BIKE-IN MOVIE AT THE PICKFORD

Celebrate all things bicycling and all things Bellingham on August 17th at the Bellingham Bike-In 2012. Sponsored by the Pickford Film Center, Mount Bakery and the SPARK Museum of Electrical Invention, this year's event (the fourth annual) features local bike clubs and shops, SPARK beer garden with Boundary Bay ales, Bike Show ‘n Shine (like a car show but for bikes), live music by Smokewagon, and of course a movie, "Stop Making Sense" with the Talking Heads. (That's the movie with the big suit.)

Festivities start at 7 p.m., on Bay Street in downtown B'ham, between Holly and Champion.

DONUT RIDE PHOTO ESSAY

Tensions heat up on Red River Road.

Rolling toward Ferndale.

Relaxed pace through Area 51.
  

Regroup at the top of Vista Drive in Ferndale.

Red River Road.

Starbucks.

STEVENS PASS BIKE PARK

I had a great time last week hanging out at the new Stevens Pass Bike Park which offers the only chair lift-assisted mountain biking in the Northwest U.S. Two trails are open now--a blue and a black diamond--with hopefully a third by the end of the season, sometime in October.

Amber and Chelsey of Leavenworth get ready to rip it up.

A bridge, a nice wide bridge.

Me, gettin' my downhill on.

The park is usually open Friday through Sunday but is closed to riding this weekend because it's hosting the NW Cup Finals, the premier downhill mountain bike race series. You can still go to watch though. In fact, for $10 you can ride the chairlift, pick out a spot and see some serious downhillers get dirty.  

I'm writing a story about Stevens Pass Bike Park for The Seattle Times so look for that coming August 18!

30 PERCENT OFF "75 CLASSIC RIDES: WASHINGTON"

THIS JUST IN: For a 30% discount on “75 Classic Rides: Washington,” go to my Mike McQuaide Writer Facebook page (please like it if you haven't already),  click on the green 75 Classic Rides button and follow the instructions on ordering through Mountaineers Books! Then, get pedaling!

CX-PLORING THE CIRRUS BODY FLOAT

My wife and son have been back East all week visiting family and so I had ambitious plans of riding throughout the state both near and far. And while I got in an Artist Point assault and a visit to the Stevens Pass Bike Park (for an upcoming Seattle Times story), for the most part my sub-5 hour Tour de Whatcom has left me pretty much worn out.

So instead, I've been pedaling from my house and enjoying some CX-ploration rides on my cyclocross bike. The above pic is from the Burnout Road Overlook; that's Samish Island and Mount Erie (ouch!) in the distance. Below is from the towers at the top of Galbraith Mountain.  



On both these rides, I was trying something new: a Cirrus Body Float seat post suspension thingee. For months, Charlie Heggem, who's RD of the Mount Baker Hill Climb, has been trying to get me to try one and truthfully, I haven't been interested. (He's involved in a sales and marketing capacity, I believe, with the Bellingham company that makes them.) Last thing I want to do is add anything to my bike, especially something that looks frankly, a little dated.

But after two rides with it installed on my cyclocross bike--totalling about 50 miles, most of that on gravel road and hard-packed trail--I have to admit, I kinda liked it.



On Tuesday, Charlie and I rode Galby and I liked how the Body Float absorbed the bumps on seated gravel road climbs. I felt less jostled and pushed around than normal, able to track better and keep a straighter, more efficient line up the road. (My cyclocross bike is a fairly middle-of-the-road Giant TCX 1; aluminum w/ carbon fork.)

When descending, the differenence was even more noticeable. Fast descents on logging-type roads can be pretty miserable on a 'cross bike w/ cantilever brakes, but on the way down, the bumps felt like they were being gobbled up; I felt a lot more stable and confident and thus was willing to go faster. I found pretty much the same thing the following day on a 30-miler that took me to the top of Burnout Road and down into the Lost Lake basin.

 

I'd be interested to see how the Body Float worked on my rigid-fork, single-speed 29er. But I can't see using it on my full-carbon road bike which is already comfortable as heck and never leaves me sore.

Check the website for more details about it; I don't know if it's available now or will be soon or even how much it costs. (What good am I?)

Riding a road bike w/ skinny 23C tires, Charlie climbed to the Galby Towers and descended the Wonderland Trail. Guess what: he got a flat tire.