wpstoll:Hope they spelled it correctly on their marquee!

Thank you spelling guru ...

They have a Facebook Page: https://www.facebook.com/pages/Pink-Peloton/172265236168515

... and a website: http://www.pinkpeloton.com/

Pink Peloton is a one-of-a-kind woman's multi-sport boutique. I came up with the idea a year ago when I was training for the Couer D’Alene Ironman and I was in need of a good pair of size medium cycling shorts. I went into my local bike shop and they tried to put me in a pair of men’s smalls because they were out of women’s mediums! I thought “hmmm” I can’t be the only woman going through this. And the idea was born.

Pink Peloton carries running, cycling, yoga and triathlon apparel and accessories (bikes will come next year). There are also classes and workshops designed to teach women how to take care of their bike, what to eat in a triathlon, how to train for their sport, and many other topics to help us succeed in our chosen sport.

wpstoll:

PacMUle:i LOVE san diego... but i would really like to be in a place like this one day!

http://www.grist.org/slideshow/2011-07-29-freiburg-a-model-city-in-germany/1

In August and September 1977 I lived 19 km from Freiburg on the edge of the Black Forest in Staufen, a medieval village at the base of a conical hill. The Romans built a lookout tower on the hill as part of a communications chain. The Romans kind of invented the telephone. A defensive castle was built on the hill in the 12th century and parts of the ruins have been restored. From the top of the tower on a clear day one can see the dark blue outlines of the Vosges mountain range past Freiburg to the west in the Alsace. The hill is now terraced for farming the local varietal grapes.

I spent quite a bit of time in Freiburg while I was there. It was a short hitchhike/walk over scenic farmroads.

Photo 1 shows the Martinstor, part of the medieval city fortifications that survived the violence of the centuries. Another similar tower to the north of the city is the Schwabentor. This is how I got to the city center from the university quarter on the east side of town.

Photo 2 shows the McDonald's that preservationists tried to get put anywhere else besides the entry to the Altstadt. When I was there they served decent pommes frites and half liter paper cups of Dinkelacker beer for 2DM. The layout of the older part of the city discourages automobile traffic and cars are awkward among the streetcars, pedestrians, and cyclists. I saw big cars get stuck at a couple of corners that were just too narrow. Out near the university traffic is more congested, but that melts quickly away as one pedals east back toward Staufen.

Photo 4. Staufen also has Bächle to divert water from the Neumagen river into the town. Car wheels fall into them periodically and sometimes the Schlepper has to come pull them out. On two wheels one must be very cautious where they aren't covered with steel plating.

Photo 5. The entire neighborhood around the Marktplatz was blown to bits in the bombing raids of 1944. All the buildings were rebuilt in the exact same place and configuration, but with modern conveniences such as up to date plumbing and electricals as well as solar panel arrays that can't be seen from the ground. They are obvious from near the top of the single bell tower on the 12th century Gothic cathedral which the locals say was miraculously nearly untouched in the intense bombing that destroyed nearly all the rest of the city center. Most of the
medieval stained glass windows had been dismantled in advance and hidden in the crypts under the floor. The glass from the few that were destroyed was reset after the war into modern abstract designs. With the window glass gone the expansive Gothic windows allowed blasts to pass through the structure without damaging the structural integrity of the building.

Photo 15. In 1993 Jolie and I rode from Staufen to this train station in the pouring rain to travel to Heidelberg where we spent a week, but that's another story.

awesome story! i have wanted to travel Europe since i was very young... and towns like this make me itch for it even more!

Freiburg is so beautiful. Seems like it's always sunny, and the gutters (bächle) act as an air conditioner and add ambiance to the central city. There's even real jobs in the area! Totally liveable, however I'm more the Munich/Berlin type.
I've stayed in America because of my daughters. But now that they're older, I re-think it. Still, San Diego has a lot going for it, and seems to be getting better at an accelerated pace.
Just sayin'... you'd have a place to crash. (Great, now I'll have people begging me to leave here)

ugh! you guys are making me jealous... :face-crying:

Well, for the first time in many years, I will be officially carless. My 1994 Toyota Camry Wagon died on Friday, July 29 at 10:30am with 266,847 miles of engine failure. So… back to the bike. I shall be working to replace the car with a used Subaru Outback, whatever year I can afford at this time. Anyone need a parts car?

And it is now official. I sold my car on Sunday and don't own one for the first time since I got my license. I will be looking to replace, but won't be able to for at least two weeks.

Cigarettes in Norway are retailing at $20 a pack, all tobacco advertising is strictly prohibited, and all boxes and packs have to be marked sternly like this:



Predictably. tobacco consumption is fairly low - per capita cigarette use is about half that of the USA.

Just sayin'...

Since I worked on these sort of bikes in high school in the early 1970's, it's very nice to see the care and appreciation they receive. It's a part of the past I get to see every day.

My work is now only 3 miles from my house, and I'm thinking I don't really need a jersey to sweat into every single day anymore...

This is great and all, but the two times I've tried it so far I still managed a good amount of back sweat despite trying to ride good and easy. So my question is: to keep my heartrate down and sweat least, should my cadence be high or low? I think I had more success with a higher cadence, but its kinda hard to tell so far.

I was visiting San Francisco a couple weeks ago and went to the MOMA with the girl. While she was thinking deeply on the art works, I was looking at one of the paintings and saying to myself, "That looks like Sky's new Look road bike." Turns out it's not a coincidence:
http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/La_Vie_Claire

Just sayin... having my bike propped up against my desk here at the office does NOT help with my work motivation. I just wanna RIDE! :face-devil-grin:

mfutch:Just saw a sweater that matches that Mondrian/Look/Hinault "colorway" on Ebay for $10...

$60 would probably be more realistic...

You can still get the bike clothes with their logo too:

http://www.lookcycle.com/en/us/textile/heritage.html

Why can't establishments provide decent bike racks?

I had another incident with a crappy 2 bike wheel holder type rack that managed to dump my bike.

Luckily the only damage was a bent derallier hanger, and since that was steel, easily straightened out.

Lesson learned, don't trust a marginal bike rack.

I just use an adjustable spanner and 'eyeball' it.

As it turns out after I adjusted the hanger and reset the indexing, the bike shifted better.

You don't want to do this too often, but it's one reason builders use 'mild' steel for dropouts.

€7,500 for the frame and fork

I think I'll pass.

Pretty ecstatic right now that we were chosen as one of only 100 shops in the country to be recognized as America's Best by Bicycling Magazine. Largest bike mag in the world. We even were one of the few that got a blurb as well. Didn't expect that from such a mainstream rag it shoes that things are changing in the bike industry. The same mag tests commuter and cargo bikes.

Love it!! lol!

PacMUle:The Oatmeal has to be one of the best web comics of all time! that & Cyanide and Happiness...

Agreed. My favorites are Cyanide & Happiness (though unfortunately their website is blocked here at work), XKCD, and The Oatmeal.

Oops!

Rapha North America has issued a recall notice on 200 cans of its chamois cream. In a release issued Friday, the company explained that the chamois cream containers, which have a baby blue label, had been improperly filled with its own Winter Embrocation mixture.

Rapha began receiving complaints from customers describing a fiery saddle sensation earlier this month, prompting the company to shut off production of their chamois cream line until the problem could be isolated.

The annals of stupidity:

http://annalsstupidity.blogspot.com/2011/05/i-tri.html

"You can't ride in the middle of the street!" he demanded.

"Yes, I can," I replied, reasonably calmly, "if the road is too narrow to share."

He proceeded to give me the "I'm a cyclist, too" speech, complete with telling me where and when I should ride and how I was doing it all wrong, and blah, blah, blah.

I cut him off and reiterated, "I'm not going to ride in the door zone; that's a good way to get myself killed." To which he replied,

"That's the price you pay for riding in the city."

See? Some cyclists really are assholes.

most expensive road bike EVER! i mean its nice & all... really nice! but i dont see how it is actually worth that much!?! whateves, i just hope they actually ride it.

$26,000... and a case for it that is another $22,000.... really!?!

http://www.bikerumor.com/2011/09/15/fair-wheel-bikes-part-1-sub-11-pound-40000-road-bike/
:face-plain:

Sam:

Hans:Forget about getting into the bike building business, I should seriously think about getting into making bike cases!

Your competition: Bike Lid

But there's always room for more creative boxes. What's this plastic car parked in front of your house?:face-devil-grin:


Copenhagen cargo bike car parking