Go Clipless

A day in the life of the Subaru/IMBA Trail Care Crew

Is this a dream job or what? Drive to mountain bike destinations all over North America, ride epic trails, and work with some of the most dedicated trail advocates to build more and better singletrack. Oh yeah, and you get to do it with your spouse.

It's worth checking out the work of the Subaru/IMBA Trail Care Crew. Here are some more vids taken by the Crew.

Support IMBA! (Thanks to my man Rockhead for passing this along).

Spinning fixies all Japanese anime, bubbly hip-hop style

(via MessNYC)

Gary Fisher interview on the future of mountain biking

For most sports it is not uncommon to see the heroes - the celebrities of the game - on T.V. or video. The stars of football, baseball, even golf can be seen on any given night in highlights or interview clips on ESPN SportsCenter.

Although, you must seek them out through alternative media, even the pro cyclist can be seen on video giving an interview.

But mountain bike celebrities are rarely seen or heard. Instead you must read interviews in monthly magazines or increasingly find print transcripts on the Web (or if we're lucky - read their blogs).

That's why this interview of Gary Fisher conducted by TrailTapes.com is so cool. For those that don't know, Gary Fisher is one of the founding fathers of mountain biking. He started in the sport more than twenty years ago and has pioneered many mountain bike advances along with his friends/colleagues/business partners. Most of us know the name Gary Fisher as the bike brand now owned by Trek, but few are aware of the achievements that continue to come forth as a result of his leadership.

While he spends some time in this interview waxing nostalgic with stories from the 'good old days,' TrailTapes does a nice job of leading Fisher to his thoughts on the future of mountain biking and cycling in general. The fifty-six year old Fisher is as energetic as ever and left this viewer feeling as though the man can still bring fresh ideas to the sport. Fisher makes no apologies for bringing innovations to the sport that the customer has yet to request or recognize. After all, isn't that the very essence of innovation?

Fisher notes the rise of single speeds and cites several reasons contributing to this trend; not the least of which is the finicky nature of the mountain bike drive train. Gears require too much maintenance and wear down much too quickly compared to a bike's frame and the other components. He for-tells of a day when mountain bikes will be more like road bikes needing no more than a quick wipe down to be ready for the next ride. He also believes that we'll see cross country bikes in the 17 to 18 pound range and freeride bikes weighing in at about 25 or 26 pounds in the not so distant future.

Although, Gary Fisher's bike company is now part of the venerable Trek Bicycle corporation, this is not a man that has 'sold out.' Instead one gets the feeling that Fisher has carved out an important leadership role within the organization as the head of what amounts to Trek's mountain bike R&D division.

While you're visiting TrailTapes site be sure to check out their other episodes. All are extremely well done and you will be impressed with the high quality editing and production - a real value to the world of mountain bike media.

Note: RSS readers will need to pop out of their readers to watch the trailer embedded in this post. Also, note that this is just the trailer...the actual show and interview can be found on the TrailTapes site.

Lance Armstrong Mountain Biking in commercial for Nike

Ok...now that I have fully delved into the world of YouTube (someone get me out...I don't have time for this), I found this old Lance Armstrong Nike commercial. At first I thought it was a new one since I never saw it before, but clearly it is not as he is wearing the old U.S. Postal jersey. Anyway, for those of you out there that missed it like me...here's Lance mountain biking.

Nike's Lance Armstrong commercial entitled "Magnet" is still the number one searched for article on Go Clipless.

YouTube Bike Videos and a Palm TdF Toy

I noticed several blogs report on Carlton Reid's (of BikeBiz) new YouTube group for bike videos so I decided to sign up. Of course I'm familiar with YouTube, but only as a consumer of videos and not a provider. So I went digging through the GC archives and found two mildly amusing videos I shot of mountain bikers falling into the creek. Long time readers may remember, but for those of you that are new around these parts you can find the stories and videos here and here.

Anyway, I checked around...there are few other bike groups out there in YouTube land, but Carlton's is as good as any so join up and submit some content.

I also upgraded my mobile phone to a Palm Treo 650. Yes I know the Treo 700P just came out, but when it comes to phones I prefer to be a close follower and not an early adopter. The price is just too high. Anyway, I was out there on TreoCentral and found this handy little app. to track the Tour de France. There's speculation it will be upgraded for 2006 so I'll keep an eye out for the new version for those that are interested.

The application is simply a map of all of the stages, some statistics on the stage, the teams, and riders. I'd like to see the software upgraded for mobile use to download the latest race statistics in real or near real-time. Does anyone know of any other Palm or Mobile applications to track the Tour?

And it's even a bicycle pump...

Too many overhyped products on the market these days. Check out this mobile phone that can double as a bicycle pump...a razor...an iron...a butt scratcher...

The creatively impulsive cyclist

I've been a viewer of Des Green's Vlog CreativelyImpulsive.com since it started several months ago. I can't remember how I stumbled upon the site back then, but it was via a cycling link of some sort. Des is a cyclist, but most of the videos she produces and stars in have not been cycling related. I stuck with the site anyway, because I enjoy her unique sense of humor and personality that comes out in the videos. Her videos are just the right length and are posted only a few times a week...just enough content to keep you interested, but not inundated.

Now Des is preparing for the Aids/Lifecycle ride, a a 7-day, 585-mile bike ride from San Francisco to Los Angeles to help people living with HIV and AIDS. In her quirky, yet lovable style she has produced a couple of videos to illustrate the preparation she is doing.

Here she is eating healthy and warming up:

Now embarking on a ride from San Francisco to Sausalito:

Consider donating through Des's Aids/Lifecycle page if you think the cause is worthy.

J-Vicious takes a bath

J-Vicious and I went to ride Colt's Neck last night for a quick loop after work. There were a ton of people in the lot getting ready for their rides. While I didn't know everyone there, I definitely recognized most everyone. There is getting to be quite the regular crowd at Colt's Neck these days.

On the trail we ran into a bunch of guys that we have seen before; Marcus, Gonzalo, and Josh. We started sharing trail stories while resting in the clearing on Carpers Farm Way half way through the loop. The five of us decided to do the full loop instead of turning back. The eastern half of this loop needs a good four or five days after a soaking rain to dry up...and even then there are several mud holes. Well the trail was in pretty good shape on this day.

We bobbed and weave through Mirkwood Forest, raced on the gravel road that leads to Browns Mill Road, and practiced a few stunts when we encountered them. One of the highlights was when J-Vicious decided he would cross a small section of the stream with a steep embankment. I smelled trouble so I whipped out the Canon SD300 to record some video...have a look.

Click the image below to view a streaming video or download it to your computer. It's only 27 seconds and about 3 megabytes in windows media (.wmv) format.

After a ride like that J needed a beer. Luckily he had planned ahead and picked up some Shiner Hefeweizen at Whole Foods before the ride. We all grabbed one from the cooler, but of course he had forgotten a bottle opener. Ahhh... but not to worry J's Vicious Cycles frame has a bottle opener welded onto the frame. We knew he came in handy for some reason!

Swimming in Difficult Run

J-Vicious, Clint, and I decided to meet up on Sunday for a 'ride with no restraints' (e.g. no time limits from the spouse, work, night-fall, etc.). The plan was to meet up at the entrance to the Colt's Neck trail behind the ice arena in Reston at 10 o' clock and ride to Great Falls park and back.

Given that it would be one of the hottest days of the year (heat index of 105), I packed some extra energy gels and filled the bladder to the rim not knowing how long we would ride. I threw the trusty C'dale on the roof and headed out. When I got to the arena parking lot, however, I was the only car there...

See Lance ride - Lance Armstrong Nike commercial

*** UPDATE *** (Several of the links in this post are dead. See my comment below for an updated link where the commerical can be viewed). *** UPDATE ***

This commercial entitled "Magnet" is so well done on so many different levels. In one 90 second spot the producers were able to emotionally connect the viewer to Lance, Nike, and the sport of cycling - creating one amazing experience. This is branding at its finest!

I like the commercial so much that I spent some time trying to find a copy to save (for my own use) on my PC. Well, of course the video can be played from the Web, but it is not able to be copied. I did, however, locate the soundtrack to the commercial (thanks to a blog called "The Apple Project"). The song is not available commercially and was commissioned by Nike. The artists are part of a firm that develops art and music for advertisers. It turns out much of the cinematography is digital and made up of computer graphics. CGnetworks.com provides some interesting information about the making of the commercial for those that are interested.

Go ahead and watch the commercial and try to tell me that you do not fall victim to the "Armstrong Effect."