press

Menomonie Bike Polo got a piece in the new V1. As did the BPAC planning thing.
Check it out.

Also I got an invite to play polo with those dudes on Halloween around two. I think I am going to take them up. Contact me if you are interested.
Thats all.

best time ever since yesterday

Cover Thief

I don't have a whole lot to talk about except that while doing research for my capstone I found out that in Googles ongoing conquest of the internet the have begun to digitize government patents. To the point where their patent records are more accurate and easier to access than the US Patent Office. I wasted a bunch of time there and think it is worth checking out. For instance

Campagnolo patent of the seatpost.

Toe Clip

Egg Beaters

A Hub

You can really find anything there with some digging. If you type in "knob" you get thousands of patents. Pretty nuts. I'm going to Minneopolis tonight to see Chuck Ragan at the revival tour, super stoked.

chris-cross

The Ghettocross race is on. In case you haven't heard it's a cyclo cross race put on by EC Velo. What makes it ghetto? Go and find out.
Nov.7, 2pm Cash purse and prizes.
All bikes allowed. Dress warm, get dirty. Spectators strongly encouraged.

In case you aren't familiar with cross racing...

http://vimeo.com/7221943

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=VRZOa_E9Qs8&feature=player_detailpage

http://www.youtube.com/watch?feature=player_detailpage&v=gWxuDZL_420

http://www.youtube.com/watch?feature=player_detailpage&v=zWGnM_1ViZA


On an unrelated note. Someone recently stole a single speed mountain bike from a friend.

It has a gray VooDoo frame, a neon yellow fork, and purple grips. It also has really fat Maxxis Holy Roller tires and a black and red WTB saddle. If you see this bike around town it is stolen, take whatever course of action you deem necessary, but at least notify someone.

eyeglass

It's Thursday afternoon and I've only been up for a few hours. After weeks on end of getting up at 6 in the morining to try and get everything i need in a day done I finally took advantage of last night drank more than I probably should have and closed down Clancys with Jon and Amanda. I slept in and made a big breakfast and took a long shower to battle the hangover. Listened to the radio, changed out the pedals on my bike and went for a little ride before downing 3 bottles of juice and ending up on campus to get some work done. The point of all this is that despite the fact that my head is still splitting, my bowels hate me, and my limbs feel like lead I am happy to be hungover today. It's a rare occurance to feel gratefull for a hangover, but it reminds me that sometimes there is more to life than school and work. Even if sometimes it is a painful reminder. Now if you'll excuse me I'm going to go sit in the bathroom for 20 minutes.

University Cycling Club ride today at 4. Meet at the clock tower.
THURSDAY NIGHT RIDE!! Same time and place(for 2 years?!), Racys 6:30. Be there or be square.

Also, this is really cool. I've got some serious questions about bike choice/setup(steerer tube length? stock rear wheel?) but still very cool. FGG is also having a photo contest that you can win a new IRO in and support MS research. Check it out here.

More more more!

More pictures of the Tour at the V1 website.

HERE!

Recap

Saturday was awesome. Thats all I have to say. The whole day I was a bundle of nerves, but by the time we got to Maple Manor it would have been harder to imagine being in a better mood. We avoided getting any rain or snow, and everyone was in awesome spirits despite the wind and chill in the air. Tons of goodies were dished out and there was plenty of dancing. The biggest downside I see is that my camera wouldn't work the entire race so I only got pictures afterwards, I'm sure more pre-race photos will turn up.

After the race there was a bunch of skids and foot down and trackstanding. I'll hopefully get the complete rundown of winners on here this week. We picked up and headed to Magyars and Brians place where we ate a rediculous amount of pizza and drank chocolate milk before heading to the Joynt for a couple pitchers before the afterparty.


We drank 100 beers in around 45 minutes and hung out for a while before deciding to head to Maple Manor to continue the festivities.

There was just an awesome energy the whole night. Lots of awesome people I have never met and lots of old friends. Lots of beer and shots for everyone in the bar. Tons of smiling faces and bike talk. I'm a little bummed that I was feeling so tired/sick because I would have loved to have gotten a little crazier with you all.

I guess I just wanted to thank everyone for coming out and making this an awesome day for me and everyone else who helped organize and race. It was awesome. I'm also super excited to hear that plans for an all girls weekly ride may be in the works. Us guys are going to have to step it up a notch now.

Keep your eyes peeled, I will try to get placings up here ASAP. If you would like an additional manifest or spoke card contact me and I will try to get you one seeing as how we have some surplus.

Best bike scene ever.

Lets get known

WQOW



WEAU

"A former underground cycle race called 'valleycat"

Leader-Telegram

Jawfixer

Last night was really really fun. I've been super impressed the fast few Thursday nights at how much fun I've been having. I think maybe it has something to do with the fact that I've been super stressed and this is the one time a week I get a chance to hang out with friends and ride bike and not worry so much. Even if thats a bad thing because I should be studying for an exam. Anyway, we rode all over the place and went to The Metropolis bar for a couple swanky pitchers of beer and to see the fake fireplace. Then we rode out to Sherman creek for a fire and some drinks before heading back into town. I really don't know what else to say but I had a ton of fun and I'm looking forward to tomorrow, as nervous as I may be. Anyone reading this had better be at the Tour, it is going to be awesome. Not sure which saddle you want to use for the race, thry this idea...

Yes that is a seat taped to another seat, seen on campus a few days ago. I also saw the cats play with a box for half an hour and it was fucking adorable.

So little so late

Last night Derek, Zacher and I skipped the ride to go to the Bicycle Pedestrian Advisory Commission presentation outlining the city's plans for the 20 years. They've been working on this thing for 2 years trying to figure out where the city needs to work harder to make be more bicycle and pedestrian friendly. Needless to say we were all kind of interested to see what the city had planned on 20 years down the road. The result?



eh...



It was less than awe inspiring to say the least. The plan basically consisted of making the city better accommodating to bicycles and pedestrians. Not necessarily welcoming, just kind of allowing us to get around a little easier. It is hard to criticize these people because I'm well aware that their hearts are in the right places, but really? 20 years from now all we are supposed to look forward to is a couple new bike trails and sidewalks. Maybe a few new bicycle lanes. Keep in mind this is on the low end of the estimated time frame as well. So by the time I am 45 I can expect Eau Claire to be "kind of" bicycle friendly? I understand budget constraints and planning problems, but I also understand that right now the general population is at it's peak of environmental consciousness and that there is probably no better time to imagine planning a comprehensive bike network.

Derek recomended I look at what happened in Boulder Colarado over a 20 year span, so I did via Craig Brauns blog. And you should too.

Boulder Bike Story from Bikes Belong on Vimeo.

On the upside it was pretty cool to see a bunch of people who have been riding in Eau Claire for years and years(We were probably the only ones under the age of 40) talk about the streets and routes to get around like most people talk about sitcoms. They know every facet of every street in the city and thats really inspirational to see. I doubt most people who have been driving around Eau Claire for 15 years know half of the ways around the city that cyclists learn after half that amount of time.

It was also validating to hear people who have been working on a plan for years say that one of the biggest obstacles to creating a positive cycling community is gaining acceptance as a valid for of transportation by the majority. Most of the time I think BPAC send a message that bicycling is just one big happy fun fair. It's not. It's not fun to have people drive by and yell faggot at you when you are trying to get home from work, or run to the store. No one should have to deal with that no matter what.

I only wish that I brought up the fact that the certain members of our police force have that same adversarial attitude towards cyclists. A certain recent episode with a police officer pulling us over to warn us to "respect the vehicles" and drive away. But the second the police force is critiqued you are branded as some sort of radical militant who throws blind orphans in front of cars.

In any case, I implore you to look at the lack-luster plan online and send BPAC an e-mail with your ideas. Stay dry.