McDonald's Employee Steals Bike!

This is the McDonald's employee stealing this green Raleigh cross bike. More info here. Last I checked there is a $250 reward.

My living room ceiling

Me on my knees so so she can get more air. Even then the fan has made contact from 9 feet in the air.

Fat bike rant/Cross race fun

Fatties
You ever been out and you see the annoying group of teenagers. You know, the ones that are simply giddy that they are all out together without adult supervision. Everything they do is met with a group reaction that just seems so over the top. They can't just relax, they are ready to burst at the seams with excitement for simply the reason that they are not being watched. Times like those remind me of Barry Sanders; the man did not spike the ball or show boat his TD's. The philosophy is that instead of jumping around acting a fool, he acted like he had been there before.

And that is how I see so, so, so many people riding fat bikes for the first time; teenagers. Yes they are fun. Yes they are cool. So are lots of bikes. Fat bikes serve their purpose and do it well. Suddenly people are blown away that they can be ridden off road, or on the road, or wherever else. Really? Did they think the bikes are like cross country skis and only able to effectively work on snow?

I don't know about them, but when I got my 907 (shameless plug) I realized the effect 4" wide tires would have in conditions other than snow, and I appreciate how they work. I guess I just had the Barry Sanders approach.



CX Race Fun
Tomorrow I enter my third cx race of the year. I am rolling a bad mama jamma Trek Cronus CX and thought it needed race action before the hills of Red Wing next spring.

My first race went better than expected. Having not seen a CX start line in four years I wondered if the popularity had increased the speeds, indeed they had. I am considered a Cat.3 so that is where I found myself at the "Cross at the Y" a few weeks back. My only goal of making the front selection worked well for most of the first 2 laps until a flat stopped me right after moving into the top 5 of that front group. We had just passed the pit containing neutral wheel hand ups, so I rode the entire lap with a flat front tire that did not allow any type of bike leaning lest you crash. After a wheel hand up I worked my tail off to go from dead last to finish 3 minutes back of first (22 of 36 racers). I figured it is not out of hand to guess I lost close to 3 minutes on my nervous trip around the course, so that was a positive.

I'll recap the 2nd race later. For now here watch this video by Brady Prenzlow of the race. You can see yours truly making the pass at 6:42, and then flatting on the sandpit edging at 7:06. I guess I should have ran the pit like most did. Proving I am not very smart; I continued to ride instead of run the pit the rest of the race.