Conquering the Divide

The local paper published an article on the front page of today's sports section on my brother Joe.

"Conquering the Divide, MonroeNews.com

Trailer for Anima D'Acciaio (Soul of Steel)

Anima D'Acciaio Trailer Ver5.1 from Cinecycle on Vimeo.

I was immediately drawn to this trailer because of the great connection it makes between a long tradition of frame building and today's modern fixie culture.

Via Urban Velo:
Anima D’Acciaio (Soul of Steel) is a film by Daniel Leeb of Cinecycle Productions. You can see the whole film this summer at the Bicycle Film Festival."

The Bicycle Film Festival is in Detroit July 31 to August 1st.

ANIMA D'ACCIAIO
(SOUL OF STEEL)
LANGUAGE: ITALIAN (SUBTITLED IN ENGLISH)
A film by Daniel Leeb of Cinecycle Productions

A Portrait of the legendary Italian Frame Builder Giovanni Pelizzoli aka "Ciocc" . Ciocc shares his wisdom and life story while handbuilding a revolutionary new frame for urban fixed gear cycling. Ciocc demonstrates that the tradition and craft of framebuilding's Golden age can be re-born and push the technical frontier of Cycling's future. . also Feaures Ed "Wonka" La Forte and Antonio Colombo with an original soundtrack composed by Amedeo & Simone Pace of BlondeRedhead.

Yvon Le Caer, a different kind of endurance cycling

After a career in traditional cycle racing in the 1980's Yvon Le Caer turned to new goals on the open seas.

Sadly after his successes crossing the Florida Straight (Florida to the Bahamas, 1981) and the English Channel (1985) he was hit by a hit and run driver in Florida in 1986 permanently halting his cycling pursuits.

A great overview with some impressive press clippings here are on his site here. Yvon Le Caer

BTW, a great quote from his website.

"The world is a better place to live in because it
contains people who will give up ease and security
to do what they themselves believe worth doing.
They do the useless, brave, noble, the divinely foolish
and the very wisest things that are done by man.
And what they prove to themselves and to others is that man
is no mere creature of his habits, no mere automaton in his routine,
but that in the dust in which he is made, there is also fire
lighted now and then by great winds from the sky."

Quote [Author unknown] sent to Yvon by an American enthusiast
in the context of "Operation Gulf Stream."

ghost bikes

Via ghost bikes dot org

Congrats Jill!

A quick update on the Great Divide Race / Tour.

Jill Homer made it in Monday, July 6th which gives her a time 24 days, 7 hours and 24 minutes which I believe sets a new womens record.

Congrats Jill!

Jill's call in on MTBCast.

(mp3)

From Jill's own blog:

I rolled as close to the Mexican border as the gate would let me at 5:24 p.m. Monday, July 6, to finish the 2,700-ish miles of the Great Divide Mountain Bike Route in 24 days, 7 hours and 24 minutes. My parents drove down from Salt Lake City to meet me at the border, so even though the guard station was closed, I didn't have to finish alone. What an incredible experience. Feels strange to not have to pedal any more. Feels even stranger to be wearing clothes that I didn't just wash in the shower. I'm happy, healthy and still feeling strong. Despite a few mechanicals, minor injury and weather setbacks, I still kept my goal of finishing within 25 days, and still feel like I could go out again tomorrow if I needed to. Glad I don't have to, though. I took 731 pictures. More to come soon, I'm sure.

Great Divide Finished

My brother got in to Antelope Wells New Mexico last night thus finishing the Tour Divide from Banff to Mexico.

His time was 21 days, 10 hours, 34 minutes.

Below is a picture of him (far left) with some of the other finishers that came in yesterday. Sorry I don't have all their names.

Ride The Divide, Unofficial Trailer

The bellow trailer was just posted to youtube within the last 24 hours.

It's for "Ride the Divide", a documentary on the race down the Great Divide by Mike Dion. It appears to include footage from this years Tour Divide.


Ride The Divide, unofficial trailer on youtube

More videos are on Mike's website, the official website and blog are at ridethedividemovie.com

Matthew Lee wins the 2009 Tour Divide

From: Matthew Lee First Racer to Reach the Mexico Border at Antelope Wells

On Tuesday, June 30th, 2009 at 9:45am, Matthew Lee became the first `09 Tour Divide racer to reach at the Antelope Wells border crossing. This makes back-to-back TD victories for Matthew, 4 Divide racing wins overall and his 6th finish.

His elapsed time of 17 days, 23 hours & 45 min. fell just short of his `07 Full route record (17d:21h:10m). Given this year's consistently bad weather, poor route conditions and additional 34 miles through the Flathead, it is an impressive finish. Matt described his final day as a "total slog," complete with unexpected storms and sloppy mud. He even lost an hour after going back for lost eyewear in the desert north of Separ.

Inspite of Matthew falling short of the overall record, four racers remain on record pace in the face of the continued inclement conditions. Chris Plesko is poised to break the singlespeed record and Jill Homer is still on pace to take the female record sometime in the next week. We also look forward to Jay & Tracey Petervary establishing a tandem record tonight. Deanna Adams, who seems to steadily make here way down the Rockies, can also establish a record for fixed-gear bikes is she finishes.

Kurt Refsnider (blog is only about 10 miles from finishing second as I'm writing this post (July 1st, 1am EST). I expect he'll post at least one more final message to his call in audio updates at MTBcast.com

Jay and Tracey Petervary are riding tandem about 10 miles behind Kurt and should finish this morning as well. tTheir audio updates are on the Tour Divide blog where there are also links to some of the best pictures of the 2009 tour divide. (A must see.)

Chris Plesko (audio updates) should come in third if all goes well not long after Jay and Tracey. He's an interesting story because he's doing the whole race on a single speed!

My brother Joe was riding with Kurt and Chris for much of the race until he broke his derailuer and deraulluer arm. This cost him 24 hours while a new derailluer was overnighted to him and then he swapped out his frame to a new one which was mailed ahead to a shop in Colorado.

He is currently racing with (I used the term "with" loosely) a group of about eight people (including Steve Wilkinson, Blaine Nester, Erik Lobeck, Canon Shockley, John Fettis, Leightwon White and Alan Goldsmith) that has dubbed themselves "the pelaton" that will be duking it out for fourth place in the next couple days. So many riders riding together this late in the Tour Divide is unusual. His audio updates can be found on MTBcast.

The interactive leaderboard give a good overview of where everyone is at currently on the route. The field was huge this year including 42 riders. Keep in mind many of the markers are from people who've dropped out for various reasons.

A big congratulations! to all who have participated and are still participating!

Patrick Leigh Fermor: The man who walked

Catching up on Alastair Humphreys blog I was inspired to do a little reading up on Patrick Leigh Fermor and stumbled upon one of the best news paper articles I've read in a long time. It's long, well written and chuck full of interesting facts and details.

Patrick Leigh Fermor: The man who walked - Telegraph: "Patrick Leigh Fermor: The man who walked"

There is a great overview on Fermor on wikipedia, a good introduction, but most of the details come from the article anyway.

Sir Patrick 'Paddy' Michael Leigh Fermor DSO OBE (born 11 February 1915, London) is a British author, scholar and soldier, who played a prominent role behind the lines in the Battle of Crete during World War II. He is famous for his travel writing and is widely regarded as "Britain's greatest living travel writer".

His books

• The Traveller's Tree (1950)
• The Violins of Saint-Jacques (1953)
• A Time to Keep Silence (1957)
• Mani - Travels in the Southern Peloponnese (1958)
• Roumeli (1966)
• A Time of Gifts (1977)
• Between the Woods and the Water (1986)
• Three Letters from the Andes (1991)
• Words of Mercury (2003) edited by Artemis Cooper

The Thames Ring 250, the UK's longest non-stop running race

Via: Alastair Humphreys – The UK’s longest ever non-stop running race, the Thames Ring 250

The UK’s longest ever non-stop running race is the Thames Ring 250. 250 miles, to be completed within 100 hours. Nearly ten marathons in four-and-a-bit days…
In wonderfully understated British style, the Thames Ring doesn’t even have a website. You can see the route map here and some photos here from this magnificently understated, yet heroic challenge.
I went along to the start of the race in the unlikely surroundings of Streatley Village Hall in Berkshire. Here’s a 90-second video of what I found.

Touring at 34lbs

Did a quick overnighter (about 140 miles) in about 24 hours this last weekend. For kicks I decided to try getting all my touring gear on my newest toy, my Salsa Campeon.

The trick was doing it with no racks as the Salsa has absolutely no braze-ons.

Not only was it a success but when I threw it on the scale the whole thing came in at about 34lbs.

For a touring bike it's wicked fast and climbs like the devil.

It's a whole new level of freedom.

This could get very addictive.



the ever changing gear list (annotated)

updated post for first Salsa Campeon (ultra-lightweight) overnighter
updated Sunday, 6/21/09

Less stuff, more freedom.

*please note there may be a few missed items or miss-types, the gear list is everchanging.

the bike
Salsa Campeon 62cm (2006/07)
Shimano Ultegra (full groupo, including hubs 2001/2003?)
Velocity deep V front / Mavic Open Pro rear rim
Continental Gatorskin tires 700x25mm
Specialized Ribcages (2)
Ideale saddle (1970s / 80s)
Planet Bike ultra bright LED blinky (2 AAA)


handlebars
wireless computer
Brunton ball compass
south central michigan map (rolled up in plastic map holder)
dry bag (1L Sea-to-Summit for electronics wrapped around stem)
park headband (not enough wicking capability)
bedroll (contents below)


bedroll (handlebar bag)
OR Aurora Bivy
MSR tent footprint
Lafuma 600 45+ synthetic bag
Exped Airmat 7.5
Frog Toggs Dri Ducks rain jacket
two packs ramen noodle
6 aluminum needle stakes
first aid kit
25 ft para cord (around first aid kit)
camp towel
cook kit (more below)


Epic designs stem bag
cell phone
wallet
battery pack for headlamp (4 rechargeable AA)
Browning hat clip light
Bag Balm in tiny tin


Jandd top tube bag
4 spare rechargeable AA (for headlamp)
sunscreen
spare ziplocks (2 for cell phone/wallet)
24oz of denatured alchohol
Topeak Road Morph tire pump
electrolyte / vitamin c water supplement (3-4 packets)
2 spare pens
micro Leatherman + P-38 can opener + keyS
spare tubes (two)
Park multi tool w/ chain tool
Park heavy duty tire lever
generic lightweight tire lever
spare cleat and screws
tiny tube of chain oil
skin so soft (small tube, trying as alt to deet 100)


5L Sea-to-summit dry bag (behind seat)
convertible backpacking pants
smartwool socks
boxer shorts
cotton t-shirt



cook kit
kit bag w/ drawstring
1 quart aluminum pot
1/2 quart aluminum pot
aluminum lid

These contain:
- DIY aluminum windscreen
- citronella / emergency candle
- Trangia alcohol stove
- Sea-to-summit aluminum spoon
- salt
- sugar
- olive oil (small tube)
- waterproof matches
- cheap lighter
- tube Campmor biodegradable camp soap
- instant coffee
- instant grits (2 packs)
- hot pad
- green pad


Wearing

136 lumen / 6 volt / 4AA / River Rock headlamp (on helmet)
Louis Garneu helmet
bike shirt
multi-panel bike shorts
smart wool socks
Lake 165 bike shoes

Pulse jet bike

From: BikeHacks

From Oregonlive comes this article on oregonian Robert Maddox, the worlds top pulse jet engine builder/designer. The engine is currently selling on ebay for a cool $1200 (+ $95 for shipping/handling), however if you really want to splurge you can throw down $8500 for a fully assembled jet bike from Bob. The engine pumps out 100lbs of thrust and there is a ‘warning’ on the ebay post that states ‘jet engines are dangerous, buy at your own risk, and that the engine runs at 140 decibles’…so you may want to think twice before firing it up in the suburbs. Bob has been working on pulse jet engines for about 10yrs, and now his handiwork brings the possibility of becoming the Rocketeer to your fingertips (if you can afford it). Here’s a video which shows the bike in action, but averaging 1.5 gallons of fuel per mile this is probably not the best way to commute to the office. If you commute by bicycle regularly, riding on this thing will probably put you there in record time.

...

When wide open, it will top out at around 75mph so before you hop on you may want to up the payout on your life insurance policy.

Penny Farthing Racing

Via: AllYearGear.com

Singlespeed mountain bike racing was fun until the fast guys figured it out. We need a new racing fad and this could be it. Who’s in?

I’d love to see some penny farthings on a car bike rack with a race number on the bike.

I second these sentiments. :)

Bicycle Dreams Trailer

"Bicycle Dreams is the true story of the Race Across America, a 3000-mile bike race that challenges riders to pedal across the country in just ten days."

Nough' said.

Via Urban Velo

Jason Hackenwerth: Balloon Artist

Holy cow, it's been to long since I've watched any Lo-fi St. Louis. His interviews and mini docs (mini-documentaries) with artists are simply wonderful.

From: #232 Jason Hackenwerth: Balloon Artist | LO-FI SAINT LOUIS

I first became aware of Jason Hackenwerth’s amazing balloon sculptures when I did a video about Doc Popular last summer. He was at City Museum creating an enourmous balloon sculpture and in retrospect I was foolish for not stopping to talk to him then. But as luck would have it, Jason came back to St. Louis recently (he is a hometown boy who now resides in NYC) to show some of his work at his Alma Mater, Webster University. I was able to corner him for a few minutes at his opening to ask him some questions. The show closes at the end of this week so catch it if you can. Jason’s web site is here.

Note: Bill seems to have misspelled a url in the original post. The artists official website is jasonhackenwerth.com not jasonhackewerth.com. (He dropped an "n".) I've fixed it in the quoted text above.