riding bikes, blogging about it, or dying. that's what I've been doing here for the last decade.
The Premier MTB Race in Wisconsin's Kettle Moraine State Park The Annual Fall Color Festival MTB race takes place in the Southern Unit of Wisconsin's Kettle Moraine State Forest, covering up to 32 miles of single-track across two trail systems - The John Muir, the Emma Carlin, and the 5-mile-long connector. There are several race categories depending on skill level and ambition, the most popular…
Life Update: for people who used to read this blog weekly and are wondering why that stopped, it's because I became a professional blogger and that just takes up too much of my time and energy. If you want to read that blog, it's at coinflip.tech/blog - but it has nothing to do with bikes. However, I also run the blog for my local bike shop, Tailwind Cycles . That's where this blog originally…
Reporting Bike Lane Blockers First, you need the address of the blockage (street, nearest building number). Also the time of day, as you don't need to make the report on the spot, you can do it at home. Good idea to get a picture too. Here're the steps: Go to the 311 app or the Chicago 311 website . Look for "FPCE Code - Finance Code Parking Enforcement" Find the Create Request button, click it.…
On a gallows a couple serious-faced authorities offer a man his final chance to tell King George, and God, whose original thought, duly executed by the soon-to-be-executee, began the series of actions that led to a rope around his neck. The ruins of a smoking cotton mill lie behind them, and a repeating pair of footsteps in the mud lead from a workshop to the very spot the fire was set, then to…
In order of proximity to the city center, here are the top MTB trails in Chicagoland. Shout out to CAMBR, the main organizing body of the Chicago area trails. Check out trail conditions and news here: https://cambr.org/ 1. The Garden Just off the grounds of Lane Tech High sits a long-time jump joint where BMXers and dirt jumpers can get raw. Though not a MTB trail proper, people on mountain bikes…
For the past few months the entire world has made pastime out of exposing society's faults in relation to Covid-19, and this humble cycling blog would like to take a moment to throw a twig on that righteous fire. While off-road cycling is meant to be a distanced, often solitary activity, many county-park MTB trail system can't remove close interaction between people because of a poor policy and…
It's rare that a cyclist can focus on one single riding tip and see immediate and meaningful results, but adjusting position before a turn can provide more confidence, more speed, better control, and reduce the likelihood of a crash in all circumstances. I snagged the picture above off the Julianna Bikes homepage because the woman shows textbook-perfect pre-turn body positioning. But what does…
I'm riding south on Damen on Saturday, May 30 of this year at roughly 2pm, and at the intersection with Lake Street when I see flashing lights and sirens travelling east at twice the speed limit. Maybe five-dozen police cars and SUVs pass me in a tight line, headed for the Chicago Loop, I assume. I'd been planning to go downtown anyway just to enjoy the empty roads during the Covid lockdown, so…
Book reviews are a new thing for me on this blog, but I figure that since I have a whole bookshelf dedicated just to cycling books, maybe I should write about some of the good ones, starting with one of my favorites. Pedalare! Pedalare! by John Foot is a comprehensive history of bike racing in Italy, and by extension a history of bike racing the world over, as Italians dominated the sport for much…
I live in the Midwest, Chicago to be exact - in the middling state of Illinois. We have excellent soil, strategically valuable geographic placement, a huge lake full of sunken cargo ships - a true land of wonders. What we do not have is mountains. Confoundingly and compoundingly annoying in regards to this ostensibly mountain-bike-oriented blog post, that great soil I mentioned earlier makes for…
So I have a business idea. I've been working on it for a while and I got all the kinks worked out so don't steal it, and if you do you have to give me a cut or at least make a statue of me and put it in your house to remind you. Anyway, here it is: A Downhill Bike Park. OK, yeah I know that there already are tons of downhill bike parks, all over the place. But here is what makes my park different:…
Outside Magazine is tracking every cycling death in 2020 and compiling that information on their website . Take a look, knowledge is power.
Ok, so I haven't posted in a while, but that's just because I'm working on something big that should release in a year or two. I've also been a little out-of-the-business lately, since I got a new job in the technology world and haven't been dealing with bike stuff for a while. Also, for a year I lost my main bike. But now it's back and better than ever! The full story is that around 2006 I was…
The stock cranks on my new Karate Monkey suck. But it's hard to find a good crankset that works with a normal 73mm MTB bottom bracket. Luckily FSA decided to do something smart: make a freaky BB392 crankset AND make a threaded bottom bracket so that you can instal it in a normal bike. I Give You the Gradient: The Gradient works with either a single or double chainring, and comes in 170mm and 175mm…
This is Part II of a larger series on E-bikes. If you want to read part I, click here . Most E-bikes run on one or more lithium ion batteries (Li-ion). They're typically found attached to a rear rack, the down tube, or the seat tube of the frame, and they can explode if not treated well. This article is about how Li-ion batteries work, how they should be treated, and why they sometimes explode –…
For a few years I worked for a company that owned a stake in a clothing factory in China that specialized in athletic gear. They weren't the best manufacturer, they made a good product and the stitching and quality assurance was always excellent, but the base materials were... mediocre. (please note, none of this was the factory's fault, nor my employer's, for reasons I'll get into.) To explain,…
I first raced a bicycle when I was eleven, and now I'm in my 30's. I've played the upgrade game, and under the auspice of "professional bicycle mechanic," I've been an NPC in the bicycle upgrade and entertainment industry. All that is to say that I know what upgrades matter, and which are hype. This is my quick, no-bullshit guide to improving bike performance without, you know, actually training.…
The printed size on a tire's label is rarely accurate, especially with Continental brand road tires, and double-especially if you stretch them over wide rims. As evidence I submit my new "28mm" Continental 4-Seasons tires, whose actual width measure out to be 31mm on my TK-540 hoops. Man, these dudes fill up like a latex zeppelin. So, when I ride and hit bumps I can sometimes hear the tire rub on…
This piece can be found on its original home: Miracle Monocle , from the University of Louisville. I've posted a rough draft of this essay on here before, but this is the final version. Goes well with the Christmas season, I think. A Canticle for Commerce The manager of this Chicago neighborhood non-profit bike shop, the only paid acolyte in the temple – a longhaired, wiry man with permanent black…
So do don't want to work that hard to ride a bike, but you also don't want a steam bike: Nothing can please you! Maybe you should try an electricity-enhanced bicycle. This here is part one of a guide about some things you should know before getting into e-bikes. ( WARNING! TO GET THE MOST OUT OF THIS POST YOU WILL NEED A 5TH GRADER'S UNDERSTANDING OF ELECTRICITY AND MAGNETS! IF YOU FORGOT…
Please note, this isn't an infomercial for Red Wings. I wrote this article because I couldn't find one like it while boot shopping last year. I wasted a lot of time trying to find the perfect boot for cycling and casual use, but hopefully y'all can avoid that. At any rate, here be the best thing to put around your feet if you ride around on a bicycle in the winter: I ride BMX pedals on my city…
What do you do when it's winter but you still want to ride your bike but you also don't want to ride it on the road like a normal person but you also don't want to get a mountain bike but you definitely want a completely different bike than anything else in your garage, the more niche the better? Get you a Monster Cross bike! The rules of what constitutes a monstercross bike are pretty loose. I…
One of the big things holding high-end cyclists back from buying a thru-axle bike in a big city is the lack of security options. Traditional 15mm nut and quick release wheels have Pinhead, Hublox , and a half dozen other designs to keep your wheels on your bike without connecting to an external lock, but for thru-axle riders there's really only one design on the market , and it's expensive. UNTIL…
Going into the 2006 Tour de France, Floyd Landis had been a favorite to win, but chronic pain forced him out of the lead. This was, in his mind, the last tour the thirty-one-year-old would ever have a chance at, knowing that after three unsuccessful surgeries he’d soon need to have his hip replaced. He broke it in a crash years earlier while working as a domestique for Lance Armstrong. His job,…
GORILLA MONSOON OR DIE! First, some Bull Shit: I wanted All-City's new Gorilla Monsoon. I wanted to see what this whole "Fat Tire Road Bike" scene is all about. So, I got on to the ordering website, selected my size –55cm– and ordered it. What showed up the next day was not no dang fifty-five centimeter bike frame. It was like a 1,000cm frame! Freaking huge! Shaquille O'Neal couldn't ride the damn…