry I don't know who took this photo since I stole it off flickr.  [edit] The photo was taken by this guy.  Click this link to see more photos from his flickr set.  Thor, stop being so rad, OK? 

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Trackin’ Up The North

I've been trying real hard to learn how to blog lately.  I googled "How to write a blog" and everything, but none of that seems to be taking.  The first lesson I read was aptly titled, "Think of a title," but thinking isn't something that comes easy to me, so instead of that I grabbed a record album from my stack and the first one that ended up in my hands was a song compiation from a Duluth (MN) radio station that was released in the 80's.  I bought this album because it contained a rare track by The Replacements, and I paid way too much for it of course, but how can you put a value on an obsession with 80's punk?  OK, maybe the Mats weren't really punk, but they did make probably the best punk rock video of all time, which pretty much sums up my life in the eighties.

Trackin' Up The North might sum up how normal people feel when they come here during the winter months.  Honestly, I can't understand what brings them back for more.

For the past several years Surly has hosted a Pugsley Race at QBP's industry-only Frostbike event, which took place last weekend.

Due to the depth of the snow this year, what started as a "race" turned into a derby circle around a bonfire.  No one complained about drinking luke warm Hamm's while attempting to knock their commrades of their bike and into the fire or onto the ice.  Go figure.

Rather than me blathering on about it why don't you look at some pictures?  And if you'd like to see more you'll need to go here.  Meanwhile, I'll be sharpening up my blog skills and finishing up the Hamm's and stale pretzels.

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FROSTBIKE IS UPON US

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