Opens tomorrow! Full info here and here. Don't miss!!

Final results:

Polo

1. The New Style (AZ)

2. Lord of the Cock Ring (CO)

3. Peak Polo (CO)

4. The Wolfpack (NM, Robin, Justin, Sheridan)

Grass Track

1. Ben

2. Juan

3. Robin

AlleyCat

1. Paul O.

2. Dave P.

3. Karl L.

Sprints

1. Paul O.

2. Robin C.

3. Aaron A.

Skids

1. Sam S.

2. Eric M.

3. Ian B.

Trickjam

1. Eric M

2. Justin B.

3. Sebastian B.

Footdown

1. Sebastian B.

2. Bob W.

3. Jeff M.

Trackstand

1. Dave P.

2. Eric M.

3. Justin B.

MVP - Justin B.

Big ups to everyone who participated, volunteered, spectated, donated. Photos by Robin, Eric Munk and Hey Fixie.

Thanks again to all our sponsors - All City, Fixed & Free,Velocity, Seven Cycles, Gold Avenue Bicycle Company, Two Wheel Drive, Hold Fast, Fat Tire Cycles, La Cumbre, Il Vicino Canteen,Chama River, Brick Light Dive, Marble Brewery, The Bike Coop,and Mint Tulip Cafe.

What's next? Maybe a monthly Brewery Cruise?

Thanks to everyone involved, I think it's safe to say this year's event was a huge success. Full recap, results and lots of pictures up soon...

Once again , thanks to all of our sponsors: All City, Fixed & Free, Velocity, Seven Cycles, Gold Avenue Bicycle Company, Two Wheel Drive, Hold Fast, Fat Tire Cycles, La Cumbre, Il Vicino Canteen, Chama River, Brick Light Dive, Marble Brewery, The Bike Coop,and Mint Tulip Cafe.

Here are preliminary points standings for the MVP award. There's alot of events tonight so you've got plenty of chances to rack up more...

It's that time of year again. A full week of races, group rides and more, starts May 14 & 15 in Santa Fe for the NM Friendlier Bike Polo Tournament. Check out a full schedule below...

May 14 & 15 - Herb Martinez Park, Santa Fe - NM Friendly Bike Polo Tournament - 9 am - 6 pm. The tournament features teams from all over the region - CO, TX, AZ, a team from San Diego even made it out last year. If you don't play, bike polo is super entertaining and the action should be top notch, with last year's champions Team 3G returning to defend their title. Check out this video from last year. The Railrunner is bike friendly and has a couple AM trains on the weekend that are good to ferry spectators to the tournament, more info on that soon.

May 17 - Grass Track - UNM Johnson Field - 7:30 pm. An old favorite is back - short track races on Johnson Field. Intrepid souls speed around tight corners fueled by booze and bravado for nothing more than a taste of glory and maybe some tasty prizes... followed by Bicycle Capture the Flag, always a big hit. Good times.

May 18 - Freak the Fractal Alleycat - UNM Duck Pond - 6 pm. If the name doesn't give you a clue, do some research. A short, fun alleycat race open to all bikes, though roadies must choose a gear and stick to it, the race will be approx. 15 miles and starts at 6:30, registration at 6. Free race, lots of prizes up for grabs - bring a bag, helmet, lights, and your good legs...

May 19 - Brewery Cruise - Bricklight Dive - 7 pm. Hmm... what can I say about this one? We will be pacing ourselves and acting like responsible adults as we pedal to local breweries and sample their wares. Starts at Bricklight Dive on Harvard, first 15 riders to arrive get a gift certificate for a free meal, which sets off an evening of free shit. We will have a ton of giveaways and prizes to be raffled over the course of the evening - t-shirts, bike swag, brewery memberships, gift certificates and more. Stops include La Cumbre, Il Vicino's new taproom, Chama River, and of course, Marble Brewery. 21+, all bikes and riders welcome (even recumbents).

May 20 - Fixed & Furious - Commercial & Odelia - 7 pm. Another oldie returns. Unsanctioned street sprints in the heart of the industrial wasteland... this is what we're going for here. Sprints are a quarter mile-ish and are limited to fixed/singlespeeds, emphasis on fixed - if you have a real track bike, bring it. Prizes for top 3, as well as the winners of the longest skid competition, trackstands, and FOOTDOWN!!!!

May 21 - Duchess Ride - Ladies Only - UNM Duck Pond - 2 pm. This is a special one for all you lovely bike ladies in the house. I don't have too many details on this one yet, but it will be a mellow group ride with special giveaways and tons of fun to be had...

May 22 - Bosque Picnic Ride - UNM Duck Pond - 2 pm. To close out this jam-packed week, we'll be riding to the Bosque to kick it and picnic. It's a short ride from UNM to the spot, bring a friend, your significant other, your dog, your mom, whoever to the Duck Pond at 2, we'll leave at 2:30. Bring water, beverages, bread, cheese, wine, fried chicken, etc., and maybe a spare tube, there is some awesome singletrack in the woods. We will also be awarding the MVP of the week with a very special prize. How does one become MVP, you ask? Accumulating points at each event by attending and participating, which will be tallied at the end of the week to produce our winner - more details on the way...

Big thanks to all the sponsors, show them your support: All City, Fixed & Free, Velocity, Seven Cycles, Gold Avenue Bicycle Company, Two Wheel Drive, Hold Fast, Fat Tire Cycles, La Cumbre, Il Vicino Canteen, Chama River, Brick Light Dive, Marble Brewery, The Bike Coop, and Mint Tulip Cafe.

Don't miss this!!

Some of you may recall a race I threw in Nov 09 called Pista de Tierra. The course was mixed terrain, ranging from road and paved trails to singletrack in the Bosque and North Golf Course. It was a huge success, with a great turnout despite freezing temperatures and brutal wind. I got the idea for this race from the annual East Bay Alley CX race, which is held in early spring in Oakland. Luckily for me, it was delayed this year due to heavy rains, so I was able to participate this last weekend.
78 racers turned out, and almost everyone was on cross or mountain bikes. Always prepared, I had a track bike with 23c road tires and a borrowed front brake, and no jersey, no chamois, and no water bottle. Thankfully my brother took a quick break from Sea Otter to ride with me and acted as my packhorse for the 35 mile course. The race started in downtown Oakland and went up, up, up in to the hills above the city.

This was the first checkpoint. We started way down at the bottom. For those racers who weren't already about to puke, there was a time bonus if you took a swig of mystery whiskey from a mason jar. I opted out, and tried my best to keep up with people who knew the route, which was 2/3 dirt trails and random fire roads.



While I love riding dirt on my track bike, this was a little different, and involved more climbing than I think I have ever done on road or dirt. Also more hiking up ridiculous hills than I could have imagined. Needless to say, we finished something like 65th out of 74, but got props from everyone involved and enjoyed a proper post-race meal of chili dogs and beer.







Thanks to the organizers and volunteers, we had a blast. I'll be there next year for sure, maybe with a bike thats a little more appropriate...

More info here. Photos by PlattyJo and Bici Girl.

Looks like Trackosaurus Rex spent some time talking to local framebuilder extraordinaire Dave Porter at the San Diego Custom Bicycle Show and got the scoop on some of his TT and hour record bikes from the 80's and 90's. Check out more of Tracko's images here and be sure and visit Porter's site for a glimpse into some awesome NM cycling history - check out this shot of the Squadra Harvard Bike House team, circa 1990...



Big ups New Mexico!!

SWAG. Here's what you can win tomorrow. Race is approx. 30 miles long, checkpoints, some manned some not. Be at Fixed&Free at 1:30. Come pedal your ass for a good cause. One of those wheelsets will be getting raffled off too, so everyone who participates has a chance to win...

2011 race season has arrived! More details on the way...

Been too long...

I have but a few fleeting hours in Malaysia. Unlike China they let you use the internet. Most of these are from the UCI Track World Cup in Beijing (not the World Cup Classics in the UK) and featured a different set of events. A couple others might give you a taste of Inner Mongolia: strange, unsavory, awe-inspiring (?). Keep on riding. Apparently they do it all over the world and each time I see it I fall in love again.

Polo has a new location and schedule. Tuesday, Thursday, and Sunday at 7:30 here:


View Larger Map

UCI Track World Cup 2010 from British Cycling on Vimeo.

UCI Track World Cup

Polka, I have photos. I can't post 'em. E-mail (klink.jacob@gmail) me and you can put them up! Outside Cycling News and whatnot I'm not sure anyone has photos of this...

Tee Tee's Playhouse (Winter Edition) from WRAHW on Vimeo.

It's so cold in Inner Mongolia...

I left an awful comment then figured out how to post. All this nifty social media we have for the internet is blocked in China. Go figure. Facebook is renren. Twitter is QQ. I don't know if there's a blog option. Internet hardly works so I quit dickin around with it so much.

This post is bicycle related. The city planning here is all based around the fact that everyone in China at one point in their life has depended upon a bicycle as their primary mode of transportation. Each avenue boasts an equally large and well-maintained road for bicycle, moped, pedicab and pedestrian traffic. Instead of grappling with SUVs you more often find yourself facing off with an alcohol soaked old man whipping a donkey pulling a cart that's a shoddily welded car axel and whatever else metal the fellow got his hands on. Atleast in my town.

I bought the biggest bicycle I could get, locally called an er ba da ke (two wheel big truck) which is similar in construction to the bikes you would see in a film like The Bicycle Thief. It cost me about $55 (new!) and is worth about $10. I used to ride it a lot but it's built to be destroyed. Everything rattles off it and even the brakeshoes disappeared somehow on a ride. I broke a pedal trying to bunnyhop up a curb, which, mind you is no easy feat. The bicycle weighs a meager fuckin' ton or two, I think.

I quit riding at the start of November with the first big snow. We landed about a foot, which then turned into 6 solid inches of ice. This is on all surfaces. Chinese winter road maintenance consists of students' free time (that's not a lot too, they've got school all day every day, except for a 2 hour lunch and a one hour dinner--7 a.m. to 9 p.m.!) and about a million shovels. Anyway, slid out one day on black ice nice and easy. I more or less stepped off the bike, but the crank arm got all bent up an twisted inward. That $10 quality. S'pose I'll fix it in spring when it's warmer than 15 out.

Tried to start polo, but only made it halfway through making the mallet. I found all the bits, which took some communication miracles but need to figure out now how the put them together. I think this stuff exists in bigger cities but I haven't the time or luck to find this stuff out. Hell. I guess I should just say, no matter what you're riding, where you're riding it, be happy to be able to get out and do just that. Happy trails in this new year of ours.

Trade rollers for trainer

I have almost new Cyclops rollers with front wheel stand.

Want a good trainer.

I'm not man enough for rollers are you?


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HOLIDAY SPECIAL - THIS WEEK ONLY!

FALL EVENTS MEGA RECAP

Satan's Sabbath - Best Costume, Dallas & Amy. Killa Karl took the win and the coveted Chrome jersey.
Dia De Los Muertos Parade organizer extraordinaire Jeff.

Turkey Quest

Matt for the win.
Holiday Gears - Robin took first place and tied with Sam Smith (not pictured) for most food collected.
Its been fun couple of months. Let's keep the momentum going through the winter, its been really mild so far, so no excuse not to be on your bike... thanks everyone, ride safe and have a great holiday.

Photos courtesy of Dallas & Amy and Hey Fixie.