Dirty Brompton, the paparazzi target

It seems like I've been shot!  Treehugger.com did an article on a $600 pop-up bike lane that was demonstrated at the Open Streets Minneapolis event last year... which was also the host for the Brompton US Championship.

My mug is shown in the first and last pictures of the bike lane.  Also shown are "Purple" aka @bikenanigans and Todd from Metrognome Music and Cycle to Go.

Here is the link to the article.

Thanks to @CalhounCycle for notifying me!

BUSC 2013 Sunday Recap: Folding Contest

The Brompton Folding Competition took place after the Championship Race.  Groups of 10 competed eliminator-style until only one remained.  I was in the second group of ten, still not quite recovered from the race (excuses).  I wasn't comfortable with the way my bike folded because it wasn't as stable with my rack removed (again, excuses!).  I was eliminated unceremoniously in the first round.  However, this did allow me to focus on taking a bunch of video!

My friend Todd was in the next round.  He kept going...and going... and going until the was the last man standing!  Here's his progress thoughout the competition:

Todd's opening preliminary round

Second preliminary round

Third preliminary round (knocking off Beckie Alexander, the women's race winner)

Todd head-to-head with our good friend Melissa

Finals - opening round

Finals - Second round

The last three

The Final

Folding contest podium

Animated GIF that Google+ automagically made for me.

And here are some notable duels that I really enjoyed:

Bryan loses after some friendly smack talk towards Francie.

Ross, a Brompton rep, throws down the gauntlet against Spencer, the men's race second place finisher and the US representative to the World Championships.

BUSC 2013 Sunday Recap: Race Day

Raceday also began by waking up to a little bit of rain.  Not too bad though.  It was going to be a decent day to wear our required suit jacket and necktie.

As Todd and I left our hotel we saw Kevin, a rider we had met the previous evening.  He was already starting to ride before we had cleared the front doors, so Todd and I hauled ass to catch up to him.  After we caught up to him, we rode together to Lyndale Ave. & 34th St., the location of the race.

When we pulled up to the race, it was nice to see a lot of the familiar faces that we saw a day earlier.  We also met a lot of new people, mostly locals.  All told there were about 55 riders in the race, every one with a big smile on their face.  The spectacle was truly grand and a sight to behold.  We all gladly posed for pictures while we waited for the race to begin.  The race was kinda formal in that a race official was brought in to oversee the event, but also kinda informal since we didn't have timing chips on our numbers.  The only really important finishers were the top three (video was being taken in case replay was necessary).

If you are unfamiliar with the Brompton Championships, allow me to clue you in on the key points:

There is a Le Mans style start... our folded bikes are placed in a grid before the start of the race.  When the race starts, we have to run to our Brommies, unfold them, then get going.  I'm not sure if foot speed or unfolding speed is more important… they are probably equal.  Probably the most important thing is to try to break out of the grid quickly, doing your best to get around riders who are slow to unfold or are just slow.

Once you get going, it's pretty much like any other bike sprint.  Hang with the peloton if you can, then sprint at the end.  This race is six miles long… six one-mile laps.  Twelve turns.  It's easy to lose track of which lap you are on.  Here is my video footage that I put up in an earlier post.

I felt that I did pretty well, considering that I had a pulled hamstring two weeks prior and that I rode about 45 miles the day before (excuses, excuses!).  Here are the winners of the race!

The winners of the Best Dressed category was announced after the race:

I had an absolute blast doing this and can't wait to do it again!  

This is the summary of my race data:

started	Jun 23, 2013, 10:06 AM
route	06/23/2013 Minneapolis, MN
activity	Cycle
ride time	20:02
distance	5.98 miles
average speed	17.90 mph
fastest speed	25.31 mph
calories	336

Click here for my complete ride data.

Observations:

Racing Green is a really popular color.

Raw Lacquer, while greatly admired, was not very common.

The two-tone Brommies are awesome.

Here are other blogs about the race:

A Curious Endevour
Why I Ride
The Gear Junkie

Thanks again to Calhoun Cycles for their hospitality!  If you were at the race and have any photos, please share them at the BUSC 2013 Flickr page!

The next post will be about the folding contest.

BUSC 2013 Saturday Recap: Multi-Modal Minneapolis Ride and Taking the Scenic Route

The 2013 Brompton US Championship this year was quite an interesting event. I had arrived to Minneapolis with Todd (of MetroGnome Music) on the Friday before the BUSC, did a week-long tour of the Midwest before returning to the Twin Cities.  

The first interesting event happened prior to the start of the BUSC festivities.  We returned our rental car on Friday, hoping to take advantage of the excellent public transportation system in Minneapolis (which we did).  Our first destination after dropping the car off was to the famous Matt's Bar for the "Jucy Lucy" (a cheeseburger where the cheese is melted inside two beef patties, like a jelly donut).  We didn't make it out to Matt's that day (we had to wait until Sunday).

As we stepped off the blue train, it started sprinkling.  After 5 minutes of walking the sprinkle turned into a massive storm.  Actually, it was more like an EPIC storm.  Large trees were knocked down and breaking cars and houses.  Electricity was knocked out west of the Hiawatha highway (which includes Calhoun Cycle).  This pretty much ended our Friday.

Saturday began with us cycling to Calhoun Cycles and picking up our registrations.

It was nice to see all the different styles of Brommies that converged at Calhoun.

Unfortunately, the electricity was still out from last night's storm, and would remain so for several days.  

The first ride of the day was a multi-modal trip out to Coon Rapids Dam.  The trip was about 25 miles or so.  We witnessed a lot of destruction that was caused by the previous night's storm… we had to dismount a couple of times to climb over trees that had fallen on the bike path.  

Eventually after a fun ride we got to the dam and had lunch.

After lunch we took the Northstar Commuter Rail back.  It was prime Brommie posing time!

We returned to Calhoun Cycles for a little bit of a break before heading back out.  The afternoon ride took us to the Stone Arch Bridge and Guthrie Theater.

We were expecting to be able to use the restrooms at the Guthrie, but unbeknownst to us they were closed for a rare private event.  We also got to ride a bit on the Midtown Greenway and learn a little bit about the Beez Kneez.

When we returned we were treated to pizza, a concert by Michael Morris of Dewi Sant and a raffle, where I won a little mini-bike bag and a pair of WoolieBoolie socks.

Here are some other blogs that have recaps of the day:

A Curious Endevour

Limestone Roof

If you were at the BUSC and have pictures, please share them on the BUSC flickr group pool.

I'll be doing a recap of Sunday (Raceday) as well... hopefully it won't take me as long to post it!

BUSC 2013 On-Bike Race Footage

Here is my race footage from the 2013 Brompton US Championship.  The GoPro was mounted on the front luggage block as I've written about before here.  Enjoy!

Update:  When I posted this video earlier I had Youtube apply some sort of image stabilization.  The final result looked unnatural so I reverted it back to the original footage.

BUSC 2013

I had a wonderful time at the Brompton US Championships today. I met a lot of wonderful people yesterday and today in Minneapolis.

Many thanks to Luke, Martha and crew at Calhoun Cycle and John, Ed and Ross from Brompton. 

I've got a lot of photos, video and race data to sort out and edit so that I can get it posted soon. 

To save you the suspense, I did not win or place on the podium. However, my friend from Tucson DID win the folding competition!

Two weeks until BUSC!

Two weeks to go until the Brompton U.S. Championships!  I've got my outfit all ready to go, I think my gear is set, and my training is probably not where it needs to be but oh well!

If you see this guy, come say hi!

I'm interested in seeing how many riders will turn out and excited to meet more Brompton riders!

Brompton US Championship Registration is LIVE!

The Brompton US Championship registration went live earlier this afternoon (link here).  I am already signed up and looking forward to it!  Watch out Prince, Lake Minnetonka and Jucy Lucy!

New GoPro Hero 3, aka How I spent my REI 20% off coupon and dividend

On Friday I went ahead and spent my annual REI 20% off coupon and dividend on one of the new GoPro Hero 3's, black edition (which is the flagship model).

I won't get into too many detail with the specs and such since there are practically an infinite number of sources online that showcase the new features and performance of the Hero 3.  

I will say that the smaller size and lighter weight makes a HUGE difference in the usability of the video I can record.  The following two clips are from GoPros mounted on top of my helmet.  The first video is of the new Hero 3.  The first part of the clip is of me going under a bridge to show how it transitions from light to dark.  The second part of the clip is of me riding on a bumpy road. 

The clip below is of me riding in El Tour on a bumpy road (watching a unicyclist) with the Hero 2.  While not exactly apples to apples with the first clip (different roads), the two roads are similarly bumpy.   You can see and hear the excessive movement of the Hero 2 inside the case in the second clip.  I think the lighter weight and smaller size really helped reduce the rattling.

I am really happy in the improvement in footage I can get with the GoPro Hero 3.  I plan on using it at the Brompton US Championships in Minneapolis this summer!

Brompton US Championships just announced!

This year's US championship was just announced tonight!  It will take place in Minneapolis again on June 23, 2013.  I am definitely planning on being there... anyone else???

http://www.bromptonuschampionship.com/save-the-date/

It's finally here!

I went and picked up my Brompton right when Portapedal opened this morning.  To my surprise, John McConaghay (one of the US reps for Brompton) was also there.  Anyway, I talked with the rep and Al & Donna from Portapedal and they answered questions I had as well as just talking about Brompton stuff in general.

John gave me the lowdown on what happened with the co-ordination of this year's Brompton US Championships - which I won't post in this public forum - but kudos to Minneapolis for stepping up!  After a quick test ride I high-tailed it back the 100 miles to Tucson (in a car - sorry) to take care of some urgent unrelated business.

When I finally got home, I took the bike out for a few miles (even though it was threatening to rain) along the Pantano Wash bike path.  The brommie felt although solid, it's gonna take me a little time to get used to riding it, particularly shifting.  The Brooks leather saddle is hard as a rock (as advertised), but I applied some proofide after the ride and it should break in nicely over the next couple of months.

On to the gratuitous pics!

Picking up the Brommie at Portapedal

Folded view from the other side

Another folded view 

"Parked" view with the rear third folded under

Ready to ride!

Take it outside!

Dang...

One of the things that had attracted me to the Brompton culture are the quirkiness of their owners and, to a greater extent, Brompton's willingness to encourage and embrace this culture.  A major event that showcases the Brompton company's love for their customers is their sponsorship of The Brompton World Championships.

This is not your typical bike race... here are some of the unique rules:

• A tie, collared shirt and jacket (like one from a suit, not an athletic or cycling jacket) shall be worn.
• No visible lycra is allowed.  If you wear some underneath, that's your business.
• There is a Le Mans style start, where your folded bike is lined up in a row of 10 and you have to run to your bike and unfold it before going on your way.
• Prizes are given to the Best Dressed male & female competitor.

In addition to the World Championships, there are national championships in Austria, the Czech Republic, Japan, Korea, Mexico, Portugal, Spain, Sweden, Switzerland, Taiwan & of course the United States of America.  When I had first heard about the US Championships a couple of months ago I was interested in checking it out and possibly participating this year.  However, I couldn't find any info for the event this year.   

That is until today, when I saw the results up on the Brompton website from the race this past weekend in Minneapolis.  Ugh!  I'm not too upset because I still don't have my bike yet, but I hope that there is going to be more than a couple of weeks notice next year.  Maybe since this was the first time that the US Championships was not in Philadelphia it caused some confusion or delay in getting the word out.  Oh well.  I am definitely hoping to go next year, and perhaps one day to London for the WBC!  I wonder if they'll let me get away with wearing a bolo tie.