New Stuff from RKP!
So back in April I ran a Kickstarter campaign that, I'm very pleased to say, was successful. Success on Kickstarter is easily measured: Either you hit your funding goal or you don't. It's not terribly different from stick-and-ball sports where either you won or lost. Put another way, it's nothing like bike racing. The campaign had a two-fold purpose. First, I've wanted to collect a number of my posts into a single, collectible, volume for some time. What gave the project its urgency was my need to generate as many greenbacks as possible to make a down payment on the Deuce. ...
The Garden of Earthly Delights
The Garden of Earthly Delights by Hieronymus Bosch Kid, Stay and snip your cord off, Talk and let your mind loose, Can't all think like Chekov, But you'll be O.K. Kid, Is this your first time here? Some can't stand the beauty, So they cut off one ear, But you'll be O.K. Welcome to the Garden of Earthly Delights. Welcome to a billion Arabian nights. This is your life and you do what you want to do,This is your life and you spend it all. This is your life and you do what you want to do, Just don't hurt nobody, And the big reward's here, In the Garden of Earthly Delights. Kid, Pick up with another, Some will even ...
Specialized Builds a Wind Tunnel
So there's this news that Specialized has built its own in-house wind tunnel. My professional reaction was nothing short of "Holy cow!" It's a colossal investment for a facility that will do nothing for a company that produces mountain bikes, city bikes, kids bikes—even an electric bike—and none of the bikes in those categories will be affected by this new facility. For a week or two Specialized's PR team had been posting little teases on FB and Twitter, photos that were mostly just jokes, along with the phrase "aero is everything." I was curious, but mostly only because I could ...
A Day of Reckoning
Finally, spring is in full swing in the midwest after what was an agonizingly long winter. For cyclists, spring brings hope like no other. It’s a fresh start. More time to ride in better weather and longer days. We all feel it, racers and non-racers alike. This year spring sprung about a month later in many parts of the country, with large swaths seeing snow into the first week of May. Back in my youth, the first real sign of spring was the Good Friday Road Race that kicked off the racing season in Ontario. There was always something magical about ...
The Hardest Hour
Of all of cycling's records, the hour stands apart. We love cycling for the transformative suffering on display ascending amid the majestic ski stations in France. The searing, soul-stealing pain that surely marks each lap of the track during a 60-minute bid for glory occupies a different place in our consciousness. This hour-long contest is the essence of man’s competition against himself. For many of us, our hardest hour is not on the bike. It is a dark place we know better than we think even if we will never, ever wind up a 54x14 on a velodrome with a shot at ...
The Death of Lycra
So last week the Wall Street Journal published a piece on the death of Lycra cycling clothing. As if the use of man-made fibers, clipless pedals and shaved legs was one elaborate fad. Or fraud. The Journal doesn't mind wooing controversy, and this was one of those occasions. The piece, "Cycling's Spandez Coup d'Etat," is a piece of work I honestly would have thought was beneath the publication. Why? Well, it confuses correlation with causation in that there has been an increase of riders not wearing Lycra and Lance Armstrong has fallen from grace. However, Armstrong's fall did not cause people to huck their ...
Body
New Stuff from RKP!
So back in April I ran a Kickstarter campaign that, I’m very pleased to say,...
The Garden of Earthly Delights
The Garden of Earthly Delights by Hieronymus Bosch Kid, Stay and snip your cord off, Talk...
Specialized Builds a Wind Tunnel
So there’s this news that Specialized has built its own in-house wind tunnel....
A Day of Reckoning
Finally, spring is in full swing in the midwest after what was an agonizingly long...
The Hardest Hour
Of all of cycling’s records, the hour stands apart. We love cycling for the...
Read More Posts From This CategoryMind
Mostly Sunny
Mostly Sunny. That’s what I was promised, both by the weather app on my phone,...
Truth
What now passes for the “they” and “them” that comprises...
Friday Group Ride #171
In my mind I am slugging away at the long climb west of Brattleboro on the way up...
Interview: Brian Cookson
Editor’s note: Until the emergence of Brian Cookson as a candidate for the...
Community
I’ve got a reader who goes by the initials KCE who occasionally sends...
Read More Posts From This CategoryMachine
Friday Group Ride #167
I will endeavor over the following paragraphs to make no butt jokes, employ no puerile double entendre, and avoid, at all costs, referencing parts of the human anatomy I have barred my young sons from mentioning at the dinner table. We have over recent weeks been discussing product preferences for such crucial gear as helmets and gloves, and you, our... [Read more of this review]
Ritchey WCS Echelon Pedals
In my experience, more than any other component found on a bicycle, pedals elicit a near-religious loyalty among users. It may be that because cleat design will remain static to a degree that even the number of cogs on a cassette will not, people have more years of use on a system and are more likely to develop less a preference than an accustom. We... [Read more of this review]
Friday Group Ride #166
Oh, man. When I brought up helmets last week, I had this sneaking suspicion it was a better conversation starter than the Giro d’Italia, though in years past I know we would have turned the Giro over and over like a favorite record. 50 comments later, I think we covered helmets pretty well. In midweek, Padraig reviewed a new pair of gloves, and... [Read more of this review]
Road Holland Arnhem Jersey
The long-sleeve jersey is an item that wasn’t represented in my wardrobe for a great many years. There was a simple reason why: Fit. Most of them fit me like a burlap sack. Now, a burlap sack is fine if you plan to take 50 pounds of potatoes to the farmer’s market, but even for a cyclist who was only marginally picky about fit, that wasn’t... [Read more of this review]
Assos longSummerGloves
I’ve written previously about how life in the South Bay of Southern California means that I spend at least eight months of each year in arm warmers. I go through a lot of embro as well. I’m also, eternally, on the lookout for lightweight long-finger gloves. That is, a long-finger glove that is warm, but not too warm. For me, I tend to put... [Read more of this review]
iJ.intermediate_s7
There are times when I notice that what I feel for Assos is also what I feel for my son Philip. Yes, there’s the incandescent affection that can cause me to smile at the simple utterance of his, or their, name. But there’s also cross-eyed frustration that comes when you simply want your kid to stop moving. Not only have I said through gritted... [Read more of this review]
Cannondale Teramo Helmet
Take a moment to look at the object above. Really look at it. If you weren’t already a dedicated cyclist, what would you guess that was? I can say that I would guess that it was a souvenir replica of some sort of head gear from a first-person-shooter video game. It would be right at home on an alien in Halo. Falling back on my trained experience... [Read more of this review]
Rapha Sky Kit
I need to be honest. I haven’t worn the kit from a team I wasn’t a member of in probably 15 years. Before I moved to Southern California, I and all of my friends wore any jersey or kit we thought was cool. I had team jerseys from PDM, Z, Gatorade-Chateau d’Ax and even a replica Banania-sponsored maillot jaune like Greg LeMond wore... [Read more of this review]
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