Fresh Kit

The new road team kit is here! We're rockin the white for staying cool in the warmer months and because it's PRO to match your race bike. Aaron has a few extra available if anyone is interested.

Spring Setup

I love riding this time of year. It's cool and dark in the mornings, my legs start feeling better, I'm inspired to be on the bike again, and there is just enough foul weather to make each ride feel like an adventure.

Every spring I find my bikes setup a little bit different from the year before. I put the SRB away last year after I raced it at the Jackson Park Chicago Cross Cup opener. I'm still rocking the single vertical bottle cage, but I swapped the not CX appropriate 700x26c slicks for something faster. I'm trying a 10mm longer stem and am thinking about raising my saddle just a hair. Anyone have experience raising a saddle after years of the exact same saddle to BB measurement?

Refreshingly, I've been with out a cyclometer on the bike all winter and spring. I don't have any sophisticated workouts, and have enjoyed relying on the 'sensations' from my legs. However, I do expect the cyclometer will be back soon...



I love the Chris King / EDGE wheels on the road. I get that they are totally overkill at this point in the season, but my DT wheels are wrapped in the free, steel beaded 26c tires and I really wanted to try out my CX race wheels on the road. During the cross season I spent some time on the road with these but it was cold, icy and they were shod in 32c knobbies. During the races I was dealing with all the typical drag inducing scenarios that rob any sense of speed. However, the wheels provide an advantage in the sand and mud and the whole wheel set (clinchers) are light at just over 1400g.

On the asphalt they are fast fast fast, and buttery smooth. The 38mm profile is quick but completely unbothered by gusty winds from any direction (I did have some trouble over the winter with these on windy, icy days). And the Chris King hubs are such a treat on the road. I've had two set of CK hubs on a few different mountain bikes and always enjoyed the performance, easy maintenance, and screaming windup buzz they make when you catch nice air. In a CX race you just appreciate that they are the most reliable hub you could build a set of wheels on - there is just not enough blood in the head to think about anything else. However, on the road you can really enjoy the smooth power delivery, and the sound the freehub makes at 30+ mph is awesome! You never hit that speed on a mountain bike in a setting where you can hear anything.



After a hard 5:30am effort last Friday my bike and I both had a proper layer of winter thaw. Equal parts rain, mud and street grime makes for a photogenic patina and a good excuse to pull out the camera.

Jens Voigt / HTATBL

Originally I was going to send out a link to the Jens Voigt interview below, but How to Avoid the Bummer Life never disappoints and they had another gem posted recently...

I don't find myself with an abundant amount of time to surf so I rely on a few sites to aggregate the relevant minutia for me. For hilarious, bike related, barely work safe content I always head straight to HTATBL.

Jens Voigt interview - Jens is my favorite roadie in the peloton today. Friendly, selfless, and always exciting to watch. His commentary about ignoring the messages your body sends your brain has been helpful the last couple of weeks as I desperately try and find a little form.



Powersliding - Redonkulous.

Friday night at Double Door: The best band ever!

A quick departure from bikes - I want to let everyone know my brother's band, Kinetix, will be rocking the Double Door Friday night. They're a funk rock band and give 110% on stage. If you like fun, dancing, drinking, big hair, or funky music you will thoroughly entertained. Promise.

Info:
This Friday April 24
Double Door
1572 N. Milwaukee Ave. (Milwaukee & North)
$10
Kinetix goes on about 11pm after two good opening bands.

Fun,


Fun,


More fun!

Unoffical COURAGE history

In 2002 I learned how to TIG weld. I needed to build a sitting buck prototype for a new office chair I was working on, complete with FOX coil over shock from my ripped in half Chuck (remember those from back in the day?). After a weekend in the shop I was making strong, reliable welds. They weren't pretty but they did the job. I knew I wanted to build a bike, but without access to proper jigs, cutting tools, or knowledge I was relegated to building dumpster bikes.

Below is a pic of Ruby and I from last weekend riding Courage Choppers bike #2. This bike is part Trek 820 and a no name bike, both found in dumpsters, a stretch Nerve dual crown fork, and about 12 feet of 1.25" straight gauge steel tubing. I also sourced a banana seat, pegs, fresh 24" wheels, and two gold chains from the ultimate cheap part bike site, Lovely Lowriders.



Yep, long before Aaron was building gorgeous, high performance bikes I was making choppers out of found bike parts under the same moniker. The name came from two distinct directions. First was the mockery of tough guy biker gangs. I'm not a tough guy, but the chopper is undoubtedly the tough guys prime transportation choice. The second direction was from Laura. She would get all dolled up to go out with her girlfriends but she'd let me pedal her to the bar on the back of my ridiculous bikes - a sign of true love, and courage.

I moved out of the country and sold one of the bike to my friend at SRAM where it lived on the test track for a few years. The pictured bike ended up in my parents basement. Now the bike comes out for special occasions like birthday parties and Easter egg hunts. I'm way popular with the 5-12 year old crowd.

In it's newest, most appropriate incarnation, COURAGE takes on a new meaning to Aaron and I. Its less about biker gangs and and hot chicks, and more about exploiting the real emotions behind the word. The most courageous guy that lines up at the race is likely to finish dead last - he knew he would but still showed up. Someone who wants to build a bike and circumnavigate the planet is courageous - he's not winning a race, no dollar handups, just wild, risk laden, introspective adventures.

You don't have to be the fastest to be the most courageous.

Ruby and the Wright Bros.

Ruby, my 3 year old, has achieved an important milestone. Yesterday she experienced balancing on two wheels over a significant distance. It may have only been 5 or 6 (very small) bike lengths but is was her first spellbinding, giggle inducing, physics reinforced taste of freedom only a bike can provide.



Of course moments later she got all urban shredder on me and went for a huge move that I haven't even tried yet.



The progress is happening quickly. Like the Write brothers first flight of a few hundred feet, I hope this is all Ruby needs to be inspired to ride further.

Pro Photo

Aaron has some nice pro photography of the team bikes on the COURAGE flickr site.

Check it.