working at the car wash

Was it worth the ten quarters? Yes, yes it was. Just be careful not to spray directly into any bearings and you should be fine. Bring along a friend as there is plenty of time for several cleanings.

bicycle maintenance 101

I was wondering why my headset was feeling sticky. Then I took my fork off for inspection. Oh yeah, several winters of usage will do that. Sprayed a bit of lube in there, which helped out considerably.

To do list: buy new headset bearings.

I think the fork will last a few more seasons, but the dropouts are fairly rusty as well...

Friday night at the bicycle races

Friday night at the bicycle races - just clean good fun:

Cops kicked us out - we have too many lawyers out there:

Tall John takes 2nd - here with SK, who eventually scored 4th:

Charlotte takes first women:

Trevor takes first men's, twice in a row, at least:

More photos here.

The rest of the weekend is a blur, but it involved urban camping, swimming, more races, a freeride, and pizza.

Bicycle Weekend in MPLS

Big weekend ahead of us.

Thursday night at 7 is Bandit Cross down at Hobo Camp.

Friday is match sprints starting at 9pm at One On One.

Saturday is the All City Championships Alley Cat race, meet at 4pm, race at 5. After party at Peacock Groove.

Keep up on the Bikejerks site for updates on the above.

There's also a party Saturday night at Kitsune Cycles, which I love the location of.

Sunday is the Freeride. Thanks again to Roger Lootine for the newly colored artwork!

Powderhorn 24 race recap

The Powderhorn 24 hour race happened this weekend.

Some clowns put up a jump at stop 1.5 - and even better is that riders kept hitting it after the hill climb!

It rained hard for about an hour, starting at about 2am, but that didn't stop riders from pushing through, including solo rider Dan during the Nice Ride bonus lap:

The race ended promptly at 7pm Saturday night, and all racers and spectators rushed to get to the main checkpoint prior to the cutoff.

Skidz!

Tim here rode solo in the men's category and hit 340 miles in the 24-hour time allotted. I rode the coarse a few times, and the most I've ever ridden at once is 150-miles, though that was from point-to-point, not seeing the same thing twice. Riding hundreds of miles (which many did here) over a roughly 4-mile coarse filled with a dozen or more stop signs and red lights is leaning on the verge of crazy. All the stops and starts takes a beating on your legs and knees - there were a few people holding their knees during the race. You've got to be hurting today - take a rest, you've earned it.

Click for big.

Final results.

More photos here.

Until the next big event starting this Thursday...

Freeride 2011

Meet with your bike and beverage of choice (to beat this heat) on Boom Island at 1pm. We'll minimize our interactions with automobiles and stroll through beautiful MPLS.

Don't forget it's a whole weekend of bike related fun, starting Thursday night!

That's not my bike and those aren't my kids, but I play one on TV.

Look at the smile coming from the backdeck! Thanks to Jennifer O. for sending this one out from a short ride around the downtown.

Cargo bikes and kids are an excellent match - the problem is convincing them that it's time to stop and get off, as they want to ride all day and night!

boots always win

CVO and Kacey stopped in for a visit this weekend.

See yinz again soon in Spearfish!

Motley crew

Namond spent 30+ hours in the detention center. He's out, so give him some kind words:

Mike wasn't in jail, to the best of my knowledge anyway, but he was ripping it on his sweet coaster brake clunker, equipped with front Spinergy, like you hadn't noticed:

I'm more of a mild- to cold-weather camper, but will make the occasional overnight during the humid summer weather. Nice you can jump in the lake/river in the morning though.

And what's the deal, Portland?! It's just a derby:

Live a little!

Monday morning blues

From the files of Andy Singer extraordinaire comes another look at what life might look like sans the automobile: