*Blank Stare*

I stumbled on this article today from Adrian Short , via BikeBlips, titled 'Save the planet - ban cycle helmets'. Of course, the title of post itself was enough to get me to read this lengthy article. I've had a few conversations as of late on helmet use and I will be the first to admit the absolute NEED to wear one, but at the same time take personal responsibility for not wearing one all the time. After reading this article I understand and agree with a lot of what the author states but at the same time remember that he is overstating to make the extreme point that we should not ride with helmets.

Check out the article below. Maybe if you imagine it is being read in a British accent it'll sound like a better argument. I feel I should also state that the following is not the opinion of No Drive. or of any of it's contributors and is only the opinion of the original author.

Save the planet — ban cycle helmets

By Adrian Short

Save the planet – ban cycle helmets

Ethical Consumer has a feature called “Love this, ban that!” which asks an assortment of the green and the good which saintly products they love and which evil ones they’d ban. Sadly, no-one took the opportunity to challenge the premise that banning things is the best way to steer society down a more sustainable path and to allay the well-founded suspicion among many outside the green ghetto that environmentalists tend to be ban-happy authoritarians.

Inexplicably, Ethical Consumer didn’t contact me to take part in their survey but I’d like to nominate the bicycle as my favourite “ethical consumer product” and the cycle helmet for an immediate, total ban backed up with the full force and violence of the criminal justice system.

I hope that choosing the bicycle as my preferred product needs little explanation or justification but my putative ban on cycle helmets might be a little more problematic. For a long time I’ve harboured the suspicion in my more paranoid moments that there’s some kind of collusion between the road/oil lobby and elements of the cycling fraternity to ensure that cycling in Britain remains a marginalised, unpleasant and largely despised activity.

For those of us looking to travel between around a mile and eight miles without an extreme amount of cargo, the bike should be the default the choice. Done right, cycling is convenient, cheap, safe, accessible, fun and sustianable.

Done right.

It’s not possible to uninvent the bicycle but if Shadowy Forces wanted to minimise the number of people cycling so as to benefit their Evil Agenda they’d probably want to chip away at all the things that make cycling potentially great so as to diminish the whole experience. If you can’t ban it, knacker it.

Here’s how to do it:

Cycling is cheap? Can’t have that. Now, let’s see. Let’s start at the obvious place by making bikes more expensive. Load them with features that cost more to build (complex braking systems, gears, suspension) and require expensive expert maintenance rather than DIY. Turn the bike from an everyday utilitarian thing, a utensil, and make it a product. Desirable. Fashionable. Consumerable. There’s a lot of choice, so shop around. Read reviews. Get recommendations. Worry, because it matters. Who’d want to be seen riding a cheap bike? An unfashionable bike? A tatty bike? Now accessorise. That expensive bike needs an expensive lock — or two. Got to protect your investment. Buy insurance. (Shop around, shop around.) Compare the tensile strengths and style options and get a helmet. A bone dome. A skid lid. Don’t be cheap — your skull could depend on it. Get a hi-viz jacket that’s more breathable than a string vest and only fifty times the price. Padded shorts for that tiny, bony saddle. Special shoes to couple perfectly with your special pedals. A messenger bag from this week’s premium brand.

Here’s the safety strategy: Make it less safe and make it feel less safe. The best way to make cycling less safe is for cyclists to ride faster. Encourage this wherever possible. Forget ambling, casual, pedestrian images of cycling. Emphasise sport, fitness, competition. Measure speed. Sell speedometers and odometers. Get people to monitor their performance. Track their MPH, their heartrates, their calories, their carbon footprints. Compare with others. Compete. Idolise road racers, couriers, extreme mountain bikers, BMXers. Alleycatters. Lance Armstrong. Jump the red light. Race other cyclists. Race cars. Race the clock. Race, race. It’s not fun unless you’re taking risks. Life is one big risk, right? Cycling just got a whole lot more dangerous for the sake of a marginal shortening of the average journey. Ohh, wipeout. Nice one.

Now the perception of safety. Talk about safety, safety, safety so everyone thinks danger, danger, danger. Don’t show images of cyclists without helmets, especially not children. Never children. Sending your children out on bikes without helmets is tantamount to child abuse. Don’t you care? Don’t you care about the children? Would you send them out to their deaths? Photos of cyclists without helmets are like images of people with cigarettes. Historical documents. Anachronisms. Forbidden outside the intellectual safety of the academy. Be safe, be seen. Hi viz. Yellow jacket, yellow jersey. £100 lights that can dazzle shipping 20 miles off the coast. Lumens. Got to get more lumens. You need a bell? You need a foghorn. Radar. Missiles, if you could get them. And you need training, because it’s a war out there. Drivers hate you. Pedestrians hate you. Other cyclists hate you. The law is indifferent, the police don’t care. Every other road user will kill you if they get a chance. Unless you get trained. Unless you can stay one step ahead of them. Unless you can get them first. So you go to boot camp. You get trained. You are approved. You are a Cyclist. You feel a little bit safer in that dangerous place. Until you see the ghost bike. Don’t be a statistic like the pallid, mangled wreck chained to the lamppost at the roundabout. Don’t be a victim. Go faster. Be a winner. Beat them.

Do you smell? People shouldn’t smell. If you cycle, if you cycle fast, you’ll smell. You’ll need a shower. Does your workplace have showers? No? Don’t cycle. Does the pub have showers? No? Don’t cycle. Does the shopping centre have showers? No? Please, don’t cycle.

But if you don’t mind smelling, you can’t cycle to work because they don’t have lockers. You need a locker for your helmet. Your jacket. Your padded shorts. Your special shoes that couple so, so perfectly with your special pedals. Your quick-release (eezy-steal) saddle. Your lights and all their lumens. Your handlebar computer with its data, its intimate knowledge of your body, your performance, your lifestyle. Your hydration system. Your lock. You worry about your lock. It cost more than your first bike. And the bike itself? That needs a CCTV-monitored, thumbprint-secured, climate-controlled vault. A lamppost won’t do because your bike takes a month’s work to buy but only a minute or two to steal.

Are you fat? Don’t cycle. You don’t, do you? Fit people cycle. Fat people do not cycle. (Fat people do not swim. Fat people do not run. Soon, fat people will not walk.) Cycling is about fitness. Fat people, un-fit people, do not cycle. Fat people look ridiculous on bikes. Fat people look crap in lycra. Fat people look even more fat in lycra, if such a tragically hilarious thing could be possible. Fat people can only go slowly but cyclists must go fast. They must race. They must perform. They must compete. Fat people are not fast off the lights. Fat people do not look like Lance Fuckingarmfuckingstrong. Fat people must enshroud themselves in cars as a prophylactic against polite society’s sight of their ungainly self-propelled movement. Fat people must squeeze themselves onto buses and trains and tubes with all the other huffers and puffers, the children and the old people, the timid and the nearly dead. They say obese but you read fat. People like you are an epidemic. You are contagious and the things you must do to make the rest of us safe you are not allowed to do. If you are fat, don’t cycle. You don’t, do you?

Cycle helmets are the most visible and potent symbol of all that’s wrong with Britain’s (anti-)cycling culture. Cycle helmets say we cannot cycle without the right precautions, the right equipment, the right infrastructure, the right training. Cycle helmets say there must be more to cycling than a person, two wheels and the surface of the Earth. Let’s ban them now before it’s too late. Let’s lock up all the people who buy them, who sell them, who use them. Let’s drag them off to jail in handcuffs, in tears.

Ethical Consumer has a feature called Love this, ban that! which asks an assortment of the green and the good which saintly products they love and which evil ones they’d ban. Sadly, only Mayor Boris took the opportunity to challenge the premise that banning things is the best way to steer society down a more sustainable path and to allay the well-founded suspicion among many outside the green ghetto that environmentalists tend to be ban-happy authoritarians.

Inexplicably, Ethical Consumer didn’t contact me to take part in their survey but I’d like to nominate the bicycle as my favourite “ethical consumer product” and the cycle helmet for an immediate, total ban backed up with the full force and violence of the criminal justice system.

I hope that choosing the bicycle as my preferred product needs little explanation or justification but my proposed ban on cycle helmets might be a little more problematic. For a long time I’ve harboured the suspicion in my more paranoid moments that there’s some kind of collusion between the road/oil lobby and elements of the cycling fraternity to ensure that cycling in Britain remains a marginalised, unpleasant and largely despised activity.

For those of us looking to travel between around a mile and eight miles without an extreme amount of cargo, the bike should be the default choice. Done right, cycling is convenient, cheap, safe, accessible, fun and sustianable.

Done right.

It’s not possible to uninvent the bicycle but if Shadowy Forces wanted to minimise the number of people cycling so as to benefit their Evil Agenda they’d probably want to chip away at all the things that make cycling potentially great so as to diminish the whole experience. If you can’t ban it, knacker it.

Here’s how to do it:

Cycling is cheap? Can’t have that. Now, let’s see. Let’s start at the obvious place by making bikes more expensive. Load them with features that cost more to build (complex braking systems, gears, suspension) and require expensive expert maintenance rather than DIY. Turn the bike from an everyday utilitarian thing, a utensil, and make it a product. Desirable. Fashionable. Consumerable. There’s a lot of choice, so shop around. Read reviews. Get recommendations. Worry, because it matters. Who’d want to be seen riding a cheap bike? An unfashionable bike? A tatty bike? Now accessorise. That expensive bike needs an expensive lock — or two. Got to protect your investment. Buy insurance. (Shop around, shop around.) Compare the tensile strengths and style options and get a helmet. A bone dome. A skid lid. Don’t be cheap — your skull could depend on it. Get a hi-viz jacket that’s more breathable than a string vest and only fifty times the price. Padded shorts for that tiny, bony saddle. Special shoes to couple perfectly with your special pedals. A messenger bag from this week’s premium brand.

Here’s the safety strategy: Make it less safe and make it feel less safe. The best way to make cycling less safe is for cyclists to ride faster. Encourage this wherever possible. Forget ambling, casual, pedestrian images of cycling. Emphasise sport, fitness, competition. Measure speed. Sell speedometers and odometers. Get people to monitor their performance. Track their MPH, their heartrates, their calories, their carbon footprints. Compare with others. Compete. Idolise road racers, couriers, extreme mountain bikers, BMXers. Alleycatters. Lance Armstrong. Jump the red light. Race other cyclists. Race cars. Race the clock. Race, race. It’s not fun unless you’re taking risks. Life is one big risk, right? Cycling just got a whole lot more dangerous for the sake of a marginal shortening of the average journey. Ohh, wipeout. Nice one.

Now the perception of safety. Talk about safety, safety, safety so everyone thinks danger, danger, danger. Don’t show images of cyclists without helmets, especially not children. Never children. Sending your children out on bikes without helmets is tantamount to child abuse. Don’t you care? Don’t you care about the children? Would you send them out to their deaths? Photos of cyclists without helmets are like images of people with cigarettes. Historical documents. Anachronisms. Forbidden outside the intellectual safety of the academy. Be safe, be seen. Hi viz. Yellow jacket, yellow jersey. £100 lights that can dazzle shipping 20 miles off the coast. Lumens. Got to get more lumens. You need a bell? You need a foghorn. Radar. Missiles, if you could get them. And you need training, because it’s a war out there. Drivers hate you. Pedestrians hate you. Other cyclists hate you. The law is indifferent, the police don’t care. Every other road user will kill you if they get a chance. Unless you get trained. Unless you can stay one step ahead of them. Unless you can get them first. So you go to boot camp. You get trained. You are approved. You are a Cyclist. You feel a little bit safer in that dangerous place. Until you see the ghost bike. Don’t be a statistic like the pallid, mangled wreck chained to the lamppost at the roundabout. Don’t be a victim. Go faster. Be a winner. Beat them.

Do you smell? People shouldn’t smell. If you cycle, if you cycle fast, you’ll smell. You’ll need a shower. Does your workplace have showers? No? Don’t cycle. Does the pub have showers? No? Don’t cycle. Does the shopping centre have showers? No? Please, don’t cycle.

If you don’t mind smelling, you can’t cycle to work because they don’t have lockers. You need a locker for your helmet. Your jacket. Your padded shorts. Your special shoes that couple so, so perfectly with your special pedals. Your quick-release (eezy-steal) saddle. Your lights and all their lumens. Your handlebar computer with its data, its intimate knowledge of your body, your performance, your lifestyle. Your hydration system. Your lock. You worry about your lock. It cost more than your first bike. And the bike itself? That needs a CCTV-monitored, thumbprint-secured, climate-controlled vault. A lamppost won’t do because your bike takes a month’s work to buy but only a minute or two to steal.

Are you fat? Don’t cycle. You don’t, do you? Fit people cycle. Fat people do not cycle. (Fat people do not swim. Fat people do not run. Soon, fat people will not walk.) Cycling is about fitness. Fat people, un-fit people, do not cycle. Fat people look ridiculous on bikes. Fat people look crap in lycra. Fat people look even more fat in lycra, if such a tragically hilarious thing could be possible. Fat people can only go slowly but cyclists must go fast. They must race. They must perform. They must compete. Fat people are not fast off the lights. Fat people do not look like Lance Fuckingarmfuckingstrong. Fat people must enshroud themselves in cars as a prophylactic against polite society’s sight of their ungainly self-propelled movement. Fat people must squeeze themselves onto buses and trains and tubes with all the other huffers and puffers, the children and the old people, the timid and the nearly dead. They say obese but you read fat. People like you are an epidemic. You are contagious and the things you must do to make the rest of us safe you are not allowed to do. Fat is getting thinner all the time. If you are fat, don’t cycle. You don’t, do you?

Cycle helmets are the most visible and potent symbol of all that’s wrong with Britain’s (anti-)cycling culture. Cycle helmets say we cannot cycle without the right precautions, the right equipment, the right infrastructure, the right training. Cycle helmets say there must be more to cycling than a person, two wheels and the surface of the Earth. Cycle helmets say that cycling is more dangerous than not cycling. Let’s ban them now before it’s too late. Let’s lock up all the people who buy them, who sell them, who use them. Let’s drag them off to jail in handcuffs, in tears.

A hipster? Finally?

If you remember back in July, a good friend of No Drive and fellow rider Marcus started making up his first fixie. It's been a great little project and yesterday he got the hoops... and they are well... sexy.

All blacked out Deep V's on the rig...

I'll have a bit more for you all tonight but for now, get out and ride!

More Transformation...

Now for all you tech-savvy folk out there and on the slim chance you are following me over on Twitter might have noticed a picture I posted a night or two ago... Last week, I decided that Red was going to transform a bit from her current state to some thing new with all sorts of little hints and teasers along the way...

This was a quick picture I took before Tom and I's late night ride for cheap food...


That's right, we rode to get food and good food... and cheap food. I digress... I've got a few other things to get before new pictures of here will be shown but in the meantime I've been rocking Red brake less the last few days and it's been fun. Not a new experiment by any means but really allows me to remember how badly I wish I could skid.

Another addition to Red will be a new brake lever. Over the weekend I did some modification to what started as an all white brake to better fit Red's decor.


That's it for now. More later and to those of you who were wondering, Leadout Racing had a pretty dang good showing at the Tour de Gaslight Crit this past weekend. Way to go guys! It made for a great day to sit and watch a few races.

photoshop fun.

It was a super long day at the shop today as we prepped for a huge sale we're having this weekend. I worked from 10 til 6, then drove across town and had a meeting at Mars from 6:30-8:30, got back to the shop at 9ish and finished setting almost everything up a little after midnight. So needless to say, I'm exhausted so all I have for you today is a little photo shop fun...


So if you're looking for a new bike, come and visit me this weekend or heck, come see all the work I did moving things around. Otherwise, ride safe and if you're in the GR area on Sunday maybe I'll see you here. Geoff's throwing down the hammer as always, maybe a his first Pro/Cat 1/2 race win? Hopefully but we'll see.

Reduce. Reuse. Recycle.

Now, if you're fans of No Drive. over on Facebook, you'll have read this under the company overview:

We dream simple dreams. Intentional living. Attempting to bring change to our world and taking advantage of each individuals own sphere of influence. Simple solutions to complex problems: giving instead of taking, loving instead of hating, riding instead of driving.

Intentional living. Taking Advantage of an individuals sphere of influence. Simple solutions. These are the phrases that drive me each day, these simple statements are what I hope my own personal compass is set on. I hope and strive to be taking steps to live in such a way that I am doing these things. Yet, I often fail.

A few days ago, I had the day off. I really didn't do anything. I mean, I did nothing. But somehow in the middle of that, I realized I needed a new belt and as I looked through my spare and old bike parts I discovered I had a few old tires that were pretty sweet but unusable for any actual riding. Ta-da! Queue the music! Why not make a belt out of one of them.

This of course, lead me to think how this might lead to a NDJR carry-over. We're already making and developing t-shirts but why not reuse some thing that has used up it's life as some thing else. Why not reduce the amount of 'stuff' that we're bringing into the world. Why not breathe life into some thing that just gets thrown out.

So became the first prototype of the No Drive. Just Ride. belt.

This is an old Vittoria Zaffiro Pro Tire partnered with some parts of an old belt. And what do you know. It works. It's comfortable. It looks sweet. It's time for you to get your hands on one.

Each belt is unique with their own personality, tread and buckle. If you are interested in getting your hands on one of these please email me at adamlorenz@gmail.com with a waist measurement [in inches] and what kind of tread pattern you'd be interested in getting your hands on. The first generation NDJR belts will start at $20 and that includes shipping to the continental U.S.. Payments via Paypal will be accepted.

Once again, email me and we can get the conversation started on your one of a kind belt!

From CNN :: and a response.

I stumbled onto this on CNN.com last night about the Critical Mass ride in Vancouver, Canada [which is one of many Critical Mass rides done each month in a number of major cities]



Just a few response to the motorists the 'iReporter' interviewed...

'It's great!'
One of the more common responses I have experienced when those not riding see or experience larger rides go through urban centers and disrupt the regular flow of traffic. This is one of the main reason for the Critical Mass rides is to raise awareness for cycling and get more people involved. There is strength in numbers and this is a great way to get people's attention.

'I love this, I'm get myself a bike'
Once again. Just great to see and hear when people simply see enough 'everyday' people riding around that they want to join in. Cycling has unfortunately gained the stigma of the helmet wearing and spandex sporting athletes which isn't always putting a great step forward for the sport. Riding just to ride is why we all started in the first place, the freedom we experienced the moment the wind hit our face, I would argue, is the hook that keeps most of us going.

'Nightmare. They should obey the same rules we do and there's a cop that let them do it too... And we're late!'
This passenger is exactly right. Cyclist should and must obey the same rules as automobiles. But often cyclists aren't given or afforded the same rights to the road by the same people who demand they obey the rules. Thus why a critical mass is important in getting people to recognize the importance of cycling but more importantly cycling safely. Which, by the way, the Vancouver ride is with the police escort. By having the law enforcement, i.e. city government involved, it makes sure the event remains safe to all who are involved.

'I think they picked the wrong time of day to throw this protest, I don't why the city allows them to have it... Pick a time of day when, like a Sunday or some thing to throw this protest, not a Friday before a long weekend.'
Now all I want to do is ask this driver is what good is a protest that no one sees or disrupts the normal flow of the day? How else do you raise awareness or get people talking about and issue unless you bring it to ones attention? Maybe that's just me.


Overall, I'm on the fence as to whether or not I approve of Critical Mass rides. Sure, it's fun to go on and I basically partake in one each Wednesday Night here in GR but as we've encountered with these rides, often there are people who don't want to obey traffic laws and do more harm than good for bicycling advocacy with their actions. But then again, people are riding and is that really a bad thing?

3 Essentials

If a part becomes a transparent part of your daily riding routine,

then I would say it is doing its job.
:: Guitar Ted, via The Cyclist Site

It was quite the coincidence that I spoke to a customer on Saturday about the importance of a properly fitting shoe and he responded with 'Spending money on a solid seat and shoes is always worth it' and at that moment all of this dawned on me. Then Saturday night stumbled onto G-Ted's review of some grips where he made the statement above and everything clicked. In my mind, the 3 essential things to be dialed in on any bike are first ones saddle, then the grips and shoes [in whichever order you want]. Outside the saddle, the other two are often overlooked as essential items to have dialed in.

Saddle

Now, there are plenty of differing thoughts on what makes one saddle better than the next. From Bontrager's Inform to Specialized Body Geometry to the 'try it and ride it' approach, each hold some truth although I would lean more towards Bontrager's approach more than anything. Stressing that specific size, adjustment and padding is more important that removing saddle structure or cut out. Saddle width is the key measurement I have found for saddle comfort. Figuring that out, as you can see on either on the Bontrager or Specialized website, while considering the typical riding position adds up to the right saddle. But there is one solution to all saddle problems... getting out and riding it. And most saddle companies now offer a 30 to 90 day like it or return it policy, take advantage of that! But you owe it to yourself to ride a saddle more than once and to try different positions on the saddle. I have found that if you have to adjust a saddle more than one or two 'clicks' from level you might have the wrong seat and that sliding the saddle along the rails does more for comfort than anything else.

Grips

Grips. Now, I'm extremely bias. I believe Ergon Bike Ergonomics put out the best product on the market. Period. This is an area that until companies like Ergon came around a few years ago, very little thoughts on how to relieve pain to a riders hand were considered outside of using bigger grips or a riser bar. I discovered Ergon via Jeff Kerkove back when Ergon decided to sponsor Trans Iowa and provide all 50 of the riders with free grips. This created quite the buzz around the shop and from that moment on, I believe all of us at Europa have been sporting them. Why? Because they simply work. There is a reason why companies are copying their design. These grips relieve the stress from the nerve that goes through your palm that creates the numbness and pain when pinched during riding. From the casual rider to the endurance racer, one can not go wrong with these grips.

Shoes

Shoes would be the last on my list of must have or must do between these 3 Essentials. Why? The novice cyclist simply wants to jump on the bike and ride where as the more avid rider or racer understands the improved efficiency and control one gains with a cycling specific shoes. Of course, when you bring up shoes, it is more than that and brings into the discussion of pedals but for the sake of this argument we'll simply concede that each have different preferences on what pedals a rider should use. A solid shoe for me, has a stiff sole, a 3 strap system with one ratcheting buckle. Each company out there offers products that have these options and depending on your foot type, how they fit comes into play. But when trying on shoes the two things I stress to customers is to look for and feel a good snug heel and plenty of space in the toe box. From there, to each their own on what works for them.


But in then end, with these 3 essentials it comes down to exactly what G-Ted said 'If a part becomes a transparent part of your daily riding routine, then I would say it is doing its job'. So if you notice it, it's probably not a good thing and you might want to consider changing it. Before you just start buying more and more shoes and saddles, take time to think of what exactly bothers you, what part of your hand, foot or hind side hurts and talk it over with someone at your local shop. They should be able to give you a few options for finding ways to making these parts 'transparent'.

Weekend Videos

Enjoy.

no drive. just ride. presents: C Series

The C Series

Now, this has been on my mind for some time now... at one point I thought about putting together a potential race, other times I simply training rides, then sometimes simply no drop longer distant ride. The C Series is a bit of all 3, it maybe only one of 3 some months but in the end, it's all about the love of Cycling.

C stands for Cycling
C stands for 100
C stands for Century

My hope is that this becomes a monthly ride where we ride 100 miles at one shot, some months it will be a clean 100, others a dirty 100. Meaning when it's a clean it's on pavement, dirty its on dirt/gravel. These rides will typically take place on Sundays and mainly in Michigan but I am also hoping to have a ride in Iowa, Wisconsin and Illinois down the road. Some will be part of larger already established rides [such as the ride in September] others we'll be on our own.

August 30th :: A no-drop CLEAN Century
September 27th :: Apple Cider Century [must pre-register here]
October 24th/DIRTY [Tentative Date]
November 22nd in Iowa/DIRTY [Tentative Date and Location]
December 19th [Tentative Date]

Start times and tentative route will be announced/posted 1 week prior to ride both here and on the C Series website [still in development]. Please feel free to email me if you are interested in receiving emails about the upcoming rides at adamlorenz@gmail.com

I Have A Need For Speed

It's and addiction, and makes crack look cheap and weak. Waking up early to sneak in some extra miles on the commute, spinning my legs out on my lunch break to hopefully get ride of the lactic acid that has built up in them, always thinking of the next race and when I will get my fix, and of course the fact that my basement and car always look like a bike shop has exploded in it. These are all signs of my addiction to speed and the racing that has inspired it. I know I don't race a Top Gun inspired bike, but this year has been a summer full of racing on the road, and I have a need for speed. I'd like to thank Adam for trying to keep things updated on here about racing, and linking to the team site. The upgrade to Cat. 2 has gone fairly well so far. My first race was a touch rough as I raced the Elk Grove 1/2 race and felt starstruck and outgunned from the start and didn't feel like I could stay on top of a gear and was unable to mentally fight for position in corners resulting in me missing the split in the field and finishing in 30th, 5 places outside the money. I know I am supposed to be happy as so many people got shelled in this race and it was a learning experience, but I am never happy when I ride like a wuss. This past weekend was a bit of redemption at the Meijer Grand Cycling Classic. This was now a Pro/1/2 race with Bissell bringing a full roster of pros to their sponsors hometown race. In addition to Bissell, Kelly Benefits sent a squad, Kenda Pro brought a bunch of riders, the Panthers fielded an army, and Subway-Avanti had three very strong riders in the field. Adding all of this talent to the already fast Michigan race scene made for a very fun day. Early on I still suffered from the feeling that I was recently upgraded and didn't know what I was doing in a field this strong. Once I settled down and realized that I had family, teammates, other racers, and of course the Founders team yelling at me to move up and do something I settled in and realized while faster than any field I had ridden in all year it was still a field I could handle and a course that suited my riding style. About halfway through I decided to stop hiding out and did some work, made a couple short lived break attempts, and helped pull back another one or two. I got caught a touch out of position in the sprint, but still managed 15th place which got me my entry fee back plus a little bit of pocket change. Ben Jacques-Maynes finished a place behind me and I am going to claim that he was trying his best to beat me(Ok fine so I know he wasn't but it makes for a good story.) Tom Zirbel won the race after spending a good chunk of the day in a break with former MiScene standout Jake Rytlewski. A great confidence building race for me, and now I can't wait for Ada and Gaslight. If you are in West Michigan stop by one of these races and enjoy watching some of Michigan's best crit racing. Dan Socie took some awesome pictures downtown, check them out here.

Land of the Free...

Recently, a group of folk back in my old stomping grounds in Iowa started a petition to ban cyclist from the nearly 30,000+ miles of 'farm to market' roads. I'm not the first nor the last to respond to this petition, and this is not the first time a group in the U.S. has tried to ban cyclists from the road [previously in Colorado]. Like many, I can not stress the amount of frustration I have towards those who are proposing such a ban. I've spent the last few days reading up on how this might play out and how the law reads in matters concerning right to the road. The main source has been the book Bicycling and the Law by Bob Mionske and much of what I will be stating comes from what he has written. I can not stress how appreciative I have been to have this book as a resource and believe it is a must for anyone spending any time riding on the road.

Let's start this by hearing what the Citizens for Safety Coalition of Iowa [CSCI] are petitioning, that is: 'to have the Iowa Legislature support a ballot initiative for the November 2010 election which will prohibit bicyclists from using state and county defined farm-to-market roads.' Stating specifically that 'Over the past ten years the number of bicyclists using these farm-to-market roads for recreational purposes has increased dramatically as have the number of preventable accidents and fatalities. Rural commerce and citizens are significantly impacted when forced to share the farm-to-market roadways with bicyclists. Because of the growth of today's commerce and agricultural business, shared roadways are no longer safe or practical in today's society.'

The absurdity of this petition baffles me. The CSCI is claiming and taking the approach that they are looking out for the best interests and safety of both the rural citizen and cyclist by pushing for this ban. The reality is that such a ban could become a battle of constitutional right, because 'the U.S. Constitution guarantees the ancient right of liberty, including the right to travel. [...] All courts agree that there is a constitutional right to interstate travel; some courts, and virtually all constitutional scholars, have held that there is a corresponding right to intrastate travel.' [Mionske, 110] Moionske goes further to stress that unlike freedom of speech, the right to travel is a fundamental right [Freedom of speech is restricted as observed by Justice Oliver Wendell Holmes 'the most stringent protection of free speech would not protect a man falsely shouting fire in a theater and causing a panic'] and in restricting such travel strict scrutiny of such laws must take place [108,112].

Sure, I might be jumping and going further with this more than most in arguing that banning cycling is an attack on the liberties assured to us by the Constitution. The CSCI states that there has been a 'number of preventable accidents and fatalities' due to the increased number of cyclists on these roads. Granted the internet is not always the best place to gather reliable statistics, I struggled to find any statistic showing increased fatalities on farm to market roads; most are still typically found in towns, on paved surfaces rather than the roads in the petition.

As I pointed out earlier, the CSCI is 'taking the approach that they are looking out for the best interests and safety of both the rural citizen and cyclist'. Which then opens the door to state vehicle codes or moreover the same guideline from state to state handed down by the federal government called Uniform Traffic Laws. Because the CSCI is using what Mionske calls 'Assumption of Risk' found on page 25 where he writes:

"The law does not require a person to surrender the lawful exercise of a valuable right [use of a public street] or assume the risk of injury merely because someone else's conduct or failure to exercise due care threatens harm."

Bell v. Chawkins, 460 S.W.2d 850 (Tenn. 1970)

Suppose somebody who owes you a duty of care breaches that duty, and you're injured as a result of that person's negligence. Now that person needs a good defense. "Assumption of risk" is one such defense - it's the negligent person's way of saying, "Whether I was negligent or not, you knew the risk, and you took it anyway, so I shouldn't be held liable for your injuries."

Assumption of risk is a powerful defense in negligence cases. Even if the person who injured you is held liable for your injuries, your "assumption of the risk" may reduce the amount of compensation that you would otherwise be entitled to.

Think for a moment about how problematic this defense would be, however, if it were applied to negligence in an auto accident: You get into your car, you drive to work, somebody negligently causes an accident, and then blames you f or being on the road in the first place.

Would this argument make any sense to you? Hopefully not, and yet that is exactly what is being claimed when the assumption-of-risk defense is used in the context of auto/bike collisions. [...] [B]aring a few exceptions, courts have universally agreed that it is not a legitimate defense outside of the sporting context.

He then goes into what he calls the 'Proper Lookout' which applies to both automobiles and cyclists in that we both share the same rights to the road. He quotes from a case in Idaho Supreme Court, Drury v. Palmer [25-26]:

It is the obligation of an operator of a motor vehicle to keep proper lookout. The whole theory of motor vehicle law is based on the requirement that the operator keep his vehicle under control at all times, considering actual and potential hazards, which of necessity contemplates proper lookout by the operator. It is not only the duty of the operator to look, but it is his duty to see and be cognizant of that which is plainly visible or obviously apparent, and a failure on his part in his regard, without proper justification or reason, makes him chargeable for failure to see what he should have seen had he been in the exercise of reasonable care.


In the end, rural citizens must take responsibility for their own driving, accidents happen for a number of reasons and it is just as much of a jump to simply blame the cyclist riding on these roads as the cause. All cyclist regardless of where we are riding we MUST obey traffic laws, because if we don't and ride as though we are free to claim which ever best suit us and our time schedule or training plan, we don't deserve a right to the road.

We will always be climbing uphill in this struggle for our right to the road and we will always encounter those who don't believe we should be on the road. But let's do what we can to take the ammunition away from them.

Ride right.
Ride safe.

Starting to form a list...

Now. As I said before, I'm getting on of the new 2010 Cannondale Flash Carbon 29er 1 here this winter and if you haven't noticed, I can't leave anything stock. All my bikes have become my own in one way or another. The unfortunately reality of that means that things are going to get switch out almost immediately and now I am left with deciding when to order all of these... once I get the bike or before in preparation. I'm also debating setting it up as a 1x9 with probably a 40T front and a Rohloff upper chain guide. Thoughts? Suggestions?

But here's the list so far...

Ergon GX2 Leichtbau Carbon (in team green of course!)


Salsa Pro Moto Carbon Flat Bar

Salsa Lip Lock

Salsa Rear Flip-Off

Brooks B17 Titanium
Crank Brothers Ti Eggbeater Pedals

She's gonna look purdee...

Bucks for Bikes?

Unless you have been living under a rock lately, the United States Automobile Industry has been given a bit of a kick by the boys in Washington with the 'Cash for Clunkers' program, in which those who are driving less than friendly death boxes can trade them and get a nice rebate of $3,500-4,500, if you are approved have you.

By no means do I want to completely slam this program because it is allowing more fuel efficient vehicles on the road which is very much needed. As we all know this is not fixing the petro-addiction the U.S. has and is acting more like temporary fix, although it is a start though in solving this complex problem.

I recently read about Canada's version of the program called 'Retire you Ride' and before you assume anything. I am by no means idolizing Canadian legislation and am not threatening to move there if a similar program is not put into place here. I love the U.S. and am patiently waiting for Alec Baldwin, Robert Altman, and Eddie Vedder to head north after stating to move there if Bush was re-elected in 2004 [and on a side note, props to Johnny Depp, he moved to France, talk about a man of his word].

What intrigued me by Canada's program was that it seems to be much broader approaching to solving the addiction/environmental issues of having the ol' rust buckets still in commission. Their plan is to 'give [Canadians] rewards that encourage [them] to use environmentally-friendly transportation, including a public transit pass or a membership to a car-sharing program, $300 cash or a rebate on the purchase of a 2004 and newer vehicle.'

This is more than a simple car exchange program that we have, where we are essentially keeping the same number of cars on the road [and as you probably already noticed the Canadian government is not giving as enticing of an offer as both the German and U.S. governments are of nearly $4,000 for trade in, which I do feel is a whole other issue]. The Canadian government is promoting public transit and car pooling and in all the provinces they are offering 'a discount of $350.00 to $490.00 off of a high-end commuter bicycle as well as up to 15% off parts and services'. And this is what I do want to focus on.

This part of the program is lead by the Bicycle Trade Association of Canada and I believe is a great way of not overlooking the other small businesses and local infrastructure in a country. This part of the program spreads benefits to more local business which in turn, reinvest money into their communities. 'A study conducted by Andersonville Development Corporation in Chicago shows that for every $100 spent at a national chain only $43 stays in the community. If that same $100 is spent at locally owned independent stores $68 stays in the community.' [article]. Like it or not the automobile companies are big businesses and are not often local. If you live outside of the handful of states that actually manufacture this small fraction of approved vehicles in the program, very little of YOUR money that YOU spent, stays local.

Sure, this is a doubled bladed sword because many of the products/items that we use in our daily life are not made stateside or local but that does not negate the fact that the more spent at locally owned independent stores [like your LOCAL bike shop!] keeps the money here and moves more through the community, empowering towns and cities to grow, and individuals to create and to innovate; which in turn leads to lasting change in the culture of the towns, cities, and country!

A tip of the hat to Canada for attempting to look beyond short term success and strive for lasting change. Change always has to start some where.

Super Week Stuff...

As I mentioned awhile back Geoff was tearing it up at Super Week and instead of just copying and pasting what he has already wrote, check out his team website for a little play-by-play on how the week went...

The Leadout crew showed up to say the least... Geoff coming in 4th, Dan in 11th, Mark at 21st and Peter at 27th. Great work! Geoff is now in the Cat 2's and hopefully will be laying down the hammer in the final few months 2009... There was a crash in Chicago involving one of the guys, Nick, in the one of the final turns and you've gotta love Youtube... Check it...

Really?

Ok, yesterday's post I finished with remembering the common thread we all share: We love riding. But if there is one segment of the cycling family that I struggle with, and well, I know I'm not alone in this but few will admit to it... the triathlete. I guess, I don't mean to go after the rider but more the steed.

I'm guilty, like many, of cruising many of the cycling companies this time of year and checking out what they are releasing for the coming year. The latest and greatest, even if I don't sell it or stock it, it's always interesting to see where the industry is heading and who is pushing it. A few days back I was over at Giants website and saw the bike pictured above. The Trinity Advanced SL. And all I can really say is... really? really?

Really?

Granted this isn't being billed as a tri bike but I know it's got to be turning the heads of many a tri-geek. I honestly have no idea how to respond to this bike other than to say it makes me think of an aircraft carrier with wheels on it, all it needs is the Top Gun theme song playing in the background.

It's all in the shoes.

Wow. It's been awhile. Too long, and I would like to give some long explanation on why I haven't been writing lately but well, does it really matter? All I'll say is the normal 'mid-season suck' of shop life really took a lot out of me this year and needless to say I just wasn't up for writing and trust me, I had/have things to write about so hopefully it'll be a good few weeks of content.

This past weekend, we had another KOTS Urban MTB race downtown and it went off great and I can't say how much credit goes to Ben for putting this whole series together. I bring this up to say that earlier in the day, I stumbled onto an old pair of Pumas that I've had for a few years and rocked them. Now, I'm a shoe guy. Not a surprise to some of you, but if there is one piece of clothing that I'm always tempted to buy it's that... From Chucks to cycling shoes to the flippy floppies... I have learned to contain the urge of buying them in the recent years but when I found these I put them on it dawned on me...


... I'm a hipster.

Yep, I said it. Although I don't fall into all the 'classic' categories of what makes a hipster a hipster [i.e. I don't try hard to look like I didn't try at all, or check out this video on the Hipster Olympics], it is getting harder and harder to deny it. Over the course of this summer I could probably count on one hand the number of times I have worn shorts, instead my Man-pre collection has grown and I am now unable to deny the fact that they are more comfortable to me than shorts. Yes, this is very strange and by no means can I say that it is at any level right. I fully believe when I am older, I will look back and wonder what the heck I was thinking.

But in all seriousness, what really dawned on me, or actually what was reaffirmed what most already know... their are certain shoes/equipment that just plain work better for the different aspects of cycling. From the roadie who has to always rock the lyrica and must have his sunglasses on the outside of his helmet straps to the downhill mountain biker rocking all the armor topped with a full face helmet to the fixie hipster with the well... eye on 'fashion'. There are plenty of other stereotypes in cycling and we all fall in to some of the categories from time to time but the one thing that we must never forget what we all have in common:

We all love these two wheeled machines.

So ride your fixie, your BMX bike, your rusty commuter, or road bike and remember to give that nod of appreciation and respect to your fellow rider when your paths cross...

The Roads are Yours and Mine

This is a post that came from a good friend of mine over at The Cyclist site, G-Ted concerning some frustrating 'proposed' legislation. I'll throw my two cents out there in a few days:

From Dictionary.com

pub⋅lic [puhb-lik]

1.	of, pertaining to, or affecting a population or a community as a whole: public funds; a public nuisance.

2.	done, made, acting, etc., for the community as a whole: public prosecution.

3.	open to all persons: a public meeting.

4.	of, pertaining to, or being in the service of a community or nation, esp. as a government officer: a public official.

5.	maintained at the public expense and under public control: a public library; a public road.

The thing about cycling is that you need somewhere to engage in the activity. Obvious, and not unlike other activities we participate in. The beauty of cycling is that you can make use of so many places to do it at because they are public places. That is what makes using a bicycle so appealing.

Now we are finding that people who are not fans of cycling, for whatever reasons, feel they can use the law to take away your public access to roadways. Even if you are a tax paying, law abiding resident. We are seeing rumblings of this in Colorado, and now in the state of Iowa, a similar movement to ban cyclists is afoot. There are several glaring affronts to your freedom going on here.

First of all, the public road system is created and maintained by tax dollars procured from all residents of any given state, and all across the country. You own part of the roads. Because of the public nature these roads, they become non-public if certain taxpaying residents are banned from them. The ridiculous nature of such a proposition should be obvious. These propositions in Colorado and Iowa pre-suppose that even though you pay for the roads, you do not own any part of them, nor do you have a right to ride on them on a bicycle. Both cases state that the "safety" of the cyclists can not be provided for in any other way than to ban them altogether.

Another way to look at it is to say that your use is dictated by a small, unhappy segment of the user group that wishes to impose their will on the masses. Never mind that these users are most likely to be at fault in automobile/cyclist accidents that result in injury or death.

Finally, this sets a dangerous precedent in that any organized small group could feasibly dictate use of your freedoms soley based on what the imposing group feels is safe for you.

Think that this is just a strange happening in states that do not matter to you and that it will "just go away"? Think again. Be vigilant about your rights as cyclists. Fight for your freedom. If you just stand around thinking someone else will take care of it, they will, and probably not in the way you imagine it should be.

Join IMBA, join a local cycling advocacy, and write your representatives in the State and Federal branches of government. Be reasonable, but be firm. Or you may find yourself with a bicycle and all dressed up with no where to go.