Monday Night Ride

Well, tonight we were supposed to start up the Monday evening ride again, but the weathercasters are predicting all-day rain.

Of course, they've been predicting rain every day for the last seven days, and it hasn't happened yet, so I'll believe it when the drops start falling.

If it stops (or never starts) raining by 6, I'm riding... and you're all invited to join me.

Sunday Ride Report

It was an excellent Sunday morning/afternoon/pretty-much-all-day ride... we (Pete, Jeremy, and I) left the shop just a few minutes after 9.

When we got out to Benbrook, we decided to take advantage of it being one of the last days cyclists can ride around Benbrook Reservoir without paying a $1 "toll." It was a bit breezy, but not as bad as last Sunday. Temperatures were just about perfect, and though the skies looked ominous all day, no rain fell.

As we got further west and the roads got hillier, I started to feel a little bit like Jan Ullrich. You know... German, about 20 pounds overweight, 3 months behind in training, and helplessly watching my friends ride away from me on the hills and not looking like they were working very hard to do it. Luckily, like Jan, I know how to catch up on the downhills/flats. Overall it was a great ride, though. We walked our bikes through an old stone tunnel, found that crazy hill again, and generally had a good time.

As we came back into Fort Worth via the Trinity Trails, Jeremy and Pete peeled off; I'm guessing they got home with about 135km under their belts. I continued north on the trail to the Stockyards, then rode bicycle route #41 south on Samuels back to downtown. There's a great historic neighborhood (I've heard that Sam Houston stayed there the night before a gubernatorial debate) there that looks like it's about to be bulldozed, so that made me a little sad.

I didn't carry a camera, but maybe next time I'll get some pictures. When I got home, I'd ridden 154.24 km. Not bad, especially considering it was only my second ride over 20 miles this year...

Very Exciting Development

I'm really excited to say that I think we've found a co-sponsor for our first shop racing team!

It's not official yet, so I'm going to hold off on saying who it is, but it's a company we've worked with before, and I think it will be a great deal for both of us.

So, who wants to race for us? Here's the thing... while our racers will be sponsored, it'll be by a couple of companies with very limited funds. We're looking for more casual racers, guys and gals who are in it for the fun. That's not to say we'll look down upon anybody who's winning races; it's just not a requirement to join.

Let us know if you're interested.

Sunday Ride: Back on the road

The Masi was happy to be out on the road again; we rode 102 km out to Annetta North and back. It was a beautiful day: 72 degrees and overcast the whole afternoon. It was a bit windy, but most of the headwinds were on the way out, so sailing was smoother on the way back.

Here's the Masi hanging out on the roadside; you can't tell from the perspective in this picture, but this is one steep piece of road. It was all I could do to grind up it in my 39/25:


On the way home on Aledo Rd. I stopped to help this little guy across the road:


This Sunday I'm planning on riding about 150 km. Anybody want to come along?

We're two years old!

A couple of days ago marked our second anniversary! We've come a long way since we first opened the shop, and we owe our success so far to you.

Thanks!

633 miles per Gallon

There was a good little bit of bicycle-commuting math in the Nov '06 issue of Bicycling.

A rider calculated the caloric energy in 1 gallon of gasoline, which came to about 31,000 calories. Then he started riding his bike, keeping track of his mileage and his calories burned. When he burned his 31,000th calorie, he had ridden 633 miles.

So you bicycle commuters, next time your office mates are talking about gas prices or cars, you can brag about how your ride to work gets 633 miles per gallon!

Long Haul Trucker at the Water Gardens

Our good friend Hasty has got me on a new kick. He likes to take digital photos of his bikes at Fort Worth Landmarks; for somebody who has had as many dearly loved bikes as I have (they're like children... I may have favorites, but I don't let them know that), I thought this is something I need to start doing, too. It'll be a family album of sorts.

So here's my first installment, the Long Haul Trucker at Fort Worth's famous and newly reopened Water Gardens:

Lacy's New Bike

Check it out... Chuck and Lacy are moving to Germany, so they wanted a new Euro-style touring bike for Lacy to take along. This is what we ended up with:



The European-style "Trekking" handlebars are really unique; lots of hand positions, great ergonomics. I was skeptical about these bars, but after a test ride, I have to admit they're really cool:



She'll be perched atop arguably the most comfortable womens' specific saddle ever produced, the Brooks Champion Flyer S:



And she even has a kick-ass kickstand (There was a time, early in my cycling knuckleheadedness, that I would have told you there's no such thing. But this kickstand does indeed kick ass). Here's the kickstand when not in use:



And here's the kickassstand deployed:



As you can see, it lifts the rear wheel off the ground, motorscooter style.

First Saturday...

...need I say more?

If you wanna ride your bike to a brewery, to drink free beer, really good beer, then be here at the shop at noon.

The Panther says "RAHR!"