Surly email seems to be up and working again. Contact us at derby@surlybikes.com with all those questions causing you sleepless nights and gaping ulcers. We'll do our best to get you on one of our bikes and relieve all the troubles. -----

Permalink for this entry

Our office is located about 2 miles from the Minnesota river, home to one of the original mountain bike trails in the Twin Cities area. In the summertime, you can ride these trails along the river until it links up with the Mississippi river and take that all the way back into Minneapolis or Saint Paul. So basically, I can ride almost all the way home from work off-road. Yesterday was one of the most stellar days Minnesota has seen in a long time, 72 degrees F and sunny with little wispy clouds and a very blue sky. I rode it solo on my Karate Monkey, which sadly hasn't seen action since May in Fruita. The first 12 miles of trail are almost purely singletrack, and good singletrack. Beyond that is a section of trail that rarely gets ridden. Even though some of it could be really killer stuff if maintained and ridden, it's now overgrown with weeds and plants. For mile long sections, you can't even see the trail ahead of you and the itchweed makes your arms and legs burn. There are also a couple sketchy creek crossings where you must dismount and hope a log is down to walk across. Lots of sandy sections and downed trees. It's what I remember about the early days of mountain biking, before hardpacked and groomed IMBA trails existed. Bushwacking at it's finest. Why ride it? Because it's still fun to go slow and work your way through the debris leftover from storms and flooding. There is also no fear of a head on collision with another cyclist, as I went 45 minutes without seeing another person. This trail empties onto some double track dirt roads and eventually paved bike paths. When you finally see signs of people, it's almost a relief to know you're back in the city. I saw 5 turkeys, countless rabbits, 2 deer, a weasel of some sort and met a guy named Pete who said he reads the surlyblog. All within a mile or two from the famed and lame Mall of America. It's rare to be so close to the city, but be able to escape it so easily. Two and a half hours later I arrived home and inhaled two hamburgers, two PB and J's, two pieces of pizza and two beers. Eat, sleep, ride, work. That's good livin'. -----

Permalink for this entry

There was a blog posting about a New Zealand man a few weeks ago who is attempting to ride his bike through 2,000 km of the western Australian desert on a Puglsey. Here is his brand new website for all of you to check out and keep track of his progress. It's nuts! -----

Permalink for this entry

Our e-mail system is currently down for the count. Once we get some smelling salts up it's nose , possibly later today or tomorrow, we can respond to your e-mails. If it absolutely cannot wait until then, give us a call at 1-877-743-3191. -----

Permalink for this entry

There is something amazing that happens to you when the weather makes a sudden change. For instance, it has been humid and hot for the past two weeks straight. While there are ways to cope with heat like swimming, riding through lawn sprinklers, stopping at some kid's lemonade stand or wearing the thinnest old concert t-shirts you still have leftover from the 80's with sleeves cutoff. But as good as hot and sunny weather can be, a change of pace is always very welcome. It rained so hard last night on the ride home, it was starting to flood in spots. Two minutes into the ride, I couldn't have been more wet. While cars floundered in the massive puddles and created huge waves of water, I blasted through them with a boyish sense of freedom. One puddle was so deep it pulled the velcro straps on my old Sidi shoes open. There were sheets of rain intermittently slapping my face about every 10 seconds. Some drivers looked at me as if they felt sorry for me. Little did they know I was having one of the best rides I've had in weeks. As I approached home, I noticed the Minnehaha creek was flooded and running like mad. The swimming lately has been tough because our mini-drought lowered the water levels to the point where you'd scrape your shins on rocks through the rapids. This may just be the last gasp of decent swimming left in the creek for the year. So being as wet as I could possibly be, I went for a swim. Screw the lightning and thunder and common sense to go home and dry off, swimming was more important. If I was going to die by getting struck by lightning on my bike or while swimming, then everybody would know I died doing exactly what I loved doing. I didn't bother taking my most of my bike gear off to go swim, it was already soaked. The water was really warm, like bathwater. I hung onto the tree branches hanging out over the rapids as long as I could, then pedalled home. A north wind finally blew the wet weather away and it was a cool dry night. Perfect sleeping weather and perfect commute in this morning. Change is good. I love this town. -----

Permalink for this entry