After an unprecedented three rounds of proofing, we were finally satisfied with the print quality of our 10th issue. We think you’ll agree it was worth the wait. And now, with copies having been delivered this past Friday afternoon, the envelope stuffing ritual will commence at 4pm this Sunday. After that, Brad will drop them off at the Bloomfield post office Monday morning. Bike shops and subscribers should start seeing their copies by mid-week.
Once again, thank you all for your patience and support. In the coming year we hope to improve the delivery time, but we maintain that quality is more important than punctuality. With our print circulation doubling in 2009, there will be a lot more copies to go around, so if you work at a bike shop, or put on bike events, get in touch to be included on our distribution list.
Here is a movie that one can truly say is about cycling. The bicycle in this case is not the MacGuffin for a coming-of-age story or a discovery-of-one’s-self story, or any of the other numerous retreads for which the film industry wheels out its figurative old ten-speed. Rather, writer/director Manon Briand focuses, with genuine insight and no glamour, on the unique obsession that cyclists have with their pastime. However, cycling, much like how it treats the film’s two main protagonists as revealed by their comparison of pains and numbnesses, also serves the film by its privileged role in the story: with one hand it gives, and with the other it takes away. Because the larger issues of life are so trivial and so peripheral in this movie, as they often are in reality, the story lacks the emotional punches of all those movies that are really about something else.
Mid 1970’s Polo bike. Made in Chicago(?) for bicycle polo. The bike uses a single speed freewheel with a Shimano rear disk brake. The handlebars are shortened to be able to swing the mallet.
If you ride the streets, there are more dangers than just potholes and cars. A single bonehead pedestrian stepping into the street without looking can ruin your day, taco your wheel and take you out big time. It’s not because you did anything wrong, it’s because they’re idiots who never learned what every kid is taught by their parents, “Look Both Ways Before Crossing The Street.”
Join the urban cyclists of Las Cruces, NM tomorrow for a ride to improve bicycle awareness. Meet at the Dublin Street Pub Dress warm, bring lights and be prepared to have some fun. Visit www.urbanaggression.com for more info.
Jenny lives and rides in Oakland, CA. She’s an associate producer for the KQED television program Quest, and she races for Montano Velo alongside her fiance, Shawn.
The cycling community here is so supportive and diverse. You can race in an alleycat or in a crit, play bike polo or race at the local velodrome—or do it all. There’s so much overlap. All of the cyclists here seem to love riding and competing in all disciplines, and it’s really quite inspiring.
This one was sent to us by a reader named Tim. He says, “This is my wife Amy and kiddo Joleigh. Before this photo was taken, Joleigh was sitting on the ground flipping through the issue and every page she would yell, bike!“