Bama's first trip to Minneapolis Wayward soul Chris Alabama showed up at our doorstep today. Seems he closed out his favorite watering hole in Boulder, caught a bus to Denver International, grabbed a flight, borrowed a bike from Gene, took the light rail and the 539 bus through Bloomington, and ended up here. That kind of dedication deserves lunch at Zeke's. Please don't try what 'Bama has done. You can't ride like he does. -----

Snackey's Cross-Check Well, here she is. My Cross-Check that I have been working on over the winter. I started off running cruiser bars with V-brakes and linear-pull levers. Hated it. Couldn't get comfy. My position was too upright and my weight was to far back, making any climbing painful. I should note that all climbing is painful for me, but when the bike fit is all jacked I'd rather walk than ride. I started this project with the goal of building a bike for city riding, cruiser style, but for now I've decided that idea will have to wait for…

I recently found out they have the internet on computers now. Sov told me. "You remember internet," he said, "it's the one with email." So when I got home I swept the pile of clothes and notebooks off of my computer and turned it on for the first time. And after some digging around I found the internet right on there. Damnation. The world I grewed up in is gone. That was last thursday. That night I was "surfing" the "web," as as the kids say, and "hanging ten" I might add, and I got this little...I don't know what…

Sea Otter Well, our first trip to Sea Otter was only slightly less painful than a stick to the eye. That means it went pretty well from my perspective. We met lots of cool people, got lots of sun and wind, and drank plenty of beer. Yeah, the wind! When it's calm it's like heaven, but once the wind picks up it feels colder than Minneapolis in January. Maybe the Sea Otter folks should consider scheduling the event in say, May or June? On Saturday it rained for a few hours so we battened down the hatches and tried to…

Yup, We're Gonna Be There As I write this I am getting my hobo sack packed for Sea Otter. We fly out tomorrow morning. This is the first time Surly will have an official presence at the event. We'll have a small tent, a selection of bikes, some catalogs, and hopefully a cooler of beer. Sov and I will attend. Swing by and say hi and shit. In other news, I have uploaded a ton more photos to our flickr site. There is a link under the Photo Gallery section in the right-hand column of the page you are viewing.…