CX Nationals

A couple fights? Who cares. What is the story behind this photo? The kid looks like he is running from zombies

Blue CX head tube heights

Another installment in the Real 1% series.....
My Cross-Guru pointed out that Jonathan Pages switched to Blue bikes in the middle of the season. An inexcusable move in the CG's mind. He also casually mentioned that he thought Blue head tubes were too short and caused some crazy spacer stack heights and stem angles. Not a major point of our bike life discussions, but once we rolled up to the Warwick race, I felt like Rowdy Roddy Pipper in THEY LIVE. Wherever I looked was a Blue with a huge run of spacers or crazy riser stem. I felt like the Manchurian Candidate. Wherever I looked Blues leered back.
They didn't look crazy in smaller sizes, but anything bigger than a 52 required some major after market work to seemingly get a good fit. Compare that photo of Van Gilder to this on of JP.
Very strange.
Here is a picture of JP on a Ridley from earlier this season.
The devil is in the details and with winter coming and most teams changing bike sponsors you can expect more real 1% nerd action.

The real 1%

Is this an old school cross dude with a white integrated bar and stem combo?

I love it when one photo sends you off on a CSI nerd quest to figure out what is going on. Photos on his site were not conclusive, so it is off to the mesage boards to post and hope someone knows what up. Velonews board says yes it is the Stealth Evo Pro. Not too much insight on other boards.
You know you are pro when you can run white-not just bartape but bars and bike! Never mind carbon bars!



PS- The Real 1% refers to the minority of uber-nerds who study race pictures like aerial surveillance photos looking for anomolies! It also marks the latest sub category of WWDIS categories.

Set your goals. Looking back. Looking forward

Sounds like three sweet hardcore tunes!
Warwick was the end of my season and I took this entire week of the bike. Total shut down and Porter binge. Back on the bike tomorrow. As far as those lunchtime runs?? Maybe after Xmas.
Now is time to assess and look forward. I have a ridiculous jumble of numbers hanging from a hook in the basement. All this race years numbers. Cycling, running , whatever. Some good memories. Some not so good ones. A bunch of lessons learned in the school of hard knocks.
Looking forward to next season both for racing and for doing some longer more epic rides.
I set 7 goals for myself for this year and I got 4 out of 7. I am giving myself until the 1st to set my 09 goals down in ink, but Battankill and Deerfield are two big ones along with a host of usual suspects and a full cross season.
At least if the economy goes totally south and I get laid off, I will have more time to train...............

October Part Two!

-How did you get into frame building and how did you hook up with Dean?
I always dreamed of starting my own frame company, even before I had any clue whatsoever how it was done. After following my one of my other dreams of living in Colorado, I was laid off from an engineering job along w/ half the dept. Ironically, I was out on a lunch time ride when The Man's hand came down, so I was pretty much the last to know. Through a friend (the one who does all the graphics for October), I met Sean from Rol wheels who had a relationship with the Dean folks. As it turned out, they were in need of a builder because one of their guys was leaving. I made contact and shortly after was offered the job. Best thing I've ever done, next to starting my own thing...


-Favorite tool(s) in your shop?
Has to be my frame fixture. Don Ferris from Anvil really knows how to make tools. My frames come out of the fixture tighter and straighter than I could hope with other tooling. Of course, like all builders that use them, my Bridgeport is kind of like a family pet...you just get to know the ins and outs of your machine and how to adjust for them.


-Why do you think titanium gets a bad rap? (you know the whole bike rich dentists ride thing....)
It gets a bad rap? Perhaps I'm the modern version of old fashioned or something, but to me, titanium is an incredible material for bikes. It's expensive as hell, so I see the angle you are referring to. It has soul though. Carbon fiber is amazing, can be laid up to do just what you want, but if done wrong, there is no life in it. Titanium/carbon bikes ride amazing, are adequately light, and have excellent durability. For my money, its the magic combination..


-Internal cable routing-friend or foe?
Haven't really played with it on my bikes. I think it's cool and has a place in a lot of the bikes the artisan builders make. I don't read/hear a lot about how much more aero it makes a TT bike, although it gets used a lot in that application. I guess I just haven't decided to have a look at it yet.

-What is more fun to build? Road or MTB?-Take a stand
Cross bikes! I love making cross bikes. I totally would take a stand, but I really don't like to build one over the other. I certianly don't pick up a build sheet and think 'oh crap, not another road bike"... I'm still too stoked on the whole thing to be complacent

**notice the classic hardcore song title aspect of the above questions? Good for you, I ran out of steam after two.

-Extened seat tube/masts?
I think they are pretty rad. I use them on my cross bikes and have had excellent feedback both from the racers and the public.


-What makes a beautiful bike?
Giving it soul. Totally. There are so many amazing bikes out there and if I had the means, even though I am a builder, I would have a fleet of bikes from lots of companies. I've ridden tons of bikes, owned tons of bikes, and I certainly have had good ones and bad ones. When you get to the level I am striving to be at with my bikes, I truly think in so many ways it's the company vibe/image/soul that ultimately a customer wants to associate with. It may sound a bit lame, but I care about each one of the bikes I build as if I was building it for myself. I truly feel like I am living my dream, so each bike has a piece of me in it. I want someone who decided to drop the money on an October to feel the soul of the bike in each pedal stoke.

-Who are some of your other favorite frame builders?
Man, so many... I love the Indy Fab guys and where they came from. Richard Sachs, of course. I think Sacha White is a trend setter and deserves major props.

-Best music to build bikes to?
I've totally been on this The Devil Wears Prada kick lately. I have such a crazy musical range.... some days it's Sigur Ros, other days it Youth of Today. I'm also totally digging Agraceful as well. I loved the Emarosa EP, but felt like something was lost in the new album they put out with the new singer. When I have the welding mask on, I tend to like mellower stuff, just because I get in the zone and don't feel so aggro. When I'm doing the machining, I definitely am diggind the heavier side. Any suggestions? I need some new stuff...

(WWDIS:Suggestions? I tend to break more stuff to music than fix it, but AC/DC is pretty much mandatory bike cleaning/working/etc music to me.)
So there you go 2 rounds with Andrew from October. Check him out. In these tough times it is important to support small business. And where else can you talk about extended seat masts and 24-7 Spyz with the same dude?
A few more shots from his shop. I am not trying to be Ansel Adams(and I did not do these bikes justice! Check out his site for better bike shots), but it is alway cool to be able to wander around a workshop and be surrounded by this many nice bikes and more in progress.

Best Records of 08

I struggle with these list every year. This year, I am basing it on stuff I listened to most. I spent a ton of time in the car this year and most of this is good driving music. There are a few records that blew my mind (Krallice for instance), that aren't on the list. If I was listening to Krallice while driving, I would proably start playing demolition derby. This is pretty much all get up and go music

#1Torche. Hands down best record of the year. The power, the hooks.

Nachmystium. There were several reasons this record should have sucked and the arty excesses are as bad as anything on Funhouse, but this record slays.

NightMarchers. Not unlike Nachmystium there are some swings and misses on this, but when it connects it is fantastic.

Annhilation Time. RKL vs Thin Lizzy? These guys have moved well beyond their ealry Blast/Black Flag worship into a pretty enjoyable band borrowing heavily from 70/80s hard rock(and obscuro English hard rock at that)

Terror-Forever Crossing the Line.

TI Paper Trail

Paul Weller 22 Dreams. The modfather covers a lot of ground on this sprawling double lp. Pulled most of it off live as well.

Reissues
Sixto Rodriquez. Sugarman is overhyped compared to the Dylan vs Donovan battle the rest of the album undertakes.
Brotherman SDTRK. Hard to believe this lost gem isn't a hoax

Close but no cigar
Dirtbombs,Blacklisted,D4,Enforcer,Boris,

With 20ish days left to go in the year, I am sure I will remember a few more records in the coming days....................

James Brown saves Boston

At first glance, I wasn't sure how Jim Sullivan was going to stretch one James Brown concert into an entire book. Mix in MLK's assassination, Boston Politics, and the hardest working man in show business and it wasn't that hard.
This is a great book that uses one moment in time to illustrate a bunch of aspects of history, music, politics, and economics. It is hard to understand how much was changing in America in 68. America was a powder keg ready to blow and it took the hard work of a lot of people to hold it together. This is a nice study of one such moment and one group of people centered around the King, James Brown.
And for Mass/Boston locals with an eye on politics, witness names like Chuck Turner and Barney Frank turning up in this story in the early days of their careers. Small world.
Even JB's music was in a time of transition. Going for the horn section propelled, "I got you" to the more bass and drum driven stuff of "say it loud" or "licking stick". He was making it crazier every time out with every instrument contributing to the precussive affect.
The book wraps up focusing on James's struggles in the 70s/80s. The stuggles of JB to succeed as a man while all his actions are weighed, measured , and critiqued by a peanut gallery both black and white was a burden worhty of Atlas , but unlike Atlas James never shrugged.
This is a good read that straddles the successfully combines some biogrpahy and some history.
"Don't Burn, Learn!"