Go Clipless

Shadow Bike

  shadowbike 
  Originally uploaded by Voetmann

What a great photograph. Poster worthy, even.

First seen on Cycleliciousness (the sister site to Cycle Chic...not the original Cyclelicio.us).

Classic cycling photos that come up again and again

So as I come back from a bit of a self-imposed blogging hiatus, I have been pouring over feeds and catching up with my blog reading. There have been a lot of interesting things that I've missed and likely would have posted but it's too late now (and no, this is not an apology post).

One trend that I have been meaning to write about for some time made itself known, however. I noticed that there are a few cycling related photos that seem to crop up all the time. Sometimes a blogger posts the photo because they think its new and they found something cool first. This is not an indictment against these bloggers as it is an easy and innocent mistake to make. But more and more I see bloggers referring to these photos to illustrate their point or to reference something previously written. Therefore the more they are referenced the more they become embedded in our minds and emerge as classics within the cycling culture.

Here's a few of the classic photos. I'm sure there are many more so if you can think of some let me know in the comments:

Man Sleeps With Mountain Bike in Tent, Kicks Girlfriend Out - This has got to be one of my all time favorites. "Oh baby, I'm sorry. You understand, right?"

Pothole in Puddle Leads to Face Plant - This one is made even better because the rider is holding an umbrella. The scene is set in China where it first surfaced about a year ago. Apparently the photographer was aware of the pothole and instead of warning unsuspecting cyclists he layed in wait to get the perfect shot. His excuse was that he needed to prove that the government needed to do something about the dangerous pothole, which had been untouched for some time.

Peekaboo Bike Shorts - Oh the ladies can't resist this one. Though stubby over there ought to be ashamed.

Living on the Edge - Here Hans Rey and Steve Peat traverse the famous Cliffs of Moher in Ireland. Part of a pub crawl in which they rode to 30 pubs in 6 days. The photos are from adventure photographer Victor Lucas. Check out this short video of the pub crawl. There's a quick behind the scenes look at this shot.

Spencer Tunick nails it in Amsterdam

I'm sure you've seen the Spencer Tunick en masse nude photography before. He travels around the world and gets hundreds of people to pose naked in the center of some world city or another. Here, Tunick visits Amsterdam and poses naked people on bikes. A classic!

Especially since his photos have been getting boring recently. Nothing changes from one city to another, except the scenery. Add the quintessential component that makes that city great and you've reinvigorated the genre.

Amazing before and after trail building pictures

The IMBA Trail Care Crew is at it again, building some crazy sustainable trail out of nothing. Check out the before and after shots and prepare to be amazed.

No wonder Americans are so fat!

I have to say, that I have a physically angry reaction when I see shit like this. It makes me sick!

Check it out at MSNBC...stolen from Fritz at Cyclelicious.

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. ;-)

Capturing 'flow' in mountain bike photography

I just can't get enough of great bike photography. Marco Toniolo is a free spirit mountain adventurer form Italy who happens to take great photos. I found him in my travels to Linda Morgi's blog (that's two things I've referenced from her blog...time to add a link) in a post that went over her feed, but seems to be pulled from the site itself.

Back to the reason I draw your attention to Marco Toniolo's photography. One of the things that is difficult to capture about mountain biking - either in photography or video - is the flow of the trail and the rider. The Collective is the master at capturing this feeling on video. To my mind, Toniolo does an excellent job of this in photography.

Check out the following galleries:

Trail riding at Lake Garda
Marzocchi riders at Lake Garda
Nepal Expedition
Riding with Hans Rey in the Phillipines

Explore the 9rules community, find cool things

I was reading this note on the 9rules site about a photo of a woman with riveting eyes. That led me to this photo I've copied here, originally published in JPG Magazine. I think the photo is cool and all, but I can't describe why. I guess I'm not sure what it is supposed to mean, but I'm sure it is supposed to mean something.

By the way, if you haven't checked out 9rules in a while, I'd encourage you to do so. What's 9rules? Only the greatest blog network chronicling the best of the independent blogosphere. A network, of which this blog is proud to be a member. Well enough of this puffery and largess, why should you visit 9rules? The site has been completely redesigned to help you uncover some of the best content on the Web today. You can now create your own reader profile and participate in the community of both 9rules bloggers and readers. I've been playing around over there a bit and it's pretty damn cool.

So here's what you should do:

1. Head over to my.9rules and create a profile.
2. Make friends with me...and while your at it befriend Publicenergy and Velochimp too (you can find their profiles from my 9rules profile page).
3. Check out my fellow sports bloggers.
4. Browse around...find some new blogs and make some notes.

You won't be sorry.

The penalty for failure is great...

Photo from YourMTB.

So does he make it?

Declaring your single speed pride

Stolen from the Lunatic Biker.