HumanPoweredTransport

Ghana Again

We went, we shot it up, we came home. The documentary is now complete, save for the editing. The short version of the Village Bicycle Project film is viewable on-line at Current TV's website and will soon be on the air. The short is also playing in Program 15 at the Bicycle Film Festival on Sunday the 14th in NYC. Check it out if you can. The ever popular Ghana Chronicles will return to this space as the journal get's transcribed throughout the week ahead, meanwhile photos are posted in the albums section to your right. Thanks to everyone who supported this mission - it's good to be back at Squadra HQ. Onward and viva!

Grinding Along

All the best to Saul Raisin, still on the long road of recovering from his 60 kph head bongo a couple weeks back. Squadra is on our way through NYC and then Ghana for the final phase of Village Bicycle Project filming. We'll try to post from overseas, but no guarantees. Until then, onward!

Poor George's Hell du Norde

Cycling News, April 8, 2006:
"Scott Daubert: One thing I forgot to tell you about is that George is running with a different fork; it has a longer axle to crown dimension, and it has a longer rake than the normal Bontrager Race Lite fork.
CN: Is this something new you'll bring into the Trek line?
SD: No, it's actually from Bontrager's Satellite line, almost from their commuter level, but it has dimensions that are appropriate for Roubaix. It's an in-house made fork, made at Trek from OCLV carbon, it's just on a different model bike.
CN: Is it a steel steerer?
SD: No, it's aluminium; it's been blasted then anodized black."
VeloNews, April 9, 2006:
"In another stroke of bad luck, George Hincapie (Discovery Channel), who finished second to Boonen last year, fell with about 46km to go when his steerer tube broke, his handlebars popped off and he went crashing hard to the ground. Unable to finish, Hincapie clutched his right shoulder and grimaced in pain as his bid to win Roubaix proved elusive yet again."
Draw your own conclusions from that one. Who the f*** cares what color the steerer tube is anyway - it goes inside the damn head tube. I'm not even gonna touch the whole train crossing incident. UCI does what UCI wants. Onward.

Table Scraps

All good wishes to Saul Raisin, who is in a hospital induced coma after face planting at 60kph in la Ronde. The grandest race in the world is on Sunday; the queen of the classics has friends who keep the parcours maintained. A moonbuggy race!?!?! Hell yes it's human powered and sponsored by NASA, natch. Euopean messy champs in Helsinki this year - peep their velodrome! Wideangle makes it look freekin' huge. Nice looking book coming soon from Powerhouse on the NYC ponyexpress. Dates so far for the Bicycle Film Festival: NYC - May 10-14, LA - June, Chicago - July, London - Sept., SF- Oct., Sydney- Oct., Tokyo- Nov. A short version of our own "Village Bicycle Project" film, which is what all those Ghana Chroniclesposts were about, will screen in the fest. Viva!

Moron Smithsonian

Bubbling up through the crude of the blogospheric swamp, here's more talk of action on the recent privatization of formerly public domain archives at the Smithsonian. That second link includes a jump to a PDF of a petition to the Freedom Of Information Act. Read the article to see how it might apply, if for nothing else to reveal just how much data was secured by Showtime. Other press includes the NYT and the actual ST announcement of the deal. Onward.

London Calling

Listen to The Clash on your way to the airport in the UK and get detained as a security risk. WTF?

Plop Plop Fizz Fizz

Pissing here in dark smeary greys across the morass. Nothink to do but stew. Boonen went boom on Sunday, with more fireworks to come Wed and on the weekend. Hoste did the right thing, according to Cycling News.
"Demol also explained Discovery's tactics at Flanders, where Hoste worked with Boonen until about 1.5km from the finish. "Many people have asked, why Leif?" said Demol. "He couldn't win a sprint against Boonen. Well, I can tell you. When Leif attacked with 32 km left it was not supposed to have been a race-deciding effort. We were trying to break up the Quick Step grip on the front of the race. We figured a big effort could get the numbers down to maybe two of them and two of us and then we'd see how it went. Leif was surprised to see that he had only Boonen with him, and radioed back to me to see what he should do. I told Leif that he could cooperate but that Boonen had to take the longest pulls. I also told him that if George could bridge up, then Leif could not pull any more and he'd have to wait for George. Leif was completely happy with this plan, as was Johan [Bruyneel] when I spoke with him later. I radioed George and told him to try and drop the riders he was with and then Leif will be waiting for you. George agreed and put in a big effort on the Muur, but couldn't shake the guys he was with, and that's why Leif and Boonen went to the line 1-2."
Pittsburgh is apparently the latest city where attack-tactics prevail when the bulls encounter a Critical Mass. Or you could ride with these guys, across the freekin' state. Go Penn or go home. Ever wonder how they get high-tech munitions in the middle east? Back in the states united, public domain archival rights at the Smithsonian just got sold to the highest bidder, which in this case is Showtime with a fifty year lease on all image and audio based materials at the national institution. Material that was formerly available to you and me just like the public library. Beyond f'd up. The EFF is fighting it, per the link previous so if you can, spread the word. Viva.

Itches To Scratch

A poem. Haven't had one of these around here for awhile.

Squirrels scramble figure eight parallelograms
Then split stage left and right and I ride through
A dirty brown goose preens
In the aqueduct ecosystem off my left elbow
Tree slalom skill test through the footpath by the ‘river’
The goose reminds me of a flock of Canadian geese
Resting on migratory influence up Lake Michigan way
Snow padded softly beneath
Watching for black ice with narrow
Treaded wheels and looking up
To see the blinking vision of a forlorn Slavic enforcer
Quietly eying a free Christmas dinner
As he screwed tight the silence under his pea-coat
And I rode through
Now ducking low of the branches on a blind right
Off camber with a rock and root sidecar surprise
Sweeping left now and then surfing right again
Pigeon’s part in perfect symmetrical tattoos
And I ride through
Flashing to a tree-line rife with sticks
Somewhere west of Baltimore
Not sticks from trees but crafted for sport
Grime smeared sticky with the blood
Of a bat fight before daybreak
Close enough to a harbor parking lot
To provide for one or two car-loads of
Turf warring locals sure enough
The terra and flora is matted and smeared
Like a headwound in greying hair
Beneath leafy boughs overseeing
Crimson gilded chips off old bark
About head high on the trunk and I rode through
Now over bridges of questionable resolve avoiding traffic
The opposite bank revealing more off-piste treasures
Bordered both sides by river
The aqueduct right and freeway left
Traipsing along the maintained dirt track
Wide enough for an ATV, deemed a jogging path
Controlled Federally in the event of unmentionable things
Now played upon by closeted athletes and equestrians
Weekenders and after work runners out for the fix
And me, riding through
Past the limo-tint Crown Vic, always idling
Along the access road beneath the southern freeway
Which is where the empty suitcase
Mysteriously sat on the day the car wasn’t there
The oversize luggage so lovingly stiletto’d open
Discarded yet so recently acquired
Greyhound fresh or skycap delivered
Maybe hours before and heavy with weight
Now liquid the deal done cash on the barrelhead
And I rode through
Overpass tunnels reeking of cart-borne dwellers
Drying out kit and caboodle after the recent rains
The perfect cover for agents of the apocalypse
There are a few I am familiar with
And I note how they move gracefully
Through the sludge at the bank of the concrete slew
Like men trained to patrol
Like men I know and so I ride wide
Watching them air their wares with respect
Tinged by caution guard up I ride through
Make better time than the morning commute
Stalled here with irksome resigned regularity
Just to the left of frame filled now
With the subtle adjustments in course
Due to shattered fifths of glass or sudden cracks
Welled up in the pavement by the constant force
Living defiantly under and adjacent always pushing
Through these manicured avenues of recreational access
Loamy earth freshly tilled now tilting up
One thousand feet till gaining the ridge
Affording the best view of the pending storm
Traversing the landfill the old zoo
The denizens of dank motor homes
Or suspect sedans lurking between off-ramps
Those drop away with the altitude
Along the heliport road that winds
Just beyond the high gate past the cemetery
On the second switchback
A snake’s carcass smashed big rig fresh
Gently curved in a perfect sign to show the line
As the track cuts back across the hill
And I ride through

Piss n Vinegar

On news-stands now! Mainstream cycling acknowledges the fringe! Bicycling magazine has finally run Vontz's three year old but still relevant profile on Jimmy and his bike Kitchen vision to change the world one wrench at a time. Mainstream cycling recognizing the underground is nothing new but in todays consumer climate it is very telling to see these stories in the current issue. The editors also deemed it fit to run a large photo feature on cyclo-commuters during the transit strike in Gotham, which bodes well for Quatricco's 'touring is the new fix' theory. Icing on the cake? A one page porn shot of the editor's 'cobbled together' custom Gunnar Streetdog fixtrixter. Yes kids, even the blingster roadie scum want a trackie to toss in their H2 after they get their LES fix at a local Critical Mass. At least we can safely say the trend is dead. Onward!