Minneapolis local 30/40-something hipster literati mag The Rake has as its cover story for November's issue a story about Dan Buettner, adventurer, explorer, cyclist. To give you a rough taste of what Dan is about, the story opens thusly: "Dan Buettner is best known as a writer and extreme adventurer who rode his bike around the world from east to west and from north to south through the Americas and Africa and Europe and Asia. He has crossed the roadless Sahara desert, numerous jungles, and active war zones." Here's a link to the online story, but what it doesn't show, and the reason I'm blogging this, is that the sidebar on page 43 has, among other things, his 3 favorite bikes. One of them is the Surly Cross Check, about which Mr. Buettner says, "It's really the ultimate bike for a quest because you can put knobby tires on it for rough roads or you can put slicks on and fly down the pavement." We'll take that. Thanks Dan! Thanks Rake! -----

Permalink for this entry

Sunday sunday sunday! At the Knoxville Speedway! See Big Daddy Don Bodean's funny car! See Gravedigger bury Bigfoot! Some go, some blow! Ten bucks buys you the whole seat, but you only need the edge!!! It's Homie Fall Fest time again. And just in time too, as it marks the end of summer around here, and we're all sick of stupid summer with its pleasant temperatures. We're from MN, dammit, and Homie is, depending on your point of view, either a rally to mark the end of the summer riding season, a rally to get yinz'all motivated for the winter riding season, or just another dumb excuse to get your swerve on with a bunch of like minded mooyaks. In response to the flier, Ron Moffit of the Rochester Value Shopper had this to say: "Holy shit it's only Tuesday and ya got this out already ! Did you get a secretary?" BRose of the Pittsburgh Post-Gazette exalts: "It's amazing what can be achieved with only a year of preparation." And Hurl Everstone (...dude, I met Hurl in '96, man...) raves: "Sunday is going to be sick! Seriazz.." Impending FAQs: Q: Is it a race? A: Good lord, no! Unless you're on the Cat6 team and you have something to prove. Q: Will there be riding? A: Yes, at least one fit of actual riding from Lyle's to the 'course.' Finish Line Finders and some other concerned citizens have been cleaning up the course and assure plenty of trail, which means BrauSovCor will have to make up some sort of main event on the spot. Q: What if I don't want to show up at Lyle's at 11 am on a sunday? Can I show up later? A: See map below. But you really should come to Lyle's first. You might miss something, and you don't want to do that. Q: What bike should I bring? A: Run what you brung... Q: Will there be prizes? A: Ummm... I guess you could call them prizes... I'll say yes. Q: So it isn't at Wirth as previously announced? A: Nope. See map. Q: I'm still confused... A: Yes you are. Sov@evilcycling.com has the answers. And so on... -----

Permalink for this entry

And to the freaks in the house if you're ready to bounce we can go to the flat and get tantric -Black Thought -----

Permalink for this entry

Local Stuff-N-Things Exhibit A: The bar crawl breed of ride is getting pretty popular around these parts lately, and this kind of ride wasn't suffering any popularity problems as it was. The Bar Crawl could be the new Meat Raffle (Yes, meat raffle. Mainly a Minnesota thing. I still don't quite get why meat raffles are so popular in MN but they are. Don't ask, don't tell). Happily, the Eight Hour Day people (although the ride is ostensibly not associated with them) appear to be incidental cyclists, and they appear to be kick ass graphic artists to boot. What I mean by 'incidental cyclists' is that they are not, as far as I can tell, part of the incestuous world of bike industry hacks, but rather just plain ol' folks who like to ride their bikes and like to drink beer and they put together a ride to do both. That's pretty cool in my book. Click here to get there. First stop is Yacht Club Nordeast at 9pm. Exhibit B: The Homey Fall Fest is coming up quick. While BrauSovCor (although the ride is ostensibly not associated with them) still haven't exactly got their shit together (ahem), this should prove to be a fun one assuming the rain holds off. What is the Homey? It's a rally for people who like to ride bikes and have fun. No whiners allowed; that's pretty much the only rule. It isn't a race, although there will be a couple of actual riding events this year involving mass starts. It's going to be on Sunday, October 30th, so that working folks (read "bike shop employees") can make it too. This year will be a two stage deal, starting with a hare-n-hound for those who need to burn off their Old Style breakfast (can you catch Brauer?), followed by the main even at Theo Wirth. No need to do the hare-n-hound unless you want to though; you can just read the non-existent flier (ahem) to find out when and where to show up for what. Flier coming soon with full details (AHEM). If you're reading this you're invited. This means you, messengers. This means you BMXicans too. This means you, unicyclists (assuming you actually exist). This means you people from out of town, and you too Bender, even though you're too 'elite' for offroad. -----

Permalink for this entry

More steel things in stock - Track threaded cogs, 1/8" and 3/32" thicknesses, most sizes, in stock today - Stainless chainrings, all sizes back in stock today including the brand new odd tooth number sizes. Here is a listing of the actual sizes we now carry. 94mm BCD x 30t-36t (all sizes) 104mm BCD x 32t-36t (all sizes) 110mm BCD x 34t, 35t, 36t & 38t - Nice racks, front and rear, black or silver, in stock today Just when you gave up hope on us sorry suckers for not having stuff in stock, BLAMMO! Mountains of steel for the world to share. -----

Permalink for this entry