Bikes

[bels]

Fuckk just as I was waiting at the lights going home I was behind this guy on a totally sick looking dark green tourer with a hub gear and disc brakes. No decals on the frame and he cut across traffic before I could catch him up to ask where he got it

[silvaeri]

FUCK! YES!

We raised enough $$$ to fund the necessary repairs for our local velodrome and the organization has accepted the bid.

5 more years of track racing in Minnesota!

5 years for the planning shit for the indoor velodrome to finally get done.

So goddamn happy right now.

[nothobo]

First races of the collegiate season down in Corvallis with OSU (and first races ever for me). Pretty happy with the results.
15/ 37 for the road race and 7/24 for the crit

Racing is super fun. Oh here is footage of a crash from the crit that I wasn't in.

[silvaeri]

- for serious you need to come out and race on it. it's a very unique feeling velodrome imo, summer road trip 2015!!

Also glad you didn't eat it in the rain. Wet crits are extremely scary!

[bels]

Thanks bike friends!

[ramseames]

have you tried clipless pedals bela

[bels]

Do you have to wear lame shoes for that? Or do you just men remove the clips from my pedals?

[ramseames]

Clipless is kind of a dumb word, refers to the lack of toe clips but it confuses people because you "clip in"

Normal pedals are just called flats

And yeah you'd need shoes with a mounting point for the cleats.

[ramseames]

Bela just think of it as a great excuse to buy more wedge derbies

http://missionworkshop.com/products/bik ... atible.php

I agree though, in general. But they're literally the only cheap thing you can buy for your bike that will make you go meaningfully faster. And they're safer than toeclips.

[bikesarecool]

these shoes are not lame

[nothobo]

Meh if you're commuting around, normal shoes and flat pedals is what I wear.

[ramseames]

bike snob has been around for a long time, damn

[nothobo]

My new winter training

[ballast]

don't really know anything about biking so i don't know if this is a cool idea or not. figure you bikers would:

[silvaeri]

went on a midnight ride to grab some tags for our local photo tag game. turns out there are TWO tiny library TARDISs in Minneapolis. And I went to the farther one first (which also happened to be the incorrect one). Still had a nice ride. 50s out. Gorgeous.

[nothobo]

Some aerial footage from racing last weekend

[nick]

So I saw right outside my apartment they're building a bike share station - cool stuff ! (Like the Philly version of Citibike)

I think this would be a really great time to learn how to ride a bike in the city ... but I probably haven't rode a bike for at least a decade. What are some good resources for people just starting off, from a technique and ESPECIALLY safety standpoint? Obviously I won't go riding directly into Philly traffic the second the bike share is up and running.

[ramseames]

buy a cheap bike and a not second hand helmet

take the pedals off, lower the seat so that you can sit on it and have your feet flat on the ground. make sure the brakes work ok

go to a park with a shallow hill and practice coasting down a bunch of times until you feel reasonably comfortable balancing. use the brakes to keep speed relatively low

once you do, put the pedals back on and try to pedal/keep going once you get to the bottom of the hill/its flat

i taught kids to ride for a few summers in highschool and the way you do that is slightly diff but this will work better for an adult

[bikesarecool]

i did my first race and i didn't die or get dropped. yay! (i'm the blurry white helmet with black kit on the right) short crit, 24mph average


did some chill riding with a friend and he took a rad photo of me being a poser

[nothobo]

Some sunshine before it started snowing during the race on sunday

[silvaeri]

Really proud of how I did this last weekend at our dual meet with the Midwestern Conference, home conference to Marion University who have won the national championships for like the last 5 years running. I placed 9th overall in our road race and 1st in my conference, and 6th overall in the crit and 1st in my conference. Pretty stoked about that. The points from those wins catapaulted me from really low in the individual standings to 5th place. Hoping to hit the podium for the season at the conference championships this weekend. My school is hosting, so home field advantage baybay!

(Trying to find some pictures of me from the crit if any exist)

[silvaeri]

This is pretty cycling related, a really good read.

http://www.mprnews.org/story/2010/08/25 ... r-mcarthur

I cried a little.

[brlmski]

whoops

was gonna replace it anyways now i have to

[odradek]

It's national bike month! You should go ride! Additionally, you should help me figure out how https://nationalbikechallenge.org works and join the care-tags team that I just set up but don't know how to link to! And remember, if it's not on Strava, it didn't happen.

Edit: I figured out how to link to it: https://nationalbikechallenge.org/team/8402

[silvaeri]

Getting METAL at the top of a hill climb Time Trial.

[nothobo]

Finished up my collegiate race season last week with conference champs in Moscow, Idaho. The road race was pretty brutal with 2 climbs where people got very strung out, and then rolling hills where the chase happened. I was in the attacking group at the top of the first climb, but couldn't manage to hold the wheel going downhill going 45 mph since I'm running 50x11 and I spun out, also doesn't help that i'm 143lbs. Playing catch up was fun till the 2nd climb where I got dropped again and formed a chasing group with 4 people through the rolling hills till the finish. Managed a 13th place finish because I didn't want to rail the corners as fast as the people in 10-12th.

Campus crit at the University of Idaho was great, field of 40+ again. Once again got caught behind slower people and gapped a bit from the lead group. And again organized a chase group with a couple dudes. Due to crashes the front group slowed down a bit and I caught them and got to sit and recover. Didn't position myself well for the final uphill sprint finish but managed a 4th place.

Here's me casually drinking water in the pack

[ramseames]

this is the dumbest thing anyone from red bull has spent their unlimited advertising budget on. ever.

[ramseames]

have to assume that wil white was like the only rider who goes to rampage that was able to do this (ie doesn't have a clothing sponsor).

hope they let him keep the gear

[bikesarecool]

wharrgarbl. (wolfpack hustle shortline crit)
me getting dropped by a buncha cat123 dudes and 1 ex-pro who used to race on uspostal, discovery, and bmc. the race got strung out immediately from the start. my friend who managed to stay with the front group for the entire race averaged 34mph on the first lap.

[silvaeri]

Was out in Seattle racing with a bunch messengers. Fucking great weekend, missing the west coast a lot now. Here's a pic of me on my bike from the weekend.