239: The Cycling Librarian

I got a new Blog. Check it out. It is right at the top. Unless you're already there. In which case you will not see this...

Two weeks ago I was lucky enough to get to spend the week in New York City. Wow, what a place, that city. A worthy adversary for sure. And now that we are on the subject, I think that it is safe to say that I know why people call it 'the City.' It used to piss me off when people from NYC would say that, referring to the place that they call home 'the City.' It just sounds so uppity and fucking annoying if I am allowed to speak plainly. And I am.

But when you spend a little time there you start to realize why it has earned its moniker. It has something to do with the people on top of people, but also the accesibilty of everything. The City itself defines exactly what it means to be a city, and then takes it to such an extreme that you cannot help but succumb to it. At least I did.

I found myself traipsing around the Lower East Side at night, nodding to the sentry's behind the newsstands, talking to loud into my phone and crossing the street whenever I damn well please. Same with being on the bike. If there is a way that I could bring Piers North out here to give a little lesson to...well, all of Portland, I would. And his lesson would be this "How to Ride your Bicycle in an Urban Environment." On one 20 block ride he nearly crashed into four old ladies, almost tipped over a fruit stand, and ran 32 red lights. It must be noted that not one of the old ladies even blinked as they avoided his spinning front wheel. I was in heaven while this all happened. Not even joking. I miss the days that aggressive city cycling was the norm.

And what was I doing when I was riding through that sweaty city? Commuting to work of course.

The Cycle Club is well on its way to Cycle Club infamy, as far as those things go.


And it has everything to do with the man in charge. I do not mean Brett Cleaver, I mean the man really in charge. If you do not know who Mike Spriggs is, you best familiarize yourself. Aside from Gage & Desoto (I always forget to ask where the name comes from) and being the head honcho over at the Club, he is also a) a really nice guy and b) a fierce collector of bicycle books. And aside aside from that he can be seen above furiously writing out the next days TdF Stage on the Leaderboard. And that was before he went home and wrote out a recap of that days stage (the yellow clipboard below the chalkboard).


No shit? - You're saying that to yourself right now aren't you? You did not know that about Mike. Well, now you do. The best part about this though, if you live in 'the City' is that Mike has made his library available for you to peruse. Well, he has made them available to you, and he has also stocked them with some of the better Cycling Publications out there, but also that have ever existed.


There is the current stock of pubs. Yeah, got it Alberto, you're saying Two with your hands there. But, really, if you had wanted to be ominous for PRO Cycling there, you would have held up "tres" fingers for us to see. (Tres is three in Mexican in case anyone is keeping track). But really the point of all this buildup is to get to the one that I have already shown you. It is this one right above, with Greg Lemond in the Stars and Strips (I like 'Strips' better because in England that is what they sometimes call Soccer Uniforms - Strips, and once a very beautiful, very English girl told me that she liked my Strip - it got weird because I thought she said "I'd like you to Strip" but alas, not all of them work out as planned - except that one did.) Aaaanyway...

No idea really as to why it is called "Eddy Merckx The Fabulous World Of Cycling" other than the fact that he wrote the intro. But I would venture a guess that if we had to call all of Cycling - Eddy Merckx, like, if he owned it, well, I guess I would be ok with that. "No Argue" he would say after that, and no one would.

The book itself is fuuuucking amazing though. I had the extreme pleasure of sitting with the author of the book Typography for the People (peep it in the photo where Mike is writing furiously - and then go buy it cause its awesome and comes with free fonts) and it is safe to say that we both went apeshit over the whole thing. The kits that everyone is wearing, every photo with Lemond and his neatly feathered hair, and some of the sponsors that were a part of the sport were mindblowingly awesome as well.

For a book about cycling, the were sure into the gore of the sport. Although, I guess, who isn't? The layout of the book is fantastic. The commentary alone is worth trying to find the book, I only glanced at a few of the descriptions, but they are all written with a strange air to them... take this one for example..

"In any case Kuiper's Victory deserves our full respect." Oh yeah? Well then why did you spend the lines before it talking about someone who had the potential to win, but did not? I find that to be an odd remark.

Just to have a visual photo album of the '83's races makes the book stand out on its own. The only thing better would be to have it signed by everyone involved, like a sort of yearbook.

"Hey Greg Sweet Race at Worlds! You win. Ps - Quit trying to use those dorky handlebars, they're never going to get you anywhere" - Prof.

"Yo Greggy. Time to get a cool nickname eh? Say hi to the ladies for me...
j/k see you in Colorado. Oh yeah, did you see that photo of me when I won Fleche? So badass!!" - Bernard "the Badger" Hinault

In any case, I am sure that we could go on and on with that one. Thanks goes out to Mike for sharing his beloved Cycling Library with everyone. Stop over and say hi and he would love to talk to you about Cycling. Or Bikes. Or Books. Or Babes (what? it starts with a "B"). But, my question for you - dear readers - is who the hell is this?

238: Wayward Motorhomes

It is official. That just happened. Garrett Chow and total MASH-er just emailed me to let me know that this bad boy just dropped. Or is about to drop, or however the hips and hops happen, this is it. I showed this to my roommate Steven Hunter and it is possible that he lost his mind a little bit. Maybe not officially, or outwardly, but he definitely wanted to. And I can just about hear Rich Bravo and Whit Yost clamoring for their credit cards on this one.

Artoo from Hypebeast covered it too.


Speaking of Rich Bravo apparently this is what happens when you forget your new (and I might add custom colourway-ed) Oakley's at his apartment in Chelsea. This gives Rich the full on right to literally molest my glasses though different parts of that tiny island that we like to call Manhattan. And I have to say, if there is one way to do it, it is this... However, I am not going to lie, I like you and all Rich, but you could not have gotten ANY cute girls to model them? Or homeless? I mean, come on man, take it to the extreme. Although, just the simple fact that you got them that close to the flowing mane of that hairdresser (yours??) gives you a few much needed style points.

Now, Um, can I get those back?


The thing to note is that Bravo dressed appropriately (as always) in an Embrocation Luchador T-shirt. Which, always makes me happy. Now, if only I could get him to model the DOPE one, those could also start flying off the proverbial shelves. I promise, it is not a comment on cycling. Or is it? The other thing that I really liked about Rich's exploits with eyewear was that he kept on calling them the "Wayward Lenses." Now if that is not someone who studied 'the Classics' then I do not know what defines these people...

And Spriggs. He got Mike Spriggs and Andrew Crooks in on it. Bastards!

237: Ciao

Dear Mr. Armstrong,

I am just going to jump into this one here. Fuck You Lance Armstrong! And I hope this comes up in your google reader alerts too. Fuck you for making me stand in front of the television screaming. I have done it before, and something tells me that I will do it again. I realize this second part to be true mainly because of what I am watching at this very moment. Stage 20 - 2005 Tour De France. Great time trial by the way. You handily made every look a fool, and did not blink once.

What the fuck Rasmussen? Get it together. I remember yelling it the first time and I remember yelling it today as I stood wrenching at my hair. The sun is going down on Portland, and this race has already run its course. I remember Hincapie getting pissed, I remember the heat! and JAN Germany's answer to a great cyclist and even worse a "bridesmaid" as Slate says, than Hincapie.

I remember with this time trial came the slow weaving through the quaint French towns Ullrich literally wrenching the shit out of his bike at every corner. Wearing everything on a face as bright fuchsia as his T-Mobile jersey. This is the one where Papo had a chance to show what a great cyclist he was going to be (or not) by winning the (cursed?) white jersey of best youngestest rider, or most aggressive in the kids category, as I like to say... And also where we start to grasp at the full severity of Vino's craziness. So, I guess we have you Lance, to thank for all of these th...

WAIT! there goes Rassmusen diving into the ditch over his bike. Seriously, what was going on with that guy? Get. It. Together. And He's Catching Him! Armstrong has almost caught Rassmussen and he will!! And then, just as Rass slumps down from realizing that he has been caught. You, Lance are going to jam that fucker back up to 11. Just grab the fucking nob and rip it right off. Right in his face. I was actually afraid for Rassmussen at this point, like, that some sort of bodily harm would come to him.

And this is the part where I go 'Why Not?' I too, got a little verklempt today when they were showing all the clips of the race, and more importantly your career. But, why could I never fully get behind (all the while cheering for and against and for) Lance Armstrong? Was it because of your longer than long black shorts? Your Robocop attitude and overwhelming desire to win? Maybe the attitude, but I would never hold it against anyone who wants to win. Is that not our main goal in life? As cyclists, as people, to win? We never had the chance, mid competition to see you soften or dare I say, soften with you, because nothing (after your comeback) never, ever went wrong for you. And if it did, or seemed to, you just sort of swooped it up in your infinite grasp and it was over with....

Myself you ask? Well, I'm glad that you asked, thanks. I was brought up on a pretty steady diet of high school football. You had to if you were from my town, and even if you did not play, no matter where you turned you got to see how amazing a team they were. How many State Titles they had won, who the stars were... Similar to, I would have to guess, the place that Lance Armstrong comes from. Of course, I am placing a Texas is a football state on everything, but, I can do that. With that being said when I read "It's not about the Bike" I kept wanting there to be more disdain for other sports (especially football.) Just about that time college was just beginning to show me that athletics, and being an athlete could be 'cool.' It probably helped that I was surrounded by really great athletes, and just to hang around them and glean information about what it would take (training, mental fortitude, extreme drinking) and besides, I was there to learn.

When I saw you ride I felt so much that feeling that I wanted to believe it was possible to do. To ride, or in my case, run myself out of town. And never look back. So, you gave me that. The thought that being from somewhere did not have to dictate where you went. There it is - Rise Up - and then crash it down when you just could not leave Bro-Town (that's a now-relavant term, for being a big time Jock in high-school) out of it. You were still from a town in Texas, that guy up on the podium. You scowled from beneath your baseball cap (who needs cycling caps anyway who cares if they're about tradition?) you stalked from press conference to press conference like an insolent child, even I, as somewhat of a child recognized this. Oh yeah, and you didn't bother to even try to pronounce French words.

And on the same hand you were riding away from the best in the world. Smashing them. Make them look a fool, and making myself go YES! No! Just one more time.

I smashed this kid once. We ran the mile against each other all the time, and I think usually it was pretty close. Then came the day that he told me (to my face) that he was going to beat me. He really just came up to me - with two girls on his arm - I remember this part clearly because one of them was from my hometown, and had come here expressly to see him race. She was part of the popular crowd - so to speak - no word from her these days, she probably got fat, not the point. The point was that he came up and told me he was going to beat me in front of my dad. Luckily, my mother was elsewhere and did not have to hear this particular brand of nonsense. But I think that this was maybe the point where dear old dad unleashed the beast, and gave me my free will. That could be a pretty hefty topic to discuss, so we'll have to get back to that.

But what I did was smash this kid. I took that little ball of anger in my stomach - thanks Schleck for that - and unleashed it on this poor, unsuspecting kid. I did not feel bad about it at the time, and I do not feel bad about it now. I am just using that aside to show you that I am capable of understanding what sort of rage is bubbling and how it gets used. Mine was the hate coming off of one guy. Yours was the hate of a whole country of peoples (France) that you never even saw because you were too busy boiling down the anger into something manageable. I get that too.

And at some point, I also learned what it takes to hate something, then channel it, and eventually turn it on yourself, and others in a way that could cause it to be very explosive. In fact, if you did not have a physical outlet for it, such as running, or cycling, or smashing expensive china with a whiffle ball bat. And I could see this as being very destructive.

However, I think that is why you became so great. You brought out the absolute best in everything and everyone and at the same time caused the polar opposite in everyone else. Everyone that was not in on it. Or everyone that you deemed unfit to reap the rewards that you offered with undying loyaly... So, polar are your opposing sides that I think they should make up a new word for it. Opposar. Maybe? Or the art of it could be called Polar-Opps? Maybe there is already something like that though?

But whatever it is its strong. And while it is apparent that your grasp is slipping in the way that that race is no longer mutable in your hands, your effect is still great. When you slipped from the rankings with enough finality to finally make it believable you left a great void. And cycling will recover from it, people will learn to watch the race even if you are not in it, or provide some sort of context for them to understand it...

The racing too will recover. I thought that after I watched the second have of that fateful timetrial in 2005. Remember how you launched yourself up the Mountain after you passed Rassmussen? And then the water was splashed in your face and we thought you might react - but you didn't. And then you crossed the finish line, eyes, nose and face all steeled as if they have been preparing for a winter alone in the woods.

So, yes, the racing will indeed recover. But no matter how you slice it...whether we love you or hate your guts, you have left a void in this sport. Or maybe a wound? Maybe you left a wound that is still slightly weeping. The scab was reopened for a minute there and we tried to temper it with gauze, but maybe that was not the answer after all, maybe we should just let that shit air dry? Lets try that this time around.


Oh and while you're out saving the world, I keep getting email saying that this dude is stuck in a Russian Prison, can you look into that?

236:"The Genius Controls the Chaos"

I know it is Friday, and I know that it is the last Friday before the end of the TdF. And while the race may already be decided, it also might not. What I am hoping is that Schleck pulls out some newfangled contraption - not a motor for his downtube we already have those - some kind of special handlebars or something that offer his body a more forward - (ie futuristic looking) position on the bicycle (I know, I get it, they would have to be really space age to make that happen) and he wins the Tour by narrowly beating Contador due to his tactical advantage in the Time Trial. But, then again, that could probably never happen.

I hope you have some time on your hands.

It is wonderful to be able to watch the climbing stages over and over. This is not really something that I can always do, but I like to. Today, I sneak glances at the TV and Kolobnev as he goes for yet another of the KOM sprints. This is playing for the third time straight. Glad no one minds.

Andy Schleck too is a marvel to watch. Contador makes me jealous. Snakeships. Whatever, who cares, he looks unique, fluid, sleek but in his own curious way. And these are the people that I channel when I climb, knowing full well that I probably look like an awkward bar room brawling (complete with look cleats and carbon soles) version of these two. Heavier sure, but also muscling the bike around like I am trying to make it do my bidding instead of the perfect union that is either of those two. Ah well, it still hurts the same either way.


Speaking of climbing, I had the chance to ride with KV the other day. Turns out we did a little bit of climbing, for most of it I was again staring at the ground whirring away beneath my tires. New ones in fact, but that is besides that point. Kyle is one of these "editors" one of these guys who sits behind a computer screen, or bank of computer screens, all day and gets to just play around with videos. Or at least that is how I imagine his life to be. Dark and filled with cheetoes. Keyboards smudged with greasy orange paw prints. In truth I am sure that it is something a bit more sterile than that. And KV does not ride his bike like he eats a ton of Cheetoes.

The reason that we were talking about editing though is because one of the last pieces that KV edited is one that many of you have been seeing for the past...oh say 18 days or so...



My question for him was about the second move, where the camera pans back over the mountains and why that move was necessary. He said to help establish the fact that the voices were solely surrounding Mr. Armstrong and not a product of the environment. Makes total sense to me, but what he told me next was what made the whole thing ridiculous and funny. Apparently people who had watched the video online had written in to tell them (Nike and W + K in this case?) that the audio keeps cutting out throughout the film. And this is where KV reached out and started smacking his own helmet and saying "Its the voices in his head, its the voices in his head." See how they come back when the camera shifts back....nevermind.



What I also find interesting is the "Una Mas" commercial that has been airing directly after (or was it before) the Armstrong ad - and they aren't Nike Ads anymore - they're Armstrong ads. I have to say (no offense KV) that if I had to choose one over the other it would have to be the Specialized ad. Two reasons for this. Well, ok maybe more than two.

1) lighter. this evokes a spirit that LA has been missing for quite some time now
2) lighter. as in color and brightness. tone, if you will. quit being so fucking dour Lance. you did this to yourself, this was your choosing.
3) the music
4) we all know that he has voices in his head.
5) if I woke up from a crazy dream, naked in front of a crowd of people and it was on a Specialized Roubaix, or whatever Contador is riding now Spz-A36 or something, in Astana Blue, I would be less embarrassed than if I was riding a Trek Whatevs 940. Fer realz.
6) I like that 'Berto is doing hill repeats - fast - instead of ambling along looking back on his career and "all the pressure to do this" and "the people wanting me to do that." Heard It. Contado has made it all about the best part. Riding his bike.

I feel like a dick now. Sorry KV, your work is amazing.

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Cycling Inquisition with an amazing story that includes but is not limited to: Colombia, drug trafficking, murder, infidelity, and Cycling. There is a video at the bottom of this post that I think you should check out. It is of JV showing off his hotel room and offers amazing insight into that man that we know and love. Family man? Maybe, check out his sleeping shirt and photos of his family. Also, a man of discerning tastes? Well, I do not blame you Jen's. I think that those synthetic feeling off color blankets are weird too...

Spriggs and I were talking about him all last week at the Cycle Club. Hoping for glimpses of him in post race interviews, or, more importantly, at the front of the peloton crushing peoples ever-loving spirits. Or, conversely taking a kids bicycle out for a joyride. The man will just not back down, and no matter what he said about stage 3, he still wins in my mind. Please do not retire my man. We need you.

Need proof? Jens Voigt? (please click that link). (pretty please). Damn, he has a sense of humor as well. What more can you want?

Honestly, let us get back to Spriggsy and I? Our JuJu must be taking some serious hold. Because in all probability it was just that type of talk that got us a mention near the bottom of that NYTimes post. Ok, not really us, but you know what I mean, that is our boy Graeme killing it on the Tourmalet. And just like that the revelations just keep coming.

One merry prankster in the comments sections offers insight into Voigt.

Joke from the Seventies:

"Why do cycling shoes have all those holes in them? To let the blood run out."

-brought to you by Harry from Boston.

Now enjoy this:

235: Visual Slippage

Joe Staples wrote a nice little piece the other day about lying to yourself. I was featured in the post, but I think that it should be noted that it is solely because I ride with him all the time, not because I have any bearing on the actual outcome. He could trash me in a second. Most of these people that we ride with could. Only thing is - I was not wearing kneewarmers - psshh - who wears knee warmers?

But the truth of the matter is that he got me thinking about the ways that I lie to myself. And, at this point I will only tell you the cycling ones. If we were to go into the others things could get what you might call 'a little messy.' And then I am sure that I would start lying to you, which would be bad, or worse than just lying to myself.

I do not know if what I do would be considered lying because I am fully aware of it when it is happening and am also fully aware when it is over. What happens is that I start to slip, at least visually, and when the slipping starts, it is very, very difficult to stop. And I plead with myself (which is where the lying might factor in) but it is the whole procession of slipping that really is the point.

Most of us when riding get very focused on what is directly in front of us. Possibly not Jens Voigt his focus probably rests somewhere on the top of Pain Mountain, trust me you will never see it, this mountain, because it is in a far off land somewhere. Only he and a few others can see it. Bruce Lee probably saw it. Myself? I tend to focus directly on what is front of me.


Visual Slipping

Barring any real ailments I feel to be in pretty good health at the moment. The big toenail of my right foot fell of recently for no real apparent reason. But, other than that I feel to be the picture of perfect health — except for the fact that I am blind as a bat. I know that everyone says this at some point, especially if they wear glasses, which I do, but seriously I am fucking blind.

For example: I saw some old friends recently. These old friends have not been seen by me in quite some time, and during our time apart I purchased new glasses. This was their response to these glasses; "New glasses eh? I do not remember your glasses making your eyes look all bulgy and buglike the last time I saw you in them. Are they getting thicker?" Thanks guys, just for putting it out there, and yes they are.

For example2: If I were to lose one of my contacts in a race. I would stop and get off my bike. It really would be dangerous for me to be riding blind as a bat.

But the point of that is this: My slipping happens visually.


A person much wiser than myself once taught me a visual trick to help me close the distance between myself and another rider in front of me. He had noticed that I was letting too great a gap open and when he mentioned it to me, for one I did not know what he was talking about, and for two I said "well, why would I want to get that close to another cyclist, I might hit his rear wheel and take us both out." (this happened one time and it was not pretty)

So, being a much smarter cyclist than myself he passed along a little knowledge. "Look straight through the bike ahead of you and focus on their front hub." I tried and it worked extremely well. "You'll know what they are doing [by the movement of their front wheel] and instinctively move with them, and at the same time, you will be aware of the space between both of your bicycles."

It was easy, made sense and works every time. Until you start slipping.

If it happens quick, the slip, your vision will go blurry (you'll wonder if a contact fell out, like me) and you will quickly realize that you have exerted yourself a little too much and plain lost the wheel in front of you. Commence heavy breathing and stamping on the pedals. This method is a bit preferred only because it feels like an accident and any gap you have created can, hopefully, be quickly eliminated.

The slow ones are the ones to watch out for because by the time you realize they have happened, it could be over.

Phase One:
First my vision goes from the front hub to the bottom bracket. This seems ok to me because there is more visible motion happening in this area. The cranks are spinning effortlessly, smoothly in their little press-fit shell (little joke). This can also be an area of wonderment because this is where all the power from the legs is being transformed into forward motion. Even if it does mean I have slipped a little bit - and I am not worried about it.

Phase Two:
When you have gone from the bottom bracket to the read hub, then it is time to start worrying. Take note of what is happening (you are going backward) and start to work to counteract what is happening. I am slipping, ever so slightly off the wheel of whomever is in front of me. Immediately following this revelation, my sight will go to the very back of their back tire. Now, is time to be worried.

Phase Three:
Once I have exhausted the bike in front of me, it is time to move onto your own. Visual Slippage has now taken its toll and what you are left with, fortunately or unfortunately is your own bicycle. The machine underneath you. The problem here, well now you do not have a wheel to follow. Now you are left to your own devices. And if you do not have the mental fortitude of Jens (which unfortunately I do not) Well, then, I hope at least you are having fun.

It is possible to counteract the slip however. All it takes is the mental strength to reverse the process. Quite literally force yourself to look from the rear tire to the rear hub. Punch your eyeballs from the rear hub back up to the bottom bracket. Watch the spinning. And then when you have settled back into the rhythms that have kept you there in the first place. Move your eyes a bit further up to the front hub. Voila. Counteracted.

And while easier said than done, it is something to think about.

Today I slipped, fell off. Clawed my way back on. Slipped again, scratched the inside of my soul until it was raw, and then just decided to be content with how my knees looked bobbing on their own.

Then I was kindly berated for letting this side of things slip too. But it is definitely good to be out and about...

234: Union Foundry.

This Union Foundry stuff is so cool. I'm not going to lie.

I feel really honored that they decided to include me in their pre-release. Please do not let the postmaster gods ever think I'm anything but stoked about everything. But, the truthiness of the matter is this: I do not have a track bike at the moment...therefor I do not know if I can be the best judge of this product.

Fear not, I have indeed found the perfect testing grounds for this new tool.

I think that I have figured a way to put is warp speed like precision to work. (No one actually says "warp speed like precision." Promise, just made that up.) Check out the video, which our pal Stebs made and then we are going to get back on this in a minute.

In the meantime, Tyler over at Independent Fabrication has a little bit more for you.

233: Always More.

Notes on the Tour thus far:

Ouch. Ow.

"That's just bike racing, get on with it." -M. Cavendish

I like that there is a thing called the "Shack Tracker" how clever. Really? I would however like it more if the symbol that popped up was a metal detector. Just for fun.

The first two ads after each break are about Lance (Michelob and Nissan Leaf) and then the third one starts "Can Lance do it again..." or some shit like that. Seems to be a trend here.

J-you-are (Jaguar)

If Julian Dean has to carry that team. Something tells me Julian Dean will carry that team. Otherwise he won't.

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July

We used to joke in bike shops that the two reasons why July is notoriously the slowest month of the year, in terms of sales, was that everyone was either watching the Tour or out riding their bikes because they had just been watching the tour. The joke here being that no one would watch anything, ever, relating to bike racing all year, and then the Tour comes along and suddenly everyone and their brother is glued to the set. Then, as soon as the stage and recap is over they are out on their Cervelo P34's or their Trek MADone bicycles racing to Lexington and back, or tearing through downtown Milwaukee to make it over to the bike path along Lake Michigan.

I am not an early riser.

This will come as no surprise to anyone that has spent any amount of time with me. I want to be, I try to be, but no matter how you slice it, I do not like to get up in the morning. I know for a fact that many, many, many of you will be up in the early morning hours of the day enjoying coffee, eating your breakfast and watching what unfolds in the Tour de France tomorrow. However, the only thing in those last three mentioned that can get me close to getting out of bed is the thought of coffee. So, until that happens I will be burrowed under the covers hoping to eschew any sort of stray light that can and will get through to pierce my eyes and wake me from wherever I may have drifted off to. Which is where I would rather be.

The benefit of having the Tour on in the morning is that your friends will not want to ride until later in the afternoon (9am instead of 7am in most cases) and one can be left in peace. The secondary benefit of the rides being later and the tour being on is that we now have something to talk about rather than the usual which goes dog, kids, wives/girlfriends (in that order). The tertiary benefit of this is that I would rather hear their take on what happens on the day first - seriously - I do not care if you "Spoiler Alert" me all damn day - I just want you to tell me who won. And in this fashion I can build up all the nasty rumors (CAV totes hates Fair-uh) and all the ugly truths (Schlecks do not do this to me) and then go and check them out for myself with the intense-o moments quietly disposed of.

But really, the truth of the matter is that these people, my friends, as they watch the Tour they are filled with this hope (however false) that they will ride in a manner similar to those brightly painted gladiators that they have just viewed. So, then they come out of their hiding places, eyes all squinty at the sun, and we ride. And in July, it seems, we ride harder than usual.

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More Small Publications

Because of all this talk about small publications I keep thinking back to this one that Rich Bravo gave me on my last visit to NYC. Only problem was that I could not decide which was the best background to present it with. As you can see, I decided on the little gravely bits.

The book is small by anyone's standards, which means it is about "yay" big. I held up my hands to show you the actual size, but I am sure you cannot see that at this point. The book is shot and designed by Lucie E. Kim and is part of the MyORB collective of goodness. You can see more photos that are similar to my photos there.

The book is a great look at Keirin racing as an introduction and the format makes the book accessible in a way that handheld paper objects should be. You want to stuff this one in your pocket and take it with you. Here is an idea. Make something like this with blank pages in between the photos? Like a cross between a notebook/journal/love letter to the sport?

Not that you should write over these photos, I do not condone that type of behavior (I did have someone tell me at the 4th of July party I went to that he 'circled up' volume5 so that he could show me all my mistakes at some point). Which, at first struck me as an odd thing to do, and possibly made me a bit angry (not so much as when people roll it up and try to stuff it in things though) but then when I put down the whiskey it made a bunch more sense, because what a better way to illustrate than with my own magazine?


I am enamored with the size of this book, sure, but also the design elements get me going as well. I like the a lot of the photos have been blocked in this strange way that makes you feel like you are not seeing the whole picture, but still gives you enough information to know what is going on. The lines and patterns that make up not only the track itself, but also the entire stadium also lend itself to visually making this velodrome setup feel a bit alien, at the very least foreign. Which I guess makes a lot of sense.


Their website is not the only place to get this book. Bravo told me he picked it up when he went to visit this new shop Adeline Adeline (same one Quirk raved about a while back in What's New). I like that they are carrying alternative publications like the one above and plan on visiting them when I head out to the Cycle Club in the coming weeks. This month is going to be all about publications, I promise.

Here is one last shot to leave you with. This is something that we made over the winter but never fully utilized. Until now that is. July is also the month to send Postcards apparently? And since they play off of one of my favorite things in the world - Mail!!- they cannot be all bad right?

We made four different postcards. There are two cross tyres and two road tyres. If my memory is serving me correctly the one you see here is from the Saxo-Bank team before the start of Paris Roubaix last year. The other road one is also from that collection, and then there are two cross ones as well.

232: Play is Good.

Tabor tonight was fun. Really fun, even though it hurt. Maybe especially because it hurt.

Anyway, I found this video whilst digging back through Backyard Blam tonight. I really do love this blog and that outlook of its creator - Amanda. Her humor seriously warms my heart in the nerdiest of nerdy ways. Plus, she recently gifted me not only a matching set of glasses (but in brown) but also a Backyard Blam T-shirt that I am thinking you might be seeing soon (on me, and not anywhere else - I choose to believe that this shirt is so rare as to be considered a "one off.") So, keep your eyes peeled for that one.


I want this. At first I did not. I poo pooed it. I am not going to lie to you. But, the more I think about it. The more I think it has something to do with the model and the legwarmers and all the dark on the lower half. Just being honest here. But, I've changed my mind and now I want it. It looks hot (as in Super Cool) and now I want one. Curses. And I cannot wait to see the inclusion of the Tourmalet back into the TDF this year. Schlecks Schlecks! You can do it. I think this also has something to do with why I am all of a sudden psyched about this jersey.

The other thing that I want. Since we are on the subject of clothing and wanting at the moment -- Is something from Howies. Anything will do really when it comes down to it. They just do their clothing so well. It is like a hip, functional Patagonia. But better looking. However, with that being said, word on the street (and I have an inside man everywhere) is that the fall Patagonia line is going to blow your crampons right off. Just sayin.

The other reason I am into Howies these days is (not because I heard two really nice stories about their company and how they treat people) but because they produce such great printed materials. When I was lingering around Mr. Strickland's office I picked up one of their little mini-catalog's to thumb through, turns out it was just a little side project book about all of the cool spots that they had been whilst shooting their actual catalog. Why do more companies not do stuff like this? This is what the people (ie - me) want to see. Have a look see.

I got thinking about this one again because of the Embrocation 2.5 that came up the other day. I like these small little nuggets. Little awesome packets of the joy that it took to produce them. I think that there might be a 6.5 in the future. Or something to that effect.