Go Clipless

The Friday Chuckle - "Scooting"

Have you ever noticed your riding buddy "scooting" down the trail on his ass?  It might look something like this.  Not a pretty sight, and a habit I see on the ski slopes too.  There is a scientific reason for "scooting" and although it has traditionally been a canine affliction, it now seems to be making its presence known in humans with an active lifestyle, as well.

Here is an excellent site that explains this phenomenon and has an interactive, virtual practice area where you can try your hand at treating the "scoots".  You'll definitely want to install the Shockwave player for this one.  It's worthy of a hearty Friday chuckle...until your buddy asks if you can help him out with something.

Google Maps Mashups for Biking

Google Maps mashups are everywhere. Actually mashups of all kinds are promulgating the Internet at dizzying rates. There are mashups of music, real estate, auction listings, social networking sites, etc. Tools to make it easier to develop mashups, such as Ning, are becoming available; helping to bring mashup madness to the masses.

So what's a mashup? My definition: simply, two or more sources of information combined (or mashed) together to produce an output that is either of greater value than the individual sources or something entirely new.

If you prefer, Wikipedia has a good explanation of the mashup phenomenon. (Also, check out the genesis of the term mashup as it refers to music.)

Mashups transform technology platforms into something useful; which is what makes them so cool. There are several mashups out there that could prove useful for cyclists. Here is my roundup:

Marla Streb is pregnant

Am I the only one that missed this?

Marla Streb is pregnant with her first child at the age of 40. Wow. I've said it before...this is one impressive woman. She still plans to race in 2006 after the baby is born (due in April).

As of only a few weeks ago she was still doing trailwork and riding according to one of her recent blog posts.

Good luck Marla!

Singletrack Magazine starts a podcast

Singletrack Magazine hails from the U.K. and is generally pretty good at covering mountain biking on the whole, although it naturally focuses on the scene in Britain and Europe. Once in a while I pick up the print version of the magazine at my local Tower Records, but I mostly read the news they put forth online. They always seem to have the first look at the next model years bikes and they do a pretty thorough job describing them.

So today Singletrack announced its finalists for their Annual Readers Award 2005. Only they did it via podcast. I have to say, I am not a big podcast fan. Mostly because they are usually boring as sin! Nonetheless, I understand the ideals and promise of podcasting...time-shifting...radio for the masses...the long tail...that sort of thing...but if people don't start to improve the quality it will be too hard to weed through all of the shit to get to the good stuff and the phenomenon will die on the vine. (End rant now).

I looked around a little on their site to see if there was a printed list of the award nominees/recipients...no such luck. So I sucked it up and decided to listen to the podcast...not for me...but for you...the fans (there I go again...just kidding...ok).

What a snoozer...

Two staffers at Singletrack just simply read the names of the nominees for each of their categories. ZZZZZZZZZZ...ZZZZZZZZZ... The winners were not even announced!(Ok...so I should have known the winners would be announced on a later date, but I didn't read the intro closely enough.) There was no fanfare...no drum rolls...no staged jokes...nothing!

Alright, let me back up and say that Singletrack deserves some credit. This is their first podcast. They are trying to do something new in an industry (magazine publishing) that is, for the most part, terrified of anything that doesn't follow the old print based/ad revenue model. It always takes one or two tries before it becomes clear how the new media/technique/technology/thing should be used.

Here's the thing. A podcast should add value to the overall site content. Too many podcasts simply replace what could be done in writing. It should be of things that are not easily conveyed in print. A list of nominees...definitely print! An interview with a gregarious personality...maybe a podcast. Still too many people out there are either starry-eyed by the technology or just plain lazy and fall into the podcast trap.

Getting back to the Singletrack Awards. Writing the categories and nominees down while listening to the podcast was a bit like jotting down a hastily provided phone number from someones voice mail while driving. In other words, I'll wait until they put it in writing on the Web.

The Mystery

Nant Yr Arian
Originally uploaded by publicenergy.

There are so many dimensions to this photo by Publicenergy. The obvious; scenery, photographic quality, lighting.

But really it is the mystery which makes this photo great. Is this a lone rider just passing by? Where are the other riders? Was there an accident? Just resting?

Or are the three part of a group that have rested for too long before one gets tired of waiting and pushes onward?

Stay to the right!

Just got back from an overnight in NJ where we went to a friend's wedding. Can I just tell you how much I hate I-95?! And before any of you think you have a road near you as wild as 95, let me tell you, you're just wrong. I-5, I-10, I-80, etc...have nothing on I-95. And people in Maryland you need to learn how to stay to the right (thanks to the Bike Riding Donut Guy for the link)!

I think there is no provision for passing on the left and staying to the right while driving in MD. In fact, I remember some MD senator being ticketed for reckless driving a few years ago when he was high-beaming the car in front of him. His explanation was that he was trying to pass on the left and the car in front wouldn't move over to the right. He learned that there was no such rule in MD and was shocked. He paid the ticket, admitted he was over the top, and vowed to change the rule at some point in the future. Since I live in Northern Virginia, I don't know if the rule was ever made, however, I can tell you that if it was it is not being practiced.

In order to calm down from the drive I hopped on the computer and made the blogging rounds to see what I missed over the weekend. Two things in particular caught my eye:

• Tim at Blue Collar Mountain Biking did a nice interview with Dirt Rag publisher, Maurice Tierney. Tierney discusses the origin of Dirt Rag, its growth, and future direction. I agree with Tim that Dirt Rag is the magazine that most captures the soul of mountain biking.

Tierney made reference to the growth of the magazine beyond the east coast scene several times. Clearly critical to the long-term success of the magazine, I just hope this means continued expansion of content and not the watering down of content to please all audiences. Given the slow-growth strategy Tierney references, it would seem that DR is well positioned to be the premier magazine covering mountain biking over the long-haul. Great job Blue Collar!

• Guitar Ted revealed the bike that was the source of rumors that a "major player" was to be launching a full suspension 29er. The bike is from Intense, and as G-Ted aptly points out they are not really a major player, but more of a boutique manufacturer. He telegraphs the tipping-point for 29ers though and I'll bet he's right!

Looking for a new outfit for your next urban bike bank robbery?

Then the Puma x Vexed Cycling Jacket, a collaboration between Puma and the Vexed Generation design team, is the one for you. But get 'em while they're hot...there will only be 20 available in the U.S.

Vexed's design is focused on addressing social issues such as air pollution, urban surveillance, and civil liberties. I'd say they covered all of their bases with this design. There's even a replaceable filter built into the face mask.

More photos available at Fixins Fashion. Found on Core77's Industrial Design Supersite.

Oh yeah...it's Half-Nekkid Thursday

Everyone's coming out of the woodwork to become a GC HNT model! Here's one of our friends (who prefers to remain nameless) donning a mtb neclace in her Pearl Izumi jersey.

What's Half-Nekkid Thursday?

Feedster Feed of the Day

Just noticed that Go Clipless was named the Feed of the Day for November 2, 2005 by Feedster. Not sure what we did to get noticed, but its nice to be noticed just the same. Must be a mountain bike fan there at Feedster headquarters. We were chosen out of the 16,955,633 blogs they track!

Hope some of the traffic that came from Feedster for the curiosity factor decides to stick around a while.

I noticed a few other cycling blogs on the list as well:

• TDF Blog
• Cycling Insight Podcast
• Blue Collar Mountain Biking

We are in good company, although the Tour de France Blog seems to have died off in August (perhaps it is only a seasonal blog). Thanks Feedster!

Bicycle Head Badges

head badges
Originally uploaded by Automatt.

Head badges present both a unique style and a sense of tradition simultaneously.

Check out this set of badges from Automatt. This would probably make for a good coffee table book...with images and a chronological history of the design, styles through the ages, etc.

Update: You can contribute your head badge photos to this group on Flickr.