Friday Short and Sweet

Well, let's get the weekend started in the proper fashion. First off the bat, the Pittsburgh region is lucky to have a long running mountain bike and cyclocross race series called the Month of Mud. The races are all about an hour long and take place on Sundays. The second race in the series (and only cross race this season) goes down this Sunday, so if you happen to be in the area, check it out.

While most locales, including this one, are deep into cyclocross at this time of year, I have been thinking about bmx. I have been a fan of Ruben Alcantara since the first time I saw him in a video. With lots of speed he bunnyhopped and rode up a handrail. That was about 10 years ago, and I still think it's pretty amazing trick. Here is a video of Ruben that is a few years old, showing that street bmx can be beautiful.


Train Trip from joe rich on Vimeo.



And while we are on the topic of things that are a few years old but still beautiful, take a look at the badass hombre in the photo below because the most important part of today's post is a heartfelt Happy Birthday greeting to my father. Here he is pictured with his 1968 Triumph Tiger. My father has always been a hero to me and he has always been there for me no matter what. I love you Daddio, Happy Birthday! 

Thanks for tuning in again everyone. Have a safe weekend on whatever type of two-wheeled contraption you ride and we'll catch up again next week.

Crosses and Crutches

Things have been a little slow here at Rigid HQ, so the dispatches have been a bit infrequent but like Flavor said, that's the way the ball bounces, G.

The cyclocross season is pretty much here and in full swing, so if you are into that sort of thing, then this is no news to you at all, and if you aren't, then you should know that the sport of cyclocross presents a great opportunity for women to get into bike racing in a relaxed environment; for men to dress in tight clothes; for kids to play in mud; for learning new curses, insults, and heckling methods; and for some spectacular and comical bicycle crashes.

Image from Ciclirati

For those folks in CA or those willing to travel there, the registration for the Single Speed Cyclocross World Championships has been up for about a week, so get in while you can still fit in.

Speaking of Champions of the World, I believe I made mention on here of the MTB World Championships that were held recently in Champery Switzerland. If you haven't yet seen the winning run from the downhill event, then have a look, because Danny Hart rode the rain-drenched downhill track slog faster than I could ever imagine riding on a gorgeous day in pristine conditions.




The month of September is when hundreds of products that you never knew you needed are introduced to the world during the crazy go nuts season of cycling trade shows. Eurobike was two weeks ago, Canada's Expocycle was last week, and America's Interbike is happening right now in Vegas. Now I have never been to any of these events, and I hope to never have to go to one, but there are lots of folks who look forward to September with the same glee,and animus, that a state beauty queen who was one fat and unpopular looks forward to attending her high school reunion. If you are already in Vegas god help you, but if you want to check out lots of shiny pictures then take a look at Urban Velo's Interbike Coverage. You are guaranteed to find something that you want to spend money on.

That wraps it up for this week, so stay safe on the streets until we meet up again.

Around the World with the Bicycles and Such

This week is the largest mountain bike race in the world. The UCI World Championships, taking place in Champery, Switzerland. As is the custom now, they have lots of different disciplines all rolled into one week-long orgy of wooded bicylce wonderment: cross country, trials, team relay, four cross, and downhill, so tune in to the Swiss cable channel of your choice and check it out. I already feel a little faster knowing that both of the junior XC competitors representing America, Howard Grotts and AliciaRose Pastore, are from Durango; the same dirt that they train in is still sloughing off clothing and parts from our recent trip out there. The early reports from the event are not great though, USA cycling has just posted that the American team finished 21 out of 22 teams in the team relay. Ouch. Good luck to all involved.

I will be cutting the cord on this dispatch fairly early this week in order to accommodate some weekend traveling, but I do want to share an advertisement for Charge bikes who are taking their version of urban cycling culture all over the Globe. Yard style to the world!

Charge Plug in Jamaica from Georgi Banks-Davies on Vimeo.

Now how about another video designed to make you buy something -- since I have now clearly established how far I will take this particular online forum through the back alleys of advertising pandering and even into the wrong-side-of-the-tracks squalor of obsequious marketing posing as actual content.

Puma Faaslab - Featuring Usain Bolt from One Eyed Robot on Vimeo.

Thanks for checking out the advertising, now back to the regularly scheduled tedium.