Karlos Bernart completed the Cross Florida Mountain Bike Expedition from Fargo, Ga down to Flamingo, FL. Huge congratulations goes out to Karlos for completing this leg which helps map-out the southern leg of a possible Eastern Continental Divide route! Checkout the CFMBE Facebook page!
Sunday, February 23 @14:00!
The Iditarod Trail Invitational is the world’s longest winter ultra marathon by mountain bike, foot and ski and follows the historic Iditarod Trail from Knik, Alaska over the Alaska Range to McGrath and to Nome in late February every year one week before the Iditarod Sled Dog Race. The short race 350 miles finishes in the interior village of McGrath on the Kuskokwim River and the 1000 mile race finishes in Nome. Racers have to finish the 350 mile race in a previous year before they can enter the 1000 mile race.
We invite 50 racers to take part in this unique challenge every year.
Bill Merchant-trail manager
Huge Congrats to Mark Stevenson, Guitar Ted Productions, and everyone associated with the Trans Iowa for winning the Grinnell Tourism Experience Award from the city of Grinnell, IA for 2014!
When we found Grinnell, we found a home for the event, and I have not found any good reason to leave Grinnell since.
Head over to Guitar Ted’s blog for the details!
Trans North Geogia registration is open! It actually opened early and in just 8 hours 72 people had signed up! The first 50 will be official and the rest on a wait list. As noted on the TNGA Facebook page, anything can happen in 8 months so sign up!
Cycle insurer ETA has a story about a nifty tag-a-long trailer for cyclists. Wooden Widget, who already produces small, collapsable boats, has created the Foldavan. Think of it as a pop-up for bikes.
Additionally, ETA commissioned the development of the Qtvan. It is a more rigidly constructed tag-a-long more in the vein of a teardrop but for bikes.
I’m thinking Qtvan for touring and Foldavan for endurance racing. No? In the immortal words of Scott Thigpen, “Are you trying to win or something?”
Thomson’s bike products division, long known for their storied seat posts and stems, has now launched a new “Elite” line of Titanium bikes as well!
Thomson will eventually be offering 3 Elite series bikes. For now, the Elite 275 and the Elite 29 are available with the Elite Gravel to follow.
The Elite 275, as the name implies, offers a 27.5″ wheel set. Additionally, it will also offer a Dropper post with a WTB Silverado created for Thomson. Rounding out the 275 are:
Shimano XTR Drivetrain and brakes.
DT Swiss Spline Wheels, set up tubeless.
WTB Tires.
MRP Loop TR 120 Fork. Boulder, CO
Cane Creek 110 Series Zero Stack headset. Asheville, NC
Oury Grip. Imboden, AR
The Elite 29 is a 29″ wheeled single speed that is convertible to geared via a swappable sliding dropout. Industry 9 wheels and Thomson drive components round out the Elite 29.
The Elite Gravel will feature a Thomson Pave seat post and is said to be road-suited.
Given Thomson’s reputation with components, you have to imagine the new Titanium frames are going to be tough as nails!
*UPDATE: The Elite 275 lists at $6799.
This is just the Funnies audio. David R. Merry’s “SkaBilly 2007” is the backing track. This year’s funnies is dedicated to the memory of Ray Porter!
Get the podcast here!
All audio is also available via RSS link or iTunes!
David R. Merry’s “SkaBilly 2007” is the backing track. This year’s funnies is dedicated to the memory of Ray Porter!
Get the podcast here!
All audio is also available via RSS link or iTunes!
Legendary endurance racer and TD and TNGA finisher Ray Porter has passed away. Ray had been battling cancer after a mass was found on his liver just months ago. He was fierce and as anyone knows who rode with him, a strong rider. You can get more details about Ray’s struggle here and look for updates with information about how you can help his wife Gina and the family.
*UPDATE: Here is some information from the NeverStopPushing Facebook page. They are continuing to take donations to help cover costs for Ray’s family.
A couple of anonymous friends purchased 1,000 of these wristbands and donated them for us to sell. Because the wristbands were donated free and clear, 100% of proceeds will go to Ray and Gina (Dykes) Porter. You may purchase your wristband in person with cash from Della Bird or Todd Brashear or via PayPal to dtbrashearATatt.net. If you use PayPal, please be sure to include the quantity of bands you’d like and your mailing address in the Messages area.
Each black, silicon wristband features bicycle tire tread and the orange tagline of Ray’s race team, NEVER STOP PUSHING.
The price? At least $3. In the interest of raising a meaningful amount of money for Ray and Gina, we’re asking you to give whatever amount you feel is right – $5, $10, $20 – you make the call. Just please make sure it’s at least $3. Shipping for PayPal orders is free.
Specialized found Mike Sinyard sent an open letter of apology to the biking community. He acknowledges he handled it poorly and was wrong. Against the backdrop of $11,000,000 in counterfeit Specialized gear just this year, he allowed his lawyers to overzealously pursue Cafe Roubaix.
“I heard you and you can rest assured I took it to heart. I realize now that we went too far with this aggressive approach and as a result and in some cases we hurt the local bikes shops and small businesses we wanted to protect.” – Mike Sinyard
It’s good to see an apology and Dan. Hopefully Mike can gain a sense of community that many feel Specialized has been missing.
Get the full letter and pics from some of the Specialized knock-off’s that failed at Bikerumor!
As has been widely reported over the last 24 hrs, Cafe Roubaix will be keeping it’s name. Mike Sinyard of Specialized called Dan Richter yesterday agreeing to work out a deal to share “roubaix” with the shop.
Pressure came to bear on Specialized as the bike community rallied around the little shop that could over the past several days. Twitter and Facebook was teeming with support tweets and posts. T-shirts were being sold, funds being gathered, and boycotts were threatened. As we noted here yesterday, ASI eventually chimed in asserting world-wide rights to the trademark for “Roubaix” and saying it would license the name to Cafe Roubaix. Between the PR mess and the questionable trademark authority, Sinyard was faced with a battle that he probably didn’t want to win.
Read more here.
Bicycle Retailer and Industry News is reporting that Advanced Sports International plans to assert it’s authority over the Roubaix name due to it’s holding of the world-wide rights to it. As such, it is working out an agreement with Cafe Roubaix Bike Studio’s Dan Richter and challenging Specialized’s rights to enforce the trademark. As it turns out, Specialized licenses the trademark from ASI. Which explains why Fuji and Specialized both market Roubaix.
ASI’s Pat Cunnane said the company has no problem with retailer Dan Richter using the name, stating:
“We have reached out to Mr. Richter to inform him that he can continue to use the name, and we will need to license his use, which we imagine can be done easily…”
And:
“We are in the process of notifying Specialized that they did not have the authority, as part of our license agreement, to stop Daniel Richter … from using the Roubaix name”
Get the full story from BRAIN!
That’s just one of many memes exploding on social media regarding Specialized Bikes’ litigation against Cafe Roubaix Bike Studio. In case you’ve been out bike packing the Great Divide Mountain Bike Route, Dan Richter is being forced to change the name of his bike shop because Specialized owns the rights to the word “roubaix.” Never mind the name of the French village behind the curtain or its storied place in cycling.
Dan Richter, an Afghan-War vet battling Post-Tramatic Stress Disorder, named Cafe Roubaix Bike Studio after the French villa as an homage. Specialized Bikes markets the word “roubaix” under it’s S-Works Rubaix line. So the stage was set for what Specialized lawyers feel is simply defending a trademark. Life, however, is never so simple. Read more here.
For many, this is one of many litigious actions by Specialized under somewhat specious conditions from Mountain Cycles “Stumptown” to Horst Link litigation and more. The biking community will continue to debate these decisions but by far most see Specialized’s continued use of lawyers as detrimental to cycling as a whole. Others see it as hypocritical given that Specialized started off by taking Ritchey designs to the masses. Probably the most poignant expression of disapproval comes from this open letter to Specialized’s Mike Sinyard.
You can show your support on the “Roubaix Belongs To All Of Us” page on Facebook or consider a donation to the Cafe Roubaix Indiegogo fund.
The community continues to show its disfavor. The Specialized Facebook page is riddled with references to the story. And various homages to the growing PR disaster are being shared among cyclists. Here are a few:
Storied endurance cyclist Mike Hall shared the “New Paris-Roubaix route” on Facebook.
Our title inspiration:
And even some top-tube decals:
And more:
