Category Archives: The Geek

Cyclists Endanger Motorists?!?

the-geekFrom the reasoning of the Dawg name to the best comic book authors, from the history of the Hot to a timeline of industrial music, Cory has the trivia, and the opinions to mouth off about it.

Cyclists Endanger Motorists. That was the headline I saw floating around on facebook and elsewhere on the interwebs last Thursday. Some Some Jheri-curled asshat in Texas was slowed down for a couple seconds, passed bikes illegally, and decided his borderline nonexistent inconvenience was worth writing about. No big deal… until you get to the end and see that this jheri-curled asshat is the mayor of a little town in the San Antonio metro area!

This is what I was thinking about when I got hit by a car that afternoon.

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Take your kid biking!

the-geekFrom the reasoning of the Dawg name to the best comic book authors, from the history of the Hot to a timeline of industrial music, Cory has the trivia, and the opinions to mouth off about it.

Monday, October 8th is IMBA’s Take a Kid Mountain Biking Day. Parents seem to be much more risk-adverse than parents of earlier generations, so I know many parents will be hesitant to show their kids an actually mountain bike trail. To argue that point, I’ll present the coolest video currently on the internet.

As a dad myself, I think this dad and his kid are two of the coolest people around. Too many people keep their kids away from bikes, or only let them ride in areas so controlled that it’s not even fun. What can be done to alleviate this? Here’s some ideas.


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Kona Grassroots rider Becky Gardner is the Colorado Super D State Champ!

Becky Gardner is a Kona Grassroots ride that originally hails from Beacon, NY but she’s currently taking a break from fashion school to ride and work in CO at Kona dealer Telluride Gravity Works.
When asked how she felt going in to the race, Becky said, “I knew that I would do well in the race, but I was a little nervous because it was my first time back on the bike in 2 weeks after a bad crash that put a chainring through my leg. I wasn’t going to race at all because I couldn’t get the day off from the shop. In the end I decided to race on my lunch break since the mountain is minutes away. I was on my Operator and all the other racers were on endure bikes, so I knew I had to make up time in the gnarly sections. I only got one practice run in but I ended up winning by 10 seconds.”
Congrats, Becky!

Posted in Downhill, Enduro, Grassroots, Racing, The Geek, The Team | Leave a comment

Kona Sponsored Trail Day on Galbraith

the-geekFrom the reasoning of the Dawg name to the best comic book authors, from the history of the Hot to a timeline of industrial music, Cory has the trivia, and the opinions to mouth off about it.

On any beautiful May Saturday in Bellingham, WA, most mountain bikers are, well, mountain biking. This past Saturday, however, over 30 mountain bikers worked up on Galbraith to re-open one of the trails temporarily closed due to logging.

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What, biking actually makes sense in NYC??

the-geekFrom the reasoning of the Dawg name to the best comic book authors, from the history of the Hot to a timeline of industrial music, Cory has the trivia, and the opinions to mouth off about it.

I can’t help but have mixed emotions when i read articles like these. On one level, it’s great to be talking about bike commuting as this neat idea that more people should try, but on the other hand, why does the idea of commuting by bicycle have to be brought forth as something novel and unique?

http://www.nytimes.com/2011/11/08/arts/design/a-bike-lane-perch-for-the-urban-show.html?_r=1&nl=todaysheadlines&emc=tha28g

I’m not speaking poorly about the writer, Michael Kimmelman, or even his article. I’m just more annoyed that such a thing needs to exist. In 2011 we need a piece detailing why riding in NYC makes more sense than driving a car, taking a cab, or even riding the subway?
Even as a person that’s only ridden in NYC a few times, it’s obvious that it is faster than other means of transportation.

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Grassroots Ripper Wins Again!

Brad Stover, who just turned 12 years old, won again at the Sol Vista finals last weekend.

Stover flying on his Supreme Operator.

He smashed the DH field in his class, winning by 18 seconds! Brad then went on to win the 4X event… on his Hei Hei 100.

This kid’s on a roll. The last time I saw him at the end of May, he was nursing a broken shoulder. That obviously got better pretty quickly, because Stover won the 15 and under class at Crankworx Colorado, even though he was three years younger than most of the people he was racing.

Look out for this kid! Not only is he one of the most polite little 12 year olds around, he’ll also probably pass you.

Brad Stover is sponsored by Acme Bicycles in Rapid City, SD and Kona Bicycles as one of our Grassroots riders.

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You Met Me at a Very Strange Time in My Life – Musings From a Trail System.

the-geekFrom the reasoning of the Dawg name to the best comic book authors, from the history of the Hot to a timeline of industrial music, Cory has the trivia, and the opinions to mouth off about it.

“You met me at a very strange time in my life.” If mountain bike destinations could talk, I imagine that Galbraith here in Bellingham would utter this final line from Fight Club.

That great, funny, sad line from the movie popped into my head the other night as I was riding up on the hill that made me fall in love with Bellingham. Eight years ago when I got here, there were a couple clearcut areas, but almost the entire mountain was a lush forest. Now I go up, and trees fall like the buildings (and brawlers) in Fight Club, taking trails with them. Last night I was shut out of half the trails I wanted to ride, because they simply didn’t exist any longer. Read More

Posted in Advocacy, The Geek | 6 Comments

4th of July hipster safety

The folks from Funny or Die’s Hipster Shore have put together a safety video, and there’s some good bicycle safety information. Check it out and stay safe this holiday weekend!

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NYC Bike Lanes

There’s a common misconception that cyclists in NYC are required to ride in the provided bike lanes. So common, in fact, that police officers have started ticketing cyclists for riding outside of the lanes!

This guy got a ticket (for doing nothing illegal, no less) and decided to have a little fun. There’s a couple bad words towards the beginning, so be aware if you’re sensitive to that. Here’s what riding only in the bike lanes in NYC would really look like.

Posted in Advocacy, Asphalt, The Geek | 1 Comment

Me And My Bike – The Coolest Kenyan Bike Rap You’ll Ever Hear.

These guys have the right idea. If you’re ever lacking motivation to ride, this should help do the trick.

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A distilled history of The Stupor Bowl in Bike City, USA

the-geekFrom the reasoning of the Dawg name to the best comic book authors, from the history of the Hot to a timeline of industrial music, Cory has the trivia, and the opinions to mouth off about it.

I just got back from Minneapolis, a city with some of the absolute best history in cycling here in the USA. Last year, Bicycling Magazine crowned Minneapolis the number 1 bike city, dethroning Portland, and swapping nicknames from Portland East for Minneapolis to Minneapolis West for Portland. Having been to Minneapolis in the winter a few times now, and growing up in a slightly warmer Midwestern city, i will say that the cyclists of Minneapolis are more hardcore than anywhere I’ve ever been. Riding on ice in negative Fahrenheit temperatures is insane, but it’s almost blase there.

Here’s a fantastic video on the Stupor Bowl, which i’ll describe a bit more below the break. Be aware that this is NSFW due to cussing and a bit of vomiting towards the end. All in good fun…

DOWN BY THE WEEP HOLE: The story of the Stupor Bowl from Nathaniel H. Freeman on Vimeo.

Lots more info below.
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Who Rides Bikes?

Cool people, that’s who.

Paul Newman

Brad Pitt
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Keith Richards
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Show us your pics of cool people on bikes! Are you cool?

Posted in Advocacy, Random Weirdness, The Geek | Tagged | 1 Comment