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The Bikeman Blogs section is our collection of blogs from our Team Bikeman members and friends of Bikeman. Contributions from regular riders and commuters, bike aficionados, and world class racers.
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Howdo. My name is Zach Magoon and I have been commuting year-round by bike for the last 7 years in both Boston, MA and Portland, ME. Because each day brings new challenges, whether it be changing weather conditions, crappy drivers, sore muscles or mechanicals, I think my ramblings will be, at the very least, moderately amusing. | |
Commuter Files Archives. |
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Greetings and salutations. My name is Rick Nelson (no, not that one damnit) and I am a rider for Team Bikeman.com. You can check out my profile in the team rider section. “Racin Rick” covers my trials and tribulations as a mountain bike racer, commuter, new father etc. In truth, its just a way for me to kill time at work and to see pictures of myself on the web. So here are some excerpts from all my blogging, hope you enjoy. | |
Racin Rick Archives. |
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Welcome to Tales From The Soiled Chamois. This is going to be an online journal taking you through my season of training for and racing marathon, 6, 12, and 24 hour solo endurance races all while working a full time job, being married with a two year old son. I'm no pro, even though I do occasionally race against them. I'm just out there having fun pushing myself. | |
The Soiled Chamois Archives. |
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Not to be confused with the time-trial and women's-specific 650C wheel, the 650B wheel is all about comfort, versatility, and speed over varied terrain. The key to this is all in the tires. A 650x38B setup is about the same diameter as a 700C wheel with a 19mm tire... | |
650Blog Archives. |
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Summer Rants |
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Written by Zach Magoon
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Monday, 25 August 2008 |
I have a bunch of little rants this month--a few things that have been bothering me. But, I throw in some nuggets of joy as well:
I hate cigarettes. Some jackhole threw one out the window after blowing a big puff of smoke as I rode by him. How gross is that? I let out a big cough and a "thanks chubs" and apparently the dude heard me because he said he was sorry. But come on, stop throwing that crap out the window. I guess littering goes along with the stupidity of smoking. What a great couple of habits.
It's been a crappy summer weather-wise for commuting. The last month has had rain or thunderstorms at least a couple times a week. Some days it's fun to ride in a big downpour, but others, I'm just not in the mood. The worst is to get caught in the rain in without rain gear in the morning and having to slap on those wet tighty bike shorts at quittin time. Bleck--so gross. I don't have a solution for this one. I guess I could pack yet another set of clothes but, man how many sets do I need to bring in one day?
Failing parts. I had to replace my pedals that came with the Redline, These things had been cracking and creaking for some time and I finally pulled the trigger on a great pair of TruVativ platform pedals. I wanted something super stiff, durable and grippy becasue I'm not using toe clips. These pedals are awesome. Grippy as all hell from replaceable metal pegs that just bite into the bottom of any rubber soled shoe. I haven't raked my shins across them yet though--that will be a hoot. I haven't bottomed out as much with them either--perhaps I'm getting less aggressive in the turns, or I'm getting old, or just use to the safe zone.
More bikers on the streets! This is awesome. I see a ton of new people every morning who are obviously commuting. One less car on the road is pretty damn awesome if you ask me. I hope people continue into the fall and winter. It's really not as bad as one might think. With a good light and some appropriate clothes, you can commute all year long, even in snowy Portland. Regardless, it's nice to see folks out and about. I read an article on Boston.com saying that bike commuting was up 70% this year. Unreal--keep it goin. Maybe more manufacturers will produce more commuting-specific gear for us to buy.
Ride safely,
Zm |
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