May 2007

FRIENDLY FOLKS 
If you have ever ridden around Fayetteville, you know how friendly local folks are to cyclist there. It’s one of the most cycle- friendly places around. But have you ridden around Schulenburg? Because that is the most bicycle-friendly area in which I’ve ever ridden. I was amazed at the reception we got there on one of our training rides. We did the Painted Churches Tour, which is about 55 miles of rolling hills that passes by seven or eight old churches that appear to have been built in the late 19th century or early 20th. They are all surrounded by ancient oaks and from what I am told have elaborately painted interiors. As we passed by many of these, the congregations were just entering the front door for mass and people would wave to us as we passed. On a couple of occasions we had set up rest stops on the side of the road and it was very wet so we couldn’t pull all the way over. Normally in that circumstance people who drive by get a bit annoyed but not near Schulenburg. The people there waved as they slowed to pass us and were very patient and friendly. At one point as I was posting our route signs I got my truck stuck in the wet grass on the side of the road and a local man helped me to get unstuck. A final example of the incomparable friendliness of the community came at the end of the ride in the high school parking lot as we were leaving, a minister from a church in town stopped by to talk to us. It turns out he was a rider also and he invited us to use his church parking lot next time we ride and he even said he’d open up for us so we could use the restrooms. So Schulenburg gets my vote for friendliest town in Texas to cyclists.

Click here for a map

POST BP MS 150  The MS150 Report:
Incident at I Hop: We started our ride at I Hop just as we always do. The restaurant’s manager was very accommodating and professional. He and his staff served pancakes, eggs and potatoes as well as coffee and orange juice. We must have had 50 people there consuming the quality breakfast grub and everything went smoothly as far as everyone knew. However things went awry after the entire team had finished and went into the parking lot to prepare for the ride. At that time I was the only UBG Team member still left eating. I was on my ninth plate of pancakes and eggs and my eighth cup of coffee. I had long ago planned to consume a target number of flapjacks and cups of coffee that I had scientifically determined to be the optimal amount given my body mass index and the estimated caloric expenditure for the day. Despite 5 trips to the impeccably clean I Hop bathroom, I was succeeding admirable in my goal of perfect body fueling. It was after I had completed that ninth plate that things went horribly wrong. As I rose once again to fill another plate (I was only one plate away from my goal) I was dismayed to see the serving trays empty of food and the coffee urn dry. I enquired of the waitress, “ can I have more pancakes, please?” She replied that they had run out of pancakes due to unusually high consumption this particular morning and that a shipment of their special pancake batter was on the way but wouldn’t be there for another hour or so. I panicked.

I began to shake from head too toe with anxiety. How could I possibly ride 100 miles without the optimal food loading as determined by an elaborate series of mathematical computations that I had meticulously worked out with the help of my teammate Kevin? I quickly progressed from panic to depression at the utter futility of even trying to ride. Then I started pleading with the I Hop manager to do something, anything, to provide me with the necessary hot cakes to cover my deficit. I bribed him with handfuls of cash, which he wouldn’t take. However this resourceful and generous individual found a way to solve my problem. He directed his staff to mix together a concoction of eggs and potatoes and shape them into cakes that were then pan fried into a reasonable facsimile of pancakes. I quickly consumed a plateful, graciously thanked the wonderful people of I Hop and proceeded to the parking lot just in time to get into the team picture.

Ride Start: We headed out from the parking lot on time and made our way through the neighborhood with the whole team hanging together except Teresa and Kelly who somehow got lost back there in a distracting conversation about all the dates they each had the previous week. The rest of us maintained a fast pace despite the heavy bike traffic and I was proud of how many of the blue jerseys stayed together during the first 40 miles. Although we began to splinter, a bit after that, we regrouped at lunch.

We have been blessed here at UBG in that we seem to attract quality people. We enjoy the people who ride with us on our club rides. They are fun to ride with and they all have a sense of humor. I had such a good time this year with the people on our MS150 team. We laughed together quite a bit and they all rode like veterans.

FEATURED ITEMS
The Urban Works- a deluxe tune-up where we perform the following services:

1. Drive train-completely disassembled. Clean and check derailleur, cranks, and bottom bracket. Lubricate and fine tune.
2. Wheels-clean and check rims, hubs, spokes, and nipples. Establish correct spoke tension, true laterally and radially.
3. Brakes- check for worn pads, clean and check calipers, levers and cables. Lubricate and fine tune.
4. Tires-inflated and inspected,
5. Misc.- clean and check for damaged seat post, frame and fork.

All this is $69.99. Ozzie will personally do the work and in my 23 years in the bike business I have never known a mechanic who is more conscientious and detail oriented. John Vancas is close but Ozzie has made a detailed study of bicycle mechanics having graduated from the Barnett Bicycle Institute.

SUMMER RIDES
The big ride is over but we will continue to ride. We’ve got some great rides to look forward to including The Fayetteville Summertime Classic, Katy Flatland and The Hotter Than Hell. We are also planning several of our own rides including one in Schulenburg and one in New Waverly. If you’d like to dust off your mountain bike and join us we are driving up to Waco May 5 to ride mountain bikes in Cameron Park. I‘ll be doing several road trips to various mountain bike destinations this summer including some Huntsville and Rocky Hill trips. So if you want to participate, check our website for details.

MOTHER’S DAY
Cruisers are great gifts for Mother’s Day and we’ve got single speed retro cruisers with fenders in several different colors for $179.99.They are simple and easy to ride and make great neighborhood bikes for mom. We also have Raliegh comfort bikes that feature wide comfortable saddles, suspension forks and seat posts, tall upright handlebars and plenty of gears for all terrain and conditions. Price points are  $299 and $350 and they are a big hit with moms.
http://www.raleighusa.com/depts.asp?deptid=6

E-BAY BUYERS BEWARE
We have a vested interest in discouraging shopping for parts on e-Bay and the web in general but we don’t make up horror stories about Internet purchases gone wrong-horror stories just happen.

Zipp has posted this warning on their website:
“We have recently become aware of fake and counterfeit SLC2 handlebars entering the market and being sold on e-Bay. New product that finds its way onto e-Bay should be treated with extreme caution, it is not covered under the Zipp warranty, and is subject to potential catastrophic failure. As these bars are less than our normal weight, are being made and sold outside of our control, we wish to alert all potential buyers to the danger that these counterfeit bars could pose.”

PARTS FAIL
After the MS150, I had transported Trey’s bike in my truck and as I lifted it out by the handlebar I noticed an unusual amount of flex in the bar. I looked more closely and realized that his carbon handlebar was broken. It was split at the bend but I couldn’t see it then because the bar tape hid it. I just happened to grab the bar by the drop and I felt that flex. There is no telling how long Trey had ridden his bike with a cracked bar. If he had been riding down those hills in Bastrop or Buesher State Park and had been on the drops, he might have had a horrible crash. Trey had a bad crash about a year and a half ago so he doesn’t need another one. The lesson here-check your bike thoroughly periodically because parts fail. The lighter the part the more likely it is to fail after a couple of years of hard use. That lightweight stuff doesn’t last forever even though you paid a lot for it.

Thanks again for supporting your local bike shops.
Hope to see ya soon,

Tom Wurth 
Urban Bicycle Gallery