From the weekend.

As today moves forward and we continue to fight off our 4 day weekend buzz, it's always good to reminisce on what was... in West Michigan we had some exciting things take place.

The first was the final weekend of the 2010 Kisscross season, ending in Holland. We've been privileged to be part of the Kisscross season for a number of years now and have always been impressed with the 'keeping it simple...' approach. Here are a couple videos from the events from this year:

This weekend was also a big weekend for GR Bike Polo. A number of us here have, well..., quite the itch for the sport. GR Polo is continually getting more and more organized and we have finally landed on new place to play that has a huge amount of potential. For updates on GR Polo, check out the site or the Facebook group. Heck, support the cause and get a shirt!

Lock that thing up.

In what could be put in the completely unrelated yet strangely cool category. Although I know that it's getting linked all over the place, I stumbled onto this over at Bikerumor and by now we're all aware of the Philadelphia's issues with their bike racks... Problem? Solved, by the Germans.

Thankful

With Thanksgiving now less than 24 hours away, here in Michigan we're always able to count on a few things during it: good food and a Lions loss. I spent a few minutes cornering all of the crew here at Velocity simply asking what are you thankful for?

Bolt - 'coffee, cigarettes and nothing else.... wait, change it to FTW'
Jacobi - new baby boy, born 9/25, Curtis Russell
Paul - 'Paris-Roubaix, seriously I am'
Ryan - 'Rigid, steel 29ers and page 28 of the new Urban Velo'
John - being able to work with some of the most clever, funny, life-lovin', hardworking knuckleheads in the bicycle industry
Alex - 'long underwear, Belkap Park, and making it through another year without drinking too much or without seeing too many repercussions from drinking too much'
MD - '89 Cadillac Coupe Deville's
Matt - cheap beer and expensive women
Myself - polo, free time and good rides

If you're able, get out and enjoy an extended weekend. It's never too cold to ride and what better way to burn off the Black Friday stress. Happy Thanksgiving everyone! See you Monday!

SE/Velocity

Maybe you noticed this already, but Chukkers are coming stock on a the SE PK Fixed Gear bikes. We've been pleased to be part of the SE/Us Verses Them team for 3 years now and look forward to seeing what 2011 will bring. Here is a picture of the new 2011 PK Fixed Gear...


And a few shots of one of the riders, DJ Mull...

Random Friday

Random Fridays. We all have them, those days where we do a little of this and a little of that. Today, we have a video, some events, and a song for you.

First comes a new edit from one of our riders on the FGFS SE Team, Gus Molina using some Chukkers.

GUS MOLINA KILLS from Michael Chacon on Vimeo.

The first event we're please to be a part of comes from our great mitten state over in Ann Arbor, Cranksgiving 2010. There has been a little hiccup on the start, it is NO LONGER at Veterans Parks, be sure to check out their website for the most up to date information. Here are a few details on the event:

• When: 20 November 2010, 3 - 5 pm
• Start/Finish: Food Gatherers (1 Carrot Way, off Dhu Varren between Pontiac Trail and Nixon, north Ann Arbor.

Cranksgiving, the annual race to benefit Food Gatherers of Washtenaw County, is a go! Starting and finishing at the Food Gatherer's Facility at 1 Carrot Way you've got two options to race:

• Speed: Buy-in: $5 for Food Gatherers. Race to at least three different stores, buy at least one item off the Food Gatherers wish list. Fastest one back wins!
• Bulk: No buy-in. You have two hours to make as many trips as you want to at least five different stores, buying items off the Food Gatherers wish list. Highest poundage wins!

Fund raising encouraged! Have family, friends or co-workers who can't make it to Cranksgiving? Raise money from them and use it to help your haul. There will be a special prize for most money gathered for the race.

Bring: Money to buy food, something to haul it in, and your bike. Ride safe: helmets and lights recommended; dress warmly and be visible.

Next is an event out on the west coast in San Francisco, the 5th Annual Supermarket Street Sweet on December 4th. The Street Sweep is an annual bike race that benefits the San Francisco Food Bank! For the past four years, hundreds of participants have zipped around the city to local supermarkets and brought back thousands of pounds of food to donate to this wonderful charity.

And finally, this weekend a few of us here at Velocity along with 18 of our friends, bringing the count to 22 riders are riding from Grand Rapids to Cadillac, MI tomorrow and returning Sunday, in total right around 200 miles. Named the inaugural Edmond Fitzgerald ride, honoring the 29 lost on November 10, 1975 in Lake Superior.

Some things aren't right...

As many of you have heard, there is quite the situation brewing out in Colorado with an alleged hit-and-run case. How the local DA is handling the case is what has been causing the uproar. As more and more news outlets get the story, groups are forming to hopefully take action. One of those being from cyclingnews.com and Bike Radar tech editor, James Huang called 'We're People on Bikes, Not Lifeless Obstacles in Your Way'. There is an online petition that you can sign to join to help allow the judicial process to start.

Regardless of how this all plays out, it points out the important issue that as cyclists we need to make our voices heard otherwise we will be overlooked. In Urban Velo's latest issue, they took the bold stance of publishing pictures of a hit-and-run that ended in the tragic death of a cyclist to help serve as a reminder of the cost when things go horribly wrong. As cyclists we must stand up and let our voices be heard!

2 days. 270 miles.

A few weeks ago, we showed you Alex's polo bike. Well, he does more than play polo. Back at the beginning of August he and a friend road from Grand Rapids to Mackinaw Island... in two days... 270 miles, brakeless and fixed. The video from it, called Miles, was just finished. Enjoy.

Miles from Pietro Malegori on Vimeo.

Name your length

Oh, you might remember the stories of such a glorious land... a land of the perfect coffee, a land of long rides, a land of euphoria, the land where the Phil Wood spoke cutter ruled the world.

You might believe this land to be just a figment of your imagination. And for some, they will never be able to fully grasp it's sheer joy to be had but a taste of this fictitious land is at hand!

182, 184, 186, 250, 252, 254, 258, 260, 262, 268, 272, 278, 282, 288, 290, 292, 298, 312

250, 252, 254, 260, 262, 264, 268, 272, 278, 282, 288, 290, 292, 298, 312

200, 250, 252, 262, 272, 278, 283, 286, 288, 290, 292, 296, 300

266, 272, 278, 283, 286, 288, 290, 292, 300

No, this is not some twisted mind game of numbers that takes you 6 years of your life trying to figure out it's meaning, only to find out it was basically a waste of time. In the land of the Phil Wood spoke cutter, you always have the exactly spoke length you need and that reality is now here. What was listed above are the lengths of spoke we stock, to make more sense of it here is a better breakdown of each:

We stock these lengths of black DT Swiss Champion spokes:

182mm, 184mm, 186mm, 250mm, 252mm, 254mm, 258mm, 260mm, 262mm, 268mm, 272mm, 278mm, 282mm, 288mm, 290mm, 292mm, 298mm, 312mm

We stock these lengths of silver DT Swiss Champion spokes:

250mm, 252mm, 254mm, 260mm, 262mm, 264mm, 268mm, 272mm, 278mm, 282mm, 288mm, 290mm, 292mm, 298mm, 312mm

We stock these lengths of black DT Swiss Competition 2.0/1.8 spokes:

200mm, 250mm, 252mm, 262mm, 272mm, 278mm, 283mm, 286mm, 288mm, 290mm, 292mm, 296mm, 300mm

We stock these lengths of silver DT Swiss Competition 2.0/1.8 spokes:

266mm, 272mm, 278mm, 283mm, 286mm, 288mm, 290mm, 292mm, 300mm

You might be thinking, 'Wait Alo, I thought you said that in the land of Phil Wood we'd have every spoke length we'd need?'

Oh, I did! Once again these are only the lengths of spokes we stock. We have the ability to cut to any spoke length needed for whatever way you are looking to build up that next set of Synergys or Fusions.

Counting grams? We also offer black Sapim CX Ray spokes. The beauty of these bladed spokes is that they are based off of the traditional 'J-bend' spoke, the CX Ray spoke boasts:

• No more extra hub filing; the hub manufacturer's guarantee is unaffected.
• Almost as light as Titanium.
• Stronger than all the spokes, currently on the market.
• Unbelievably high fatigue test results
• Special alloy treatment and sophisticated production.
• The best aerodynamic spoke now available.
• Produced from high-tensile, fatigue-resistant 18/8 stainless steel conforming to the SAPIM quality standard specification

Have your dealer contact us for lengths and pricing.

Looking for some style points? We also offer a number of different powder coated 14g spokes that can also be cut to any length. Green, Red, Pink, Yellow, Blue and White. What better way to add a little snap to your Deep Vs or Chukkers.

It's also every spoke includes a DT Brass 2.0 silver nipple - need a custom color nipple? We've got those too, in brass we offer Silver and Black nipples; and in alloy we offer Silver, Black, Red, Blue, Purple, Gold, and Green.

Need a spoke? Need 1 or 69 or 420,247? We can do that! Contact your local bicycle shop for pricing and availability, if they don't have it instock have them contact us and you'll have it in no time!

I spy

So you can look busy at work let's play our favorite game: I spy...

Seen on Prolly is not Probably.

As seen at Velo Syndikat...

As seen on Guitar Ted's site...

And if you have figured out the common thread yet, as seen at Urban Velo...

The Velocity Bottle Trap. 29 grams. Like all our rims, made in Australia. 13 colors. There's a reason we call it a trap, the bottle will always be there when you need it.

Allison Jones

We've have the privilege to work with a number of different athletes and we always celebrate when they succeed. One of our riders is Allison Jones. She is a 2 sport athlete and 5 time paralympian. This past August Allison won and became the 2010 Time Trial World Champion at the Para-Cycling Road World Championships in Quebec. We've been pleased to support Allison in her training, she uses the Polkadot Deep V Track wheels, and can't be happier with her success.

Here is her write-up from that weekend:

2010 Summer on the Bike

Leading up to Road Worlds I spent a lot of time climbing the various hill around Colorado Springs, Palmer Lake, and Castle Rock. I was having fun and somehow found my time trialing leg and mental place. The training camp leading up to our departure was awesome. The team was able to really come together and I was able to push my body harder and further then I had thought possible. I was tired after all of the hard practices but was able to find the strength for the next morning. I found the bottom on one of the practices but told myself in order to get onto the top of the podium I needed to be able to find the bottom and know what it feels like so come race day I would know to push myself harder and leave everything out on the course.

Going to worlds I knew that I was in top shape. I was riding faster and stronger then I had in previous years. I was ready. We got to the venue before most of the teams and were able to ride the course several times without distractions and others there. I loved this course to be honest. The course was going to be hard and I knew that I could go deeper into the pain cave then most and that this course is going to make people suffer. The hill that was going to make or break the race was a two tier hill, each tier about a kilometer long with a 200 meter reprieve in the middle. Some would see this hill as the main obstacle of the course but I saw it as the best part. After some debate about whether the course was longer than allowed, the number of laps was cut in half. Originally I had to climb the hill twice for the time trial and four times in the road race. Now, in my time trial, I was cut down to only chance to use the hill to my advantage. I had to ride harder then I ever had up a hill. Twice up the hill meant pacing, once up the hill meant sprinting.

I was starting second to last, based off of last year’s results, following a Spaniard and being followed by my teammate. I knew that I had to catch everybody and had to do it on the hill. Good news was that my other teammates, Kelly and Greta, were out on the course the same time I was. It just so happened that Kelly was starting her second lap right as I came out of the start. Thanks to this coincidence I was able to get a little bit of pacing from the start and some words of encouragement from my coach who was in Kelly’s follow vehicle. I managed to keep Kelly and the van in sight all the way to the hill four kilometers in to the course. At this point I was also able to see other riders; a competitor form New Zealand, and my competition from Spain. I did a bit of recovery on the flats before the hill and was glad that I did, as I was able to maintain a sprint up the hill for four minutes (well two two-minute sprints with a forty second reprieve in the middle). I made up half of the distance between the Spaniard and myself climbing the hill and then the other half on the decent heading back to the finish line. I started second to last and finished first. I came in with so much energy that all of my teammates standing around told me that I should go do the course again. I was so excited as I knew that I had just done it and done it right.

For the road race I put extra pressure on myself because I knew I was faster and stronger than the other girls and if I didn’t win it was because of something that I had done wrong. With some good coaching from Craig (our team head coach) I had confidence. For the first two laps of the course I rode at the groups pace, taking my time and ever really pushing my own limits. On the third lap I rode the bottom of the hill at an easy pace and then at half way up the second tier I rode at my pace. I thought that my competition was going to be able to get back up to me on the flats but she never did and I just kept on going. Every hill that I hit I pushed a little bit harder. I recovered on the flats and I think she was making up ground until we got back to the hill for the final lap. I never saw her again. I rode as hard as I could and left nothing out there. It was an amazing feeling knowing that I was able to control the race and to be able to feel confident in my riding.

Geek

A few weeks ago, at the Granogue Cyclocross races in Delaware the Geek House squad showed up and threw down, rocking some Major Tom's they brought out some great finishes and a win! Another team we love being a part of... here's a little write up they posted on their blog:

Congrats Donny!



Donny is the best! Mr. Green dominated Granogue with a 1st place finish on Day #1 and a 2nd place finish on Day #2. Makin’ us proud! Congratulations Donny, you’re the best.

This was Donny’s first race on his new Velocity (@VelocityUSA) wheelset. Mr. Green said and I quote, “Ground Control to Major Tom- these wheels rock!” OK, he didn’t actually say that but he did just have us order him another set so he can train without risking his tubulars and ch-ch-changing his cantis every ride. Thanks to Velocity for helping a neon brother out!

Photos courtesy of @GroovyLab. More pix of Donny at Granogue on GroovyLab’s Flickr. Thanks again for the great shots!

Why?

Why do we love Bike Polo?

Bike Polo Modern Drift from Mr.Do on Vimeo.

That pretty much sums it up.

Devil's Night

For the last 3 years, Ryan has been putting on a little Devil's Night Shin-dig. This year was no different and a solid turn out to say the least. The Poker Run had 5 planned stops and one diversion for 'refueling'. A great night to say the least, a few pictures...

En Route...

Matt as Ernest M. McSorley the captain of the SS Edmund Fitzgerald and myself as Walter Sobchak

JBolt on the tall bike as a kitten

Ryan as Huey Lewis...

and the Nug, by Alex [rocking a tandem, camera man]

2nd to last stop, the Bike Polo court.

A few of the other riders from the night....

Winner of best costume... Hulk Hogan.

Rad.

Pippy.

Conehead.

?

Banana man. Smurfette. Walter.

Good times had by all, can't wait til next year.