Large Stolen Bicycle Cache Recovered

If you know anyone if the SF Bay Area who lost a bicycle, you might point them over to the SFPD's Ingleside Station site - Over 115 stolen bikes were recently recovered. Photos of bikes have been posted.

See here for details:
(images of bicycles have been compiled)

http://www.inglesidepolicestation.com/#!__bike-recovery

from Captain Daniel Mahoney, Ingleside Police Department:

"First of all--hope everyone has a happy and safe Memorial Day weekend.

Please be advised that as a result of more excellent investigative work on the part of Sergeant Josh Kumli, we have recovered over 115 bicycles from a residence in the Bayview and two storage lockers in Oakland.

I have all the recovered bicycles posted on the ingleside website and if anyone can find/identify their bike, I would like to return it to them. If you can advise your community groups, that would be great. "

 

So - check out the images and spread the word!

Giro di Pacifica Signups Now Open

Here's a ride that may not be on your radar - the Giro di Pacifica.

Giro di Pacifica - main page

On Saturday, July 28 you can enjoy gorgeous scenery, excellent support and a wide variety of routes - perfect for families riding their first even or seasoned cyclists seeking an all day challenge.  As more of a North-Bay-centric rider, a lot of these roads are new to me, and the ride raises money (and awareness) for Parca - celebrating its 60th year.

Here's the kicker - register online before May 28th and receive $10 off the fees.  So, what are you waiting for?

Meditations on Motorism

In the middle of retiring the old computer upon which all of the Cyclofiend.com submissions and content resided.  Which means while I wrangle the data and tame the new digital device, I need to rely upon others for content.  The quality of this article makes it easy - especially while Bike to Work Day is hopefully still on everyone's mind.

http://www.themorningnews.org/article/how-to-not-kill-a-cyclist

The article is not quite as inflammatory as the headline would suggest. And please, I know that there are a ton of very oblivious cyclists out there.  But, the stakes are high.  Those of us who use a bicycle for daily transportation don't have the luxury of replacement body panels and a respray, should we get tapped.  Clearly, there are responsibilities for all parties, and may everyone live to a ripe old age.

Video, Oh Video, Oh Have You Met Video?

This past weekend, I had one of those chance moments when a good friend and trusted mentor pulled me aside to pose a simple idea and ask a core question. 

Anyone who knows me at all also understands that when I use the word "simple", I ascribe only the highest value on that.  To be able to distill things to their simplest form embodies art.  It is not easy to cut out the unnecessary and hone in on the core elements.

The idea itself is a bit frightening and challenging.  But, as I wheedled it further in my brain and tried to relate it to my wife, the strength of the idea remained. And so it still does this morning.

One of the aspects is video, which got me prowling back through CX race stuff I'd cobbled together a few years back -

With work constraints over the past couple of years, I haven't been out at the CX circuits rattling cowbells and tripping over barriers, but this little clip really reminded me what crazy fun that stuff is. 

I'd actually posted these over at Vimeo originally, but that was years ago (does the internet age 10 years for every human year?) and I must say that the youTube is a bit cleaner now in the way it loads things.  Glad I'd stuck a backup copy over here.

Anyway - may the Jam and the footage start your week off right!

SF Randonneurs Populaire - This Saturday!

With a fair degree of trepidation - potentially challenging weather is not a problem, but I'm definitely still a bit under-miled...  Ahh well, how can you not get excited about a ride when it has such great artwork?

The artwork is by Alice Stribling, which can be viewed in its original form (but seemingly not linked to or downloaded) here.

Anyway, the San Francisco Populaire rolls north from the Golden Gate Bridge at 7 am this Saturday - check in and/or sign up is required, so don't show up at 6:59 - the hearty band of randonneurs will be rolling north to Pt. Reyes Station for the first controlle, then heading back down to Crissy Field for a triumphant finish. The SF Randonneurs website has more info.

The Populaire is a great way to feel out the idiosyncrasies of brevets and randonneuring. It introduces the format of non-competitive self-sufficient distance riding,  and uses control cards and time limits like the longer rides. For more general information, see the RUSA.org website. 

Hope to see you there!  Please mock me gently as I suffer up the hills.

Singlespeed Tuesday - 5 "New" Entries

"New" in quotes because I'm sure the folks who sent in these fine images have all but given up hope that their submissions would ever see the light of day.  To further mock my efforts, the five singlespeed bicycles which got posted today precisely equals the total number of singlespeeds which got added to the Gallery in 2011.  But, hey, as I said, it's time to just keep taking small bites and pedaling...
 

#331 - Cat Daddy's Specialized Hardrock
This one catches my attention for three reasons -
First, there's something wonderful to my eye about a large-tired rigid fork mountain bike from the early 90's.  In the days before suspension became prevalent, the design teams focused on getting the best out of the a simple system. The frame tubes were not overwhelmingly huge or formed and the lines remain clean and strong. The Hardrock wasn't as fancy as it's sibling the Stumpjumper, but a lot of the differences at this point had to do with stem size/angle offerings and componentry - the Hardrock was a tremendous value. 
Second, it's one of the types of bicycles which I actually lament not having nabbed when I worked in the industry (actually, my specifically egregious failure to snap up an amazing value was not getting one of the last steel Stumpjumpers - we had bought the last of the runs of these maroon, rigid-forked models which IIRC was destined for the European market. But, I digress).  When the quality steel mtb's started to dwindle, most of us just didn't notice - overcome by lust for titanium, exotic aluminums and the just-appearring carbon fiber.
Third, Bill managed to get his neighbor's rescue dog into the final photo.  Now, I ask you, how can you not feature an entry which does that?

New Entries to the Current Classics Gallery -
#330 - Shawn Mullenix's Schwinn Continental
#331 - Bill/Cat Daddy's Specialized Hardrock
#332 - Kenny Sargent's KHS Urban Soul
#333 - Laurent Savard's Cambio Rino
#334 - Brad Ingermann's Schwinn World Sport

Current Classics Gallery Updates

Cyclotourist's Rivendell Road
One of the more prolific photographers of "ride shots" has got to be Cyclotourist - aka Dave in Redlands.  He's one of the few folks who has actually made me mildly nostalgic for the winding fire roads in the Southland (that's the greater Los Angeles area, for those of you who aren't familiar with the term).  If you haven't run across his images on Flickr, you owe it to yourself to follow his stuff.



He's also managed to put together some very appropriate bicycles - finding some truly pristine examples of early Rivendell models.  Here, he shares his Road model.

The "Road" was made during the first generation of Rivendell models. I'm currently developing a bit better documentation of bicycles from this period.  The Road model arguably became the branch which begat the Rambouillet/Romulus, then the Hilsen.  At the time the Road model came out, finding decent reach brakes was an exercise in NOS patience - the commercial offerings were pretty minimal. But, even so, this bike was spec'd for maximum clearances with the components at hand, and staked out the idea of good clearance, stable and versatile "road" bikes that didn't need to stay on pavement.




New Entries to the Current Classics Gallery -


#839 - David Horne's Mario Vicini
#840 - John Tsataros' Schwinn World Tourist
#841 - Ted Town's Gardin
#842 - Robert Hill's Raleigh Professional
#843 - Cyclotourist's Rivendell Road

Kickstart / Restart

As I mentioned over on the Cyclofiend.com blog, this past year (2011( was going to be a crusher, with things getting exponentially complicated as the year drew to a close and shuffled through January. I pedaled my way through it and seem to have popped out the other side.
Now it's time to attend to all of the odds and ends which have accumulated around here.
Order of Business #1 - Cyclofiend.com T-Shirts:
I've got a few left in all three styles. I think for this year, it's time to redo the most popular design (which was, hands-down, the original "One Cog - Zero Excuses") in a new color. And while we did sell through most of the other two designs, they were a bit more sedate in their sell-through, and thus will be retired.
So - if you've been hankering for a new t-shirt and aren't looking for 2XL or Small, there's something for you here. (I've reworked the buttons and they seemed to work correctly, but if paypal insists on adding shipping, I'll refund it as soon as I process the order.)
Order of Business #2 - Galleries:
Backlog, Backlog...who's gotta Backlog? Yep - that'd be me. I have a chunk of images from 2011, and even though the Galleries have been dormant for way too long, folks have continued sending photos and descriptions of cool rides my way. My plan is to take small, regular bites beginning soon. So "Thank You" for your patience, and an even bigger thanks to those who had sent in images.
Order of Business #3 - Ride More
Yeah, that one's kind of for me. Last year was a little underwhelming, mileage-wise, and as the final bits of mywork project played out, I had to quit cold-turkey in mid-December, not clambering back aboard until the beginning of this month. 
Yikes!

Suffice to say, it was good to pedal again.
Here's to more, soon!

Queueing Up

Well now, that was quite an effort for the past couple months. The specifics are immaterial, though I may dig into them a bit more completely on my Cyclofiend Ramblings blog. Suffice to say that we've reached the last control in a long ride, and I've sat and rested a bit. It will take a while before I've worked the kinks out, but I'm easing into a pretty significant backlog of images and submissions to the Galleries.

There are a number of projects on the Cyclofiend.com site which have lain quite dormant over the last year or so, and I've leafed through notes and scribbles, emails and messages which relate to tweaks and revisions. 

Before I delve into all of that, I just wanted to thank those of you who took the time to email or ask if things were going OK.  Thank you too for the donations and support of the site while there was little visible activity. 

I'll roll out a little easy this week, try to set a reasonable pace, and see where it leads me.  Thanks for reading!

Quick, Short Update

I'd mentioned this in passing over on the RBW Owner's Group list which I moderate, and just wanted to clarify the status of this blog, and the Cyclofiend.com site in general.  The galleries on the site have been reasonably dormant this year, and a number of people have taken the time to email to find out the status.

The short answer is "Yes, things will continue in the Galleries and on the site in general".

Unfortunately, work demands have been significant this year (both voice work and day job), culminating in a pretty full month here in January.  After that, it looks like things will be a bit more balanced, which should mean - well, after I get my own mileage back in order - that I can again dig into the backlog of submissions for the galleries.

To be honest, there are over 50 bikes which have been waiting, gathering digital dust on my hard drive, so there are plenty of new bicycles to enjoy.  Hang in there!

If you have been one of the people who's bicycle I haven't yet gotten to - thank you for your patience!  Things should start rolling again in February.