NACCCs Portraits at the Gold Star

Some of Chris Dilts' excellent portraits from the North American Cycle Courier Championships are being shown in the Gold Star Bar in Chicago (1755 W Division, duh) starting next Monday, December 15th. Go and check them out.



See more of Chris' work here.

Indoor Velodrome for Boulder

Boulder, CO is getting an indoor velodrome. It's also getting an indoor mountain bike park, all in the same facility. In an audacious plan that, frankly, sounds a bit mental, Rodrigo Garcia, a local indoor sports impresario, is building a 50,000 square foot indoor biking center that will feature, get this, a 142m track with 45 degree banking. Just read that last bit again, slowly. 142m track. 45 degree banking. That's nuts! I don't think it's open yet, but when it is I expect to see reports of the insanity from the Cycle Jerks and the kids from the Track Shack.

The structure.

Laying down a turn.

The straight.

A finished turn.

Thanks to Cale for the heads-up! More details of the park here, and at its homepage here.

Perspective Line

I saw this over on Tracko. I liked it, it kinda reminded me of Gerry, but plus track bikes and minus one guy...

Perspective Line, a short film by Bastien Lattanzio. Watch it here.

OpenSprints

Since I posted about the IROSprints series in Chicago, I've been getting emails from people interested in putting on roller race nights in their own cities, but who don't know how to do it, or think they don't have the money for an expensive set up. Well, the good news is that the awesome team responsible for IROSprints have been working on open source software (ie: FREE) and affordable hardware that will allow anyone to put on roller races. The system is called OpenSprints, and it's about bringing GoldSprints to the masses. If you are interested in hosting your own roller race night, check out the OpenSprints page.

IROSprints action (run off the OpenSprints system) at the Sadie Hawkins' After Party, with Evan Farrar taking care of business in the foreground. Photo by Sam, more here.

OpenSprints science! Photo by Brad Quartuccio. More tech shots here.

Wow, this shit is from Italy! How fitting. Photo by Brad Quartuccio. More tech shots here.

So, if you want to put on some roller race nights in your town, then check out OpenSprints. Spiiiin!

Race of Champions Live

Remember this idea? Chris Hoy on a bike versus Lewis Hamilton in a car? Well it's happening in London this Sunday, December 14th, at 1.50pm GMT, and you can watch it live, for free, here. You're welcome. Don't say I've never done anything for you. I am really curious to see how they work this "race," it could be amazing, but it could be a huge anti-climax...

[update] Race cancelled. Apparently a night of rain and some spilled oil on the track made it dangerous for Hoy to race Hamilton, so they called it off this morning. I just watched an hour of motor racing before I found out it wouldn't be happening. I want that hour back!

Wisconsin Bike Swap

The Gauntlet Has Been Thrown

This was just posted on Chicago Craigslist:

Track Bikes... - m4w
Reply to: blahblah@blahblah.com
Date: 2008-12-08, 10:25PM CST

Are pretty awkward! Why the heck are you wasting your time riding them on the ROAD. They are meant for Velendrome. I know everybody wants to be cool, but what gives? You have no brakes, and your reaction time is slow. I live in California, Davis. I would love to race anyone of you fixies and show you how slow you really are, retarded. I will be in Chicago in July if anyone wants to go for a ride!

Okay Chicago, you heard the man. He'll be in town in July, that gives you 6 months to train at the Velendrome before he arrives to school you. Get on it.

Ghent 6-Day

Thanks to Peter Broad for emailing me his pictures of the Ghent 6-Day event. Man, this looks like so much feckin' fun! So many people are crowded into the infield! It's hard to believe that events like this took place all across America, when track racing was the biggest spectator sport in the country. Bigger than baseball. No joke.







I don't know if there are any plans to bring 6-Days back to the US, but there's going to be one in London next year. Details here. Thanks again to Peter for the photos!

License Seoul Crew at the Velodrome

Street bikes and flying 200s, is there anything more fun? I love this video, it reminds me of my first ever trip to a velodrome. I had only recently gotten into fixed gear bikes, and had moved up to a track frame after riding a conversion around Chicago for a few months. I heard that some of the Chicago crew were planning a trip up to Kenosha, to meet up with the MKE crew to and do some off-season racing, so I went up with VeloGreg. The banking scared me, the rough-ass surface scared me, the crazy MKE kids scared me (not really) but once I dived down my first bank, there was no going back. It was just like this video, most of us were riding our street-track bikes, clips and straps, street clothes, whatever. I did a flying 200 of 15.something seconds, and was disproporionately proud of myself. I haven't done a flying 200 since. I wonder what my time would be now? Probably 16.something. I miss the track!

Illinois State Cyclocross Championion!!

My boy Henry Loud of Team Pegasus, in only his second 'cross race of the season, won the Illinois State Cyclocross Championship yesterday! Kid hates the cold, races on a borrowed bike, and wins. Qué chévere!

Eye of the tiger. Photo by Ed White.

[edit] Oh, and big congratulations to Max Riordan of the Chicago Cuttin' Crew for winning the overall Chicago Cross Cup series! 'Atta boy, Max!

Fixtee Keirin Shirt

I love me some keirin! This is the December shirt over at Fixtee.

Macaframa Book

Can't wait for the DVD to drop. Details at Macaframa.

Track Cats' Meow Mixer

I got the following email from Marcus about Yojimbo's Track Cats, Chicago's junior track racing programme: "The next Yojimbo's Track Cats meeting/social is this Sunday, December 7th - THE MEOW MIXER! At this meeting, we are again welcoming anyone with an interest in next season's youth track racing program.

Come to the meeting and see first hand what we're doing to ensure that 2009 is even better than 2008! We'll also be presenting different committees and signing up volunteers to be involved in specific tasks to keep the momentum rolling."

MEETING DETAILS:

WHAT: the MEOW MIXER!
WHEN: Sunday, December 7 at 7:00pm
WHERE: Yojimbo's Garage
1310 N. Clybourn
Chicago, IL
312-587-0878

The Gonz on Bikes

One of the most innovative skateboarders of all time. Check him out messing around on bikes here. Originally seen on Fixed Gear London.

CMWC 2009 Tokyo

Dispatch101 reminded me:






















Cycle Messenger World Championships 2009, Tokyo. Details will eventually be here. Hmm... I might actually make it to this...