Dirtscrolls

The NYC Century Bike Tour sounds like a fun ride. Scheduled for Sunday, September 9th, 2007 — and hosted by Transportation Alternatives — the ride offers five route options: 100, 75, 55, 35 and 15 miles. According to the event website: The Century is your ride—as challenging or relaxing as you choose, but always fun ...

Wouldn’t it be awesome if vehicle drivers were alert to the amount of space you and your bicycle need to safely pass you and to make commuting in densely populated, urban areas more comfortable? What if every road you pedaled on had a clearly marked, visible bike lane to get you to your destination? Aside ...

“Peter Mulvey will be biking to work this September.” Peter Mulvey is a musician. Thus, Peter Mulvey will be going from gig to gig (which is known as touring) on his bicycle. “Most of the rides are under 40 miles. I’m not an athlete, I’m a guitar player. I’ve always enjoyed long rides; this will ...

When Mo asked if I would be interested in attending the 2008 Kona Press camp, held in conjunction with Crankworks Colorado, it didn’t take me long to jump all over the opportunity. Thursday morning, I’m up and out the door before the sun rises. Quick bus ride to the airport, grab a cup of joe, ...

I was paging through one of the many cycling publications we get here at Dirt Rag HQ. It could be someone’s full time job to go through all of them, as we not only get the well known national magazines, we also get regional publications, small up-starts, and a wide variety of international magazines, some ...

I challenged our readers to identify a very obscure reference in a Blog posting title: “Where’d the Links Go At?” Joe McManus of Pittsburgh was the only person to figure it out. The reference was to a commercial jingle that the band Ween did for Pizza Hut. The title of the jingle was “Where’d the ...

I just returned from Giant Bicycle press camp, which took place on June 28th – 30th, 2007 at the Northstar at Tahoe resort in sunny California. Although Giant unveiled a new full-suspension model and significant weight-saving changes to existing model, the camp was not all about technology. in large measure it was about people. The ...

Karen’s post yesterday about periodical postage rate increases reminded me of a Bulletin I wrote on my MySpace page last week. It went something like this: And so it goes… I just got an email announcing that the last issue of Punk Planet magazine is on the way to my house. I knew they were ...

A few things have popped up on my radar lately, perhaps some of you might be interested also. First up, it looks like SRAM is updating their 8 speed chains soon. I’m looking into what has changed, but as of now all I have are model names: PC-830, 850, 870, 890. I’ve used the older ...

If you missed my Day 1 Report, you’ll want to read it first to get a little background. Day 2 and we’re back to the Adams Gulch area, which is convenient for multiple bike testing because you can crank out a loop with a good variety of terrain in under an hour. First up for ...

I’m in Sun Valley, ID, and it’s day one of the media launch for the 2008 Trek and Gary Fisher mountain bikes (and Bontrager tires and wheelsets). The morning is spent in a classroom absorbing as much information as I can from a series of presentations delivered by folks at Trek Corp who were responsible ...

On Monday morning a few of us from the office attended the opening of a new bike lane on Liberty Avenue in Pittsburgh. For some of you out there in locations closer to bike-topia this is no big deal, but for Pittsburghers, this is only our second official bike lane (and the only one on ...

I used to brag about my miles of flat free riding, but lately my good luck seems to be running out. I think it started with last years Wilderness 101 where I pinch-flatted my rear tube on a fire road descent. I remember pushing the pace a bit as I could hear the guys I ...

This Saturday I’m leaving on a jet plane, headed to Sun Valley, ID to attend the official 2008 Trek/Gary Fisher mountain bike press camp. That’s where yours truly, and a cadre of cycling journos, will get their first look at (and rides on) the 2008 mountain bikes from Waterloo. In many, if not most, years ...

Hi there, kids! Welcome to the new Dirt Rag Blog. Us staff people have been talking about doing a blog for a couple of years now. And finally….here we are. As you can see by some of the older posts in the Blog here, we’ve been test-driving it for several months now. We promise to ...

Ladies first. Vanderkitten, Clothing for Women Who Kick Ass, is a cycling-inspired clothing company, established in March 2005 by the husband-and-wife team of Dave Verrecchia and Jennie Vanderlaag. The company recently unveiled a new website that features their complete 2007 product line. In addition to casual tops, hoodies, and hats, Vanderkitten offers technical cycling shorts ...

A while back I posted about my off season strategy and stated that: “I could easily deceive myself into thinking that I did a pretty good job of keeping myself in shape, over the off-season. A deception that will surely burst like a toy balloon on April 21st when I plan to strap on a ...

Nick Lubecki tells how he pedaled around the United States and Canada using equipment most enthusiasts would balk at—scoring meals in dumpsters, and tossing other "finds" in a basket strapped to his rear rack.

By Nick Lubecki

It’s late March of 2007, and the weather has finally taken a turn for the better. Cranking out my first 40-mile road ride in 5 months felt surprisingly good. My pace was not all that aggressive, but I wasn’t exactly soft-pedaling. I could easily deceive myself into thinking that I did a pretty good job ...

Michael from Pittsburgh, PA wrote me (coincidentally I’m also Michael from Pittsburgh—soon to be Michael from Madison), to ask about tire pressure. Normally, I don’t feel all that comfortable giving people such specific advice since equipment and terrain can vary widely. But this guy lives just around the corner from me, and I can only ...

As an author, you know you’ve hit a home run with an article when people email copies of your article to each other, contact you to say “great job,” or “I can’t believe you printed that!” As an editor, you know you’ve done a great job when shops request more copies or when readers take ...

Does anyone else find it ironic that the Tour of California‘s title sponsor is Amgen? Amgen, makers of this drug (Aranesp), otherwise known as EPO, is sponsoring North America’s premier road race. Does anyone else see anything even remotely ironic about that?

I was helping a friend build up his new bike in my basement this weekend. It was quite a nice bike, and he’s excited to use something that’s lighter, faster, stronger and cooler than what he had before. AS he explained to me his motivation for getting the bike, I remembered how new products are ...

It’s about that time of year… the time to announce the next year’s Literature Contest. It all started during my first full year as editor. Fresh out of college, I was excited about giving the Dirt Rag audience a chance to compose their thoughts and tell their stories. We lined up a few small prizes ...

Marketing.Whether or not you agree with me, it’s true that marketing is a necessary aspect of the world. While the word “marketing” puts a taste in some mouths just like “lawyer” or “plastic suergeon,” the profession isn’t inherently bad–I would even argue that the act of spreading a positive message is inherently good–I suppose the ...

Back in the day when I was slingin wrenches at Country Roads Bicycles in Plymouth, Indiana, we had to deal with a bunch of BMX brats. These kids would come in and say one of three things. “what do you have for a dollar?”“where are your pegs?”“can I see the Profile cranks?” Usually a kid ...

Out here in internet land, it frustrates me to see so many recommendations and endorsements for things that aren’t great. What’s even more frustrating as a journalist who gets paid to evaluate these same things is watching any schmoe on the street get offered the same gratuities, generosities and respect that I’ve worked so hard ...

Why is it that every time I build a wheel without the book by my side, I mess up and have to rebuild it? My theory is that I read one book and stuck by it–Jobst Brandt’s The Bicycle Whee. That book was difficult for me to follow, and while I dug some of the ...

So I was chatting with an old friend this morning. He’s back in town after a stint out west working on trails for our nation’s forest. After ranting about the half a trillion dollars spent on war that could’ve been spent on building the mountain biker’s dream—the most ridiculous, comprehensive, exhilerating trail system the world’s ...