tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-86576238218468749292012-02-19T04:54:54.115-06:00An Amusement & Diversion for The Genteel Cyclist. Daily.HCEnoreply@blogger.comBlogger11041100tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-8657623821846874929.post-51719824671164577552011-04-11T12:47:00.001-05:002011-04-11T12:49:38.662-05:00

Sold at finer bike shops everywhere.

Snakebitehttp://www.blogger.com/profile/16879428992616238833noreply@blogger.comtag:blogger.com,1999:blog-8657623821846874929.post-70597874642365377132010-08-02T11:34:00.001-05:002010-08-02T11:38:01.649-05:00

Guess what's not coming to a bike shop near you.

Snakebitehttp://www.blogger.com/profile/16879428992616238833noreply@blogger.com22tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-8657623821846874929.post-6177198328123034052009-10-22T08:44:00.006-05:002009-10-22T08:49:47.106-05:00

Really not sure when Homie Fall Fest is going down this year, and my liver would like for my brain to remain ignorant of the date, but my heart says it would be awesome cool to see something like this down at the River Bottoms.With the age of steel frames and cotter-pin cranks a thing of the past, who needs an anvil anymore anyway?Also this: When, where, and why is the World Anvil Shooting

Jerry Casenoreply@blogger.com322tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-8657623821846874929.post-10503938036853222022009-10-14T12:00:00.007-05:002009-10-14T12:22:50.914-05:00

Yikes! A week has gone by, and in the meantime we had some fun at the Wirth "Classic" Cyclocross race, didn't we? Not sure what makes it classic, other than the fact that it was the 2nd Annual (though Geno tells me there used to be a semi-regular outlaw cross race there back in the day), that the course made zero use either of the annoying new paved path running through the heart of our beloved

Jerry Casenoreply@blogger.com11tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-8657623821846874929.post-69515711739126804222009-10-07T09:54:00.004-05:002009-10-07T09:57:03.915-05:00

Pretty! And if you get lost at Ice Man, you can build a fire with it!

Jerry Casenoreply@blogger.com5tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-8657623821846874929.post-25525195645786106912009-09-29T17:25:00.004-05:002009-09-29T17:35:02.189-05:00

Well, you know, this is about 20 years before the first Bailey Works messenger bags, so Charlie Chaplin can be forgiven for racking his — uh... laptop computer.Do click on the image for full sized -- the copy is a priceless trip down memory lane (for us old farts who remember a time when amber 9" monitors and 256K of memory were fucking mint).But this ad from a 1984 issue of the New Yorker

Jerry Casenoreply@blogger.com5tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-8657623821846874929.post-75619963990634803512009-09-25T21:21:00.008-05:002009-09-25T22:16:30.958-05:00

The cosmic soup, set to vocoder and tunez. Carl Sagan will get his revenge!Think Carl was worried about whether or not anyone showed up to the race in Lycra? No fucking way!If Carl rode a bike, it was a Nishiki Cresta with a dark-matter basket on the front.Carl dated your mom, and he said she was post-doctoral but not, like, fellowship material.When Carl was a child, he carried the one-- a

Jerry Casenoreply@blogger.com7tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-8657623821846874929.post-7039185803590635352009-09-23T14:01:00.003-05:002009-09-23T14:03:35.121-05:00

Just recieved: a tape of Pinchie's top-secret Cyclocross Training regimen, scheduled for Tuedays at Minnehaha park.All I can say is: Dude, that's some pretty radical dryland training. But I think maybe you're confused about the whole mount/dismount thing. You need a bike for that.

Jerry Casenoreply@blogger.com4tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-8657623821846874929.post-62769030577900378382009-09-21T08:47:00.005-05:002009-09-21T08:59:02.795-05:00

With Chequamegon in the bag, the inevitable question comes up: Will you be crossing this year? First, I'll have to go into a longwinded soliloquy about how the Fat Tire 40 comes at a bad time in my natural cycle, how I'm on the backside of a good August, although this August wasn't that great either, and I'm just not sure whether I raced stupid, or whether I'm getting a lot slower for no obvious

Jerry Casenoreply@blogger.com17tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-8657623821846874929.post-9878006554474808972009-09-17T10:16:00.004-05:002009-09-17T10:26:40.359-05:00

Whoa! I almost let the week get away from me there, and we know what a slippery slope that can be. Anyway, earlier this week I was puking my guts out and pretty much crapping out all the liquid that used to be trapped in my cells, so now that I'm feeling a bit dried out, I can relate to you the following datum: Performance Bike, the mail order cycling supplier that I feel guilty about patronizing

Jerry Casenoreply@blogger.com6tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-8657623821846874929.post-1366114196209367062009-09-14T14:06:00.004-05:002009-09-14T14:23:58.990-05:00

David Byrne is a freakish fellow and a bike nerd who's not afraid to talk about his testicles."Only once in a rare while have I had numb nuts," reveals David Byrne at the end of his new book, Bicycle Diaries. The observation happens in the most boring chapter, an appendix about padded shorts and bike safety.And it's true. If your nuts are numb, you're probably riding your bike wrong. Or else

Jerry Casenoreply@blogger.com5tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-8657623821846874929.post-2184064324466562132009-09-10T10:48:00.005-05:002009-09-10T10:59:39.291-05:00

This is pretty creepy. A clean-shaven, crew-cut Frank Zappa. Playing the bicycle!Watching this footage may well be what caused Zappa to come up with the title "Weasels Ripped My Flesh."Sorry about the quality, but this is from a time when pictures were printed on thin sheets of highly flammable film, and then run through a machine with lightbulbs inside a "projector."Hard to believe that in less

Jerry Casenoreply@blogger.com3tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-8657623821846874929.post-89327118646550519822009-09-09T15:08:00.003-05:002009-09-09T15:12:54.105-05:00

This is why you don't want to have your bike saddle up too high.Or maybe you do.

Jerry Casenoreply@blogger.com4tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-8657623821846874929.post-6081327347013314552009-09-09T09:21:00.004-05:002009-09-09T09:32:08.166-05:00

SRAM is recalling a whole shit-heap of chains with its PowerLock masterlink, saying that the clever little link is susceptible to cracking on chains sold from March to August of 2009.Pinchie just rebuilt his whole drive train, and he bought a SRAM chain, so I'm sure he's checking into this.But so you're wondering: How and when does a company like SRAM decide to recall 25,000 chains? There have so

Jerry Casenoreply@blogger.com2tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-8657623821846874929.post-9185691720521208422009-09-08T08:39:00.009-05:002009-09-08T09:20:12.416-05:00

Over at the estimable Tree Hugger, they're asking readers to send in photos of their commuter bikes, and we here at PFN are tempted to send them something from the archives such as, well....But I liked the sexy jet bike that they're using to lure readers and contributors. With a few more adjustments to the waterbottle cages and shocks, maybe an additional Erlenmeyer flask, and a whole lot of

Jerry Casenoreply@blogger.com6tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-8657623821846874929.post-14572901395355606432009-09-08T07:04:00.000-05:002009-09-08T08:50:42.332-05:00

I'm not sure, but I think Cass McCoombs was cogitatin' on Shirley Jackson's classic gothic short story "The Lottery" when he rolled this joint:But the ending sure made me think of Ol' Pinchie at the Dakota 50 this weekend!

Jerry Casenoreply@blogger.com3tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-8657623821846874929.post-9643582407058838922009-09-04T07:34:00.002-05:002009-09-04T07:41:20.682-05:00

This is what happens in a society that places a premium on higher education, but offers no meaningful employment outside the service industry, leaving the educated middle-classes yoked with mountains of debt, a bitter will to see others suffer the sting of Hell's purifying fire, and a fresh Sharpie.Not a bad bike drawing though. Looks a little like the tattoo on Geno's butt.

Jerry Casenoreply@blogger.com2tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-8657623821846874929.post-70325899447811246142009-09-03T11:14:00.002-05:002009-09-03T11:20:17.098-05:00

I see this....and this....And then I think about this...And the two collide in my mind, and this makes me very, very happy.

Jerry Casenoreply@blogger.com6tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-8657623821846874929.post-21007000248142324092009-09-03T10:16:00.003-05:002009-09-03T10:19:44.109-05:00

Pinchie certainly knows where kids come from.... do you?They come down from heaven on a penis-shaped, air-inflated slide!Best part of this? Queen's "Bohemian Rhapsody" played through a toilet-paper tube! Killah.

Jerry Casenoreply@blogger.com2tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-8657623821846874929.post-72593365653263066492009-09-03T07:36:00.006-05:002009-09-03T07:43:33.290-05:00

Aluminum is dead, steel is flexy, titanium is like taffy, and carbon.... bounces like a golf ball on a trampoline.The way you can tell this is NOT Pinchie: There would be no question whether he won or not. He'd have been lapped at least twice. The head injury looks authentic though.

Jerry Casenoreply@blogger.com2tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-8657623821846874929.post-86484870427414174762009-09-02T12:41:00.006-05:002009-09-02T13:13:17.411-05:00

Pinchie has pretty much retired on all the cabbage he's made from Google Ads, but I'm crashing this party and I will be providing the noise going forward. Mind you, I've gotta continue racing the pro mimes-on-fixie-tandems circuit (I'm a stoker for Team Klutz-Slurpee, if you must know), trying to steer clear of Cops on Recumbent Bicycles -- they've got my other URLs staked out -- but I'll do my

Jerry Casenoreply@blogger.com2tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-8657623821846874929.post-7499905950056651792009-06-05T20:40:00.004-05:002009-06-05T20:49:24.079-05:00

Oh, Nishiki Cresta! I want to scrape off your labels with the edge of an old iPod, and I want to find a less lazy fork! But you glitter so lovely, and your basket is silent -- but only when loaded with a six pack of Miller, a liter of tonic water, and a pair of rubber gloves from Kaplan Bros.

Jerry Casenoreply@blogger.com3tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-8657623821846874929.post-85092724446149675832009-04-26T12:45:00.002-05:002009-04-26T12:52:04.141-05:00

So, the last time I was in the 415, I did it right and rented a bike. But that was like a decade ago, and now I'm ashamed to say I have no idea where I should go to find a nice steel commuter -- maybe even a fat-tire ride -- that'll get me from Union Square to Marin and back. In style, with a few bucks left over in my pocket for a tall mug of Anchor Steam.Any ideas, loyal readers? Please! In the

Pinchiehttp://www.blogger.com/profile/13903230276310230126noreply@blogger.com5tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-8657623821846874929.post-71042768928787383972009-04-20T09:58:00.003-05:002009-04-20T10:10:16.999-05:00

Seen in the morning "papers."I don't take these "examiners" too seriously for the simple reason that most of them are ignorant dipshits. But y'know a broken clock is right twice a day. I for one have been saying that the only thing that looks worse on a cyclist than white spandex shorts is self-righteousness. But whatever. Cyclists are superior to pedestrians and automobile drivers, and the

Jerry Casenoreply@blogger.com4tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-8657623821846874929.post-18789477735427427822009-04-17T08:25:00.004-05:002009-04-17T08:33:03.775-05:00

In Oregon, they're talking about adapting the "Idaho Stop" rule which basically turns stops signs into yield signs for cyclists. Not a terrible idea, I guess, but seems quite a lot of paperwork for legislators, advocates, and other busybodies. What they're really saying in the subtext here is "OUR POLICE OFFICERS ARE BORED AND THERE ISN'T ENOUGH REAL CRIME GOING ON IN OUR GENTEEL CITY, SO THEY'RE

Jerry Casenoreply@blogger.com5tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-8657623821846874929.post-9099719117075885902009-04-16T13:15:00.001-05:002009-09-03T10:21:43.464-05:00

After the bikes have all been destroyed, and Reed is busy rebuilding wheels on top of the empty keg, this is what we Minneapolis boys are up to...Actually, pretty astonishing footage of the hard-drinking life out in the alley, circa 1960. Gotta say the Gay 90s has gotten significantly more flamboyant in the intervening decades.

Jerry Casenoreply@blogger.com4tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-8657623821846874929.post-47056725671399254732009-04-13T06:23:00.005-05:002009-04-13T06:36:05.473-05:00

When they're not sitting around eating hamburgers and trying to contract salmonella and e.Coli, the Center for Disease Control folks survey kids to find out what risky behavior they've been engaging in lately. One of the riskiest behaviors that continues to bedevil the flower of youth? 85% of our young people ride bikes without wearing a helmet. I'm not going to be one of those dough-head scolds

Jerry Casenoreply@blogger.com5tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-8657623821846874929.post-79863872758025054142009-04-02T07:38:00.006-06:002009-04-02T07:57:43.514-06:00

Yesterday, we gave the Devil his due, so today it's the Man in White -- the Big Guy Upstairs. The Chief Operating Officer. The Silent But Deadly One. Gawd.Well, not so much God as his Book. Seems this hail and hearty preacher from California is riding his bike coast-to-coast (yes, rev up your wallets for the new season of charitable cross-country spins -- this year they'll be like a plague of

Jerry Casenoreply@blogger.com4tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-8657623821846874929.post-43343706814621777462009-04-01T11:08:00.005-06:002009-04-01T11:24:22.479-06:00

It always brings a smile to my face and a spring to my step to see good old Didi still doing the cha-cha in his red fagbag and horns, but I'm a bit worried. He seems to be moving in the direction of Krautrock -- painful, minimalist, silly -- with his not-round, not-pneumatic tires. Follow your bliss, I guess. I 'spect to see Baba O'Reilly out at the River Bottoms with one of those triangular

Jerry Casenoreply@blogger.com4tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-8657623821846874929.post-91353881544563267152009-03-31T08:55:00.004-06:002009-03-31T09:07:03.127-06:00

Round about the time I was still melting GI Joes with a magnifying glass, BMX went through its first wave of national popularity, and even though there wasn't a BMX track within 500 miles, we all wanted a BMX bike. I was still on my Sears singlespeed, Bicentennial paintjob thankee very much, and my pal Jason had an older brother who suddenly got whiskers and pubes and was therefore beyond-BMX

Jerry Casenoreply@blogger.com5tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-8657623821846874929.post-90936163856533584892009-03-30T09:18:00.011-06:002009-03-30T10:07:49.854-06:00

"I'm guilty of every sin but littering."--Soul CoughingI have to admit that over the years I've become a bit jaded about littering. Maybe it's all the trucker piss-bombs I've had to bunnyhop on shoulders and ditches of the dirty Midwest for the better part of three decades. Years of scanning the shoulders for treasure like ditch-porn or conetop beer cans also maybe predisposes a fellow to a

Jerry Casenoreply@blogger.com4tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-8657623821846874929.post-60303046627764549132009-03-26T08:43:00.005-06:002009-03-26T08:57:13.372-06:00

About the only time I see a serious bicycle sound-system scenario is during Homie fall fest. Grayboy and SnakkyP and the rest of the estimable Surly gang have been known to rig up their Fat Dummies with all manner of woofers, tweeters, and wine mulling paraphernalia for the general betterment of all mankind. Although I think music has kinda sucked for about 20 years now, and can generally do

Pinchiehttp://www.blogger.com/profile/13903230276310230126noreply@blogger.com4tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-8657623821846874929.post-64158233553896621532009-03-25T08:02:00.009-06:002009-03-26T06:10:47.207-06:00

In a desperate bid to stay relevant, interesting, or at least busy -- idle hands, the devil's workshop! -- the Formula 1 folks have created this high-tech, "data rich" $30,000 bike. Why did they do that? Because a traditional in-hub watt meter performs all the same functions at the totally unimpressive, pre-recession price of about $1,000.In a separate announcement, the Treasury's Tim Geithner

Pinchiehttp://www.blogger.com/profile/13903230276310230126noreply@blogger.com5tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-8657623821846874929.post-46834895940829398492009-03-24T07:21:00.008-06:002009-03-24T07:55:40.345-06:00

Another season, another 100,000 words on bikes competing with cars. Krikey, now that 10 million Americans are looking at unemployment and foreclosure, you'd think we'd have something more interesting to yammer about, but still. Cars continue to weigh roughly 5,000 pounds, and despite some nominal weight gain during the winter months, my bike and I continue to weigh significantly less than that.

Pinchiehttp://www.blogger.com/profile/13903230276310230126noreply@blogger.com6tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-8657623821846874929.post-9249848704083364972009-03-23T09:25:00.004-06:002009-03-23T09:32:42.381-06:00

Seen in the morning papers....Also, coincidentally, seen in the morning papers...

Pinchiehttp://www.blogger.com/profile/13903230276310230126noreply@blogger.com4tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-8657623821846874929.post-17246843123735962922009-03-23T06:24:00.005-06:002009-03-23T06:29:09.484-06:00

Hibernation over. This year, the hair stays on the legs, and the platform pedals go back on the commuter bike, soon as the salt has been rained off the road and into our beautiful, saline lakes and creeks. And I swear to you, gentle reader, that you'll never see me in a pair of these -- referred to oddly as the "Adidas Classic Collection not road shoe Campus." Not road shoe? Not buy that. Good to

Pinchiehttp://www.blogger.com/profile/13903230276310230126noreply@blogger.com3tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-8657623821846874929.post-9479828515300181122009-01-04T14:10:00.006-06:002009-01-04T14:24:28.808-06:00

Hi everyone! Happy holidays to all loyal PFN readers and agents still in the house. True, I've been remiss in keeping up my end of the conversation. Crazy times. Frankly, you've been a little passive. And passivity is infectious. So it's all your fault.But I was shaken from my state of torpor -- maybe it was an egg-nog-induced stupor, now that I think about it -- by this article which is SO

Pinchiehttp://www.blogger.com/profile/13903230276310230126noreply@blogger.com28tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-8657623821846874929.post-28973869355386715262008-12-08T08:02:00.006-06:002008-12-08T08:38:30.667-06:00

Out in Seattle, at least one brave newspaper editorialist is taking a courageous stand against misspent public largesse and the freeloaders who take advantage of it: Bicyclists! Writing for the local fishwrap, Jim Vesely says cyclists should cough up $25 per year as a license. Hell, we license dogs and boats and deer hunters. Why should cyclists get off scott-free, when the besieged taxpayer has

Pinchiehttp://www.blogger.com/profile/13903230276310230126noreply@blogger.com12tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-8657623821846874929.post-69046455062024745692008-12-01T12:50:00.005-06:002008-12-01T13:00:58.667-06:00

It's become a truism that bike sales are up in this particular recession (which is, by the way, shaping up to be an actual depression, depending on your definitions), but it turns out that's not exactly true. Bike shipments overall were down in the third quarter of this year. Kids bikes, 24-inch bikes, and 26-inch bikes were all down -- led by double-digit declines in sales of double-suspension

Pinchiehttp://www.blogger.com/profile/13903230276310230126noreply@blogger.com6tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-8657623821846874929.post-15288333808218719022008-11-25T19:05:00.007-06:002008-11-25T19:14:48.535-06:00

I've worried a long time about homophobia in the cycling community. There are quite a lot of fag jokes in the peloton that I somewhat optimistically dismiss as being ironic, since most of my riding buddies could care less where a fellow chooses to, um, park his bike (as it were).But come to think of it, I'm not sure the LGBT community is fully pro-bike either.Are bike lanes gay? Or are they

Pinchiehttp://www.blogger.com/profile/13903230276310230126noreply@blogger.com7tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-8657623821846874929.post-34015767959782508312008-11-25T15:55:00.017-06:002008-11-25T16:28:17.636-06:00

I hate it when that happens... and not even on the Wednesday Night Ride, apparently. Ouch. Arizona Republic >>

Pinchiehttp://www.blogger.com/profile/13903230276310230126noreply@blogger.com4tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-8657623821846874929.post-39744660739406444192008-11-25T13:54:00.004-06:002008-11-25T14:31:34.993-06:00

My pal HJ is visiting from Montana -- just when the ice is setting up in Hyalite Canyon, but he can't climb yet anyway due to recently having a benign tumor taken out of his big toe -- so we jumped on a couple of my bikes and barhopped around town. The rub, though, was that HJ could not afford to dump on any incidental ice, he was already out $5K on the toe surgery, and toe re-surgery was not in

Pinchiehttp://www.blogger.com/profile/13903230276310230126noreply@blogger.com6tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-8657623821846874929.post-13379038142521070412008-11-21T08:34:00.003-06:002008-11-22T09:12:46.419-06:00

Everyday, people ask me how bad the economy is. It is very bad. They slow down on their bike rides in order to speak to me at length. What should I do about my 401K, they ask. Let's take a left on Garfield, I say. Why are farming and other seasonal jobs excluded from the unemployment statistics, they ask. I prefer Murphy-Hanrehand, I say, because there aren't so many artificial impediments and

Pinchiehttp://www.blogger.com/profile/13903230276310230126noreply@blogger.com9tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-8657623821846874929.post-60671991378108565172008-11-20T16:27:00.003-06:002008-11-20T16:32:32.819-06:00

This is kinda how I felt when the Twins lost to the White Sox, or when the trails at Wirth were too wet to ride last Sunday. But without the French subtitles.Le plus horrible jour de ma vie - Blog

Pinchiehttp://www.blogger.com/profile/13903230276310230126noreply@blogger.com5tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-8657623821846874929.post-79223350593955158592008-11-19T09:55:00.004-06:002008-11-19T09:58:58.824-06:00

Love the proof-of-concept here, and I'm sure someone is going to take this idea all double-suspension and titanium and shit. (Actually, more likely someone will take this idea all Bare Knuckle and Nitto and Deep-V and shit.)

Pinchiehttp://www.blogger.com/profile/13903230276310230126noreply@blogger.com5tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-8657623821846874929.post-20299599848166901872008-11-17T16:07:00.007-06:002008-11-17T17:07:22.926-06:00

Bitter cold on the bike today. It was an act of masochism: No reason to go out, no reason to jump on the Cresta and head downtown, but I did it anyway. I watched The Godfather on AMC last night, and just wanted to go out and scare somebody.States CX on Saturday, here are my notes (I took video, but I cut it short because I didn't want to tape over some awesome old Marilyn Chambers bootleg footage

Pinchiehttp://www.blogger.com/profile/13903230276310230126noreply@blogger.com5tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-8657623821846874929.post-1774915193203472472008-11-11T16:26:00.010-06:002008-11-11T17:12:53.848-06:00

I am not the cleanest dude, nor the dirtiest either. Let's say that by American two-showers-a-day standards, I'm a filthy pig. But by European standards, I'm not doing too bad. I've never actually had head lice, for example. No bed bugs that I'm aware of. I try not to come to the table with dirt on my hands or grease on my face.So it pains me, dear reader, to have to warn you that the following

Pinchiehttp://www.blogger.com/profile/13903230276310230126noreply@blogger.com8tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-8657623821846874929.post-49303786903647275702008-11-10T08:36:00.001-06:002008-11-10T08:38:43.045-06:00

Pinchiehttp://www.blogger.com/profile/13903230276310230126noreply@blogger.com8tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-8657623821846874929.post-7555333177703055372008-11-06T17:17:00.006-06:002008-11-06T18:33:14.619-06:00

Listen here.So, I had a nasty tumble off my bike on Tuesday -- at, get this, Martin Luther King Park -- and I was marginally concussed I guess, because I had a helluva hat-stretching headache, and that kind of all-over-the-body toxic ache from some sort of primordial fight-or-flee chemical reaction, and like a goddam idiot I wasn't wearing a helmet, but like a cat who actually did take

Pinchiehttp://www.blogger.com/profile/13903230276310230126noreply@blogger.com3tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-8657623821846874929.post-84086216188611375032008-11-03T16:38:00.005-06:002008-11-03T22:05:27.548-06:00

So that handbill was fixed firmly in my mind, and bombing down Olaf Avenue, I stood on the pedals and did not set my tender, saddle-sore ass down on the seat anymore than was absolutely necessary, gently mushing Edgar on the flats. From the East on Greenspan, Hoke on his Stingray wearing a totally gay knit tie. Boyle, his grizzled old Labrador, strained in the traces, as Hoke yelled, “Haw! Haw!”

Pinchiehttp://www.blogger.com/profile/13903230276310230126noreply@blogger.com7tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-8657623821846874929.post-62265578362896225852008-10-28T08:20:00.004-06:002008-10-28T08:31:11.033-06:00

Editor's note: Because of the overwhelmingly negative response I got to my monstrous 7-part Chequamegon "race report" (which was more like a status update on my longstanding bout with pre-, post- and mid-race irritable bowel syndrome, not clinically true, but metaphorically true ha ha), and because I'm a marginally masochistic citizen racer, I thought it would be especially off-putting to post a

Pinchiehttp://www.blogger.com/profile/13903230276310230126noreply@blogger.com5tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-8657623821846874929.post-68464739400656141052008-10-24T17:53:00.007-05:002008-10-24T18:15:26.382-05:00

So I was riding my bike today, stretching my legs, enjoying being back from California in my beloved hometown. Riding around the lakes.And dude rolls up and we get talking and he says something along the lines of:You Obama supporters need not fear. Between Acorn, illegal fund-raising and voter fraud, the election will have been stolen or bought. The economy will tank even more. Shortly after

Pinchiehttp://www.blogger.com/profile/13903230276310230126noreply@blogger.com11tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-8657623821846874929.post-62303006799999746292008-10-22T12:27:00.007-05:002008-10-22T12:59:29.616-05:00

The fact that I needed about six terry-cloth towels to sop up the sweat on my recumbant spinning bike in the basement of the Beverly Hilton (where I am auditioning for the part of Laurent Fignon as an obese, Proust-obsessed teenager in a Spielberg vehicle about Greg Lemond traveling back in time to win three additional Tours de France, including 1999, 2000, and 2001) reminds me:I had a friend

Pinchiehttp://www.blogger.com/profile/13903230276310230126noreply@blogger.com10tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-8657623821846874929.post-89801840538502342632008-10-21T15:01:00.005-05:002008-10-21T15:22:02.931-05:00

So, here I am in Los Angeles, at Wilshire and Santa Monica, and I have to say in the two years since I was last here, I've seen a 200% increase in cycling. Two years ago, I saw one bike on Wilshire. This year, I've seen three: One fixie, and two fully geared roadies. I briefly entertained the idea of renting a bike, maybe down at Venice Beach, but in LA all they seem to rent are those ridiculous,

Pinchiehttp://www.blogger.com/profile/13903230276310230126noreply@blogger.com7tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-8657623821846874929.post-83477180794488541982008-10-20T10:19:00.011-05:002008-10-20T13:19:44.495-05:00

We live in fractious times. I sometimes feel myself getting an ulcer when I watch the news. And when I watch video of hardcore red-state Republicans dissing Obama and his supporters and yelling uncivil nonsense ("terrorist," "Muslim," "baby killer," "socialist") I have a couple of responses, but mostly it's just what a bunch of pathetic sore losers. I think, Y'all have monopolized all three

Pinchiehttp://www.blogger.com/profile/13903230276310230126noreply@blogger.com15tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-8657623821846874929.post-56330443745004872252008-10-17T10:00:00.006-05:002008-10-17T10:56:56.460-05:00

Everyone knows how much I love my vintage Ciöcc. It's just cool, man, and it's red -- the fastest color -- with white and black lettering, and it has the sexiest fork evah. As I've mentioned in the past, some guys are obsessed with boobs, some are obsessed with butts, I'm obsessed with forks. I was tickled to find out years ago that Big Jonny, the world famous drunk cyclist, owns exactly the same

Pinchiehttp://www.blogger.com/profile/13903230276310230126noreply@blogger.com6tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-8657623821846874929.post-47754118128734118992008-10-16T12:45:00.011-05:002008-10-16T15:53:59.066-05:00

So I had a buddy back in college who was the punkest punk rocker. When he went to bed at night, he had punk rock sheets and punk rock pajamas and punk rock dreams. In the morning, he ate punk rock flakes right out of the box, pouring the milk right in and sloshing it around, super-punk like. You could see that he was the punkest punk from hundreds of yards away, just a punk rock speck out on the

Pinchiehttp://www.blogger.com/profile/13903230276310230126noreply@blogger.com13tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-8657623821846874929.post-59276683756655789942008-10-15T08:10:00.009-05:002008-10-15T11:35:05.443-05:00

Each morning, I get up with my piss boner, and go to the bathroom and look in the mirror and I ask myself: Why am I such a dick about 29ers? What's my problem exactly? Here are a few rationalizations.The only advantage of a 29-inch wheel for trails around here, which are tight and twisty hardpacked dirt with your gratuitous speed-bump thrown in to justify all those shock absorbers, is a larger

Pinchiehttp://www.blogger.com/profile/13903230276310230126noreply@blogger.com12tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-8657623821846874929.post-60788047449454563632008-10-14T21:22:00.003-05:002008-10-14T21:30:08.665-05:00

Listen here.I'm not a particularly political person, and readers have mixed feelings about my rare polemical outbursts. I understand that. I'm not much of a cycling expert either, which is hardly news. But one thing I know pretty well, because I'm paid to know it thanks to the dayjob, is how we got into the current economic goat-rodeo that we're in. And one thing is for damn sure: It's not the

Pinchiehttp://www.blogger.com/profile/13903230276310230126noreply@blogger.com18tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-8657623821846874929.post-391725525464678962008-10-14T20:47:00.005-05:002008-10-14T21:18:21.518-05:00

A couple of fully awesome Craig's List postings forwarded by my beloved bro, down in No Carolina:Bike for sale What kind of bike? I don't know, I'm not a bike scientist. What I am though is a manly guy looking to sell his bike. This bike is made out of metal and kick ass spokes. The back reflector was taken off, but if you think that deters me from riding at night, you're way wrong. I

Pinchiehttp://www.blogger.com/profile/13903230276310230126noreply@blogger.com10tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-8657623821846874929.post-65749252742850954732008-10-14T08:02:00.007-05:002008-10-14T08:33:15.319-05:00

So I have just a few remarks about my first CX race of the season, the Wirth "Classic" (can a first-time race be a "classic"?) chief among them: a shot of whiskey at the 20 minute mark not a good idea, plus suffering the indignity of getting called "Bitch" by Zito for throwing the shot glass on the ground, but you know, Zito: This was a hand-up, not a hand-down, no? Afterward, people commented on

Pinchiehttp://www.blogger.com/profile/13903230276310230126noreply@blogger.com6tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-8657623821846874929.post-32382210307063779132008-10-02T09:06:00.000-05:002008-10-02T09:08:26.192-05:00

"I'm not saying everyone has to ride a bike, but it's important to provide people with the infrastructure to make that choice."-- Premier Gordon Campbell of British Columbia, Canada, on announcing the province's "Bike BC" initiativeBike BC is a three year, $31 million program. It will add and improve biking infrastructure to encourage bicycling as a viable option to being in a moving cage.Bike

Snakebitehttp://www.blogger.com/profile/16879428992616238833noreply@blogger.com29tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-8657623821846874929.post-35329525248154959892008-09-29T20:45:00.006-05:002008-09-29T20:57:12.933-05:00

I can't think of many things that capture the whole, uh, fin de siecle of today quite like the following.Enjoy. Pure sweet semiotic heaven here, and worth 10,000 footnotes...

Pinchiehttp://www.blogger.com/profile/13903230276310230126noreply@blogger.com6tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-8657623821846874929.post-50103420987971034462008-09-26T11:37:00.015-05:002008-09-27T09:31:46.141-05:00

Well I soldiered on, of course, my heart beating wildly out of rhythm, like a toddler dropping marbles or Lincoln Logs¹ onto a toy drum, sounding more of a horse-gallop beat than a regular metronomic beat. Why am I too prideful to pull out of this race when my heart is literally -- medically -- not in it? When it makes no conceivable difference to anyone on the planet whether or not I finish?

Pinchiehttp://www.blogger.com/profile/13903230276310230126noreply@blogger.com5tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-8657623821846874929.post-25833985463595352762008-09-26T09:25:00.002-05:002008-09-26T09:30:25.102-05:00

Perusing The Economist it was noticed that bicycle production has outpaced vehicle production since about 1950. And that's no lower intestinal tract inflammation. The story goes on to indicate bicycle production has approximately quadrupled since 1970 while vehicle production has merely doubled.FAT-BUSTING but not wallet-busting, the humble bicycle is an increasingly popular choice of transport

Snakebitehttp://www.blogger.com/profile/16879428992616238833noreply@blogger.com8tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-8657623821846874929.post-18028831967296437362008-09-25T16:10:00.007-05:002008-09-25T16:54:26.091-05:00

So the last time we checked in, your noble but somewhat battered and gastrointenstinally chastened correspondent had made it past OO, prudently avoided the panther sweat in paper cups, but also feeling a little nauseated from (1) the apparent bug in my gut, sort of turbo-charging the normal pre-race squirts and (2) the cheap gatorade, purchased at 4:00 AM at Marketplace, a store that is

Pinchiehttp://www.blogger.com/profile/13903230276310230126noreply@blogger.com3tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-8657623821846874929.post-5661531345319428852008-09-24T16:38:00.005-05:002008-09-24T16:59:56.191-05:00

I want to take a moment to consider the clunker toss, a very much underappreciated event on Sunday Funday at the FTF, and this year that was a criminally under-attended thing, the whole day I mean, so including the clunker toss, the “hammer jammer” hill climb – which inexplicably this year was turned into an uphill MTB time trial instead of the traditional, more absolute competition to see who

Pinchiehttp://www.blogger.com/profile/13903230276310230126noreply@blogger.com4tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-8657623821846874929.post-45245971617678882372008-09-24T15:46:00.005-05:002008-09-24T16:03:46.821-05:00

We've been negotiating this massive contract with Marvel Comics to provide a 500,000 word manuscript based on the Chequamegon Fat Tire Festival, and watching as our readership plummets from around 10 readers to maybe .5 readers per day, so in the interest of providing a burnt offering on the altar of our televisual, hypersexualized/infantilized Aye Dee Dee culture, we provide for you a classic

Pinchiehttp://www.blogger.com/profile/13903230276310230126noreply@blogger.com10tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-8657623821846874929.post-81287720791465096952008-09-18T10:07:00.007-05:002008-09-18T10:26:50.291-05:00

As previously mentioned: If the length and rambling nature of this enrages you, well, you know you're getting your money worth, you're getting good value here, not something to be taken lightly in these desperate times, if you can't shop on price, at least shop on value, and make your dollar -- or the cognitive equivalent, your attention -- stretch as far as it can. Also, stock up on staples like

Pinchiehttp://www.blogger.com/profile/13903230276310230126noreply@blogger.com8tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-8657623821846874929.post-44166026807168885162008-09-17T11:04:00.004-05:002008-09-17T11:09:47.586-05:00

Although my own experiments with leaving a bike pump outside in all weather have not been encouraging, surely this shouldn't stop someone from moving ahead with this ingenious idea. Originating country? The Netherlands, duh!

Pinchiehttp://www.blogger.com/profile/13903230276310230126noreply@blogger.com3tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-8657623821846874929.post-44715955720910780542008-09-17T08:14:00.008-05:002008-09-17T11:48:02.385-05:00

Rather than wasting a lot of your time reading this ventilated twaddle, perhaps you'd like to scroll down to the shorter version for the attention-impaired.SO the idea of sitting in is that you find a comfortable pace that’s somewhere between pretty hard and not hard enough and mentally a place you could stay in for a long long long time, and damn it there goes another train of pot-bellied men in

Pinchiehttp://www.blogger.com/profile/13903230276310230126noreply@blogger.com5tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-8657623821846874929.post-40505075657208580432008-09-16T11:37:00.006-05:002008-09-16T12:59:18.855-05:00

Chequamegon shorter version:Diarrhea and nausea, followed by light rain and cardiac arrythmia.A slow erosion of will power. Demoralization at mile 33 not as bad as previous years.Jesse LaLonde DNS--apparently sick.World Cup cyclocross dude Jonny Page wins--nice guy, to boot--spoiling Jeff Hall's best shot at winning a second time after 13-year drought.Cold downpour at the finish, two beers and a

Pinchiehttp://www.blogger.com/profile/13903230276310230126noreply@blogger.com6tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-8657623821846874929.post-89784203282814790242008-09-16T11:24:00.003-05:002008-09-16T11:32:35.961-05:00

Seen in the morning papers...Uh. No, there are significant differences, such as no seatbelts or power steering for example.

Pinchiehttp://www.blogger.com/profile/13903230276310230126noreply@blogger.com7tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-8657623821846874929.post-89763504253310474842008-09-16T08:14:00.005-05:002008-09-16T09:31:51.973-05:00

So with a lot of time spent (more than usual) in both toilets at the cabin, sort of crop- dusting the whole place, there was nothing more to expel or express as far as I could tell, but I've learned through bitter experience to bring a wad of T.P. tucked into a pocket somewhere, and I've learned to keep the suspenders of bibs down, until I'm on the start line counting down and it's out of the

Pinchiehttp://www.blogger.com/profile/13903230276310230126noreply@blogger.com6tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-8657623821846874929.post-9967269661680083122008-09-15T09:13:00.011-05:002008-09-15T14:45:49.620-05:00

My friend Colbert had inveigled his way into a preferred start and thus had no need to park the Pig Tank at the start line, sleeping in compartments with ingenious little portable stove burners and a refrigerator and a chemical head. My wife on road trips used to think of variations on what the abbreviate “RV” stood for, these reflected her low opinion of them when we were stuck behind one on a

Pinchiehttp://www.blogger.com/profile/13903230276310230126noreply@blogger.com8tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-8657623821846874929.post-48849117572318978422008-09-12T14:52:00.005-05:002008-09-12T15:14:35.702-05:00

Before we head out the the Fat Tire 40... salve for the troubled soul:Well, all I can say is He taught me how to bleed my Juicy Fives, and how to use a Clif wrapper as a tire boot.Wish us luck! We're suffering from the usual third-week-in-September rhinovirus and fatigue.("We"? Geeze, the BPBs are blowing this year, in spite of having great looking kits.)

Pinchiehttp://www.blogger.com/profile/13903230276310230126noreply@blogger.com5tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-8657623821846874929.post-83262756012267037152008-09-10T20:23:00.006-05:002008-09-11T07:15:16.006-05:00

Re: Why rednecks may rule the world.You know, I'm pretty fucking sick and tired of being put down and dismissed and disrespected for being educated and living in a city and having values that run a bit more esoteric than how to fucking field dress a goddamn moose. Fuck these people and their stupid fucking values. Fuck guns and hunting. Fuck "self-sufficiency" and flannel and ATVs and jet-skis.

Pinchiehttp://www.blogger.com/profile/13903230276310230126noreply@blogger.com30tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-8657623821846874929.post-13823690186697230312008-09-10T15:38:00.009-05:002008-09-10T16:12:24.097-05:00

We emerge from our summer break to give you this breaking story.Famous, nacho-eating Texan -- first place loser at Leadville -- is rumored to be mulling a run at the Chequamegon Fat Tire 40 this Saturday! But will he really do it, if the Wayzata Course Chief shows up again this year to ride with his unholy offspring?Reasons Lance and/or Greg might show up in Hayward this year:Pro: Trek is the

Pinchiehttp://www.blogger.com/profile/13903230276310230126noreply@blogger.com6tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-8657623821846874929.post-62393216033691537822008-08-25T11:40:00.000-05:002008-08-25T18:11:32.281-05:00

The Pinch Flat crew is on summer break, racing the Sawtooth and the Dakota 50. We'll be back after Labor Day with reports, pix, maybe even viddy. Also, stay tuned for our full blown cross coverage, post Chequamegon.

Jerry Casenoreply@blogger.com5tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-8657623821846874929.post-58949220729769555612008-08-21T10:10:00.002-05:002008-08-21T10:17:10.695-05:00

Seen in the morning papers... Dude thinks bike lanes cause more pollution. The upshot is that bike lanes cause more congestion and more idling cars.Mr. Anderson disagrees. Cars always will vastly outnumber bikes, he reasons, so allotting more street space to cyclists could cause more traffic jams, more idling and more pollution. Mr. Anderson says the city has been blinded by political correctness

Pinchiehttp://www.blogger.com/profile/13903230276310230126noreply@blogger.com6tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-8657623821846874929.post-86942585896783531072008-08-18T09:21:00.006-05:002008-08-18T09:36:11.188-05:00

OK, you have no idea who Miley Cyrus is, and you couldn't care less. (And if you knew she was the daughter of Billy Ray Cyrus, the guy with the supermullet who sang "Achy Breaky," you might wretch little bit.) But any child under the age of 10 can tell you she's bigger than Jesus and has more money than God, even though she's only 16.So when she's seen clumsily pedaling an Electra around

Pinchiehttp://www.blogger.com/profile/13903230276310230126noreply@blogger.com10tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-8657623821846874929.post-33590204359031763552008-08-13T11:01:00.008-05:002008-08-18T09:38:09.100-05:00

Yakkay is a Dutch Danish company that makes stylish hat-helmets. There's actually a full helmet under there! Which makes me think you really need a disproportionately large head to pull this look off.Also, I'd like the next generation of Yakkay's to include something more along the lines of a Fez, a Yarmulke, and maybe a Tam O' Shanter.

Pinchiehttp://www.blogger.com/profile/13903230276310230126noreply@blogger.com7tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-8657623821846874929.post-22064465865756545742008-08-12T12:11:00.002-05:002008-08-12T12:15:38.461-05:00

Here's a video of David Byrne, discussing his participation in NYC's bike rack competition and his own entries thereof. There's a a moment when he's talking about powdercoating and he takes a long pause... and my heart sank, thinking he was going to go into the whole "it's what the kids are doing with their fixies and their deep-Vees." But good old DB pulled me back from the brink of cynicism. "

Pinchiehttp://www.blogger.com/profile/13903230276310230126noreply@blogger.com7tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-8657623821846874929.post-5284168570379688082008-08-07T14:56:00.005-05:002008-08-07T15:05:24.020-05:00

I have a lot of respect for track racers. Or I did, until I read this morning that four tracksters on the US Olympic team arrived in Beijing airport wearing face masks -- before they'd even set foot outside the Beijing airport. I mean, wearing a mask before you're even through customs is a little like salting the food before you've tasted it.Needless to say, the "gesture" was seen as a bit

Pinchiehttp://www.blogger.com/profile/13903230276310230126noreply@blogger.com11tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-8657623821846874929.post-59847235786076894642008-08-05T10:48:00.001-05:002008-08-05T10:48:52.484-05:00

Seen in the morning papers:And here I'll show off my German heritage -- or at least my Babelfish bookmark -- by providing a highly entertaining and edifying translation!Cyclist collides with wild pigAs if aggressive drivers were not be enough: Now cyclists must watch out for wild pigs in one Munich park. Bike riders now have to yield not only to trucks and drunk pedestrians, but also to wild

Pinchiehttp://www.blogger.com/profile/13903230276310230126noreply@blogger.com5tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-8657623821846874929.post-40338600610927581192008-08-05T10:25:00.010-05:002008-08-05T10:50:54.146-05:00

Seen in the morning papers:And here I'll show off my German heritage -- or at least my Babelfish bookmark -- by providing a highly entertaining and edifying translation! Cyclist collides with wild pigAs if aggressive drivers were not be enough: Now cyclists must watch out for wild pigs in one Munich park.Bike riders now have to yield not only to trucks and drunk pedestrians, but also to wild

Pinchiehttp://www.blogger.com/profile/13903230276310230126noreply@blogger.com5tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-8657623821846874929.post-8402862269931222752008-08-04T16:13:00.005-05:002008-08-04T16:21:34.879-05:00

Maybe he's, um, tired of tired of being tired. (That's what, a triple negative?) After appearing on almost every web site on the entire internet in this ad......the Big Texan will finally be making good on his promise to ride the Leadville 100 this coming weekend. Presumably, a certain little Amish fellow will not be riding this year. That way we can all rest assured that nobody in the famous

Pinchiehttp://www.blogger.com/profile/13903230276310230126noreply@blogger.com5tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-8657623821846874929.post-17445454844681526882008-08-04T12:16:00.004-05:002008-08-04T12:31:33.340-05:00

ImmobiTag has jumped the pond, and now you can "eartag" your bike the way you might eartag your dog -- i.e. with a scannable embedded chip with all the relevant information that proves it's your bike.Sure this is an improvement current systems-- or rather, non-systems. Last year I rode my bike to the bar and had a few drinks, came outside to find some shit-heel had glued my cable-lock shut.

Pinchiehttp://www.blogger.com/profile/13903230276310230126noreply@blogger.com5tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-8657623821846874929.post-17645707652588985222008-07-28T09:13:00.003-05:002008-07-28T09:23:11.000-05:00

Hello!I'ma be online irregularly this week. I'll update when possible. But honestly, you're just sitting there in the afterglow of Carlos Sastre's TDF win, right? It will be days before you're thirsty again for the irrigating colonic waters of your daily Pinch Flat News. If there were ever a "2 minute 3 pointer"argument to make for the Tour -- i.e. since most basketball games are

Pinchiehttp://www.blogger.com/profile/13903230276310230126noreply@blogger.com3tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-8657623821846874929.post-85875309089130937842008-07-25T10:07:00.015-05:002008-07-25T10:33:31.315-05:00

Remember all the hubub about Lance's alleged "Look" at Jan Ulrich? The taunting glare at the base of the Alpe d'Huez?Yesterday's stage finish offered a new version of The Look for a new millennium. (Scroll across to about 2:30).DayPortPlayer.newPlayer({articleID:"2330",playerInstanceID:"BE4CFEAA-C03F-B836-C4D5-6F7B1153D45F",domain:"contagion.dayport.com"});What do you think is going through

Pinchiehttp://www.blogger.com/profile/13903230276310230126noreply@blogger.com5tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-8657623821846874929.post-20085205887200049052008-07-24T11:11:00.016-05:002008-07-24T14:03:19.600-05:00

I was out riding the Ciocc the other day, and I noticed that my barend plugs were mismatched. One was silver plastic, and the other was black plastic. Now this in itself didn't bother me. I've been known to wear different socks on each foot, either accidentally, or on purpose, or more often, accidentally-on-purpose -- a disposition also known as extreme laziness. In other words, I know I'm doing

Pinchiehttp://www.blogger.com/profile/13903230276310230126noreply@blogger.com5tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-8657623821846874929.post-45987779666172192592008-07-24T09:23:00.005-05:002008-07-24T09:48:12.340-05:00

David Cameron, the Conservative Party leader in the UK and a legendary bike advocate, has had his bicycle nicked.He stopped at a supermarket on his way home, to pick up some items for dinner, and left his mountain bike locked to a bollard, a short and stout barrier whose main purpose is to block vehicle traffic while letting pedestrians pass. Mr. Cameron would regret the decision minutes later.

Pinchiehttp://www.blogger.com/profile/13903230276310230126noreply@blogger.com5tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-8657623821846874929.post-8682169463290097792008-07-23T13:02:00.007-05:002008-07-23T13:30:04.288-05:00

Today's kinda boring ruminations on an intense stage: Anyone who doubts the value of strategy -- especially strategy with a team that has the deep bench of CSC -- would be wise to rewind today's stage up the ADH.While I was rooting for Christian Vande Velde to attack on his own, and stop marking Evans and Menchov for God's sake, it was pretty clear that no single rider had a dominating or

Pinchiehttp://www.blogger.com/profile/13903230276310230126noreply@blogger.com5tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-8657623821846874929.post-38574703103531450562008-07-23T08:57:00.003-05:002008-07-23T09:03:24.149-05:00

There's an old saying: Unless you're the lead dog, the view never changes.That's not entirely true in cycling, because if you're following a guy who can't pick a good line, you might find yourself with a sudden and stunning view of the scenery -- like Barlowworld's Augustyn, who created quite a rock slide yesterday.Or Remy di Gregorio.If I were in the pro peloton, I'd avoid these two dudes like

Pinchiehttp://www.blogger.com/profile/13903230276310230126noreply@blogger.com3tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-8657623821846874929.post-58396697556895073592008-07-22T14:06:00.001-05:002008-07-22T14:08:52.059-05:00

Hello!Allow me to direct your attention to some of our more popular offerings, recently added to the menu as seasonal specialties:What would Obama ride?In praise of downhill sprint finishes.EPO, feh! Here's the stuff that will really fuck them up

Pinchiehttp://www.blogger.com/profile/13903230276310230126noreply@blogger.com3tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-8657623821846874929.post-17662353328895685272008-07-22T13:37:00.008-05:002008-07-23T08:10:38.560-05:00

There's one funny thing about this very short, unexplained bicycle crash-test video. (Come to think of it, it may be a wall crash-test video.) And that's how it argues against making sure your handlebars and your seat (and therefore also your nuts) are at the same height.Bicycle Crash TestWhich makes me think the following guy is kinda hamming it up. Or at least trading a shoulder injury for a

Pinchiehttp://www.blogger.com/profile/13903230276310230126noreply@blogger.com4tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-8657623821846874929.post-36657667200032372522008-07-22T12:53:00.007-05:002008-07-22T13:21:18.518-05:00

Looking at the profile of today's stage, I'm sure I wasn't the only one who felt a little disappointed that it wasn't a summit finish. Summit finishes certainly reward the pure climbers and make for some decisive time gaps. I mean, we reached the highest highway pass in all of Europe and went right on by!But actually watching the stage today, my feeling was this: Sweet! The art of descending

Pinchiehttp://www.blogger.com/profile/13903230276310230126noreply@blogger.com3tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-8657623821846874929.post-7568882772667967802008-07-22T10:29:00.006-05:002008-07-22T11:40:53.127-05:00

Our young friend Liza Stoner has arrived in D.C. after a 1,500 mile ride from Minneapolis.Well done, Liza! The 14-year-old cyclist brought US senator Amy Klobuchar a petition signed by 1,200 Minnesotans to raise awareness about... uh, electric cars. (I rather think it raised awareness of bikes, too.)Sure, this may be coals to Newcastle. Still. It takes guts (and legs and lungs) to ride cross

Pinchiehttp://www.blogger.com/profile/13903230276310230126noreply@blogger.com3tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-8657623821846874929.post-59381269081592737532008-07-21T14:58:00.019-05:002008-07-22T14:05:17.381-05:00

Let me be the first of about 2,000 of your friends to point you in the direction of barackobamaisyournewfixie.com.Not particularly clever, but then neither is the wheel, the screw or the Zippo -- simple machines upon which all others rely.Somehow, the picture is still unclear for me. I mean, which Obama is actually going to take office, if elected? Fixie hipster Obama? Urban free-riding Obama?

Pinchiehttp://www.blogger.com/profile/13903230276310230126noreply@blogger.com5tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-8657623821846874929.post-82883068484192416502008-07-21T11:18:00.003-05:002008-07-21T11:22:32.017-05:00

Having just watched Stranger Than Fiction last night on the old Netflix, I was tickled to see this Will Ferrell clip in my inbox today.

Pinchiehttp://www.blogger.com/profile/13903230276310230126noreply@blogger.com6