My wife and son spent Friday night with my in-laws, so I had a free pass to pack up a bike and ride out to the country for an overnight in the woods. Thursday's weather forecast predicted high temps around 35 Celsius (95F) on Friday and Saturday with high dew points, but I wasn't going to be deterred by the heat and humidity. Water, sunblock, well-chosen food and equipment, and a controlled riding pace would get me to my campsite and back home in good shape. I chose to ride my Pacer fixie (custom made with Karate Monkey track ends)…

The lovely and talented Ms. Bloggins and myself have had a bit of a rough week. Last friday we had to help our elderly golden retriever out of his pain and into the next world. He was about 13 and was having a lot of trouble standing up, walking, and had lost his appetite almost completely. We watched over the last year or so as his energy and vitality faded. I don't mind telling you it's left a big empty in the Fortress of Solitude and in our hearts. Murphy was without question the finest dog I have ever had…

CASSETTE COGS! It has come to my attention by my computer screen and by quite a few customers that we're out of many cassette-style cogs. To be exact, we're out of 14-18t and 20t cassette cogs right now. We've done a slight redesign on the tooth profile and this delayed production a bit. In actuality, it's totally my fault, you can blame me for these not being on your bike right now. But don't send hate mail, I can feel your bad vibes across the world and it hurts. We will have new cogs very soon, as in the next…

If anybody was worried about Snackey P, the new general manager of Surly, not being a good fit with the rest of us, he just announced that he could really go for a donut. Sov and I also expressed the desire to put donuts in our mouths. Without hesitation, Snackey was off to the bakery for a box of deep fried sugar love bombs. You see, with all these guys suffering at Le Tour and watching their slim figures, some of us cyclists have to make immeasurable sacrifices to assure the Lard, Flour, Colored Sprinkles and Refined Sugar Coalition of…

Here's an interesting irony: I'm writing a wednesday night ride report even though I didn't actually go on the WNR last night. Why me? Well, Brauer just rolled in looking peckish. It's 4:30 in the afternoon. Sov and Nick are both scabbed and bruised and look like they slept in a squirrels' nest. And then there are the comments, sporadically arising between phone calls and extended periods of labored breathing, such as: "My ass still stinks. I can't believe it. I only ate eight of them." and "You wouldn't be able to smell it yet, it just happened." Stories keep…