DIY hitch rack

As seen on Yurtle the Turtle

+3 Network

Met +3 Network at a cyclocross race today. They gave me a Garmin to borrow to track my race and then uploaded it for me. Interesting company. I chose the Project Rwanda as my charity.

http://www.plus3network.com/

Google Street View goes off-road - San Jose Mercury News

Google Street View goes off-road - San Jose Mercury News

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Got some place that you want Google streetviewed? Is that someplace a bike can go but a car can't? Let Google know. They've got a new off road capable streetview tricycle.

Just did my first race with a timing chip. The race promoters used an RFID chip from Times-7 strapped to our forks. The chip is clearly meant to strap on to your left fork blade, but since this was cross, it had to be put on the right fork blade resulting in the text on the unit being upside down. I'm sure some users got it backwards and had that thing dig into their backs or fall off while shouldering the bike. The mounting process was simple and the double sided tape left no residue and was easy to remove from my carbon fork. Not sure how the timing function worked though since the posted results had only placing, no times. I'm guessing they just used it to back up the spotters or resolve podium disputes.

Either way, as cross racing gets more popular (and there has been record attendance at every race I've been in so far this year), we may see more and more of this.

Something to think about from time to time...

"Technology has passed me by, and I will forever be at a disadvantage just like my friend Slaughter, who rides a steel bike with downtube shifters and clips-and-straps and won the Derby this summer against a bunch of actual pros and aspiring pros half his age and national-caliber riders from all over the world all on carbon wonderbikes. If he’d had the sense to upgrade to a carbon bike with clipless pedals and convenient shifting, he would have won the Derby by several more feet."

http://bicycling.com/blogs/sittingin/2009/10/09/ive-cracked/?cm_mmc=BicyclingNL-_-2009_10_16-_-blog-_-sittingin

Bike parts are shiny, beautiful, functional and fun, but don't forget that the better rider will be the guy (or girl) who rides the most, complains the least and keeps his head up and off the gadget on his handlebars.

New CX Disc Brake Configuration

You may have noticed, but I have a small fascination with disc braked cyclocross bikes. They're not UCI legal, but I'm more Graeme Obree than Lance Armstrong so I'd run it. I saw a Fixie Inc bike this weekend that has replaceable derailer hangers on both sides to swap between geared and single speed configurations. This allows the force loading to be communicated through the derailer hanger to the seat stay and chain stay in a more controlled manner than a mountain bike style disc tab which usually requires a gusset to be welded in the crotch of the triangle you see below. This is all well and good as long as the hanger and it's connections (two M6 bolts it looks like) can bear the loads of braking. It looks aluminum and it looks quite cantilevered so I'll give it one, maybe two seasons. However, its owner knew the guys that made the bike and had a ton of confidence in it. More interesting, is that Fixie Inc is making their own road disc hubs. That could be huge. Their web site is a little avant-garde for me. If you find the hubs, let me know.

Scattante on the Morgul Bismark

For Front Range cyclists, the budget bike brand, Scattante, is using what looks like a scene from the classic Morgul Bismark course as their advertising banner:

I'll give it to them, that's a pretty authentic backdrop for a bike parts ad.