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Monday, July 12, 2010

posted by Kenny Bloggins

Kenny Bloggins's avatar

Arts and Sciences

 

Art:

If you are a cyclist in the twin cities and you read blogs, frequent bicycle related websites, or have a pulse, you are by now probably aware that this Thursday, July 15, is Minneapolis Institue of Arts' 2nd annual Bike Night.  It was fun last year, and it looks to be fun this year as well, starting with a ride from Gold Medal Park (by the Guthrie) at 5.  If you can't make that, ride straight to the MIA where the shindiggery starts at 6.  There will be valet bike parking by Freewheel and Dero racks, safety check (BICYCLE safety check) by The Hub Bike Co-op, selected short films as the Bicycle Film Fest kicks off, plus a display from local custom framebuilders (Bob Brown, Capricorn, Paul "No Website" Wyganowski, Peacocktail Groovular, Vincent Dominguez, Curt Goodrich, Chris Kvale, and Speedhound).  Plus you might even win a Surly Long Haul Trucker.   But winners win by playing.  All the informations on MIA's Facebook page.  My god that was a lot of links.

 Science, sort of. This has no music, so I recommend you put on some Yanni while watching it.

For no good reason, here is a Picture of Ron Moffit, who is one of those people you meet on a bike and think "Cyclists are the coolest, hairiest, nicest, drunkest people on Earth."

Here is another picture of Ron, or more properly his back.  I think we're going to need more wax.

Here is a video, sent by one Adrian Bostock, who can be seen shredding singletrack with his Surly 1X1 on his hometurf in The Shuswap, B.C., Canada.  This video also has no music but bike videos being what they are, it is sort of refreshing just to hear the sounds of riding and not someone else's idea of awesome music.

 And finally today, Jeff Lockwood interviewed our man Dave for Dirt Rag Magazine. 

No mention of mulch, Dave? The times they are a-changin'.

Wednesday, June 30, 2010

posted by Kenny Bloggins

Kenny Bloggins's avatar

Ruby, are you mad at your man?

If you are a dyed-in-the-wool bicycle 'enthusiast', you likely know by now that Surly’s pimp is bicycle components distribution monolith QBP.  That Surly exists as the thought balloon within the Family Circus cartoon that is Big Q (as they call it there) is one of life's little paradoxes.   We, being us, have a hard time sitting still and being good because they do things like call themselves Big Q. They, being them, behave like an exhausted teenaged babysitter coping with a toddler that won’t go to sleep. But sometimes as if by divine intercedence the pristine tranquility of Big Q’s Valium-like ambience is, through no fault of ours, muddied by some big fish swimming too close in the shallows (metaphorically speaking, of course) and it is an easy thing for us to whack it with the oar and haul it over the gunwale. Viz:
 
 
 
While this sort of communiqué seems to be unusual for Big Q, people regularly send to Surly similar requests, updates, and various other flotsam unencumbered by lucidity.  It’s really very sweet.  
 
 
Despite the intent of the paper it is written on, this was not in fact faxed to us.  Johnstonteeno sent this as an actual piece of paper, carefully folded and neatly placed in an envelope which was somehow then correctly addressed and mailed, and which arrived safely in our hands.  And he makes a good point, potentially. Send us your drugs. They sound awesome. 
 
At least that one is mostly self contained. I will not share or even try to explain the nuanced tragedy of the many murky and mysterious missives we are occasionally sent by someone who calls himself Linus Cloudbuster.  Suffice to know that they involve pictures cut from magazines of swarthy men, references to our Long Haul Trucker, and they seem loosely to be clues in a riddle thought up by lab monkeys testing LSD. Perhaps they are headed somewhere. The clues, not the monkeys.
 
********************************************************************************
 
Although I am only getting to it now, no less than 3 people wrote at the beginning of June to alert us to this guy who happens to ride a Cross Check, and who saved 2 little kids from big trouble.  Bernie of Trinity Cycles in Ft Worth, TX, was one of the people who wrote in. He said:
 
I wanted to direct your attention to a customer/friend of ours here in Fort Worth, Peter Canning, who made the local paper. He was riding along our Trinity River trails when he heard a cry for help. He ditched his bike, jumped in the water, and saved two young boys from drowning. Then he rode away without giving anyone his name.
 
The story is here.  Nice work, Peter. 
 
In other news, a long while ago now we donated a Big Dummy complete bike for Dirt Rag’s raffle. The person who won, John Sandlin, is a musician who uses a bike a lot to get to practice, to gigs, and for all sorts of other things. He was so jazzed (I crack myself up) that he wrote to thank us:
 

Hello, my name is John Sandlin and I am the Dirt Rag Mega Sweepstakes Grand Prize Winner of the Surly Big Dummy. Many thanks to Dirt Rag and Surly for their commitment to the art of cycling, and their dedication to fantastic customer service. Now, after having ridden the BD for 2 months, I can happily say that it has changed my life! If anyone has ever seen a Big Dummy, and thought, 'that's a cool bike, maybe I should get one,' go out and get one now! I can plainly say, it has become my Main Ride. The do all bike, the workhorse, the cruiser, the commuter. I am a professional musician and I can strap my gear on and ride to the gig, how cool is that? I can head to the grocery, hardware store, plant sale, and beer store, all in one trip, with room to spare on the Xtracycle rack. My 25 mile daily commute has become easier and faster than ever before on the Big Dummy. That's right, I said faster. There is some kind of magic built into that big heavy Surly that allows me to ride toe to toe with those light bike drop bar riding foes during a bike path battle. It is a pleasure to pass a roady when I imagine them saying to themselves, 'what is that and how can it be passing me?' That's the Big Dummy and it's unstoppable! Now I'm off to ride; get one now! 

Once again, extra special thanks to Dirt Rag and Surly for making me the luckiest guy in all the land. 

Big Dumb Winner,
John Sandlin
Albuquerque, NM
Lechatlunatique.com
http://www.myspace.com/thebluehornets

 
Another person using the Big Dummy big style is Wend magazine editor Rick Olson, who is using a Big Dummy to retrace an old path around 12 U.S. National Parks. As he himself says in his bio, “Rick Olson has never toured. “ This should be good.  Follow along here.
 
 
 

And finally today, our favorite dentist/bike shop owner, Dr. Jon, sent a refreshingly lucid update of his recent travels:

 
“Because I know you guys love all that urban shit and stuff.

Here's a pic from our shop trip to Chicago to 'check out the scene'.
the verdict - they like to have a good time and don't mind if you ride a bicycle.

Dr. Jon
www.dharmawheelscyclery.com"
 
 
 
And with that, I’m off like a prom dress.

 

 

 

 

Tuesday, June 22, 2010

posted by Skip Bernet

Skip Bernet's avatar

An Apology

I would just like to take a moment to apologize for the overly sappy and pedestrian post you see below. Sure, it was Father's Day and I was able to ride a bunch of miles on super boss gravel roads, but it's no excuse for light-hearted puff-pastry shiny-happy pablum.

In order to properly rectify the situation, I thought I'd post this:

Monday, June 21, 2010

posted by Skip Bernet

Skip Bernet's avatar

Father’s Day

Spent Father's Day with a good friend of mine and some gravel. Awesome.

Thursday, June 17, 2010

posted by Trevor

Trevor's avatar

Japan Tour 2010…Kurashiki!

Ok, So where were we last?..........Something about Tenga© Jenga© and Fleck going native? Or... wait, no, it was Peter doing his Godzilla® impersonation to a bunch of horrified 2nd graders as he decimated their Lego© villages. Uh...ok, now I remember, we was all on train to Kurashiki!

After enduring Yokoi San’s relentless thumb boxing….

 we dined on some amazing bento boxes bought at the train station.

We passed through Kyoto which made me cry a little inside because I knew we were not stopping there to enjoy it’s wonders.

 We arrived in Kurashiki feeling somewhat refreshed after a rest on the train. Our hotel was close to the station, but we didn’t make it to far before trouble found us.

Peter wastes no time at wowing the local school girls with his smooth linguistics and hip, hot pink cell.

This troubled youth had it in for us from the beginning…I believe he is flipping us the “British Bird”.

We checked into another business hotel that was right off of the tracks. Japanese style Tatami rooms, bed rolls, a kitchen, a dining (read drinking) table and loads more space then we new what to do with. We filled that void with empties after a lovely evening full of discussion about what is better: TaKaRa Chu-Hi strong or Kirin grapefruit Chu-Hi?...the world may never know.

Did you know that the Japanese love anime?…I mean really love it.

Our bikes had been driven to Kurashiki by Eji San from Motocross Intl, which made us very happy to not have to build them up before our evening visit to The Farm.

This is Oda San and his wife Mrs.Oda San(as she introduced herself), they are the proprietors of the Farm; a very attractive and neatly merchandised shop. They were also our gracious hosts for this leg of our journey.

Surlys in Japan come in colors we have never seen and many of you never shall; A benefit enjoyed by Rie San’s customers.

That evening a ragtag crew of about 25 or so cyclist showed up at the Farm for a night ride led by Oda San . It was once again awesome to see the mixture of different Surly bikes spanning multiple riding disciplines all tearing up the streets together.

We stopped in the historic Bikan district for a break and some moon gazing.

That evening we wasted the night away in an Izakaya inside the train station. This is how sexy Dave looks through a huge mug of beer.

Surly Whiskey Cat

The next morning we wrung out our livers and prepared for another big day. We would meet a larger crew of Oda San’s customers for a ride into the countryside . “Chii Sai Oda" was ready to put the hurt on us but decided to spare us the embarrassment and took a nap instead.

We rode to a very picturesque temple with a 5 story Pagoda. The weather was warm and the sun was bright as we wound our way through the countryside and then back towards town with big smiles and bigger sunburns.

This photo might very well be in a Japanese magazine right now.

A freakin huge Torii

During our visit to another temple we tested our luck by selecting a numbered stick from a small barrel. The number corresponded to a drawer containing a paper. This paper gave your fortune and told you what sort of luck you were likely to experience. Dave tied his to a fence securing his destiny for “worst luck” in the days to come.

Riding through Bikan again in the light.

At yet another temple we posed for yet another picture. The rock star treatment in Kurashiki was heavy and totally undeserved. If they only knew what we normally do with ourselves…we are obviously total nerds, as you can see.

This is the legendary Ice Cream Deamon. He hopes you choose the black one.

Lunch of champions. You can eat quite well from a 7-11 in Japan!

This is us with a gentleman we came to know as “Super Fan”. He owns

everything Surly has ever made and even some things that we didn’t make…

…Like both my and Fleck’s hats.

That night we had dinner at a “Organic Buffet” restaurant close to the station. There we sampled many things we couldn’t quite place “biologically” speaking. 

After teary goodbyes and such were done we retreated the the comforts of our business hotel. Shuji San, Oda San and Eji San were in attendance as we wrapped up the evening with a little “imbibement”. Peter had a golden moment.

The next morning we were off to Hokkaido. Our visit to Kurashiki was brief but very enjoyable and quite laid back compared to the beginning of the trip. We found a dedicated fan base here and, as always, super warm hospitality. 3 of 4 cities were now behind us...how could the events so far possibly be topped?! You will have to wait for the next installment of "Ride With Surly Super Awesome Japan Fun Times Tour 2010... Hentai!

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