I remember when I was a kid and those words were pure magic.  “Field Trip”.  They meant so many things. They meant that on that day you were going to escape the drudgery of your everyday life.  No science, math, english or social studies crap.  Something new and amazing was going to happen.  Even when it was less than amazing, even when it was a field trip to the water treatment plant, or a box factory it still was something new.  Something to make the day pass in a different sort of way; time on the bus with classmates, drawing pictures on the foggy bus windows, telling jokes that you thought were really edgy and dirty (that in hindsight were pretty tame) and just getting out.  It didn’t matter what it was for.  When I was a kid, my school never took any “fun” field trips they were all educational.  I’ve heard tales of field trips to amusement parks but never got to do anything of that sort myself.  But despite their educational “value” they were always fun.  Even the social history museums were fun (but those were only fun cuz they were easy to hide in).

We’ve got a pretty fun field trip planed.  It’s a bit outside the bike world, but that’s how most of us will get there.

Tomorrow night a bunch of us are gonna go see Red Fang play.

Who is Red Fang?

Do you live under a rock?

Perhaps you do, and that’s okay. But you should really know who these guys are.  Even if you don’t appreciate Metal, you probably can appreciate their videos. They’ve really taken the time and care to make videos that express the people behind the music.  The soul if you will.  Around here, we like to flatter ourselves and say that these guys remind us of… well, us. 

Have fun with these.

More pictures from our image dump.  I never cease to be impressed with the imagination that folks use when building up their rockets.

Inspiration?

Build your own.

Saturday was my first fat bike ride. Ever. 

I know what you're thinking, "What the hell, he works for Surly and he's never ridden fat tires?!"

Yep

You see, when you are a poor college student, then a poor post-college student with a small mountain of debt, a fatbike falls down the priority list.  A guy has to be able to buy beer right?  I was rolling around this fall on some Large Marge rims with 3” knards on my 1x1 and feeling pretty fat and cool.  Then, as often happens in MN, it snowed.  Those 3” tires didn’t feel so fat anymore. 

I needed to bulk up for winter

I got my hands on a Pug Ops on Friday and put it through as much shit as I could over one weekend.  I rode it to the grocery store, the bar, the corner store, and finally on some single track.  I was limited to relatively short rides because the high was hanging around the zero mark.  Even though my ride time was limited, my first impressions were nothing short of amazing.  I rode my cross-check to the holiday party on Thursday and all I could think about was my front wheel slipping on the ice-slush-ice shoulder, falling in to traffic, and getting my head run over.  I rode the pug to the bar on Friday night and it couldn’t have been more of a different experience.  I was rolling over every ice ridge, cornering with confidence, and blasting over every snow bank I could find.  Sunday I got out and rode single track for a couple hours.  It was a different feel than riding dirt (obviously) but after a mile or two I was able to learn some of the bike’s limits and had a blast.  I rounded out the day with a couple beers and a slice at Luce, and most importantly a shit-eating grin.  No doubt, this is the first fat ride of many.

So now that my fat bike virginity has been taken here are a few take-aways I leave you with:

• everyone said “ride flats in the snow”   they were right
• slow and steady
• low pressure
• gears r’ good
• deer like to sleep on singletrack when it’s cold
• the icier your facial hair, the more beer you deserve
• no matter what you do, your post ride beers will freeze when it is 3 degrees outside.

Until next time,

Ben 2.0

Seems like a good idea to ride out to Bluffton every year to shake off the previous year's cobwebs. This year's start was about -2 degrees and a couple of fresh inches of snow had fallen the day before. Perfect.

A professional photographer I will never be, but taking good shots with mittens on is hard, so shut up.

Important supplies hauled by idiot in shorts.

Piles of fat

Looks cold. Howzabout a beer?

More cold

The Bridge

Enabler

Things getting fuzzy

I'm not the kind of person to make a lot of New Year's resolutions or anything, but doing this more often probably wouldn't be the worst thing. Good luck out there this year. We're all counting on you.

-Skip

Fuck it, let’s go ride bikes.

Hey friends, Greggers here.

The dirty south is really…ummm?  Southern?  This ain’t no Minneapolis-bike-love-hipster-bullshit.  Almost No Bike Lanes, Too Much Spandex, and a Shit Load of Trails.
I guess it could be worse… and there’s this.

Been super bored for some reason.  “Working” and driving too much.  I’m privileged beatnik these days, stone-cold rep’n. 

Met some rad dudes last week went here.  WEIRD.AWESOME.COM/WTF

Saw this guy

And some of these guys

and this dude...

Sanity?  It’s getting tough to come by these days.  What’s a boy to do?

Fuck it, let’s go ride bikes. 

Been schleppin’ my Troll through the city.  Well…cities, plural.  It the best way to get a taste of what’s crackin’. 

 You’re next.

Got the blues?  Here is my advice.

Ditch work.  Remove telephone from ear hole.  Pack Beers.  Eat Candy.  Pedal.

Hugs.

Greggers

I know it's been a while.  I don't really have an excuse, though holidays and visits to far off places that have legalized certian substances that shall remain nameless (but rhyme with blarijuana)(you can drink it there) has kept me busy and content.

Again I am impressed with the numerous and awesome ways that folks out there "pimp their rides" as the kids say these days. So here they are.

Big fan of the coffee stain Trucker.

Until next time..............

It’s no secret that I won’t shut up about my Pugsley.  I love that bike.  I ‘ve got three wheels for it.  Single, geared and fixed.  The fixed is set up with a Surly Dingle-Cog and the free-wheel on the single is set up with a White Industries Dos-Eno.  So that means that even though when I run the bike geared I have the crank set up with two chainrings.  30t and 33t.  I recently wondered about using our new OD Crank.  Even though the idea behind that crank is that it’s a dedicated offset double, that doesn’t mean that I can’t screw around with one and see just what it’s capable of.

So I got myself an OD and two chainrings  and started to mess around. 

Since the crank is set up to be an offset double, in order to run two chainrings that are as close together in tooth size as a 30 and 33, you have to use some spacers.  I used some spacers from a Whirly.

Works pretty cool.

Then, as I sat there staring at the crank with a couple extra chainrings right there in front of me I began to wonder about setting this crank up as a triple.  Why would I do that?  Cuz.  Duh.  So I took the granny ring, spaced it out and took a look.  I had to abandon the 30t stainless chainring and replace it with an aluminum ring that had recesses in it for the bolt (so the chain can clear the head of the bolt).

Once again it worked pretty well.  It struck me as a bit funny that at Surly even when we’re not trying to make something modular that you can use any way you want, that’s sort of what we end up with.  Pretty cool.

I love that, because it’s what drew me to Surly in the first place.  Utility.  I wanted to switch to the OD incase I ever wanted to build a few more wheels for my favorite pony. Now it seams I have even more possibilities.  And that’s the way I like it.

Midnight ride in a snowstorm anyone?

It's Friday, I'm lazy (also soft), here's some picture of funky builds, or regular builds in funky places, or bikes owned by people whom I owe favors to.

Cheers.

Surly's new t-shirt
Fancy, huh?

Not long ago the chief flack of Surly’s crack Product Design and Dog Grooming Team, Adam, gave me a new shirt Surly is making. This shirt…well, it’s something sort of special. You see, this is a t-shirt made of Merino wool. Wool is more than just a hipster’s paradise. It’s got some traits that make it well suited to persons who like to get out there and do things.

When I first got Pretty Baby, I immediately set my phasers to “not sure.” I like the idea of a merino wool shirt, but this one was red. Bright red. Beggars can’t be choosers, however, so although I would not normally buy myself a bright red shirt I resolved to give it the ol’ college try.

I put it on. I checked myself out in the mirror. Ugnh. Yeah. Git after it, tiger! It was not itchy at all, and was surprisingly stretchy. I wore it around the house with jeans. It was as warm as a regular shirt, and moved with my body better than many cotton Ts I have. I would have been happy enough just like this, but it was around this time that the polar vortex first descended. The polar vortex, as anyone living in Minnesota this winter can tell you, is a weather pattern which has brought the upper Midwest more than a month of ridiculous cold. Lows in the teens to twenties below zero Fahrenheit before factoring in windchill. Yikes. I have lived in the upper Midwest the vast majority of my life and I can tell you without hesitation that this is a not the sort of cold to be messed with. Dressing stupidly will get you hurt or dead. Since I have long lived where it gets cold in the winter, I have a lot of experience keeping the cold off my person. Being that wool is pretty much my main go-to in that regard I decided to let Pretty Baby have a crack at it, short sleeved though he may be.

Pretty Baby was next to my skin, paired with a set of polypropylene long johns. Over the course of this trial I wore these same underlayers every day. I wore that shirt for nearly a week straight in weather that it was later revealed was colder than Antarctica. However, i did not not merely sit around, oh no. I rode my bike around wearing it. I worked up a healthy lather shoveling snow in it. I slept in the shirt. I did my best to make sure that my fragrant personal oils had a chance to thoroughly penetrate Pretty Baby’s soft fibers. I gave it hell. Hairy, pasty, sweaty hell. Pretty Baby never let me down. I didn't think about my shirt, and that is a good thing. By the end of the week I unencumbered myself of the thin red wool and gave it a couple sniffs. Not bad. Just like wool is supposed to do, it remained unoffensive, in spite of my underarms being able to make no such claim. The same could not be said of the polypro pants, which I'm sure could sterilize mosquitos up to 12 yards away at this point. Wool, you see, is naturally antimicrobial, disallowing significant build-up of smells as occurs with other fabrics. I had bathed several times in the course of the week but Pretty Baby hadn’t. In fact, P.B. seemed entirely unfazed by the whole experience. After the first week I washed it and it retained its original fit, color, thermal, and odor-mitigating traits, just as you'd expect. I’ve been wearing it now for just shy of a month, and hot dog, we have a weiner!

My complaints are minor. First, I feel like the shirt ran a bit on the small size, and I run a bit on the large size, so I felt a bit like a clump of tofu in a sausage casing. But the person who led its design assures me that the cut is on par with other shirts and that the drape of Merino is more clingy than that of cotton, so perhaps I just don’t like the feel of it “touching me” (her quote). Perhaps not, so I will be ordering a size larger than usual when I need to replace it. For those who like to be touched on the skin you’ll be fine in whatever size you normally wear. Be careful washing it, of course, as wool is notorious for shrinking if not treated appropriately. Hand wash it or throw it in the gentle cycle with cold water, then let it air dry, and you should be fine.

My other gripe is the size of the front pocket. Some may appreciate that a front pocket on your shirt is nice for keeping glasses or potato chips handy. I found that this pocket did an inadequate job of keeping my glasses securely in place (it did ok with the potato chips). It is too shallow for glasses and too narrow to reasonably accommodate a celluar personal communication device. When I asked about the size of the pocket, I was told it was made on the small side to discourage using it to contain heavy or pointy things, things which could potentially rip the fabric. Seems to me that’s throwing the baby out with the bathwater. Why not just leave the pocket off? But in the larger scope of this shirt's performance it’s a minor thing and not a deal breaker for me.

All in all, Pretty Baby is one class act; stylish enough for casual wear, durable and stretchy enough for an active lifestyle. They are available even now in brown, red, or black, in unisexual sizes small through XXL. I encourage you to run, not walk, to your local bicycle dealer, cash in hand, and have them order you at least one.

You Like to Tinker?

I do.  I love to tinker around with my bikes.  I love to build them up, ride them around for a bit and then take them apart and put them back together in new and weird and wonderful ways and start all over.

Though I love to do it, it pains me to admit that I am not really an expert.  I don’t do it professionally; I mess with shit in my basement.  That means that sometimes I have to swallow my pride and ask a professional for help.

Why am I telling you all this?  It’s because I believe I am not alone in this.  I believe there are lots of folks out there who mess around with shit in their basement or garage and love to tinker.

Obviously I think that’s great.  The only time it becomes less than great is when things get dangerous.  It’s when people are unwilling to ask for help.  There are some things, some parts, some bikes that need to be taken to the doctor.  You can give them all the home-remedies that you can think of, but if in the end you deny them the professional attention they need, they could die. 

Last week I read a story about a guy who had a sinus infection. He was sure it was just a cold, so he never went to the doctor.  The infection spread to his eyes, and now he’s blind in the left one.  That sucks.  It totally sucks. 

I don’t want my bike to die; I don’t really want anyone’s bike to die. Bikes are awesome and precious. But sometimes those bikes need/demand attention from a professional to help them stay in the game.  Maybe it’s just advice or a consultation that’s needed; maybe it’s full on surgery.  Pay attention to your bike, listen to it, and if you need help, ask for it. 

It’s a small price to pay.  Hopefully.

Here's the bike I just can't stop messing about with.  I'm about to build my third wheelset for it. (well have someone build for me, I suck at wheels)

Tinker on!

More cool pictures of custom builds and places I wish I was.

Enjoy.

Now go take your own pictures!

I like to fish.  I have had a series of hobbies (addictions, really) over the years but none quite as fun for me as fishing.  I blame my father for this.  One of my earliest memories is of him taking my sisters and me out in a boat to catch a bunch of Crappies.  In my memory the fish were huge, slippery and a little frightening.  In reality they probably were not, but the awe of hooking a fish and fighting it to the boat was a feeling I learned to like right away.  If you fish you know what I mean. 
I like to eat fish, but that’s not why I fish.  I fish for some of the same reasons that I ride bicycles.  Fishing allows me to escape, if only for a little while, the noise of traffic, the television, the smell of painted walls and carpeted floors.  It allows me to connect with nature, even when I don’t catch fish.  And catching fish is not easy, so I like the challenge of it.  That’s right; it’s really difficult to catch fish.  If you watch fishing shows on TV you start to think it’s easy, but those shows are made to fuel your addiction and to sell boats and fishing gear.  Not catching fish doesn’t make for good TV.  But the truth of it is that you can catch fish if you get good at it, and the pros who host fishing shows are really good at it. 
I am not particularly good at fishing, but I have made some great catches throughout a lifetime of trying.  I have lots of fishing stories, and I will happily tell them to you until you get tired of hearing them.  I believe that even if you aren’t a good fisherman you will still catch fish if you fish frequently enough.  But I am no longer interested in being lucky; I want to develop my skill so that I catch fish more often than not.  If you talk to my wife about it she will attest that I have a stack of fishing books next to our bed about two feet high.  I have learned more things than I have had time to apply in the field, but I still read everything I can. 
After years of only dabbling in it I have gotten serious about ice fishing this year.  Maybe it was the earlier than normal ice that formed on area lakes that fueled this, but I definitely have the bug this year.  A few weeks ago I suggested to the Surly crew that we go ice fishing for a day and surprisingly they almost all wanted to go.  We spent the day on lake Nokomis in Minneapolis and between us only caught one small Perch, but it was one of the funnest days we have had together in a while. 
There is something fun about being on a frozen lake, drilling holes, clearing slush from the holes, wetting a line and waiting for a bite.  It’s not something that should be fun but is.  My years of living in Japan taught me to appreciate these moments of Zen:  Fishing as a form of meditation, as a way of connecting with my creator and with my fellow humans, and hopefully with the creatures swimming below.  I won’t lie that it’s also fun to drink beer with friends while ice fishing.   Minnesota has a well established history of ice fishing culture that began with a group of guys heading out onto a frozen lake to drink together only to realize that it was possible to fish through the ice. 
If you have never walked or driven out on a frozen lake before, the thought of doing so might scare the shit out of you.  I know this because whenever friends from warmer climes visit us in the winter I take them out on the ice.  It never fails to freak them out.  I have never fallen through the ice though.  I know people who have and every one of them told me that when they did fall through they never expected it.  This is the scary part of ice fishing.  Drilling a hole to discover you are standing on 14 inches of ice inspires confidence.  This is thick enough to drive a car on.  It is safe.  I do it all the time so I know it’s safe.  The cracking sounds you hear when you are on the ice are also scary, until you learn that the cracking is caused by the continuous freezing and thickening of the ice, not the creaking of the ice.  Cracking is good, unless you hear it when you are on thin ice, which can happen with little or no warning.  A friend of mine told me about the time he fell through.  He was out on a very cold day and was set up on about 20 inches of ice.  He wanted to set some tip-ups up on a point where Northern Pike and Muskie were often caught during the warm months so he starting walking toward it and fell through only 30 yards from where he had parked his car.  It happened so fast he was up to his chest before he could even react.  He lived to tell the tale but it really made him think.  I am sure he learned a powerful lesson that day, but I sincerely hope that my living vicariously through his experience is as close as I will ever come to falling through the ice myself. 
Hearing my friend’s story has made me more careful when riding my Pugsley or Moonlander on the lake.  On a bike you can cover ground a lot faster than on foot, so it’s important to choose your path wisely.  Stick to the car and snowmobile tracks and you’ll be fine.  Veer off the beaten path and you’ll need to be ready for anything.  The great thing about a Moonlander or Pugsley is that they will float and can potentially be used to pull yourself out if you do fall through.  The one thing they won’t do is keep warm you up and dry you out after you emerge from the frigid water.  I’m not much for giving advice though, so take my words with a grain of salt.  If I ever fall through the ice myself I will be in a better position to tell you what to do and what not to do. 
I like fishing because of the sense of wonder it inspires.  I’m driven by the dream of catching a trophy fish (I don’t keep trophy fish, but this is the common nomenclature for such a fish, so I will use it here).  When a fish strikes my lure it’s like opening a Christmas present.  I never know what’s going to be at the end of my line when I reel it in, or if I will even be able to land the fish.  Nothing gets my heart racing more than when a fish strikes my top water lure.  I like working the lily pads with a soft plastic frog for this reason.  It’s harder to catch bass this way but when one hits the frog the adrenaline rush is like nothing else I have experienced. 
I like to fish with my son.  Fishing together gives us father-son time and it allows me to pass down a tradition that I shared with my father (and still do on occasion).  I want my son to learn to do things with his hands; things that don’t involve video games or texting his friends.  And I want him to appreciate being outdoors and learning things in the real world.  He has developed a real passion for fishing now and pushes me to take him out more often than I have time to do so.  He and I are learning together how to be better at the sport, and he has even started to attempt making his own jigging spoons out of brass plate.  Today’s youth have too many distractions and temptations to lead them astray, so if I can keep him fishing I feel like he will have a fighting chance when he enters adult life. 
I fish because of my father.  He bought a boat two years ago and soon after realized that he is getting too old to spend time using it.  He gets very tired if he is in the boat for more than a couple of hours, so he asked me to take his grandchildren fishing in it.  He has always enjoyed teaching kids how to fish and now he doesn’t have the energy to do it, so it’s my turn to help make his dream come true. 
Fishing provides me a connection to water similar to the way mountain biking provides a connection to dirt.  The whole reason I got hooked on mountain biking in the early 90’s was the rush I got from hopping on my bike and heading out to explore and get lost.  I have no desire to get lost on a lake, either in a boat or on ice, but I enjoy unraveling the many mysteries of the underwater world where I fish.  I have sonar electronics in the boat, and I recently invested in an underwater camera so that I can see what’s down there without having to dive in and see firsthand.  I get a thrill from learning about the habitat and characteristics of fish.  Using a camera to see how the fish react to particular baits or lures is one of the most interesting things I have discovered in a while.  Using a variety of bait and lure colors, presentations and jigging motions all cause different reactions in different species of fish.  Knowing these things helps me become a better fisherman, and knowing the behavioral patterns of fish helps me feel better connected to the fish and to nature.  Before I was an avid fisherman I kept pretty much everything I caught.  Now that I fish a lot I find myself harvesting fewer and fewer fish out of appreciation for how precious our fisheries are to myself and other avid fisherman who feel a similar level of reverence for the creatures that swim beneath the water. 
It might seem strange to read about fishing on the Surly blog, but based on the number of avid fisherman I have met within the bicycle community, I’m guessing there are more than a few of you reading this who can relate.  Within the team of 17 or so Surly employees alone there are seven or eight of us who love to fish.  That’s roughly half of the number of us who like to ride our bikes and drink beer. 

More pictures from our great big dump.  Pretty cool.

\

If you've got cool pictures of your ride, make sure to submit them here:

http://surlybikes.com/gallery

So yeah, I’ve been in a riding funk lately.  You know the feeling, were you want to ride but you keep acting like a chump and putting it off?  Then you think about all the stupid things you did instead of riding and you feel even worse.  Sound familiar? 

Been staring out the window at the foothills of the Smokies and I’ll be Damned if I’ve gone out to explore the hog trails that Zig-Zag through the country side even once.  What the hell was I waiting for?

Anyway kids, I broke the streak!  It hit me like a 12 pack of Sierra Nevada at 2p.m. on a Friday.  So good.

Saddle up and Straggle on.

Saw lots of this...

This is seriously someone’s mailbox. Go Vols?

Clever East Tennessee graffiti artists…

Did you know Jesus was apparently a bike mechanic?

Disclaimer: Saying “Jesus” will not break a KMC 10 speed Chain.  Tried it.

Huh-huh. Royalty.

Climb up on my big ass steed. (sorry for the stupid advertisement.  Skip and listen.

'K thanks. Bye now,

Greggers

We made a catalog last year that was for this year that we released in August of last year.  In the begining we talk about why we think our steel is special. Here it is

As you may know, we build our bikes from steel. We always have. We use steel for a lot of reasons that we won’t go into detail explaining here, but the crux of it is that steel offers an nice balance of design flexibility, ride quality, cost effectiveness, durability, repairability and environmental sensitivity. That’s why we call ours ‘Natch (slang for ‘naturally’), as in “Duh, why would you choose anything else?” Quite a few people have asked us over the years, “Why does Surly use generic, off-the-shelf tubing instead of the fancy brand name stuff?” The answer is that brand-name tubing is off-the-shelf tubing.

4130 cromoly is just one variety of steel. The number is a designation of the Society of Automotive Engineers (SAE) that indicates the metal’s components. Basic high-tensile steel is made of iron and a little carbon. By adjusting the amount of carbon and adding small but precise amounts of other metals different properties can be achieved. Adding chromium and molybdenum (cromo, get it?) yields a high strength-to-weight ratio. Funny car frames are famously made of 4130 steel for the same reason it’s chosen for bicycle frames: it results in a steel that can be formed thin and light but that remains strong and compliant (flexible but resistant to deformation and cracking). There are other things that can be done to the resulting material, like heat treating, a process in which the metal is brought to a specific temperature and cooled at a controlled rate to realign its atomic structure, thereby further strengthening it.

At Surly we have had long and fruitful relationships with our frame manufacturer and tubing suppliers. Through these relationships we have continuously worked to develop the right tubing for each frame we offer. We develop tubing not only for each model but also for the frame sizes within that model. Sometimes, there is tubing available that suits our needs. Sometimes, what we want doesn’t exist. For example, our new Instigator 2.0 is comprised of tubing specifically designed for this frame. The main triangle’s tubes are internally butted. Some are externally tapered, flared like a trumpet and ovalized to add stiffness and strength without adding weight. On a heavy-duty bruiser like the Instigator, it is a serious consideration to keep the weight down wherever possible without sacrificing strength. Our Long Haul Trucker’s tube diameters change across the size spectrum, and the placement and length of the tapers and butts within the tube vary from size to size. This is done to ensure that the right amount of material (no more, no less) is used in each welded joint.By doing this, we help ensure a responsive ride while keeping the tube ends sufficiently thick. This keeps them from melting away during welding.

A frame is more than just its tubing, however. We work with our suppliers to develop the best way to buildeach frame, including weld sequence, choosing the best type of welding rod, tube mitering and fixturing for welding. The chainstay yoke just behind the bottom bracket of our Krampus, ECR and Instigator 2.0 frames is formed by pouring molten steel into a mold. We collaborate with our suppliers on details here too, such as how it is poured, how the mold is manufactured and more. By paying close attention to all these details, from tube design and manufacture to welding, to heat treating and even finishing, we address important steps in producing not just bikes, but Surly bikes…durable bikes that deliver nuanced, lively performance
appropriate to their intent. Name-brand tubing companies such as Reynolds, Columbus, True Temper and Dedacciai make good stuff. They offer frame builders a wide selection of tubes to choose from. But their tubing is not better, not in the sense of being the best option all the time. It’s nice to see their logo on a frame, but we wanted you to know that you’re not being shortchanged just because you see a Surly ‘Natch decal by the bottom bracket. In fact, we go above and beyond to exceed what any off-the-shelf tube can offer, specific tubing for the needs of specific models and sizes.

We just thought you’d like to know that.

We made that into a new spew, so there's that and you can find it here.

http://surlybikes.com/info_hole/spew/some_things_about_our_steel

But then again you just read it so you probably don't care where it is.

Bike Picture!!

ur Valentine.

Enough with the classics.

Fin.

So…we just came out with these really neat pants.  They are pants for folks who ride bikes to live in.  Ride, not ride, sleep, camp, whatever. 

They have some extra layers in the crotchy area (sizzle) so the won’t be as easy to blow through down there from repeated hours in the saddle. 

They’ve got some handy other features, like snaps on the drive side leg, so you can get them away from your drivetrain (that way you can avoid the hipster rollup, or the old weird guy ankle strap.)(I use a junk strap). 

They have a holdy piece on the back for your U-lock. 

They have darts at the knees for better “on the bike feel”, and they ride great. They also look nice, not fashionable, but nice.  They have a looser fit than hipster pants (by quite a bit), though they aren’t nearly as roomy as Carhartts, which is what many of us ride in. They look fairly normal off the bike.  But then again, what the hell does normal mean?

This is our first foray into the world of pants, and we approached it much the same way we do our bikes.  We thought about what we want from a pair of pants, what we hate about all the other options out there, had some samples made and tested them.  Had some more made, tested those and then ordered them to see what the rest of the world thinks. These are the result of all of that hard work.

The pants are available in these sizes 30 & 32x 32 inseam, 34-40x 34 (but really it’s a 36 read below)

There is one thing about the pants that didn’t quite go as planned.  We have some really tall weird giants in this brand, each of who wears a 36 inseam in their trousers.  When we had our samples made, the 36 inseam was too long for Wood (our handsome seven-footer), but the 34 fit him perfectly.  So we went with that measurement, and that’s what we put on the tag in the pants. 

Of course they fit like most other brands 36s, in fact they are even longer than some 36” inseamed pants out there (I just coined the phrase “inseamed”).

So if you are a giant, then you should try the 34’s and if they look like capri pants on you, we’ll make sure that you can return them to us (but not after you get your stinky sweaty biker ass all over them)(so make sure you’re sure before you fill them with funk)(or anything else for that matter).

Now what does that have to do with me being the newly elected representative for all the fatso bikers out there? 

Because I am too fat to fit into a 40, we had some special pants made just for me, as an experiment (to see how they would fit and ride and all of that). And I’m quite the fan of them. (Mine are 44s by the way)

The experiment, then, is this:  Are there other folks out there like me who are fatsos, who ride bikes a lot, and would like to have a pair of pants that don’t make them look like a balloon animal?  If you are out there, you should send us an email with the word “fatsopants” in the subject line.  That way we have an idea of just how many obese abominations of nature (like myself) there are out there who ride bikes. 

You know who you are.  You’re like me.  When people hear that you ride a bike, they look at you sideways out of the corner of their eye quizzically, and say, “Oh, that’s great.” At least that’s what they say with their mouth, everything else says, “You don’t really ride your bike, at least not very much.” And by their standards that might be true. But in my experience it’s not. (Though I’ve actually had a Doctor call me up on the phone after my “blood work” came back from the lab to apologize for not believing me when I told him how much I rode my bike.  He told me that my cholesterol numbers confirmed that I was not lying to him.  Sweet guy, I brought him a helluva stool sample the next day.)

So fatsos you’re gonna have to wait for the pants fairy to shine down on you, everyone else, if you need them, we’ve got them.

I dig the Olympics. I really dig the Winter Olympics. It all started for me back in 1980 when I got to watch the US Hockey team beat those rotten Russians (remember the Cold War?). I’ll never forget that moment when I watched all those hockey players pile on top of each other celebrating the impossible. I’ll never forget how proud we all felt and how happy we all were. Best of all was that Mike Eruzione, the captain of the 1980 US Olympic hockey team played for the Toledo Goaldiggers, my home team.

I’ve got to admit that I enjoy all of the Winter Olympics, even the figure skating and the curling. The strength, precision and timing blows me away. I cannot even fathom the dedication and love of the sport it must take to compete at that level.

Now-a-days what I really enjoy watching the most during the Winter Olympics are the women. The women snowboarders are my current favorites. Why? Because it looks like they are having so much god damn fun, that’s why. They cheer each other on, they celebrate even the small victories with one another and they look out for each other. It doesn’t even matter what team they are on or what country they are there representing. I think that they have not forgotten why they picked up a snowboard and rode it into a half pipe or down a mountain in the first place. I don’t think it was to always beat someone else’s score or best time, I think it was to have fun. If you’ve watched any of the women’s snowboarding events you can plainly see that they are having a great time competing with one another. I’m not in any way saying that these women athletes are not seriously competing against each other, what I’m saying is that they are really enjoying the competition on every level. They revel in each other’s success and they comfort each other when they fail. They are exciting to watch and they are easy to cheer for. I think some of the male Olympic athletes could learn a thing or two about sportsmanship and competition if they bothered to watch these outstanding young ladies accomplish things thought impossible not too long ago.

And then there was this moment:  During the finals of the men’s cross country skiing sprint, a Russian athlete by the name of Anton Gafarov crashed and tried to finish the race with a broken ski. Well, he then crashed again and this time his ski broke in two. Watching this all take place was the Canadian cross country skiing coach Justin Wadsworth. Justin decided to act like a human being, he ran out onto the course and replaced Anton’s busted ski with a ski from his own team.  Anton finished the race, almost three minutes behind the leaders, to a crowd giving him a standing ovation. Later, during an interview with the Toronto Star, Justin said "It was like watching an animal stuck in a trap. You can’t just sit there and do nothing about it. ... I wanted him to have dignity as he crossed the finish line."

These are the things that I’ll remember about the 2014 Winter Olympics. These and hopefully a lot more because as of the writing of this, the Olympics are not even half over yet. If you’re not watching any of this then I’m sorry because you are really missing something that's pretty cool.  It’s very easy to forget or ignore the athletes and events when all you’re seeing and hearing about are the conditions of the hotels, stray dogs, gay rights, etc. Don’t get me wrong; I think it’s pretty fucked up that a country as large and powerful as Russia fears giving gays the same respect and rights as all of its citizens.

One more thing: Who hasn’t thought it would be kick ass to see fat bikes bombing down the freestyle course or racing down the slalom course?

Am I right?

Damn right I’m right.

BoB

PS. Racing still sucks.