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Memphis Cyclocxt

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Walk Bike Meeting Notes! WOOP WOOP!!

Walk!Bike!Memphis Meeting Notes: 12/7/09

***IMPORTANT***
Review the draft for the “City of Memphis Bicycle Design Guide”. It is open for public suggestion as to where bike lanes, sidewalks, repaving, etc. will go/happen.

http://www.cityofmemphis.org/EngineeringForms/CityBicycleDesignGuide.html

1.) Dawn, an employee for the Center City Commission, is promoting “Bike to Work Day” on May 21st! She wants the business to be a clearing house for info., find potential committees, and plan fun events that correspond.
2.) She also thought of a ‘Walking Tour’ around town in which participants will walk to landmarks, have a scavenger hunt, or any other suggestions.
3.) Review and suggestions for elevator statement, mission, and goals.
4.) Emily is helping with the Bicycle Film Festival 2010 at the Memphis Brooks Museum of Art.

WalkBike! Memphis Meeting Monday Night

It's time for another Walk Bike! Memphis meeting. Here are the details from Sarah:

Hello WalkBike Advocates!

Please plan on meeting Monday December 7 at 5:30 at Otherlands Café on Cooper for our next Walk Bike Memphis meeting!

Our Agenda will look like this:

5:30pm
5 min - Introductions - Sarah
20 min - Who are we? – Clarifying our mission – Outreach Committee
20 min – committee breakout sessions
15 min – regroup, City Bike Design Guide
6:30pm
Socialize! Brainstorm!

On another note:

The draft of the “City of Memphis Bicycle Design Guide ” is up for review until Dec 30 of this year. It is critical that we give our input as this is the document that will be used to guide our future bike facilities Please take a look and let our engineering department know what you think – good and not-so-good.

Here is a link to the invitation to review:

http://www.cityofmemphis.org/EngineeringForms/CityBicycleDesignGuide.html

Also, I think that WalkBike Memphis should complete its own review of the draft (addition to your personal opinions.) This is a prefect first task for the policy committee with a few additional parties who are specifically interested in the guide review. We will talk about this at the end of our meeting to please have a look!

Additionally, attached is the most complete version of the notes from last month. Have a look.

Thanks so much! See you Monday December 7

Sarah Newstok
Program Manager
Coalition for Livable Communities
1548 Poplar Avenue
Memphis, TN 38104
(901) 725 8370
www.livablememphis.org
sarah@livablememphis.org

If you are free please plan on attending. I'm sure you'll recognize some faces.

Downside Up

...is a film that we showed today at the Brooks about a North Massachusetts town that was steadily going downhill until it got itself an art museum. This such action totally turned around the city.
That's great, right? Well after the film, Elisabeth, my super awesome boss lady, held a Q and A about the film to see what viewers thought. Well she got an earful.
Memphians want bike lanes. They also want better transportation and less cars. The movie didn't mention bikes or bike lanes once, but apparently that's the immediate response this audience felt.
They made a good point: What's the need for public art if it only works outside of your car, and everyone's in their car? Something to think about.

Get Buff Even When It's Freezing

Okay, so I know most of the people that read this blog ride their bikes religously. However, try as i might, i'm not one of those people. Though recently i have a new found LOVE for riding trails with Cort and speeding through beautifully crafted mud puddles while he looks on with adoration, i want a consistent way to do quicker workouts and still burn calories without building a lot of muscle.

So, i researched the topic and what i found was refreshing and encouraging. I read that riding my trainer (that my amazing bf gave me)at home for 30 minutes will burn up to 235 calories and 500 for an hour! So, yea. Dad, sorry, you can't borrow my trainer anymore. It's super cold and i'm going to try and force myself to ride my short route to work, but just in case i pansy out, i want to know my trainer is there waiting for me.

Oh, and p.s. if any ladies want to walk/run/ride with me in Overton Park so we all feel a little safer, give me a shout.

Memphis Cyclo Cat

So I spent some time on mapmyride and came up with a tentative course for the upcoming cyclocat.


Bigger version here.

Here's stuff you need to know:
- The start is at the back part of Audubon Park, way back by the fence.
- You will exit the park to your left via the gravel road then right on Cherry.
- Make your way to the first checkpoint, behind The Peddler on Highland.
- Make your way to the intersection of Central and East Parkway, hop on the median and ride that to Poplar.
- Enter the park at your discretion, the next checkpoint is Rainbow Lake.
- Make your way to McLean and the V&E Greenway, ride that to N. Watkins.
- Use the medians to make your way down N. Parkway to Main Street.
- Ride between the Trolley tracks (staying on the cobblestones) from N. Main to S. Main, end at Midtown Bikes.

Feel free to ride this, it's 13.4 miles, and let me know what you think.

Louisville will get you drunk!

Right before all of the holiday hysteria we took a little trip, we being Dennis, Erica, Emily and myself, to visit Jevans at his new place in Louisville, KY.

His new apartment is right above a neighborhood bar. The plus is that he lives above a bar, the minus is that he lives above a bar. The other plus is the bar had a simple little bike rack in front; in fact, these bike racks were everywhere around Louisville. Pretty cool. We arrived in Louisville at around 3AM Friday morning and went to bed around 5AM.

We awoke at the crack of 1:30PM. I'm always the first awake so I goofed around outside on my new setup.

I got some new Velocity Chukkers in the Olive Mist color and wrapped them with some 35mm Continental Speed Kings. Riding freewheel on this monster hence the front AND rear brakes. The weather was poifect so we did a small ride to get some food then came back to the house. After that Dennis and Jevans and I rode about 2 miles to downtown to see the shop where Jevans works. Sorry, no pictures, but the major streets had on-street parking which was kind of like having a bike lane. We hung out with the guys at the shop for a few hours then headed to the bar. Notice I didn't say house, because I basically dropped my bag off and went downstairs. The all-vegetarian menu was actually nice and there was quite an assortment of beers. So we had a few.

Neil Young said it's better to burn out than to fade away. That was before Sparks.

At this point I went along with the idea to take a picture with everyone in the bar. Too many to upload so here's a couple:

A couple of people even rode their bikes to the bar:

Fixed gears are the most!

At this point everyone went to sleep except me. I continued to represent Memphis into the wee hours at another bar. I awoke to this:

Dennis is totes in love with me. I can say that because he doesn't read the internet. After doughnuts and coffee and haircuts we spent the day shopping at Zappos, Lotsa Pasta and The World's Most Awesome Flea Market. Again, no pics. So just be satisfied with what you see.

Urban Mountain Bike Park

The other day Dennis was showing us pictures of his cross-country trip and told us about this park in Seattle. It's an urban park built under the I-5 Colonnade, a great reuse achievement which could work in any city; possibly they got the idea from Burnside Skatepark. The park looked really cool but I didn't get a feel for the true size of the park until I saw this video over at twofivefix.



Although they make mention of the crazy twisting teeter-totter you don't get to see it. But you can check their wiki-like page for more photos and info here.

Neighbortalk

Councilman Shea Flinn will be hosting Kyle Wagenschutz (Revolutions Community Bicycle Shop), John Paul Shaffer (Revolutions Community Bicycle Shop), and John Cameron (Deputy City Engineer) as his Neighbortalk guests on Thursday, November 19, 2009 at 7:00pm to discuss cycling benefits, wants and need of Memphis cyclists and the city’s bike plan. Neighbortalk is a live call-in show on the Memphis Public Library’s Channel 18 (WYPL).

If you are available to watch, feel free to call the number on the screen to ask Councilman Flinn and Mr. Cameron for their support of making Memphis a premier place for cycling in the country. If you are not able to catch to show as it airs, we will make it available for viewing after November 19, 2009.
http://www.cityofmemphis.org/framework.aspx?page=945

Sunday, Sunday! SUNDAY!!

Check the Outdoors, Inc. website for the official schedule and rules.

My friend Zac was hit

...in the face by a University of Memphis student. You can read the full article which appeared in Friday's Daily Helmsman here. There should be a follow-up on Monday with the offender's name, that is if University officials have located him. Though it shouldn't be hard to locate a 6'5" 250lb man if you have his license plate number, unless of course you don't want to find him. I'm just saying that the officials have the pertinent information and it shouldn't take a week to track down a student. Is the University protecting an athlete? Shouldn't having had your near perfect basketball season record stripped away be enough warning that you shouldn't try to cover things? This is all speculation and hopefully we'll find out Monday. If you can't get to campus to grab a copy you can always follow up with dailyhelmsman.com.

In reaction to this assault we are planning a bicycle rally on campus in the near future. Details are still being worked out but it would most likely consist of an early morning (8 AM) moderate paced group ride around campus (Patterson, Zach Curlin, Central), an information booth on campus throughout the day, then another moderate paced group ride in the afternoon or evening (2 or 5 PM).

If you are upset about the obvious lack of knowledge of the law (especially from Keitra Jones who works in Police Services) the please write a letter to the Daily Helmsman here.

If you need to reference City of Memphis or Tennessee State cycling laws you may follow the links we posted last year: Cycling Laws... Again

The Thursday Night Ride Flowers Reunion

Sorry to fool you with the post topic but Isaiah is not in town, we're just moving the meeting place back to the Flowers' abode on Philadelphia. Yes, you and I both wish Isaiah would come home, if only just to say hi and ride a bike a grace us with his joy-filling smile, you know the one where he hucks a little laugh, but I think we just might have to wait until the holidays draw near. So meet-up at 9pm and get your safety meeting on or relax in the hammocks; I don't know where we're riding tonight but it's dry, it's not too cold, and I'll be riding fixed for the first time in about 6 weeks, so you don't want to disappoint by missing out. See you out tonight!

If you don't know the location just be at Revolutions at 8:30pm. You'll find out from there.

Taking Suggestions From Others

In the comments section of a previous post (The Bicycle Lane Movement) maydaymemphis said that he/she rode the median of North Parkway to Broad and Tillman and suggested we all try it. It sounded like fun and seeing as how I have a cross bike, yesterday I rode the East Parkway median from Harbert to Sam Cooper/Broad. It was sloggy but def fun. The only "obstacles" were under the overpasses, in my case Union Ave. Thankfully traffic was light. Some of the intersections were also narrow because of turning lanes but others had cutouts like driveway access, presumably for city vehicles.

Later on in my ride I hopped on the Vollintine/Evergreen Greenway from McLean to Watkins and it got me thinking of how easy it would be to make the Parkway medians into a very similar greenway. I don't know how much money was spent on the V&E but there's really not much to it. It just seems to exist (I know that it was purchased) because people use it and volunteers take care of it. Paths are worn in and it's pretty hard packed, but not paved at all. There are bridges where necessary but I don't think you would need anything like that on the Parkways.

From Dunlap/North Parkway to Young/East Parkway is approximately 5 miles. If you want to add South Parkway you could almost double that. The city maintains the medians so all we have to do is start using them. For commuting purposes they don't suit my needs at all but the days that I don't work I would really enjoy doing a couple of out & backs to build my base miles. The Parkways are easy access for most midtowners and are in a large sense buffetted from traffic. Just don't ride or run through the flower M at Union.

Upcoming Events

Some of you may have heard that the Memphis Halloween Alleycat is not happening. True bummer. There might be a costume party somewhere but I'm not sure. I'll let you know if anything is happening. As for now, still plan on doing the regular Thursday Night Ride.

For a future event I'm looking for people to run checkpoints between East Memphis and Downtown. I think I have 5 set checkpoints but that number could change. The date is not set in stone but it will take place sometime in January. You'll want to put on some cross tires for this one.

That's all for now. Be safe.

Cyclocrunk Pictures

View more on my flickr.

The Bike Lane Movement

As I was voting last week (yea Wharton!) Emily was reading the Flyer. She spotted an article about putting bike lanes in Memphis, or rather, in a part of Memphis that would be more visible than a little stretch of Shady Grove. The Coalition for Livable Communites is working with our buddies at Revolutions in a seemingly never-ending struggle with the Memphis Planning Organization (MPO). The project is called Walk Bike Memphis! and they meet the first Monday of each month at Otherlands at 5:30pm. I'm going to try to go to the next one, November 2nd, but of course I won't get there until after 6. I know we all like to bitch about cars and drivers so I'd like to see a lot of people there. It reminds me of the line from Alice's Restaurant:

"And three people do it, three, can you imagine, three people walking in
singin a bar of Alice's Restaurant and walking out. They may think it's an
organization. And can you, can you imagine fifty people a day,I said
fifty people a day walking in singin a bar of Alice's Restaurant and
walking out. And friends they may thinks it's a movement."

The Bike Lane Movement.

Personally I would like to know the best way to get the MPO to do anything. A gentleman was in the shop with his little boy the other day and asked when they were going to put a bike lane on Central. I've wondered this myself. (Let's Repave Central Ave) As he was leaving he said that if there was a petition he would sign it. And maybe that won't hurt, pushing a stack of signatures in front of the MPO.

Finally I'd like to draw your attention to this article from Urban Velo. The title is "Does Share The Road Work?" and they're talking about the slogan, not whether bike lanes are a good idea or not. Perhaps we can discuss this at the next Walk Bike Memphis! meeting.

To Live and Ride in LA

Despite all the rain we're getting you can be sure that California still has some beautiful riding weather. Just check this video from Trafik:

To Live & Ride In L.A. [Teaser A] from TRAFIK on Vimeo.

David Rowe, the man who brought us Fast Friday, has been down in Los Angeles documenting their fixed gear culture. It's scheduled for realease sometime in 2010, I believe. In the meantime visit toliveandrideinla.com for posters and other info.

The weather calls for cross with a strong chance of crunk

It's supposed to rain all day. The Cyclocrunk race tonight should be a fun wet one. I won't be racing as I can't seem to shake this cough. I don't know whether or not I'll be spectating, either. But good luck to all who make it out there tonight, I know the pictures on cyclocrunk.com will be amazing. Pictures from last weeks race are already up.

I'm really lame, I know, because I have a bike set up and ready to race. I wish I could reach into my mouth, down my throat and grab this gnarliness and pull it out. Maybe I should try eating some plants as it seems to work for my cat. In the dark morning I stepped barefoot into some of her vomit. Nice, right? After hopping on one foot to clean it off and going back to clean it up I saw some leaves in there. I bet it looked and felt like the ground for tonights race.

And check this out: If you don't have a cyclocross bike but want one my friend Jerry is selling a practically brand new Salsa LaCruz:



I'm pretty sure cyclocross rules forbid disc brakes but it's not like Cyclocrunk is officially sanctioned. It's still a badass bike anyways, and he's only asking $1200 for the complete bike. It's a 53cm which is cross for 56cm. More info can be found here. Let me know if you're interested.

Zombiecat Cancelled

I heard from Paul in New Orleans. Instead of putting on a Zombiecat this year they are focusing their efforts on a November bike polo tournament. They've set the dates for Nov. 21st and 22nd. Check New Orleans Hardcourt Bike Polo for more details. Dennis and I have already scheduled to go. I don't know who else is going but it would be great to bring a team or two.

Practice getting CRUNK

The 2009 (yeah, I corrected the other post below) Cyclocrunk series is in one week! If you don't think you're ready there is a pratice session tomorrow (Wednesday) morning at 6am at Tobey Field. I'm going and I'll find out how much I need to repair on my bike to make it ready. See you there!

The weather outside is

absolutely great for polo! And check this out:


View Larger Map

A public court. Yes, it's way out in Germantown. Riverdale Park. If you go east on Poplar, left on Riverdale and right on Neshoba it will be on your right.

And speaking of bike polo, check out this promo from Peugeot:


seen on Tracko

They're #1 in health care so why wouldn't we expect the French to be level with the sport of the future. Vive le Bike Polo!

CycloCRUNK!!!

Joel has set the dates for Cyclocrunk 2009. October 6th, 13th, and the 20th. I've never raced in the Crunkness but I'm trying to get a bike together for this year. I'm going singlespeed and the only thing I'm missing is a frame (which I want to double as my polo bike). So if anyone has any leads on a 56cm frame, preferably an old road frame that originally had 27" wheels (need the extra clearance for larger tires) let me know. You can see pictures from past Crunkies at cyclocrunk.com. From what I hear and have seen it's a tough series, which Russ Griffin usually dominates, lapping people. I know Russ is a tough rider, placing 2nd in the New Gears Alleycat (because he thought side streets would be faster in windy conditions, a mistake I made once) so I'm not racing to win, only to have fun. I'm just wondering if Clark Butcher sold his cross bike. If he hasn't, maybe he can give Russ a challenge?

Halloween in New Orleans

Emily and I, along with Dennis and Erica (who made the trip last year) are all going to New Orleans for Halloween this year. Several people have expressed interest in going so let me know if you can do it so we can arrange hotel/housing.

You've heard the stories, now's your chance to live it.

We've been a little busy

Let's rewind about two weeks and check out what happened on Labor Day. The polo day for the Memphis Downs started with a great cookoff at Jasons and before we all got too drunk we rolled over to CBU for a little mallet action. It wasn't long before a security guard came up and made it clear that we weren't welcome. Since we weren't able to finish with the double elimination tournament we had going I awarded 2 points to every player on a team beat by the winning team, who all got 3 points. And, as we suspected, Chase swept the podium. Here's how everything came out:

Chase 26
Josh 18
Zac 17
Kermit 16
Brett 16
Todd 13
Andrew 13
Joel 12
John 9
Cort 8
Daniel 6
Charles 5
Ted 5
Eric 4
Parker 3
Dennis 3
Burly Andy 2
Jason 2
Andy J 2

I still have prizes to give out to Zac, Dennis, and Ted (I think). We'll do something soon.

Two days later Em and I took off for Nashville to see the Chuck Close exhibit. A-mazing. Also, inspiring. I'm anxious to print some new stuff. We'll set up a printing night pretty soon. We got to stop by Halcyon Bike Shop and talk to the nice people there and check out their bikes. Lots of pretty candy. What works for them is taking old road frames, putting on good quality components, color-matching, and selling it for around $500. What they don't do is take an old road frame, order some low level wheels off the internet, respace and fuck up the hubs, use whatever old original equipment they can and sell it to some craigslist sucker for $550.



We also got to ride with a lot of our Skumlife friends. We met in Centennial Park and hung out doing skids and whatnot while everyone showed up. There was some debate about where to go, everything was either 1 mile away or 7 miles away, so we opted for the 7 and hit up the 3 Crow. They had 2 for 1's and bar food so some people got a little rowdy. I ended up braining making a brain out of my testicles and placed them on Art's head and then high-5'd him with my penis hand. When we rolled out of there Art was so drunk, running through the streets like a stray chicken in traffic.




Then Thursday night was Gorman's last ride so we needed to make it epic, which we did. About 15 fortunate people rode to the Southland Greyhound Park in West Memphis, AR. Man, riding across the old bridge is perhaps the scariest thing I've done. You're riding a sidewalk with cars and 18-wheelers coming at you at 60+ mph, headlights blinding you on one side, then the other side is an easy over the railing drop into the Mighty Miss. Thankfully everyone made it across safe. After a brief bit of pavement we hit a sandy/gravel road. Parts of it were a little awkward to traverse so I shouldered my bike and did the 100 yard dash. Back on the pavement and in a little bit of civilization we were cheered by the few people we passed. When we arrived at the dog tracks the valet was a bit confused. We bike pile'd as I don't think he could have ridden a fixed gear. After some beers in the Juke Joint and some loud Steelers fans (I don't get it: Pittsburgh? You don't live there, you weren't a fan 2 years ago, but now you look like a bumble bee and you have ruined your car with giant stickers!) we rode back through the gravel and across the bridge (much easier this time with the cars behind you) and safely home.




...And it's been raining ever since then...

Don't steal bikes, bro.

Just for you, Cort.

Bike Thief vs Street Justis from triple on Vimeo.

Points Distribution

When you look at the point system keep in mind that it is cumulative. Even if you don't think you can top the list by being on the winning polo team today, you can still move ahead of other people, which will give you bragging rights until next year. So here's how it looks so far:

Skid Comp

Chase 8
Zac 7
Cort 6
Todd 5
Andrew 4
Brett 3
Josh 2
Burly Andy 1

Alleycat (with times, red font is time with bonuses)

Chase 1.34.23 1.32.23
Kermit 1.36.10
Josh 1.47.55
Joel G 1.48.27
Brett 1.54.53
Zac 2.01.17 1.57.17
John 2.02.28
Todd 2.06.40 2.03.40
Andrew 2.11.56 2.07.56
Daniel 2.11.17 2.08.17
Charles 2.12.48
Eric 2.22.13 2.20.13
Parker 2.20.26
Ted 2.31.21 2.26.21
Burly Andy 2.36.57 2.32.57

Look at Andrew/Daniel time and Eric/Parker time and you can see where the time bonuses helped people, if only by seconds. Where does that put the overall standings?

Chase 23
Zac 17
Josh 15
Kermit 14
Brett 14
Todd 13
Joel 12
Andrew 11
John 9
Cort 6
Daniel 6
Charles 5
Eric 4
Parker 3
Burly Andy 2
Ted 2

It looks like Chase has all but sealed an overall victory but can he pull off a sweep of the podium?

Don't forget about the cookout at Jason's house on Harbert at 12:30. If you need directions call me: 901.921.8096

hey you there reading ths...

MEMPHIS DOWNS TONIIIIGGGGHHHT!

7PM: MEET AT THE REVOLUTIONS CO-OP TO RECEIVE YOUR METAL MANIFEST!
$10 BONES TO RIDE AND IF YOU'RE FAST, YOU WILL BE HANDSOMELY ADORNED WITH PRIZES! YEEEAAA!
LIST OF GARAGES IN POST BELOW!

Also, tomorrow (Monday, Labor Day) we'll be having a cookout at Jason and Lucy's house on Harbert. 12:30, bring some food and beverages.

Party tonight!!

Yo, we're throwing down at Odessa tonight. Films from Death Pedal, Council of Doom and Macaframa from 10 til about 1am. A $1 raffle for a Timbuk2 Messenger Bag, a cycling cap, and free issues of Urban Velo. They will also be giving away some Amerian Apparel clothing!

And I just heard that they bought ten Dirty Thirties! That's 300 beers art schoolers!

Get there around 10 because you won't get in once the party reaches capacity!

Meet & Greet tonight

8pm at First Congo Church and the corner of Cooper and Walker. We'll play some footdown and have a skid comp to start the weekend off right.

And here are the Eleven

505 Zach Curlin
Clark Tower
Cannon Center/Hilton (lowest level)
40 Dudley Street
230 Shadyac Ave 49 S. Front Street
245 Washington
Commerce (Market) Square Parking
216 East Street
340 Innovation Drive
Parking Can Be Fun
MLGW Front Street 869 Madison

afterparty/finish: ???*

Like we did last year, once you have written down all of the letters on top of the garages you will unscramble the letters to form the finish destination. This ride requires that all participants act in an honorable manner. If you think it is cheating, it is cheating, so don't do it. Go to every garage, please. By all means research the garages on Google Maps but DO NOT ride them as it will draw unwanted attention. I was kicked out of one garage already.

Riders are advised to wear a helmet and have proper lights and reflectors on their bikes. We also require that all traffic laws be respected - especially speed and weight limits.

The points for the winners of the Memphis Downs will work like this: Riders receive points in each ride for the order in which they finish. The first place finisher receives as many points as there are riders in the specific ride. For example, if 37 riders ride Sunday night, the first place finisher receives 37 points, the second place rider receives 36, etc. For bike polo, points will be awarded on a team basis and teams of 3 will be drawn at random. If there are 5 teams, the winning team will receive 5 points each, second place 4 points each, etc. Skid contest and footdown work the same way.




Check back for updates, some shit will probably go awry.

Saturday Afternoon Rock Flick: Died Young, Stayed Pretty

Saturday, September 5, 2 pm

Check out this first-hand view of the underground poster scene about bands, ideas, and what makes a rock poster sing.
This indie-based creativity gives its viewers a unique perspective into who is actually behind that slammin' poster framed in your living room. See what sets off these progressive artists ideas of obscenity, uniqueness, and cool.
Bring a bag, though, there may just be a record store selling posters and records before the film.

Director Eileen Yaghoobian will be in attendance.

How much? 8 bucks for non-members, 6 for members!
Where? Memphis Brooks Museum of Art!
Check out the trailer here:
youtube=http://youtube.com/watch?v=vrrss_Bxfw0

New Polo Grounds

My friend Andrew came into the shop today and told me that he and some of his friends have been playing polo at the lot next to Dollar General (next to CBU) on Central. A group of us went and checked it out tonight and played a couple of games. It's wide open which makes play longer and it's lit so we can play for a while. There were a couple of times when the ball went under the fence but was easily retrieved. Cones are already there and I distributed mallets to the people who showed up. There are 3 mallets left, 2 of which I think are probably claimed (Kermit and Rocky have dibs) so that leaves one mallet left which will be an extra.

We're going to play tomorrow at this new spot at 6:30PM, to allow everyone to get off work (Chase) and ride over. There is plenty of room to hang out and watch so if you've never played feel free to drop by.

$5 afternoon movie tomorrow and she's a good one!

BUT FIRST
Hey everyone, I (Cort) still need some volunteers to run time bonus checkpoints for the Downs. Hit me up at fixmemphis@yahoo.com if you are interested!

Herb and Dorothy
Sunday, August 30, 2 pm
Beginning in the early 60's Herb and Dorothy Vogel began collecting art of then unknown Minimalist and Conceptual artists such as Chuck Close, Sol LeWitt, Christo and Jeanne-Claude, Jeff Koons and many more.
Oh, and did I mention that Herb was a postal worker and his wife, a librarian. They paid for all of their art with his paycheck, and lived off of hers entirely. Together, the Vogel amassed 2,000 pieces worth millions. But rather than sell, the couple donated the bulk of their collection to the National Gallery of Art in Washington, DC.
Come see their amazing true story and learn how they are still collecting to curate their one bedroom apartment in Manhattan.

Volunteers Needed!!!

Hey everyone, I still need some volunteers to run time bonus checkpoints for the Downs. Hit me up at fixmemphis@yahoo.com if you are interested!

Fixed Gear: Savannah, GA

Emily and I just got back from a fine beach vacation in Hilton Head, SC with plenty of sand castles, alligators, beach cruisers, sunsets and fruity drinks in a rainbow of colors (which we were more intent on drinking, rather than taking pictures of them):




One day while we were there we took a drive over to Savannah, GA (about 30 minutes away) and shopped and took pictures of bicycles. Savannah is home to SCAD (Savannah College of Art and Design) so you can imagine the number of "hip" art-school kids with fixed gear bikes. I'll preface these photos first with an apology to anyone whose bike I captured that isn't an art-school hipster and actually rides for the love of it, for the work of it (shout to Brett, a Savannah Pedi-cabbie who was super nice to talk to for a while), or for the transportation of it. Savannah is beautiful and I want to come back and race and play polo (everyday!?) and just ride in your bike lanes and park in your abundant bike parking, but it seemed that a lot of the bikes I saw were strictly trying to be cool. Here's what I mean:

I never thought about grabbing my bars from underneath but I imagine it would make you pretty aero:


Or, "I'm gonna chip to hell my sweet-ass Merckx with this un-sheathed chain." Two condoms are needed here: one for the chain and one for the owner so he doesn't reproduce:


However this is the worst:


Where did that derailleur go? It must not have been any good. What does Dura-Ace mean anyway?



However there were some good looking bikes around like this guy:



...and his rather smart basket:



Or this Fuji Track Pro that was (regrettably) spray painted white:



And overall Savannah looks like an enoyable place to ride:



I mostly took pictures of fixed gears and single speeds as there were WAY too many cruisers. Check the rest of them on my flickr.