Cyclocrunk made me wet.

Cyclocrunk is over for 2010 but it went out with a bang! After 2 days of rain the course was pretty gross. I didn't smell it on the neutral lap but every other lap it was awful. Here's the start:


Brett and I going over barriers:

And the aftermath:

Notice my clean pedals? I sprayed them with Schwinn pedal lube. Works like magic but apparently you can't get it anymore. If I could find something to keep the mud off the bottom of my shoes so I could actually get my cleat into those clean pedals I'll be in good shape.

More photos on my flickr.

Hot Balls

Anthony threw down on some new polo balls. We play every Wednesday and Sunday at 7pm at Bluff City Sports on Cooper.

Teeny Tiny Bike Racks

After seeing this article in the Flyer Emily and I made an appointment with the Urban Art Commission to view Gadsby Creson's 40 Bike Rack Maquettes. For those of us who slept through Art School Vocabulary 101 a maquette (even my spellcheck doesn't recognize the word!) is "a small model or study in three dimensions for either a sculptural or an architectural project." (dictionary.com)

Now that you've learned something today, let's look at a couple of the racks. Gadsby, who rides a bike only occasionally admits that she approached these racks from an artistic perspective. In some cases the art outweighs the functionality; there is no way to actually secure your bike to a rack like this:

The small portion of Memphians (even Americans) who use our bikes for more than recreation need to know our bike is secure. Bike racks can do this and be artistic at the same time. The best bike rack in Memphis is at the Brooks Museum because it incorporates the environment and is very secure. Gadsby does this in her work as well:

An anchor in front of The Cove: kinda kitschy but it works. It worked for David Byrne on Wall Street and New York's fashion district. But you're still limited with the number of bicycles you can attach without going full on bike-pile. Granted, getting people out on bikes is good but two people? Why not ten or twenty? We've seen the amount of people riding the Greenline. They're out there. But in addition to giving them a place to ride we also need to give them a place to park. Gadsby nails it with this one:

Depending on the space between the bars you could potentially fit twelve bikes on that rack. It doesn't imitate its environment but its got form, color, and functionality going for it. It looks pretty rad but maybe that's just my affinity for orange.

To view the rest of the maquettes make an appointment via urbanartcommission.org. The exhibit runs through January 28th. But don't wait until then: on November 19th and 20th as part of the "New Face for an Old Broad" event the UAC will be projecting the maquettes in their gallery space.

Tweed Ride

tweedride2
Originally uploaded by fixmemphis

Last March we had a wonderful time dressing up and riding bicycles to the Fox and Hound. This time we're riding to Celtic Crossing in Cooper-Young, a more bicycle-friendly neighborhood. The ride will leave from the Peddler Bike Shop on Highland at 7pm on Thursday November the 4th. This will coincide with Cooper-Young's First Thursday Night Out. Please dress accordingly!

Cyclocrunk Vimeo

Andrea Wilson, the Queen of Crunk, shared this Vimeo on FB so I wanted to post it here for everyone else. You can see me and Brett a couple of times. I think he could have passed me on the last lap but he was being nice and let me go. We both did 7 laps out of 8, which is pretty awesome. Here's the vid:

Cyclocrunk #2 10/19/10 from Chris Irving on Vimeo.

Spooky Cross Flyer + Info

Click the flyer to view the website. Pay special attention to the costume contest on Sunday: winner gets a Rider cyclocross frame and fork. I've only seen Rider's road frames so I suspect that this CX frame will be carbon as well.

If You Build It, They Will Come

This summer i went through a cycling hiatus of sorts and really wasn't in the riding mood. I think it may have had something to do with the extreme heat warnings and work stress, although i'm pretty sure riding would have helped the latter.


In breathes the cool October air and the Greenline. Cort, the most perfect and amazing person i have ever met, spoke of this visionary greenline often, yet while i listened attentively and dreamt earnestly, i never really thought this would happen. He would leave for work early and ride the line before it was finished and come home excited about all the things he'd seen and how far the paving had gone. We rode the V & E (Vollontine/Evergreen trail) on a thursday night ride which was very bumpy and even more fun, however i knew that it wouldn't be a regular course for me considering not only its direction, but its rigorousness.


So, back to the cool October air. After hearing that Cort rode all the way to Shelby Farms and back, i was intrigued. Cort and Cliff, our regular Wednesday lunch companion, were scheduled to ride the greenline a couple of Wednesdays ago. When CP told me this, i was jealous. Me. The girl who wasn't in the mood to ride for the past 3 months. i dressed myself in my finest butt shorts and rode the greenline for the first time. I've ridden it 3 times since, and now have a regular date with one of my co-workers to ride it every week. I'm sure CP and i will include it regularly along with his "i'm throwing your running clothes at you while you're in bed" workouts that we do<3.

Ride the greenline people. It is so much fun! I think i've ridden over 50 miles in a week! i've converted one person, and 4 more are in the works. If you ever want to ride (slow) with me, give me a shout on FB.