bikes in the news

normally i would post these on the fgbc blog but i thought i would let the jersey info sit at the top for a bit

good story about how important bikes are to Namibia

a piece on cyclocross in the nytimes - similar to what we have been doing with the mucr cross labs

supercross and provincials

two races in one weekend with a pizza party throw in the middle meant for a rough monday. the races went surprisingly well for me.

in the provincials race i managed to hang with the lead group until olli decided to up the pace. this spit me out the back fairly quickly which put in no-man's-land for a few laps. i managed to bridge up to dylan and brian and dylan and i took turns at the lead until the sprint for the line. second in the 40+ and 5th overall.


as per tradition, saturday night was the annual pizza party for those who volunteered, or committed to volunteer and help with the course clean up, setup and take down.

supercross was again a spectacle to behold. the course was built for the bike handler and included, again, the fan favorite mud bog to beat all mud bogs. i was skeptical about doing well in this race having spent everything in saturday's race, but things turned out well. i big part of that was due to the fact that somehow i managed to avoid crashing on this very technical course. guys that were riding really well and always give me a run for my money (luc, allan, tom, and daniel) all went down at one point or another, some more than once. this allowed me stay ahead and get 4th overall which was a huge surprise.

southern cross pics

the festival of belgian sports took place on saturday and mrs. dr. partook in her first 'cross event, no, her very first sporting event where she was not forced or obligated to particpate because of school. not only did she race cross, she bowled and competed in pole archery where she took down one of the birds.

here are just a few pictures of her cross participation.

yipee

well, things are starting to move again on the new 'cross ride. emails with mike truelove were exchanged this week and with some good luck i should be getting the new frame by mid-september.

started collecting parts and here's what i am going with:

• thomson stem and seat post
• chris king headset
• bontrager handle bars - morgan gave me his old ones, thanks morgan
  
• tektro brake levers - cane creek's without the cane creek price
• paul's brakes - neo-retro front and touring canti rear
• chris king hubs - these if i can get them, road if i can't
• mavic open pro rims - already have a set, with revolution spokes
• truvativ cyclocross cranks - 175mm
  
• crank brothers egg beater pedals

i'll be setting this up as a singie speed, but have left myself the option to run gears in the future (mike is going to weld a hanger onto the paul dropouts). will probably run paul thumb shifters when i do.

folkarama

another year another 'cross display working at the belgian pavilion. contrary to popular belief, one is not required to wear a skinsuit while working at this display. belgian beer and fries with mayo are pretty much the order of the day, that and explaining that cross bikes really do work better than mountain bikes for racing (people are quite dumbfounded by DVD of the 2006 world championships and watching the racers ride through the mud and sand).

life becomes a blur by the end of the evening

luc ready to answer the first question that comes his way