CrossChecks available

The long awaited Surly Cross-Check complete bikes finally available again and ready to ship, in both the (awesome) "misty mountain gray" and black colors. These things don't stay in stock long, so if you've been considering one of these bikes, you'd better move fast!

rain be damned

We're riding tonight. Even if it means getting wet. There's no way it can rain as hard as it did last monday.

Sunday Ride

Jeremy and I had a great ride this morning; it was a little hot, but a great ride nonetheless. The good news for all you Fort Worth cyclists: the low water crossing at 183 is finally above water again, and you can ride around Benbrook Reservoir.

The bad news: the extremely wet ground has left those cheap country roads in bad shape, so large sections of our favorite roads (McDaniel, Kelly, Old Annetta, the road to The Wall, etc) have been de-paved and are littered with big loose gravel. Gravel big enough and deep enough it makes your bike a little hard to steer at times.

Here's a pic of the Masi near an old tunnel, which I wanted to ride through. Unfortunately, the tunnel still has a stream running through it. (The stream is in the picture, but the tunnel itself is not):

Chapeau Levi!

Even if you didn't move up a spot in the GC, what a ride!

I wonder if you'll be sprinting for time bonuses tomorrow?

New Stand

We have a new repair stand in the service area, so Bryan has a place to work. LB got one for his garage too, and he fabricated us some base plates so we wouldn't have to buy them. Thanks, LB!

It's official...

the Tour de France is now officially imploding. First Vinokourov tests positive for a blood transfusion, so he and Astana are out (my first instinct was, "poor Kloden", but what was he thinking hitching his wagon to that whack-job's star anyway?).

Then Moreni tests positive for Test., so he and Cofidis are out. Now, Rabobank has fired the Maillot Jaune, Rasmussen, because SURPRISE! He lied about where he was when he missed those pesky doping tests.

To those of you who say that the French are conspiring because they never win the tour: You guys are full of shit. The French love their race way to much to ruin it to this degree. If they were truly conspiring, no Cofidis rider would ever test positive for anything.

I've been saying it since the Festina affair, and now I hope it's become obvious to everyone: they all dope. You cannot be in good form for 3 whole weeks in the hardest race in the world without some assisted recovery.

Now, what are we going to do about this mess?

Tonight we ride...

Tonight we fly, we're headin' west...


Ride rolls out of the shop at 6:30 sharp. Fun is guaranteed.

The Saturday of Truth

We just did our first three weigh-ins... I won't post everybody's weigh-in info here today, but we are the first victims, so here you go:

Bernie: 196.8 lbs, 25.5% body fat
Jason: 190.6 lbs, 23.9% body fat
Bryan: 183.0 lbs, 24.6% body fat

Couchbike

Tim and Dave, I see your treadmill bike, and raise you a Couchbike!

Wed Night Ride

Fat Friday

For those of you who are going to participate in our fitness contest starting Saturday, we're going to have a "Fat Friday" get-together here at the shop after closing time Friday evening. Consider it your last chance to fill up on Bratwurst and Rahr Stormcloud... festivities start 7-ish, just like the good old days.

Awesome ride tonight!

What a ride we had tonight! The group is growing again... today we had 7 riders set out from PCB, and the weather was perfect. We detoured around the river crossing, rode up a nice hill on Oakmont, raced down that same hill, sprinted past one of those trailers that tells you how fast you're going, and generally had a good time.

Wednesday night if it's still there, were going to take photos of each other sprinting past the speed-limit trailer. Fastest rider past the trailer gets some free Hammer Nutrition product.

After the ride, Bryan and I went to Taqueria San Luis #3 and ate lots of Tacos al Pastor, chips and salsa, and frijoles. We want to make sure we don't lose any weight before the weigh-in Saturday!

Monday Night Ride

Who is going to ride with us tonight?

Does anybody know if the river is crossable at 183 and Bellaire yet?

The return of Fritz

I heard that the main man who started it all was in town
so I had to go see what was hopp-a-ning and of course to enjoy
the latest batch of Summertime Wheat.

Jason

I wonder why his parents named him Linus?

Does anyone else think Linus Gerdemann, winner of stage 7 of the Tour de France...



...looks like an adult version of Linus Van Pelt?

Sunday morning ride

We had a great Sunday morning ride today, out to Eagle Mountain Lake and back. We left the shop at 8, went by Jason's house to pick him up, and headed north. If you've never ridden out there, the area around the lake has some pretty impressive hills. It was hot and humid today, too, so by the time we got out there we were a ragged-looking bunch:







Here's Jason on his sweet Masi:


On the way back, we had a flat-fixing party under a big shade tree. Hasty ran over a huge nail, which went through both his kevlar-belted tire and velox rim strip before embedding itself in his rim:

Put some new bar tape on the Masi today...

In case you all didn't know, I ride a sweet Masi road bike. It's a Gran Criterium, and I love the way it rides. (Does this post make you feel a little better, Tim?)

Anyway, I put some cool early-nineties-color Cinelli "splash" cork bar tape on it today. Orange, teal, and purple. I wish they still made bar tape in colors this cool!

Contest

Well, now that the rain has finally stopped I'm sure most of you have been inspired to ride your bikes more. If you're like me, though, you find yourself in much poorer shape and quite bit heavier than you were this time last year.

So, in an effort to give ourselves and others a little extra motivation to get fit again, Bryan and I have been brainstorming a new contest. We're going to have a 60-day weight loss/body composition competition.

Here's how it works:
One week from today (Saturday 7/21) we will have a weigh-in here at the shop. If you'd like to participate, stop by the shop during normal hours (10-6) dressed in shorts and a t-shirt. You'll have to remove your shoes and belt, and we'll pat you down to make sure your pockets are empty.

We'll weigh in using a scale that measures both weight and body composition. That way we can have two categories of winner: one who loses the most pounds, and one who loses the highest percentage of body fat. That should even the playing field a bit.

We'll charge $5 to enter... that will add to motivation and enable us to buy some nice prizes for the winners.

So, who is in?

also now in stock:

Yet another super-cool single speed... this one's actually a fixed gear, but the rear wheel has a flip-flop hub, so you can make it coast if that's your thing.



This bike is spec'ed very nicely; highlights include a ritchey logic comp headset, nice sugino cranks and bb, and a pretty impressive wheelset with bombproof surly hubs, surly stainless steel cog and lockring, and Maxxis Detonator tires.

These bikes are SO hot right now. Surly global domination headquarters just got a shipment of steamrollers in stock 2 weeks ago, and I ordered ours. As of today, they're already out of all but 2 sizes.

Wednesday night ride

Unlike this week's Monday night ride, tonight I had some company. Bryan, Tim, and Wayne rode with me out west. Even though it hasn't rained in a few days (finally!), the lake has actually gotten higher since Monday, as you can see in the first picture.

Fort Worth Velodrome

No, we don't have one yet... but wouldn't this be a cool building to put one in?




This is an abandoned building across the street from the T&P train station... it was originally the Fort Worth Recreation Building. Maybe we should start a non-profit dedicated to bringing a public velodrome to Fort Worth... a structure like this would be ideal, especially being so close to the train and all. Racers could bring their bikes on the train, and not even have to drive to the 'drome. Let's face it: driving to Frisco sucks.

Benbrook Reservoir

The Benbrook Reservoir is higher than I've ever seen it... I rode out that way yesterday evening (alone... doesn't anybody want to do the Monday night ride any more? I know it's rained 14 consecutive Mondays, but damn. Let's enjoy the sun while it's here), and the road into the park is closed because the water is over it... the water reaches almost all the way to 377.

Here are some photos of my bike in some spots most of you will recognize:

Wow

It's amazing how a little price reduction can move a bike. After posting the Jamis sale yesterday evening, the first of the 5 sold this morning... better come get yours before they're gone!

Jamis mountain bike SALE!

Do you know somebody who's looking for a great deal on an entry-level mountain bike?


We've got an awesome price this month on the Jamis Ranger SX 2.0. I've got all sizes in stock; the bike is striking in its sparkle red paint job:



We're willing to put our name on it, so you know the quality is good:



This model is usually $300, but right now you can get one for $285!

Now In Stock

Today we got a few of Redline's 9-2-5 bikes... this is one cool commuter. It's a cromoly-framed single speed, because steel is real you know. It comes with cool cafe-racer moustache bars, fenders for all-weather commutes, and a flip-flop rear wheel with both a fixed cog and a freewheel.

Do yourself a favor and come test ride one; most sizes are in stock. I guarantee you'll come back from your test ride smiling. Seriously, try to just look at it and not smile:

Cold Drinks

The Panther City fridge is now fully stocked with cold drinks for your pre-ride, mid-ride, and post-ride refreshment. Check it out:

TdF Prologue

Wow, what a day. My three favorite active riders do a 1-2-3 on the prologue podium of the Tour de France. Cancellara wins (wearing the World TT Champion stripes), with Kloden 2nd and Hincapie third. It doesn't get much better than that.

I'm glad I picked all 3 of these guys for my fantasy TdF team...

Today's ride by the numbers:

Time in the Saddle: 5:51:53
KM ridden: 153
My avg. cadence: 115
Rain Showers ridden through: 3
Dogs chased by: 6 (not at the same time, thankfully)
Convenience store stops: 3
Cleburne City Limits signs passed: 6
Unpaved road sections: 4
Gas wells passed: 23 (!)


Today was a good day. My favorite way to spend any work holiday is to go out on the bike all day; today was an extra special day, because how many July 4th holidays do we have in Fort Worth where the heat stays below 90?

Jeremy and I set out with the intention of riding to Granbury and back. When we got to Cleburne, though, we found an awesome network of county roads begging to be explored, so we rode around that area in the rain instead. Cleburne seems like it has very oddly defined boundaries. The heart of town is one thing, but it seemed like every few miles there was another Cleburne city limit sign, even in the more rural areas. Until we actually found the center of town, I was beginning to wonder if Cleburne actually existed, or if it was just a state park. It was a nice route, and not one I ride usually. I'm going to have to head out that way more, especially since the Trinity seems to be permanently flooding the low water crossing we use to head west...

The Ugliest Bike I've Ever Seen in My Whole Life

I have never seen a bike with such screwed up angles before. And those wheels! Blech!

WTF is the big red "S" thinking? Is it just me, or have they gone off the deep end with this stuff?