Bikes in NYC

In a stark contrast to the last post I made about NYC where one of New York's finest blindsided some kid on a bike and the rise in bike use, this past weekend was the culmination of New York City's closing of Park Avenue from the Brooklyn Bridge all the way to Central Park.

This piece reminded me of a story I found some years ago about New York's High Line, which is an old railroad bed that is elevated above the city streets. It has sat dormant for years and is now in the process of being rezoned while new designs for the structure are finalized.as an elevated walkway park system to tour Manhattan's lower west side.

Placing the din of boisterous cities underneath the laughter of children and freewheeling bikes will be a nice step in quality of life for the residents of NYC, I hope to see it happen.

Butte-E-ful

Keith getting RAD.

Bryan looking old-timey.

Top of Cottonwood Pass.

Up Gothic Rd.

Moving On

This is going to be a reoccurring theme this fall and winter.

Time to start training for the telemark turns and the Iceman Cometh.

First I need to get a plane ticket to BTV for someone's wedding.

Whiteford...

...shreds hard. Some people were made for flying.



DirtGnar from Andrew Whiteford on Vimeo.

WHAT!?

Nice

Pretty much the coolest mountain pass in Colorado. I want to ride it. 20 miles to the east and 40-some miles to the west.

Things My Bike Doesn't Have

1. Integrated Light for riding around town that can't be stolen and uses a combo of a normal sized battery plus a little solar power, or better yet, vibration power ala piezioelectricity.

2. Air Horn so I can let people know my location when I'm about to be introduced to the back side of a parked car.

3. Retractable rear fender to keep my backside clean yet keep my looking stylish.

4. Flat pedals with blinking lights. L.A. Gear had blinking shoes that kept kids from getting lost. Why not my bike?

Why it doesn't have them, I don't know, but that should be changed.

Alternatives that are on the fence: spinners, 15" subwoofers, and windshield wipers.

Beverages

Which one of these things is not like the other one, which one of these things doesn't belong?

They must be talking about my sister...

Stump Ed

As in Stump Education.

Stump has stymied the greatest of adjectives, and it has come to my attention that not everyone is familiar with the game of Stump. You should all be so thankful that Wikipedia has an explanation of one of the best coordination games out there.

It isn't nearly as dangerous as your Mom would make it sound.

Who Knew

Specialty Bike shops are nothing new. They usually revolve around road bikes as that is the biggest market out there. Next in the bike shop hierarchy would be the cover all aspects medium sized bike shop, and onward. Rarely is a full mountain bike shop pop up in their except in the sweetest mecca of British Columbia.

Vancouver, Canada is, however, the last place I would have expected to hear of a full on fixie, trackie, hipster, whatever you call them bike shop called SuperChampion. Its awesome to sell someone pull together a shop like that, even if it is the two wheeled version of Che Guvera t-shirts.

Bikes in the News

The New York Times just posted a good article highlighting the car vs bike clash that has escalated this summer across the nation. The large increase in ridership has come with an equally large gap in education. Things will mellow out now that temps are starting to drop across the country I'm sure.

Speaking of which, since when did 80 degrees become the new 65? It has been rainy and cool in Boulder recently and my sleeping conditions have improved dramatically. Still no A/C here.

I turned right tonight 375 times and left 75 times and got 5th. Second out of the field sprint. The V6 that is Jason Donald went up the road really fast and won. Road race tomorrow. Then Downers Grove, IL.

Man They Were Way Off

So Mike Friedman and crew got a lot of heat for wearing masks to cover their face at the Olympics in China. Yet it looks like those actions will be validated tomorrow:

"Smog may delay Olympic road race

The media scheduled to broadcast the Olympics were notified on Friday that the men's road race could be postponed due to thick smog in Beijing. According to Fox Sports, broadcasters were advised to make alternate plans just in case.

The men's road race is still scheduled for Saturday beginning at 11:00 am local time. Organizers have set a deadline to start the race by 1:30 pm or else delay it for 24 hours. The women's road race is still scheduled for Sunday at 2:00 pm."

From Cyclingnews.com

Silly

One of the silliest things I've seen in awhile is at The DNC in Denver, CO. How funny is that? Hypocritical? Lame?

These two weirdos are getting married this weekend in a little place I like to call Wisconsin.



I'm off to Criterium Nationals in Chicago next weekend. I have my full face helmet and body armor ready to go. I fell down 4 times in two days last year. Working on not doing that this year. Then again it was DUMPING rain and the course has white paint ALL OVER it.

As for training. I did 7500 ft. of climbing today in 3.5 hours with Phil, Andy, Tyler and Matt. Which for you people familiar with Boulder, that would be Flagstaff, around Gross Reservoir, up Peak-to-Peak hwy, to Sugar Loaf, and finishing up Poorman's. It hurt and I loved every minute of it as we smashed each other, sprinted out every town line and generally beat up on the Colavita kids who are from sea level. I pushed really hard on the pedals to say the least.

Word.