it's hip to be aware

This post was born as a response to the following comment. I started composing a succint reply, but as I collected my thoughts, a monsoon of ideas poured out. Rather than limit myself, the magic of the internet allowed me to paste it into a post.The original comment.

My reply:

By "these stories," you must mean the Register-Guard's effort to stay abreast of the rise in fixed-gear biking, as I was also interviewed in their bike polo story.

I suppose this is because I am involved, approachable and eager to inform, with hopes to breed bike involvement in the community. Unfortunately, this has been limited to the fixed-gear "scene:" I spent a few minutes trying to talk to Matt Cooper of the 'Guard about the cargo bike, but none of this appeared in the story. They even cropped it out of the photo. I suppose this is what happens when you're working with ink and paper. (To be fair, bloggers are known for being verbose; look at this post-length comment.)

Here's to hoping that next time, we're all the "man on the street," and "these stories" are the media's efforts to cover rising interest in bikes in general.

Bike culture in America continues to change; it's not just for children, athletes, and hippies.
Bikes are hip. Two examples.
1.) Bikes are actually cool things for twentysomethings to tool around on. The fixed-gear is today's muscle car. Thirty-five years ago, we were doing basically the same thing with cars—playing chicken, racing in the street, etc.
2.) Bikes are a way of keeping up with the Joneses. I can already hear one spouse murmur to another across the pillow: "Did you hear? The neighbors traded their Prius for a Velorbis! Do you think we can we afford a Bakfiets?"

Okay, one more example and I'm going to bed. How many bicycle manufacturers petitioned Congress for a bailout? Oh, wait—that's right—zero. The bicycle industry is one of the few to experience a very real, very non-bubblicious boom in this recession. Lane of Cetma Racks tells me he's moving to a new warehouse. Look at his website and you'll see he is also in the process of rebranding his business to accomodate new products, including bags, forks and complete bikes.

Oh, and one more thing.

cat scratch fever: post-race

I tried to take pictures and video of the post-race festivities (worst stopper, trackstand twister, footdown, etc.), but I was too tired (finishing mid-field despite a minor weight disadvantage) to shoot anything decent.

Luckily, I saw Nick Fisher snapping away with a Canon G10, and took his number. He just phoned to tell me he posted a Flickr set (from which I stole the image above). Click through, be amazed, and leave the man some comments!

Thanks, Nick!

cat scratch fever: race

I put a helmet cam on Steve Hauck. It was a little crooked, so most of the footage is the patch of road immediately in front of his wheel. I tried to make it more watchable by speeding it up and adding music. More interesting parts play in real time with sound. I did the editing without any fancy software, so it's pretty raw—doesn't really end so much as stop. The memory card lasted until the final checkpoint but didn't catch the finish. Sigh.


•Notes:
1:15-I shout at Steve as he descends the butte.
1:45-Steve gets cut off and crashes.
2:09-After skateboarding around the Alton Baker duck pond, downs a shot of vinegar, says, "That hurts a lot."
2:55-Mentions vinegar. Burps three times.
3:30-Buys canned food.
3:55-Loses three or four minutes trying to find a mislabeled checkpoint at the Agate Alley Cafe until I catch him and some kids tell us they saw bikers going in and out of Studio One.
4:20—4:38-Rides west on 19th from Agate to Washington. Two pretty good hills, 1.4 miles, three lights. No stops. About six minutes.
4:38-Offroading to get to checkpoint five.
5:00-Still hurting, says, "Vinegar is really hard to take a shot of. So rowdy."
5:30-Rides up the wrong parking garage, then back down, then up the right garage.
6:05-Delivers canned food at Hutch's.
6:53-Cheating! Astronaut Kid gives Steve the quote from Fight Club in exchange for directions to another checkpoint. "On a long enough timeline, everyone's survival rate drops to zero."
7:25-Sees Sean on his way out to the secret final checkpoint, asks, "Where are we going?" Sean answers, "Whoo!"
7:30-Arrives back at Tactics. Luke: "Did you get cans?" Steve: "Yep." Luke: "Go get it—Sean's already out there, man."
7:45-Delivers cat litter to Greenhill van outside Ambrosia, does jumping jacks. "Thanks Greenhill." "No, thank you. Do you want your bag?" "Yeah, can you hand it to me? How many am I?" "Third!"
8:33-Memory card full.

Also, the print media has weighed in.

I remember the reporter coming up to me:

"You look like you know what you're doing—mind if I ask you a few questions?" He asks.

"Actually, I'm pretty much making this up as I go along, but go ahead." I answer.

"What is this?" [pointing at Lane's cargo bike]

"It's a cargo bike made locally, here in Eugene." I tell him, excited to get some press for my friend's business. "The company is called Cetma Cargo. Add a dot com for the website."

"No, this." [pointing, more specifically now, at the cargo platform]

"The platform? It's integrated into the frame, which makes it lighter and stiffer than cargo bikes with bolt-on racks. Pretty neat, I think."

"No, this thing." [touching the cheap, unglamorous, plywood bin resting on the platform]

"Um. It's a box."

"What size is it?"

"Ah, medium?"

"Do you know the dimensions?"

"Nope."

"So...what's the secret to winning an alleycat?"

[sigh]

cat scratch fever: pre-race

Yesterday, Eugene had a little alleycat, or messenger race. Typically, this is an event for fixed gear bikes.

But. My back was bothering me a little, so I asked Lane to borrow a cargo bike. He let me use his prototype, which is perfect for a race with its smaller, lighter platform, steeper seat-tube and neon-green paint. It may have weighed three times as much as my average opponent's bike, but it kept the weight off my back and sported gears, brakes, and the ability to coast. I had a dream of sweet cargo victory.

Half my entry fee: a 10lb bag of cat litter for GreenHill Humane Society.

Racers milling about in the Tactics parking lot, pre-race. Note the Schwinn Varsity conversion, bottom-left. It still had a kickstand, which is cheeky.

Saw this great DIY fender. Pun intended.

At 2:00, racers claimed their manifests.

Spaceman here was the only one in costume. Automatic win.

A video and post-race photos to follow.

for rose

Here's that video from polo with the banana seat fixed gear.

what's happening

Three things.

1)

Next weekend is the second annual Eugene bicycle and pedestrian summit! Come to South Eugene High School to meet a bunch of upright, bikey people and learn how to improve transportation in Eugene. Read up on it at the GEARs blog, the BTA blog, and this encouraging report about last year's summit.

2)

This weekend is the first messenger race of the year:

It's being put on by Collins. Details on Luke DeMoe's blog.

3)

Last night, Eugene Bike Polo turned ONE YEAR OLD! I made a quick video:



I actually did the editing before getting out of bed today — and misspelled "Eugene" at the end. Color me Kubrick another day.

There was even a little after-party, with firedancing:


3.5)

One more thing. Look at this guy:

It's Irvin Coffee. I'm helping him with a film, and he's got a microphone strapped to his helmet.

Hopefully, more on this later.

Made Ryan ride with me in the cold the other day.

He saddled my old 10-speed Superia (top) and I rode the Silver Bullet.

We caught a nice view of the ponds at the northwest end of town.
Featuring cranes.
Later, I saw this tiny road bike with a fun paint job on campus. Click to enlarge and check out the work on the crank.