Blacknell.net

Everyone Can Ride

Everyone. (links to video in small screen - catch the explanation at the beginning)

Belgium Sponsors DC Cyclocross

This is such a great story that I’m just going to cut and paste the press release without shame: 

The organizers of the October 26 City Bikes DCCX, the only cyclocross race held within the city limits of the U.S. Capital, have announced that their “Lil’ Belgians” Free Kids Race will actually be sponsored by the Belgian Embassy. “Lil’ Belgians” racing, a traditional part of every BikeReg.com MABRAcross event, is a free fun-race for young children that occurs just prior to the Elite races, and it’s not unusual to see Elite and Amateur racers “assisting” their training-wheel -equipped youngsters by pushing them around their own special course.

Until now, the Lil’ Belgians moniker had been just a cute tribute to the homeland of cyclocross. But at the City Bikes DCCX, Belgium will be involved in an official capacity as the Belgian Embassy will be offering all participating kids a special (and tasty) prize. The kids won’t be the only ones getting a tasty Belgian prize, however, because the City Bikes DCCX organizers will keep the Belgian ambience rolling by serving free Frites to riders and spectators alike. For more information, see BikeReg.com

(Oct 26th. I’ll be there (watching, not racing, I’m afraid.))

Riding the GW Parkway

Washcycle has an interesting review of whether or not one can legally ride on the George Washington Memorial Parkway.   It appears that it is not legal legal, but that hasn’t stopped Park Police from claiming otherwise (and occasionally citing people for it).   In the past year or so, I’ve taken to riding on the Parkway between Mt. Vernon and southern Alexandria, and have never been bothered by passing Park Police.  I have, however, garnered multiple fingers and honking horns from angry little men.  The road is very wide down there, and there’s plenty of room and easy sight-lines for everyone.    I wouldn’t say the same for the portion of the Parkway north of Arlington (that section and Rock Creek Parkway are probably the only roads in DC I’d never ride on).

Update: Allen Muchnick’s comment at the linked Washcycle post brings to light a recently updated set of regulations which appear to ban bikes from all parkways in the capital area.  How in the world a cyclist is expected to know about an unposted rule which is contrary to the law in the rest of the state is beyond me.

ING Direct Capital Criterium Photos - All Races

It’s well past Tuesday, but I’ve finally posted a full gallery of shots from the ING Direct Capital Criterium.  This includes the men’s 35+, 1/2/3, and pro races.  GamJams has been doing a great job of indexing lots of writeups of the action by racers and fans here.

Friday Notes: Surprise Edition

The surprise, of course, is that I’m actually getting a Friday Notes out.

First, I apparently screwed up the first video in this post about Idiocracy (yes, I note the irony).  Since no one told me about it, that means no one looked at the videos.  I blame you.  You are hereby sentenced to go watch it.

~

Do Virginia Republicans do anything but whine about non-existent attacks on them?  Del. Bill Carrico was just on WAMU’s Politics Hour going on about how awful it is that the Fourth Circuit said a state employee can’t use his office to lead a mass prayer to Jesus Christ (in particular.  Non-denoms are okay).  You’d think that the Fourth Circuit was burning Christians at the stake.  More about the issue here (with a similarly overwrought tone) and here (which brings it back to reality).

~

A friend turned me on the Fratellis’ Flathead track last week.  Because Universal is still afraid of its customers, I can’t embed the video.  So check it out.  (Warning: this song came to me as a volley in an earworm war.)

~

CycleTo - a well-produced site run by a fellow with a lot of access in the sport - picked up some of my shots from last weekend’s ING Direct Capital Criterium.  CycleTo does a lot of original short video interviews (like this recent one with Levi Leipheimer at Worlds in Varese).  If you’re into pro cycling, give them a look.

~

Looks like the Associated Press lent the McCain campaign its time machine.

~

You’ve probably recieved one of those fear-mongering “don’t wear buttons to the polls!” email this week.  Vivian Paige lays out the law for Virginia residents, and Adam Bonin gives us a national view.

~

Sign war amusement.

~

It’s often easy to assume that all of humanity’s easy problems have been solved.  This is a reminder that simple ideas can still make a difference.

~

I somehow missed the recent skirmishes over the role of the US military personnel on American soil.  If you find it as interesting as I do, this is as good a place as any to jump in.

~

What are you do this weekend?  Depending on the weather, I’ll either be at Bike DC or the Charlottesville Vegetarian Festival.

ING Direct Capital Criterium Photos

The first half of my day of shooting the ING Direct Captital Criterium is up at Podium Cafe.  Hope to get the local races up by the end of Tuesday.  Check out GamJams.net for local race reports.

Cyclists: Lights, Please!

Even though it breaks my summer-loving heart just to mention it, it’s getting darker earlier.   This sneaks up on a lot of cyclists every year, but I suspect it will hit a lot of the new riders this year.  So, please, a gentle reminder - if there’s even the slightest chance you’re going to be out on the road after 7p (as of today, anyway), please light up.  It doesn’t have to be an expensive HID kit.  Knogs will do.  But you need something.

Update: Thanks to GamJams.net for the nod. Of course,  I now wish I’d been a little more useful with the lighting links (like this or this), but all you folks coming here now probably already know what you need.  I hope you’ll look around a bit (I just put up a load of shots from Sunday’s ING Direct Capital Criterium, including the 35+ and 1/2/3 races)  And I’ll just take one more sentence to thank Mike for his tireless efforts at building community in the MABRA region.

Watch the Capital Criterium Live and Online

Looks like the ING Direct Capital Criterium will have a live internet feed.  Click here around 11:15am EDT.  Check out my preview over at Podium Cafe for details.   Photos and more after the race.

Sunday: ING Capital Criterium (A Pro Cycling Event in DC!)

This Sunday, consider heading down to Penn Quarter to see the ING Direct Capital Criterium. The pro race, which will feature stars like Christian Vande Velde, Freddie Rodriguez, and Rahsaan Bahati (the reigning US pro crit champion), starts at 11:30.   It’ll take place on a six turn 1km circuit that winds its way among the Federal agencies downtown.  This makes for easy viewing and constant action.  It is, of course, free.

Honestly, we’re getting  a much higher quality field than I expected, given how recently this was announced. Christian Vande Velde will be joined by Garmin-Chipotle teammates and fellow Tour de France riders Will Frischkorn and Danny Pate.  I’m not sure if we’ll see the Rock Racing teammates of Freddie Rodrigeuz and  Rashaan Bahati.  Also of note are Symmetrics’ Eric Wohlberg, Kelly Benefits’ Alex Candelario, and Toyota United’s Dominique Rollin.

There are, of course, impressive cyclists who’ve been racing in the DC area all summer.  If you want to see some of that, show up a little earlier - the men’s 35+ race starts at 8am, and the men’s 1/2/3 (top amateurs) rolls at 9am.

Finally, this race has something to offer kids - there’s a kids’ ride/”race” running at 10:30a that will give kids (ages 3-11, seperated out into age groups) a chance to hit the same course that the pros are on.  And if the sheer excitement of that isn’t enough, the first three hundred kids to register (see the site to do it online) will get free ING jerseys and helmets.

I’ll be down there all day, and hope that some of you can make it, too.  If you know anyone who may be interested, please pass this along - it would be great to see a large turnout that would convince the race sponsors to stick around and make this a regular DC event.

This Weekend: Free Guided Washington Walks (and Rides!)

This is the weekend of DC’s twice yearly “WalkingTown” program: “Join Cultural Tourism DC for more than 80 free walking tours (and a few bike tours) in 18 neighborhoods across Washington, DC.” I’ve done these before, and they’ve been well worth my time.  They typically concentrate on a neighborhood’s history, or follow a theme (Civil War cemeteries, public works, new development plans, etc.).  Most are just walkup, but a few require reservations.  If you’ve got a couple free hours this weekend, take a look at the schedule and see if something catches your fancy (for cyclists, I particularly recommend the Anacostia/Riverwalk ride).