SSAZ07 One of the smarter things I've done this winter was commit to doing a race in Arizona in early February. That didn't really mean I had to race, since racing can often take the fun out of a good ride and the last race I did was an 8-beer DNF four years ago, it just means riding on dirt without getting frostbitten. Enter Single Speed Arizona, a 40-mile death jaunt up and around Mt.Lemmon, just outside Tucson. Just getting off the plane and feeling the warm air was almost worth the plane ticket. Our friend Stephanie picked Chewey, Hurl…

"I can't support bike lanes. Roads are built for buses, cars, and trucks. My heart bleeds when someone gets killed, but it's their own fault at the end of the day." -Rob FordToronto City Councillor Email: councillor_ford@toronto.ca HELP US FIGHT THE GOOD FIGHT We urge all friends of the bike to send a message to Mr. Ford explaining why he is way off-base. We recommend that you don't use any threatening terms or obscenities, as hard as that may be to do. This message was forwarded from our friend Dale at Kona Bikes. -----

Japan Let's just start by saying that Japan is a wonderful country. Hands down, they are the most polite people I've ever met. The cities are clean, the crime rate is low, the food is good, the mass transit infrastructure is very efficient and there is a beautiful landscape to back it all up. Since a good chunk of Surly's business is done in Japan, all 5 of us embarked on a trip to find out why so many like-minded people exist in a land so far away. We visited our distributor in Nagoya and bike shops in Kurashiki, Hiroshima,…

Attention new Steamroller complete bike owners We got our first round of Steamroller complete bikes in stock recently and noticed the cog and lockring was installed without grease on some of them. I know, we're saying the same thing, "why the fuAs always with fixed gears, ride it once, check the lockring, ride it five times, check the lockring, then check the lockring once a month. We apologize for the inconvenience and want you to know it's been addressed at the factory. Thanks -----

Brother David is Hometown Hero, Patriot. Young Man Brings Pride to Waconia. Do you want to read about the time little Dave added a motor to his skateboard? Take a look at "Beyond the Breaking Point", the Waconia Patriot's nearly 3,000 word story about Dave and his Arrowhead adventure. http://www.waconiapatriot.com/articles/2007/03/14/waconia_patriot/news/news03.txt In other news it was 81 degrees here yesterday. The handling on my road ride has been really sketchy since I put on a new stem and handlebar a couple weeks back. I was starting to think that I had lost any semblance of handling skills over the long winter.…