River Riot 2010

Anybody else going? Stone Temple Pilots, Weezer, Blue October, Flobots, Cage the Elephant, Paper Tongues, Spose, Emphatic, others! August 14th at Westphair. Pick up your ticket through Ticketmaster before 7/31 and there will be no outrageous Ticketmaster fees!

Good luck Todd at your triathalon!

Good luck Todd, kick some butt on Sunday!!!

For those of you who have ever had your bike stolen...

Saw this on my Threadless.com email that I get.

"Stolen bike? Win a lock from Kryptonite!

Calling all bikers who are now bike-less: submit your story of thievery to ihateyoubikethief.com by tomorrow (Friday) evening at 5 pm CT and win a Kryptonite bike lock!"

Let's get Mystical

Okay, now I have the Olivia Newton John song "Let's Get Physical" stuck in my head while at work. Dangit! I am redirecting you guys to a bmx video collection called Let's Get Mystical. Entire DVD video is here at the link. Yes it is all bmx, but they do a lot of big air jumps, grinds, etc that you would see on a trials video. The filming is pretty cool with lots of time lapse night video, scenic shots, etc. These videos are available for purchase on dvd and bluray. If it wasn't bmx, I would actually consider buying it on bluray format! Check it out.
Let's Get Mystical video

Some pics from RAGBRAI in Storm Lake

Just so happened to be in Storm Lake, IA this past weekend and RAGBRAI was making a pitstop there. They also happened to be in Sioux City on Saturday and Aaron shot me a few texts saying that he was having fun at the Smashmouth concert with the RAGBRAI group.

Yes, it says Shag Wagon on the side 

 

Vendors galore allowing you to test ride new demo bikes 

 

 

Emily and I grabbing a cold 24 ouncer at The Regatta on Saturday afternoon

Talk about some technical riding

Wow, very impressive riding I might say. Testing Norco's new Shinobi 29er on the Pipeline Trail (looks like there are many different Pipeline Trails throughout the US, so not sure which). I'm pretty sure that by 18 sec in the video clip that you guys would have been calling an ambulance for my broken neck!

Riding With the Norco Team on Fromme. from Bike Magazine on Vimeo.

New 2011 XTR group

Can't say that I've ever ridden a bike spec'd with a XTR component group, but wow, getting pretty high tech and fancy this year. Heat radiating fins on the brake pads and ceramic caliper pistons, choice of triple or double cranksets, the XTR group sounds like an expensive winner! Read more here at Pinkbike

An interesting ride around Standing Bear Lake last night

Feeling that my couch and I have been getting too comfortable together, I decided to hop on my bike after I took a nap last night. Yeah, pure laziness, I know! Anyway, it was an eventful ride. Riff raff were walking on the Standing Bear Trail, smoking weed and such. I tried to avoid eye contact on the way back, but they just nodded like it was no big deal. Riding through Hillsborough on the way home, I saw a 5 year old faceplant on the sidewalk after she fell off of her bike. Her family was there and didn't even ask if she was okay. Ten seconds later she starts bawling from the from the top of her lungs.

Finally, while riding parallel to 132nd street on the dam at Standing Bear, I hear sirens and see unmarked cars flying by. Probably going over 80mph. Also saw a Sheriff cruising through Standing Bear and another in the Hillsborough neighborhood. Get to work today and find out there was a shooting/robbery attempt at my local Bakers at 132nd street. Wow, eventful ride! Link to robbery story here.

Doesn't pay to cheat!

Lesson of this story, it's not okay to sandbag, cheat, or to swap entries at races. Especially at the Leadville 100 where the authorities will get involved! Old news, but I just read this and thought it was interesting. Two females are banned for life from the Leadville Trail 100 after one rider used another's registration and got a podium finish in an older age category. An anonymous tip lead to the investigation, ultimately leading to felony charges being filed. Read about it here.

How to convert an old mt bike to a city slicker

This question was recently asked and answered on the Outside magazine blog. I was reading this and at first, I was like okay, makes sense. Then the gearguy tells him to throw on a XTR set. I was like what? Read on to find out what he said afterwards. Convert me!

Pretty much all I've done with my old HooKooEeKoo was just put on the city tires. Happy with it for now. Gets around great for tacorides, some urban street riding, and if I have friends that want to ride with me, I just let them borrow that with the flats.

Taco Ride tomorrow

Weather will be nice, possible tstorms in the morning but according to tacoride.com it only takes a few hours for the Wabash to dry off. Roll out from parking lot around 630pm. So far we have a group of 11 going.

Hmm...random pic of taco dude from the internet makes me want to wear a taco costume for the ride. Maybe Halloween ride? I want to be rider of the week!

On a similar note...

Like to lounge around in your boxers you lazy bum? Get caught too many times going outside to grab the morning paper with nothing but your skivvies on? Well now you have a reason to wear your boxers outside! The Boxer 500 is taking place on Sunday, August 8th in Papillion, NE around Walnut Creek Lake. You can run, walk, or even race for medals if you so wish. They have distances of 5k run/walk and a 1 mile walk to get your legs moving. Tshirts and a pancake feed are included with the registration fee of $25. This goes to a great cause, which hosted the Rollin' to Colon that I did a few weeks ago. More specifically the Great Plains Colon Cancer Task Force. Sign up here at http://www.boxer500.org/ Pictures can be found from previous Boxer runs at the above link.

I know that my friend Emily is doing this and another BikingFool also inquired today. Will you help to fight Colon Cancer? Seriously, if you decide to let me know because I might join also.

Another reason to bike...or walk

http://www.wearyellownebraska.org/ 

Wear Yellow Nebraska is having their 7th Annual Wear Yellow Ride and Walk on Saturday, August 7th at Haworth Park in Bellevue. There are many different distances you can bike, or you can simply walk the 1 mile path along the riverfront. This is another fundraising/awareness event to help Nebraskans fight against cancer. Along with a tshirt, you get a pancake feed and the chance to win door prizes. Do it!

Sign up here at Wear Yellow Nebraska. Registration is $25 and the deadline for early registration is July 28, 2010.

*Update for those of you interested in going, saw this on my facebook:

Great Plains Colon Cancer Task Force Task Force Fans! Update on the Wear Yellow Ride and Walk on August 7th. Due to high waters on the river, Haworth Park is closed. Don't worry, we've secured a NEW start location for this year's ride and walk.

Peak Performance - 78th & Cass St,Omaha, Nebraska

Please share this information with all of your friends and family. Same great event simply a new starting location. Thanks to Mike at Peak Performance for helping us out!

Paul, can I borrow your studded tires???

Megavalanche 2010: Sounds insane already. Longest downhill race with stats of a 2580m drop over a course length of 30km. Starts on a glacier and goes down from there. Should I bring my Burton snowboard? Be sure to check out the passing technique at 3:22 on the video. Read more here at Bikerumor and at Avalanchecup.com

Picture of Megavalanche from Bikerumor

I'm not a fancypants designer like these guys

photo from Idenium.com

Okay, I'm not a designer of any sort and I wasn't lucky enough to be asked by Peugeot to design a custom fixed gear bike for auction. But seriously guys and gals, these bikes could have been better designed by kindergarteners. Yeah it is for a good cause (the enviroment and bicycling), but damn these are ugly! Link to story here. Gallery link here.

My first time at Platte

What can I say? I'm in terrible cardio condition right now! Doesn't help that the air is so thick with humidity either. Todd, Aaron and I ventured out to Platte Saturday morning for some riding fun. Getting to the actual trails was the tough part, lots of climbing to wear you out fast. But once you get into the trails, it is a blast! Get out there if you have never been. No injuries or bruised egos. Aaron did almost get impaled by a huge branch that luckily broke off when he hit it. It tore a good sized hole in his jersey above the shoulder. Trail was in great condition, just muddy enough to muck up your pedals and the bottom of those cleats. Think I'll switch back to my Time Atac carbons.

 

 

The post ride recovery plan 

Week has passed with no updates

Sorry for the lack of updates folks! Haven't been on the bike much except last week's tacoride and then Todd and I did some southside only Tranquility riding last Friday after work. I hope everyone had a great 4th of July with family and friends. Went out to a house party at Westshores, partied 13 straight hours. I'm getting too old for this crap! Did some boating and watched the fireworks from the beach. Doesn't get much better than that!

Buddy Yager and I at Mineola 

Good chance that we'll be riding Platte either tomorrow after work or early Saturday morning. Get a hold of me if you want to go.

Foam party AND band at last week's Tacoride 

At Westshores then crashing another party at Westshores by boat. Dr. M and my buddy Jeremy in the house!

 

Recovery time was far and few, off to my coworker's party on the 4th 

Finally, Todd with yet another flat at TQ. Hopefully they found the source, which sounds like a spoke sticking too far out and puncturing the innertube everytime.