prizes

 The first few boxes of stuff for the Valleycat came in the other day and the kind folks over at Cognition sent along a little note.  Not sure what a musky slap is? Think the fire thing is a joke?  Come to this years Valleycat and find out!  Check out the killer stuff sent along from Knog, Cognition, and Urban Velo so far.

Along with a bunch of other cool stuff Knog sent along a handful of these "porno patches," which are just glueless patches in condom wrappers.  Juvenile? Yes.  Original, fun, and pretty humorous? Absolutely.

media

Last week Derek informed me that WQOW was on the prowl looking for commuter stories for a little piece they were putting together.  We met up with the reporter and he asked us some questions and put together a couple minute segment for the 6 o'clock news. Well I guess it aired last night and it's not terrible.  Plus their are a bunch of good people in it and it's funny to see your friends on tv.  Check it out.

Saturday

Mountain biking, road riding, and rock and roll shows.  Love it.  Want the weekend again already. 

Ride your bike, support local music, have fun every day.

Valleycat

Preliminary flyer with some of our first sponsors on it.  If you haven't already go confirm that you are coming on facebook here.  This will blow your mind, I can't wait.  Also, I'm usually the dude in charge of getting a hold of sponsors so if you are reading this and are interested in sponsoring or have ideas/questions regarding the valleycat feel free to contact me with them.

Feline Groovy

 Happy Friday!

The cats and I are already getting down.

new bike day

I knew I really wanted a new mountain bike for this year, but was starting to get busy and push it to the back burner when along came this puppy.  Redline Monocog Flight, XTR 1x9, Thomson Elite stem and seatpost, White Industries hubs laced to Velocity VXC, Truvativ Stylo GXP, SID fork, Raceface bars with Paul levers stopping IRD discs, blah blah blah.  Took it out today for the first ride an had a blast, need to tune up a few things and replace a few odds and ends, but otherwise I couldn't be happier.

 Get out and ride!

free day

Got the whole day off and it's sunny and beautiful out.





Guess what I'm going to be doing.

today

 Went bike camping out near Menomonie last night with Jake, Mags, and JonErik.  Got home this morning ate a huge breakfast, took care of some stuff, spent a ton of time outside, hit up happy hour, walked a dog, and ate some ice cream.

And I didn't even have to use my AK, today was a good day.

666

NEPHICIDE by JOGGER from Matthew Robinson on Vimeo.

Only took 5 years to get here, but this is big number 666.

(sort of) New Bike Day

 Last year I think I broke our my BMX Bike maybe 3 times.  This winter I got the itch again and I finally rebuilt my bike and got to take it out today.  Nothing remarkable, just finally made the swap to 25/9, new bars, stem, pedals, seat, etc.  I'm just glad to have a a BMX under my feet again.

warm snap

Took advantage of this ridiculously unseasonable weather we've been having yesterday for an awesome mid day into evening chill and grill time. TNR tonight.  Get out and enjoy the weather.

press

Some top notch journalism by the folks over at WEAU on biking.  Really cutting edge stuff.  More here

speed III

With spring moving in race season is starting up.  I just updated the Race links section for those who are inclined to start picking their battles.  I don't know why you even try when this guy is just going to show up and kick everyone's ass anyway.

P.S. Does anyone else think it's sad that their is only one WORS event in Western WI?

ketchup

 Spring looks as though it has arrived and I got myself a nasty little cold right in time.  Thursday night was a ton of fun.  Bridge trolls, wood trolls, karaoke trolls, rooftop trolls, and bedtime trolls.

 Saturday I got out in the early afternoon for a nice loop south of town.  About 15 miles outside of town I got a flat and from that point decided the rest of the ride was going to be a total pain or lots of fun.

 Fortunatly it ended up being a blast.  I got to see a lot of new roads, and when it came time to take on the headwind again I was lucky enough to run into a couple other guys and took turns pulling with them for 6 or 7 quick miles until we got out of the mess and went our separate ways.  Sunday I went out and helped get sap from the trees we tapped a while back and tromp around the great woods of Wisconsin.   Great weekend, now if you'll pardon me I've got some tea to drink and some drugs to take.

ride

Rapha Continental – The Movie from RAPHA on Vimeo.

I know I posted this video before, but it's the weekend and it's warm out.  There's some motivation, now get out and ride today.

stay busy

 Over the past few weeks I've taken a bunch of random little photos of stuff and I just haven't really had any reason to post them. Pardon the lack of cohesion, use your imagination to come up with a story where they came from.

Nature Helps

A few years ago I helped organize a race called Tour d' Eau Claire with a few other fine folks.  One of those folks was Shawn Brunner.  Shawn recently started a non-profit called Nature Helps to raise awareness/money for the Suicide Prevention Lifeline. In his own words,

 "Nature Helps Inc. is an organization that raises money for charity by long distance hiking and promoting the benefits of nature in the process. Every year, we will select a different charity to support and a different long distance hike.  This year, the charity that we will be raising money for is Suicide Lifeline Prevention, a charity that has personal meaning to me.  My brother took his own life on June 2, 2011 and I understand the devastation and confusion such a circumstance can have on family and friends.

In order to raise money for Suicide Lifeline Prevention, I will attempt to thru-hike the Appalachian Trail, a hike that is 2,178 miles long.  I will be starting at Springer Mountain in Georgia and ending at Mount Katahdin in Maine.  This first journey for Nature Helps will begin on March 7, 2012."

The end goal is to raise $50,000 for charity, solo hiking over 2,000 miles is a hefty task to say the least. That said, Shawn is a totally awesome guy working for a great cause that deserves support and I strongly encourage following him on the Nature Helps website and Facebook and sending along a contribution no matter what the size.  I think there is a common thread between those of us that enjoy spending time outdoors that brings a sense of being truly alive and connected to the world around us and I think that is a very special thing to try to bring to those who feel helpless and totally disconnected form their surroundings.  Good luck Shawn, stay safe and bring back a raccoon hat.  

Nature Helps website

Nature Helps on Facebook

ride a bike

It's suppose to be over 50 degrees today. Get off the internet and go ride a bike.

NAHBS

NAHBS 2012 happened.  I didn't go, but a whole lot of other people did.  Check out Urban Velo for a pretty solid recap and put your bib on because you're going to be drooling all over.

Go Outside