Go Clipless

Chicks on bikes are all the rage

If you've been around the bike blogosphere than you've no doubt seen the already classic blog Cycle Chic Cophenhagen Girls on Bikes. And don't lie and tell me that you don't think that it's the hottest thing going next to porn. Even the straight girls are drooling.

Ahhh, but guess what? It's no longer our little secret here in bike blogo-la-la land. It's been picked up by the mainstream. Celebrities are riding bikes now. Fashion shows are including bikes. And even bike accessory companies are advertising to this new mainstream audience.

Now don't go fretting here, this is a good thing, right? It's what we wanted...everyone to be on bikes. So I don't want to hear anyone complain that bike culture just isn't what it used to be. Yeah, fixies jumped the shark when the stock brokers jumped on board, but you know what, that's what happens when people get a hold of a good thing.

Bike Darlington said it best in reference to the Cycle Chic blog, "this is what cyclists look like when cycling becomes 'normal'".

Sloggi's beautiful bicycling butts on a billboard

Sloggi is well known for plastering underwear clad derrières on billboards throughout Europe. But during the Tour de France the ads become a bit more, shall we say, topical. Apparently the bicycling beauties first appeared in England during the 2002 Tour and have emerged for this year's prologue as well.

You can find more of the back story on both Quickrelease.tv and Velogal, but I know that you want to see more so to that end I must lead you to the b-sides my friends.

Naked bike rider gives advice on cycling couture

Gotta love the irony! Jake from the Sydney Body Art Ride has a great post about why you shouldn't feel like you have to dress up in cycling clothes to go cycling. Why not just wear what you've already got on...it's much cooler, right? Check out his post...tons of great photos of cyclists in all kinds of gear.

Oh...and no. She's not the naked cyclist...just one of the photo's I stole from Jake's site. ;-)

The history of clipless pedals

Found this history of clipless pedals retrospective from JB's Love2Ride blog.

Did you know that the clipless pedal was invented in 1895?

Here's another fun fact - also in 1895, bicycle technology was advancing so rapidly that the U.S. Patent department had to open two offices, one for bicycles and one for everything else.

Photo is of an early clipless pedal design for mountain bikes by Scott USA in 1990.

Two cycling blogs nominated for the 2007 Bloggies awards

The nominations for the 2007 Bloggies have been announced and there are two great cycling blogs among the nominees.

Fat Cyclist nominated for Best Kept Secret Blog (Fatty is exuberant).

Up in Alaska nominated for Best Sports Blog (Jill finds this amusing).

Let's rally the cycling community and help them win this prestigious award.

Go vote and spread the word!

Get a Microsoft Zune player and get Kranked

NSMB.com is reporting that Microsoft is shipping it's new music player, Zune, preloaded with the trailer to Progression - Kranked 6.

Coincidence?

Microsoft uses mountain biking to prove it's hip

Lest anyone believe that what I'm about to point out is happenstance, think again. Microsoft is slowly remaking itself after getting it's ass kicked by Apple, Google, and Firefox. Moves have been made behind the scenes to change strategy and embrace and extend Web 2.0, but this is a mountain bike blog so I'll not bore you with more of the background regarding this change. Instead, I'll focus on Microsoft's next stage in their shifting strategy; convincing the public (and Wall Street) that it is cool and deserves to be thought of in the same vein as the companies that have taken on the big behemoth.

Microsoft has a lot riding on the success of their "iPod killer," Zune, and is now getting the word out in force. But, the market for music players is about hipness, design, and the music, not the software running the device. J Allard is the executive in charge of the Xbox and Zune and by all accounts is not a conventional (for Microsoft) manager. He's a hard-charging, fast-rolling, forward thinking type of guy and he's a mountain biker. Downhiller, as a mater of fact.

And if this article is any indication, Microsoft wants you to know this. Why not use all that you can to reposition yourself as the king of cool? After all, what better analogy to draw for investors that Microsoft is choosing an alternative path, by using a popular alternative sport. Actually, it's genius really. With this one analogy, with Allard at its nexus, Microsoft can say to the market:

• We're cool.
• We're young and new.
• We're different and trying new things.
• And, we're going to kick ass.

So my question is, does it work? Check out the article (there's an excerpt after the jump) and let me know if it gets you thinking about Microsoft a little differently. Does it make you wonder, that although you may have written them off as a dinosaur crushed under the weight of bloated desktop applications, maybe, just maybe, they can pull another resurrection and keep the profit juggernaut moving?

Use your computer like a bicycle; not a car

In this day and age, everyone has multiple personas. I don't just mean online personas (though they are part of this), but rather, life personas.

Here's what I mean. When I go to work I am "Professional Graham." At home I am "Family Graham." On the trail I am "Mountain Bike Graham." On the blog, I am "Go Clipless Graham." And, in the bedroom I am...well, some things have to be kept secret, don't they? (I crack myself up!)

Slowly, I have been trying to converge all of the Graham's into one uber-persona. We'll call it G-man. G-man most closely resembles "Go Clipless Graham," although is slightly less polished (if you can believe that). Go Clipless Graham has been working to infiltrate the world's of the other Graham's to include bikes whenever possible. For example, I've been trying to get the family to go on biking adventures, and have shaken up my co-workers with my bike commuting and lunch-time antics.

But that's me in one persona pushing the others to get on board. That's why when it happens the other way around it is especially fun and surprising. That is, when I am in one persona - say Professional Graham -  and someone else introduces something bike related. I guess it's why I started this cycling in the mainstream category.

Ok...what a long diatribe to get to what I thought was going to be a relatively short post.

Professional Graham makes lots of presentations. Therefore, I read a blog called Presentation Zen, which if you don't read, and you make presentations, than you are insane - enough said. Well, today PZ has a post titled "Is a computer like a bicycle for the mind?" I won't go into detail summarizing the article (you can read it for yourself), but essentially it is about how a computer can be an enabler of laziness. A single speed rider might make the same argument about a geared bike (more about this in one of my next posts).

Anyway, I love the analogies that are used, as illustrated by these slides I have borrowed from PZ. They have helped me crystalize the thoughts I have had while I have not had a car these last 10 months. It's made me think about the use of equipment (say a car, or a computer) as an enabler and not simply as a tool to supplant that which you might otherwise have to think or work to do. It's why I get annoyed when my wife drives the kids to the pool that is three blocks away, instead of walking or riding their bikes. Or, when we drive them to the school bus stop just one block away when it is raining instead of throwing on some raincoats or grabbing an umbrella.

I'm not against these machines - in fact, quite the opposite - but, I am against the laziness and apathy they can breed, when conscious thought is lost by the user.

Ok...now I've lost track of which Graham I was, while writing this. Did this make a shred of sense?

Popularity of fixies near the tipping point?

Well the stats don't bear it out just yet, but when the Wall Street Journal starts writing about fixed gear riding you know the tipping point is near.

Apparently more than just urban hipsters and messengers are giving 'fixies' a try. According to one Boston bike retailer almost half of all fixie sales are to people over forty years old.

While fixies represented just 15,000 of the 3 million specialty bikes sold, they are more profitable overall. Fixed gear bikes sell for an additional 5 percent of margin versus all other bikes, which is why all of the major manufacturers have gotten into the game.

One things for sure...it seems the common thread among fixed gear riders is that they say the ride is both fun and challenging. Good enough reason to get one in my book. Just a matter of time...oh...and money too.

Photo is of the new '07 Cannondale Capo

UPDATE: In my haste to get this post up I neglected to dole out the much deserved 'link-love' that the bloggers/website owners mentioned in this article deserve. As I was reading the article it was nice to note that the author included links to Cyclelicious, FixedGearGallery, and Sheldon Brown as primary research for the story. In fact, I wouldn't be surprised at all to find out that the idea for the story came about due to either the author or editor's following of such blogs/sites.
 

A paradox, utility bikes, stolen bikes, Cyclocosm, and some electro beats

Isn't it interesting that developed industrial nations seem to be in a renaissance period with bicycles while emerging countries like China are embracing the automobile?

On a related note...check out the recent post from Spinopsys (and ensuing conversation) about the rise of the utility bike niche in the cycling industry.

BikePortland is tracking a new service (not yet released) that would help victims of stolen bikes scan Ebay, Craigslist, and the like to help recover their bikes.

Get pro road racing coverage with wry wit, skepticism, and wisdom. Cyclocosm covers the pro scene in a most unique way. Even though I don't always know what he is talking about it is always an entertaining read. Not sure if it is my naivete of the road racing scene or the blog is just over my head. Anyway, this site has been added to my blogroll. Check it out.

Picked up a few more CDs at Tower...four to be exact. I seem to be getting back into the dance scene a bit. Maybe it's the time of year. For those of you that don't understand dance music, let me help you out. It's about sex. That's it. Period end of story.

If you like sex then you should like dance music. Right? Ok...I know it doesn't work that way. But it should. Uh oh...I think I hear Dr. P ready to put a comment beat down on my ass...haha.

My latest foray into dance music is a bit retro-electro. New dance music with an eighties electronic feel that's sometimes pop-py and sometimes industrial. First I bought Ultra Electro, a compilation album that includes remixes of new New Order, Depeche Mode, Daft Punk, among others. It's always cool to hear remixes of bands that you like, because it seems to breathe new life into songs that may be played out, however, this one doesn't blow me away. I need to give it a little more time to brew though.

Miss Kittin on the other hand. She's my bytch! Errr...maybe I mean I am hers. On this disc she's purring all get down and lick my boots don't care if your a boy or a girl goth style. This ones a keeper and down right hilarious on the eighth track titled "Modeselektor." I won't quote the lyrics here...but you won't get the full vibe if you listen to a 30 second preview clip. You'll have to spend the 99 cents on iTunes if you want the full effect.

I'll get to the other two albums in another post. Meantime you can always peruse my music reviews in 10 words or less along the sidebar. (Yeah, they link you to Amazon, but trust me it's not a money making venture. My blog service has a nice utility that links to Amazon and grabs the image, title, etc. and formats it nicely for me.)

Question of the day: Why can I mountain bike 30 plus miles over the course of a few hours and still get winded walking up four flights of stairs?