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.

Superweek Postings

As Adam said I am at the International Cycling Classic/Superweek for the week, and will hopefully be posting nightly on the team site. It was a great weekend and a great start to the week here hopefully we can keep the ball rolling. Peter, Mark, and Dan K. are all racing this week and then we will be joined by a lot of others for the Chicago Crit next Sunday, and that is an awesome race. Feel free to check out the race reports, as the top finisher each day has the duty of posting one. Oh yeah and top finisher also picks sleeping arrangements and it felt really nice not to have to share a bed. Ha.

GBK

Some people have good weekends...

Some people have good weekends, others great... Now, I don't know if I can speak for Geoff on this one fully but as he put it...

'Good start to super week'

And I'd say so... check it out here...

That's right... he won the NorthShore University HealthSystem Grand Prix! I don't know any of the details on how he won but hopefully I can get him to do a recap on here when he's back at the end of the week. I'm sure that he'll have a few stories to share and I'm hoping a few more wins under his belt as he then transitions from CAT 3 to 2.

My weekend was good, no race wins here but just a great two days. One at the shop where the day went fast and today was spent doing the four great R's: relaxing, reading, riding and supporting a race.

Did a little 15 mile ride with a good friend Jenny. It started to rain pretty good and cut the ride in half and because of the water I didn't want to risk messing up my phone so sorry no photos. It was a good spin as we officially marked the calendar for doing the Apple Cider Century in September. We, or should I say I, had an interesting encounter with a traffic cone on the ride though. We cut through the street by the 5/3 Ballpark just north of Grand Rapids and I got a little confused on which way we were going and as Jenny told me to follow the road just in time to take out an innocent cone just doing it's job, dead center. Fortunately, I had a firm grip on the bars and good speed and ran it over. And much like when a car hit one, the cone decided to hang on for a bit and stuck on my left crank arm as I carried it for a few feet further than planned.

Then this evening headed downtown with Tom to help put on this summers first King of the Streets race. It was great time with no crashes but to fun courses from what all the guys said. Jeff Jacobi [picture on the left] ended up taking home the trophy for the fastest times on both the course run. Good times, now just waiting for next weekend to start!