Red Bull Mini Drome Today!!!

Well,.. I'm nervous/pumped, about 85% over my cold, and 120% ready to slay.
This is gonna be rad.



Location: Rocky Mountaineer Station
Address: 1755 Cottrell Street
Free for Competitors and Spectators
Minimum 18 years of age
Pre-Register at Super Champion Bike Shop, 245 Main Street
Qualifiers: 12pm
Main Event: 5:30pm

BRIDGE BATTARU / FIXEDVAN XMAS PARTY

Saturday December 19th (THATS TOMORROW!), 1PM,
Start at Granville Island Public Market.
5 dorra. 5 bridges. fixed wheel only.
DT 3 bridges in any order, then 2 big North Van bridges in any order.
Brought to you by the lovely Haley M.
There WILL be a ProjB Prime for first over the lions gate!

The first year it snowed.
Second year she took you to the airport!
This year its back to orgininal format.
This is the most fun hammercat of the year!

FLYER


2007 START


Post Race Party is ALSO the FixedVancouver XMAS party.
That DOES mean drinking at 3pm. So if you have stuff to do, you better bring it with you.
Location is at the race finish.
If you want to know where the party is, you better show up to the race=D
Party Entry is FREE to racers!
You can bring punches for all your favorite dbags. We're gonna duke it out like children hiding behind monitors until all thats left is XMAS CHEER!
Its a dysfunctional family xmas melee you wont soon forget!

HELLTRACK

This Sunday, Don from Ride On Again is putting on Helltrack. Racing should get going around 1. I have one knobby tire on the FBM already, but might have to find another by Sunday. Now, are SPD pedals allowed... and can Lyle ride the Kitten Chopper?

Lyle's First Sanctioned Race

HE DID IT ON HIS TALL BIKE

Last night, fully intoxicated, we decided that it would be a good idea to race up Mount Seymour in the morning. On the brink of buying the discounted cyclocross-only licence, I balked at a $30 race only insurance cost and decided to roll with Lyle and shoot photos. I don't drink the night before a race anyway, right?

Camilo was the first of us up in 48 minutes - congrats man. Rob made it up in 56, his 23 cog always too long. Lyle did it in 63, the Time Trial Tall's 53 tooth single front ring also always too long. The descent in the rain was fucking amazing, for those wearing full-fingered gloves. The rest of the photos can be found onFlickr.

Red Hook Race Report

Incoherent. posting. Tough race. I was in the main pack until about the 7th lap or so. My line got blocked going through the chicane and I stumbled. I couldn't catch up. After that it was a long lonely race. The mist got heavier, so by about the 10th lap the course was slick. I lost the back end on the paint lines a couple times. I got a bit tired and unintentionally aired the cobbles a couple times too. My curb cut shortcut only actually worked to gain me a place once. The other times it was just fun. My rear wheel was about +- 4mm out this morning. Surprisingly I still had air in my tires. I basically got 7th out of 30ish people. Which doesn't mean anything, as I was the LAST one still in the race. God damn I'm a fat ass. Over 2/3 of the race was on the sidelines by the second half. The NYPD are strange. I think we were the main attraction for them last night. We had 5 cop cars I think? Oh well. I met my goals. Stay up, don't get killed, and drink a few beer after its all over.

Here's a vid from Fusco Industries:


After the post race house party (THANKS DAVID), Rhiannon and Andras and I had a great ride over a deserted brooklyn bridge on the slick wood... then a chill roll north on the west side path. Awesome night all around.

Edit: Looks like we made the New York Times

Edit2: Here's a follow up Interview on BikeblogNYC with David Trimble

RED. HOOK. NIGHT. CRIT.

I feel like I should have mentioned this earlier. Its another thing to be stoked about. To be downright scared about. I'm going to Red Hook on Saturday night, to race in the 2nd annual Red Hook Night Crit. This event is basically David Trimble's birthday party. ..and its fixed gear street racing at its finest. I heard that it was intense last year, and this year the ante has been upped. Roadies, trackies, couriers and hoons will be battling together on a semi-closed industrial road coarse.

Last year's flyer:



Interview with David August Trimble up HERE on BikeblogNYC.

INFOS YOU SHOULD KNOWS

The Red Hook Criterium returns in 2009. Saturday March 28th

This race can best be described as a hybrid street criterium and caters to the strange half-breed racer type that is a combination of glory chasing scenester and ultra competitive road racing athlete.

The .75 mile 10 turn course in Red Hook is tight, twisty and dangerous. The course is haphazardly closed (with volunteer street marshals) and lighting is dim at best. A fast cobblestone hairpin requires teeth chattering grit to transverse smoothly and a wide open and brightly lit finishing straight offers a perfect runway for a chaotic sprint finish. In order to do well in this race you’ll need street tuned handling mechanics and an engine to match. Brakeless fixed gear bikes are required (as are helmets). Gearing is recommended to be somewhere between 85 and 90 gear inches. Lapped riders will be allowed to stay in the race but will be shown a blue flag when the leaders are approaching and must get out of the way. The finish will be video tapped for accuracy and scoring provided for at least 25 places. I will also be posting a chart with a run down of each lap time. The entry fee is $10.

Last year the race had 25 entries and 5 made it to the end to contest the sprint. Kacey Manderfield made good on her trash talking and dusted the field in the final sprint. A former national collegiate champion and a current National track champion she played her cards perfectly. She is rumored to be returning to defend her title. I (the race organizer) finished 2nd last year barely squeezing out Shusaku in the final sprint. Young prodigy Cooper Ray was 4th and ever imposing Prentiss 5th.

This year the competition is expected to upgrade. Many top local road and track racers will see if they can control their brakeless track bikes and compete with the best street racers. I will be compiling and updating a list of confirmed race entrees in the run up the event. The prize for first place is $300 cash ($150 for 2nd and $50 for 3rd).

The race will be 30 minutes plus 3 laps. The final race course design will posted in the next week. I am expecting a tighter and more technical layout which will include the same cobblestone stretch on Columbia St but avoiding the highly residential street of Dikeman. There will be (3) primes. One at the end of the first lap, one at the end of the halfway mark and one with 3 laps to go. The prizes for the primes will include homemade granola and booze. There will be a bell indicating primes as well as a board counting down the laps with 5 to go (based of a time calculation to determine how many laps the race will be).

Race registration starts at 9 pm. The race itself starts at 11:00 pm. Awards will immediately follow the race at 65 Dikeman in conjunction with my annual birthday party.
This race will be excellent for spectators and photographers as most of the course is visible from the start/finish line and fast lap times will be around 2 and a half minutes.

Date: March 28th, 2009
Registration: 9:00 pm at 65 Dikeman
Race Start: 11:00 pm (pre race meeting at 65 Dikeman at 10:45pm)
Entry Fee: $10
Prizes: $300 1st
$150 2nd
$50 3rd

Primes: (3) Prizes to be announced.

Rules:
Brakeless Fixed Gear Bikes only
Helmets required
No free lap allowed

Here's this year's course map:



Latest Press Release:

On Saturday, March 28 the 2009 Red Hook Criterium will take place and will be be filmed as a competitive sporting event. The film will be produced by Kalim Armstrong (Orange Bikes Take Manhattan, Messenger) and John Hoppin, with assistance from Daniel Leeb (Cinecycle). The race organizer is David August Trimble, and the race director is Al Barouh.

Multiple HD cameras will be set up to film the race. At least one helmet cam will follow race action firsthand. Additionally, a surprise helmet cam shooter may be in town to cover the race. We will have a camera at the podium presentation immediately following the race.

Live race commentary and analysis will be provided by John Hoppin and Michael Green (bikeblog NYC).

The 2009 Red Hook Criterium is an unsanctioned race through a desolate post-industrial part of Brooklyn. Brake-less track bikes are mandatory for riders. The field will be a mix of semi-professional cyclists, bike messengers, and urban cyclists. The race consists of 16 three quarter-mile laps of a course which features several hairpin turns, a fast sprint through the parking lot of a chain retailer, a cobblestone stretch, and a sprint finish. Start time for the race is 11pm on Saturday night. Bus and automobile traffic on the course, even if kept to a minimum, is a near-certainty.

The first person to cross the finish line at the completion of 16 laps will take home $300. The second place finisher will receive a $150 prize, and the third place finisher will pocket $50. Additionally, the first rider to complete the first and eighth laps will receive a prime, or prize, to be announced on race day.

Immediately following the race will be a house party where the podium presentation and distribution of prizes will take place.

This project is made possible by the Bicycle Film Festival family, a festival showcaseing films featuring the bicycle in 39 cities annually. The Proud Sponsors of the Red Hook Criterium are the Coffee Den, Katherine's Homemade Granola, Zafeiropoulou, Trimble Racing, Sam Trimble Design, Taki's Express, and Roo Design.

... uhh.. High Def footage anyone? Could THIS be our special guest cam?

Here's the vid of last year:



..and the winnar! (OMG A GIRL):


..and some more photos to get ya stoked.

Okay. This is seriously. RLY SRSLY. Glad I went and climbed hills yesterday. Anyone want to lend me a light weight front wheel and some race tires?

Projekt: Race Recon

I hadn't ever been to Randall's Island. Or Ward's Island. Or Great Barn Island. In fact, I don't really know what to call it. them. they? I've ridden by the Harlem River pedestrian bridge all winter, and marvelled at its fully raised glory. This bridge is seasonal, and only opened this past weekend. Today I rode over to investigate.



Why am I drawn here?
The thought of mud.

Team Wreckstuff put together a riduculous Projekt-B worthy race series last year entitled Mud Sweat and Tears, which consisted of Tracklocross, Sludgement Day, and Harlemegeddon Alleycatastrophe. Even the snob poked some fun at it, which I recall reading from across the continent. Clearly it wasn't just fad, but a TREND. This past year in NYC I met some of the Wreckstuff crew at their RAT PACK Hustle sprint series. A solid bunch of cycle hoons if I do say so!

The events went off so well last year, that they're bringing it back.


The rules are simple. There are TWO rules:

1. FIXED OR SLICKS: Your bike must either have either a fixed gear, or slick tires no fatter than 25mm. Want to ride your cyclocross bike? Fine, as long as you throw proper road tires on it. Wanna ride your fixed gear? Great. You're allowed to use cross tires. What? You only ride singlespeeds? All right, just make sure it has slicks.

2. SPECIAL TRACK BIKE CATEGORY: There will be a special prize for the highest-placing rider riding a track bike. By track bike, we mean a bike with: a fixed gear, geared at greater than or equal to 49x16 (700x23c). Plugged drop bars. No brakes. Slick tires.



I'll be doing it fixed on cross tires and risers I think. Its too bad I can't run this thing:


I'm stoked!

Bilenky Junkyard Race

This is pretty dope. I heard about it last year, and this year I read about it the night before it happened. I was pretty tempted to hop on a Chinatown Bus and get out there, but decided against it at the last minute since I didn't think I would be welcome on a bus on the trip back, covered in toxic sludge. Looks like I missed out.

VIMBY - Bilenky Junk Yard Race

The greatest race that never happened

The Race of Champions 2008

A couple of days ago, track monster Chris Hoy was supposed to race Lewis Hamilton piloting a 600hp Mercedez Benz around a crazy track at Wembley stadium. I was pretty hyped on this after looking at the course layout:



I remembered it this morning and promptly started searching for Youtube vids.
Here's the best one I could find:



I don't know how much those fans paid for the seats, but they were probably pretty bummed... But check it out, here's why. Here's Chris testing out the track surface on his SS Dolan track bike:



It looks pretty sketch. I'm kind of glad they didn't race. After participating in a long and painful discussion on drift physics this morning, I cringe at the thought of sliding a track bike into a barrier in front of tens of thousands of people. Though, for some reason I'm not bothered by the thought of the rear quarter panels of a Benz SLR getting ripped off.

This vs. That

Hrm. Brakeless Pennyfarthing Crit vs. 80m flat track brakeless SS oval racing.
Which is gnarlier?





Am I a ghoul if I say I'm dissapointed no one crashed in the Penny race?

The flat track racing kind of reminds me of the Proj-B Confederation Skatepark 4x. Five cross, in this case:

In Just Two days...

Dress warm. Don't be stupid. Ride hard.

Good vs. Evil

James Weeks and I made an alliance for tonight's race, and chose the Good side. We were having a very well-executed race until part way through the second manifest. James went down on grass and concrete at the Cambie Bridge checkpoint and separated his shoulder. After assessing the situation, I checked with James that it would be alright to continue by myself.

Missing my hired conscience, I still came in for 7th overall, and 1st non-messenger - my best performance in a respectable courier race by far. Thanks to all the labour that went into a great night; no thanks to the burning sensation in my throat and stomach from 1755 Barclay to the finish at Glen and Evans.

Nick claims to have had superior route planning and a great race. As far as I can tell, putting a rear brake back on the .243 was a good move. The police presence at the finish line sprints and skid comp prevented us from seeing whether the bald rear tire really does slide like teflon.

James still finished the race, earning the night's "hard man" title and a box of goodies courtesy of the organizers. We parked our bikes high on a pole outside the Cobalt, a sign of victory and camaraderie. James, thanks for riding with me. Camilo, congrats on finishing first. I'll see about finding some photos on my camera when it isn't 5:19am.

Impending Doom

Three days off. The point of this race is to come out with your friends and have a good time. Be prepared to stay the entire evening, including the show at the Cobalt. Satan gives the race 5 out of 5 pentagrams.

Lyle already posted it, but I'm watching the race vid again and so are you now. 

In other news, Chunks got a good number of people out to race and heckle at a themed Hey Fixie, the National Avenue Sprints. It wasn't too cold. I raced Travis Jutson twice and we both won one. He was riding 77" while I had my usual 71". The track was around 200m, coincidentally the same length as the Burnaby Velodrome.

Halloween Race Trailer

I just stumbled upon this while checking out Vancouver happenings...



It may be the best race promo vid I've ever seen.
Possibly even better than last years!

..and HOLY SPONSORSHIP!!!

Morgan, Brandon, Nick... I expect you guys to bring home the goods!

Rat Pack Hustle

Last night I attended race #2 of 8 in a sprint series fittingly titled RAT PACK HUSTLE.

I had found the blog the day before, and realized how close it was to my place in Harlem. It would be silly of me not to attend really. Its organized by a guy named Dan Bones, and takes place on a somewhat deserted bike path down by the Hudson river. I guess they started this last year, and since it went over so well, they're doing it again. They do it right too. One guy brought one of those walking measuring stick things, so they could mark out the course length. Timing was done by FRS radio and two stopwatches started at the same time. About 20 guys showed up. Some with road cleats and spandies, some on their street bikes. Most people were pretty relaxed, and a handful of guys shot photos of the action.

Oh,.. and get this, instead of trackstand starts, they use holders.

I won both of my races, with 250m times of something like 21:43s and then 21:67s... However, this was just a bit shy of the final elimination cutoff. Its alright though. I felt good about it. I knew going into it that my 172.5mm crank arms turning a 42/15 gear wasn't going to be the fastest combo out there. I think one guy laid down a sub 20s time even!

Once I was out, it was a bit of a relief, because that meant I could lighten up my bag a bit for the ride home, by downing some tall cans of bud (yuck). I basically hung out at the finish line helping Dan do timing for the finals.


(Photo Credit, Alan S.)

It was totally fun overall, and I'll definitely go back for race #3 next week. I might switch up the Spicer a bit though. Possibly to my new shorty cranks, possibly to a smaller cog.

METAL RACE

Tonight. Brooklyn. Go forth and die!

Race Preppin'

The Little 100 is this weekend. We finally inducted a fourth member and Lyle leaves. I was so distraught that I put the wrong day on the flyer; it's actually on SUNDAY.

[file photo of Proj-B from the 2008 Little 50]

Wednesday night listening to KRS-One, we're looking forward to SUNDAY; we've acquired a fourth and are ready to get drunk. 

High Tech to Low Tech

High Tech Cycling
by Edund R. Burke PhD. (U of Colorado)

I just finished this up. This book is incredible. Basically, he has combed over a billion technical papers on things such as aerodynamics, geometry, biomechanics, suspension design, nutrition, altitude training etc and compiled it all into one data filled read that nerds like me eat up.

For example, here's what he has to say about DFL_Nick's brifter setup:
"Its fine to position one brake lever slightly different from the other. Remember, the bike should look like you."

Leonard Zinn says "THIS IS A TREMENDOUS COMPENDIUM"

.. and if you don't listen to Zinn, have a read for yourself in the google preview. (beware the serious chart pron)

Low Tech.
Spin Cycle's Sea Cavalcade Open Class Hill Climb, Gibsons BC

So.. I had taken off to the sunshine coast this weekend, and had planned on spending my Saturday morning riding from our quiet spot in Garden Bay to Egemont... However, at the last minute the wifey mentioned that there was a 'free' race in Gibsons that day.

I looked at the course, it was a 2.3km long hillclimb, with the majority of elevation gain (>100m)in the first kilometre. This pretty much meant I had to do it. I wanted to see how the Sunshine coast roadies rolled.

I decided to leave my bike in the 42/15 'fast' gear, thinking that the hill was short enough I could just muscle it up to the flatter area at the top.

When I arrived at Spin Cycles that morning, everyone was really friendly. Most were confused about my bike setup, so I had to explain a few things to them.. The mood was pretty fun all around.

Yes its fixed.
42/15.
32H wheels, double eyeletted.
Its a BMX chain.
These bars are for leverage.
about 1000km per rear tire.

We lined up behind the Spin Cycle's pace car, and took off down the parade route. Families lined the street and were clapping and cheering as we paced along. The plan was to stay behind the Spin Cycles Smart car until we got to the intersection at lower Gibsons, then it was free for all. I think I might have psyched some of them out while leisurely drifting my bike down the hill. We weren't exactly pacelining, but my bike seemed to clear a pretty big gap in the peloton.

At the bottom, we hit it. A plume of diesel smoke from the Smart Car and I tried to get in its microscopic draft zone. They would have none of that, and took off faster. I continued to hammer up the hill at my usual pace, not looking back.

I knew there was someone on my wheel, but I wouldn't let it phase me.
Soon we were at the corner where previously (during the SHOW US YR BOBZ tour) I had to start switchbacking. I saw my wifey,and she cheered me on. I kept the pace up even though my legs and hips were near exploding... but then it happened.



The 120lb. 16y/o roadie (yellow jersey, blue bike) layed it down. He accelerated away like some kind of silent mag lev train riding a carbon road bike. There was no chance of me turning the cranks any faster at that point, so I held my RPMs.

Towards the top it was flattening out. I could feel the MTBer (camo shorts, yellow bike) behind me, right on my wheel. He attacked and dropped to a smaller cog.. I spun faster. He dropped another cog, I spun faster. Entire families stood and cheered. We flew through the intersections along the Gibsons strip, not even looking for truck traffic.. and finally, I was spun out.. I crossed the line in 3rd place, well ahead of the other 5 racers.

Everyone was pretty excited for me, having just put myself through that on such a low tech machine. After the prizes (Giant swag) were handed out, myself and 3 of the local roadies headed North on the Highway. They then made it a point to drop me on the downhills.

Knifey

Two things:

One, as you can see, Lyle won the Knife Fight on his rocket bike. Post race quotes involved talk of life long goals. Steampunk. We were wondering what happened to CafeRacer...


Two, people are putting on a party which I will be attending, potentially to screen some Proj-B video at 8pm Saturday.

March 28 LOLCAT of the day

I thought this was overpriced at $275, when Nick flailed on the other side of the room. "That $725 Bianchi is a joke!" Oh wow. I had the digits mixed up.


Hoping to find my way to the Bromance Race finish tomorrow, if anyone is bringing a cell phone maybe you could shoot me an email.