Bicycle Thievery

A lot of you got a text message from me this morning so I just wanted to fill you in on the rest of the situation. And for those who don't know, here's what went down:

I received a phone call at the shop this morning and the caller asked if we bought bikes. We always encourage the person to bring the bicycle in so we can take a look at it. The caller said, "It has Velocity Deep-V wheels and a Tektro brake. I think it's a racing bike." Knowing that most bicycles in Memphis don't have Deep-V's I said, "Go ahead and bring it in; I'd love to take a look at it." After getting off the phone with the caller I sent out a mass text asking about it. Everyone had no idea but Alona replied that Ken's bike had been stolen a while ago. I got Ken's number and called him forewarning that there might be the possibility of recovering his bike. I knew exactly what it looked like because we had built it.

At about 10:45 a guy comes in with Ken's bike. I tell him that I'm going to put it in the stand and check it out and he has a seat on the couch. Hal calls the police and Ken. The police show up in about 10 minutes and ask the guy to stand up and turn around. He shoots me this dumbfounded look as the handcuffs are going on to which I reply simply, "That bike was stolen." He then said that he bought the bike this morning and that he was "just trying to get some extra money for his momma." His mother was actually out in the car and at his request the police went and got her. The verbal melee then ensued: Oh Lord Jesus my baby wouldn't do this countered with he's in posession of stolen property's for about 15 minutes that unfortunately I didn't get to witness firsthand as I was helping another customer.

Ken had also come in to identify the bike and was giddy just to get his ride back. I can't begin to imagine what he was thinking about the situation. As for me, I rode that high of busting a bicycle thief for the rest of the day.

UPDATE: The Commercial Appeal caught wind of this and published a story, along with a nice photo of Ken and his bike.


Photo by Nikki Boertman for the Commercial Appeal

Nashville Opensprints

I just got this forward from Candice in Nashville:

Subject: BYOV Sprint Races! Jan 31st at Springwater (5PM)
To: Nashville Urban Bicycle League



Whether you're roadie, fixie, mountainie, or stepthroughie, you can
pedal. So get ready to pedal your gluts off in Nashville's first
opensprint races.

Not sure what this all means. Four racers will spin on roller mounted
fixed gears, all connected to a central computer, until a winner
crosses the digital finish line, or their kneecaps explode. The more
riders, the better the party. Bring your girlfriends, boyfriends...
anyone that can pedal has a chance in this mad house. Races will be
one to two minute all out sprints.

Come to yell at your friends as their legs fill with lactic acid!
Prizes will be awarded, and the ones and twos will be spinning too so
bring along your greatest vinyl. Forget iTunes playlist, we're gonna
ride the safety dance this night!

We're bidding a big farewell to Scumlife John as he's soon heading off
to Burbank, CA and a happy homecoming vacation as Nathan's set to be
in town that weekend.

After the races, madness will surely follow as the mob rolls on for
some food then commences crashing every party in Nashville that night!
18 hours of superbowl pre-game, not that you hipster kids are
interested!

Pass the word

Now the fine print: We'll have bikes in varying sizes to ride at the
event that will be attached to the rollers. You can swap your bike, or
bring your own pedals if you have clips, but you must be rolling a
48x16 with 160cranks. No unfair advantages, but I'm sure that some
emergency wrenching will be going down to get the bikes to spec.

The 31st is a Saturday and unfortunately, I won't be getting off work until 5. But I enourage anyone who can make the drive to do it, talk to everyone there and have a great time. Hopefully in the future they'll have it at a later time.

Polo Sundays

Thanks to all who came out for the impromptu games of bike polo this evening. Sorry for those who didn't get the message, it just means no one has your phone number. This is going to be a weekly event so get into it. Every Sunday at 5pm behind the Peddler Bike Shop on Highland. There are plenty of mallets so don't worry about bringing one, unless of course you want to make your own stealth stick. The shop will be closed so come prepared.

My new frame

It might be a while before you see this out on the streets. I'm still thinking about what I'm going to be dressing this with.

In the meantime, as an addendum to my previous post asking four questions for Driven Magazine, could anyone who sends me an email please include a picture of their bike. Thanks guys and girls!

Who dis?

One evening whilst on the computer I decided to google search "fixed gear Memphis" just to see if this website popped up (#1, fuck yeah!) and then noticed a Myspace.com profile that was started a couple of years ago: Memphis Fixed Gear. Then the rest of the hits are mostly for Lew's "25lbs of danger" conversions.

But anyway, the Memphis Fixed Gear profile totes rips the Fixed Gear Gallery logo (for a nice list of FGG's best and worst of 2008 check out Cycling WMD) and then whines a bit about no cycling culture in Memphis. He sounds a bit like the pozer curmudgeon on the craigslist bike forum. The best part is the comment stating, "This profile needs help." The last login was half a year ago so I'm hoping the person actually found the cycling culture that we've all come to enjoy.

So who is it?

Errrbody

Terie B updated the Driven Magazine website with the pictures she took at the New Gears Race here. She was also able to include a small spread in the handheld version before it went to print. You can find it at your LBS and other fine establishments. There is also a very informative article on Hashing. I learned a few tips that will make our next Bash even better. Also, Terie is interested in a story about the fixed gear scene in Memphis. I can only think of one way to do it and that is to get everyone's story. If you can find the time please answer these questions:

1. Name, Age
2. How long have you been riding a fixed gear?
3. Why did you choose fixed? (first person that answers pseudo-brah bullshit like, "Fixed gear chose me, man." gets their tires slashed!)
4. What's your favorite part about riding fixed in Memphis?

Send your answers via email to fixmemphis@yahoo.com. You'll probably see the results in the next issue of Driven, but before that, I'll let you know who's tires you can slash.

Until then, here's what's been going around the bike stand: Back 2 School Alleycat, Tour de Pizza Cafe, and Bike Polo.

Sean Quigley is en route to Memphis and might be here as soon as next week. The alleycat is pretty much planned out but time is definitely against us. But don't worry, as Taco said, it doesn't really matter what we do because we always have fun.

Tour de Pizza Cafe should be happening when it gets a little warmer. I'm really anxious for this one because I haven't ridden more than 15 miles in a long time.

I'm totally down for starting Bike Polo and my recommendation is for Sunday mornings, at maybe 10am. When the days start getting longer we can switch it back to a Saturday night and also continue with the Track Races.

Let us know what's going on inside that tiny little head of yours.

Thank you everyone!

To start: Thanks to everyone who made it out! Jonesboro guys: Sorry you didn't make it to the finish/afterparty; we cheers'd you for coming out and having fun.
Next: All you guys who said you'd be there: Pat Boyd, Alex Carr (We really missed you and your house!), Jonathan Cisco, Rocky (to name a few; but mainly Pat Boyd who I talked to almost every day before the race and who said he'd be there...) you guys missed a super fun race and really good beer and pizza. Your loss, DICKS!
Finally and ESPECIALLY: Thanks to all of the volunteers: Alona and Wes, Matthew Writt from the Memphis Flyer, and Kermit. This would not have happened without your initials. And extra thanks to Terie B. from Driven Magazine for including our small world in her wonderful publication.

The race started with 9 laps around the East High School Track. The racers had to drink a beer before, during, or after their 9 laps. They were then given a manifest consisting of 4 checkpoints and a final destination: 208 North Main, 209 South Main, a Grocery Store (their choice) where they had to purchase a can of black-eyed peas, the U of M Clock Tower, and the final destination of Midtown Bikes. Two different manifests were handed out which had the checkpoints in reverse order.

Enjoy these few photos and check out the rest of the sets:




The Results:

1st Place: Chris Spencer
2nd Place: Russ "Shithead" Griffin (Should not have taken backroads.)
3rd Place: Isaiah Flowers (who stopped at home to get his ipod)

1st (and only) Girl: Erica

1st Cruiser: NOBODY

1st Hurl: NOBODY (Really, I was totally expecting someone to evacuate stomach.)

Most awesome part of the race: Beer handoff to Russ Griffin. (The man knows how to caress a bottle.)

Kermit's set HERE.
Fix Memphis set HERE.
Matthew Writt's set HERE.
More sets to come.

Stay tuned for a February "Tour De Pizza Cafe" with everyone's favorite cross-country traveler Sean Quigley.

Happy New Year!

See you all at 1 this afternoon!