https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=S2AQBe1uZSg
Welcome to the weekly video roundup! I’m getting this out before I leave for a big bike adventure this weekend. The above video is 45 minutes on this year’s RAAM, which includes Juliana Buhring, the hero of Inspired To Ride (which is about the “self-supported RAAM” though not affiliated with RAAM). Such an amazing ultraendurance race; I love the humanity that comes from showing the riders.
On ‘The Collision Chronicles‘, commenter 21 Speed posted the following video- it’s a cute example of how a road range incident could turn out.
This is a good bio of an ultra-distance athlete. There’s some marketing, but it’s still really interesting as he talks about his workout, riding 96mi and up 9000ft “to get to the trailhead”, where he then runs 9 miles with 6000ft climb.
Running cows. Jumping cows.
This is MTB footage from 1985, showing a fully rigid mountain bike:
And here’s some modern MTB footage. This camera is aimed down enough that some may get motion-sick, but the audio is pure and it’s a beautiful area.
Pro racer Chad Haga was one of the Giant-Alpecin team that was hit by a driver who was oncoming on the wrong side of the road. Haga says he was “not sure if it was some prankster trying to scare us”. There’s some blood and scars in this video. When this happened (early this year), one of the major pro racing sites called it an “accident”. Sigh.
All helmets aren’t the same. The new MIPS helmets should help to reduce brain injury. Here’s a quick explainer. (also: how new helmets are designed)
Path Less Pedaled led a bikefishing trip:
If you don’t like laughing at failures (or pain), don’t watch this. It’s a roundup of “epic MTB crashes” from GMBN.
This is a cool comparison of an early (Trek) carbon bike versus a modern (Trek) carbon bike- 1992 to 2016.
A lot of this video talks about the bike choice itself, but after the 4 minute mark they talk about the Cape Epic ride, which is .. epic.
BikePortland’s Mr. Jonathan Maus is doing Cross again this year. I imagine this was his thought process.
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Related. If you don’t get the reference, your homework is to watch Field of Dreams. (you can follow that up with Waterworld and The Postman)
Brush your teeth, not your bike’s handlebar grips. What do you do if you want to clean your bar tape? We have a bike/rider profile coming where the rider really likes his yellow bar tape. Maybe this will help.
Speaking of yellow bar tape, here’s a really short piece from RCB:
Burlington (Vermont) has a pretty pedestrian mall. It looks really liveable. It was done in the 1980s, so similar to our Pioneer Square, but more day-to-day liveable. Further, they are working on physical design to make the streets attractive and friendly to pedestrians. What I noticed is when he talked about pedestrian crossings, he said “pedestrians have right of way… you don’t need to think too much about watching for traffic”.
FSA’s electronic shifting system is (finally) out. It’s partially wireless, the rocker-shifters look good, and the “button mapping” is configurable. Their (optional) mobile app is clever too. Neat. (also: first ride on this groupset)
Here’s some bike footage from Gravel Worlds in Nebraska. Pretty cool. And pretty. (also: drinking beer with Gravel Worlds athletes)
Utrect, Netherlands, converted a former main highway into a bikeway. I notice that some segments aren’t zero-car, but it’s clear that the priorities are humans first, cars second. (and your moment of zen, cycling along this path)
Local WTF moments
Perhaps I’ll start a section for some of the helmet cam videos from the area. There are three amazingly terrible drivers in this compilation:
Elsewhere: this week, a compilation of close calls (some VERY close), compilation of SMIDSY moments in the UK.
Honorable Mentions
This week’s honorable mentions: self-driving cars are better than humans for driving (and traffic; note no mention of non-SOV options), discussion about Sagan’s Olympics MTB effort (also discusses the Oregon Timber Trail), explainer on (not) using the left lane when driving (they also figured out how to solve all traffic problems), ebike vs gondola ride for mountain biking, “Farley: More to Love” makes me think of Chris Farley and GCN’s 7 tips for young cyclists.
Inclusion criteria: If I’ve missed something, post it in the comments! I prefer videos published in the last week or so. Note if there’s a specific point in a long video that is worth highlighting. Also note if there is colorful language. I will delay videos containing pro racing spoilers by 7 days.
– Ted Timmons, @tedder42
The local WTF moments video left me wondering what’s up. By that, I mean who would really be taken by surprise by motorists running red lights and driving on the wrong side of the road in Oregon? Sadly, that’s just SOP here.
Today, I drove and drove and drove the same route over and over again, moving many tons of material for a community garden. I had the opportunity to observe a few thousand local motorists and none of them were able to maintain their lanes, stop at red lights or stop signs or obey speed limits. None of them surprised me in the slightest.
E-bike vs gondola came out 5s slower with what wattage? I’m guessing 250W or 350W. A 1000W motor might put him a minute ahead.
A DRZ400S would put him a few minutes ahead.
At last some raltanoiity in our little debate.
Does anyone know if that retro GT video was actually circa 1985? That helmet doesn’t look like any I remember from back then.
The retro Mongoose one? Nah, it’s recent. See this rider bio, which says he first rode for Mongoose in 2006: http://www.mongoose.com/usa/riders/chris-akrigg/
Thanks Bill.
That collision chronicles video was interesting but I couldn’t help thinking that in this country the white guy pulls out a gun, kills the black guy, claims self defense, and gets away with the whole thing. Sad, but that’s where my mind went.