LBL Update

Here is a spy photo of the shirt for LBL. These are "vintage" workshirts with the King Of the Road image on the back, and the CiTy BiLLy corporate logo & a personalized name tag screen printed on the front. These workshirts have been used- some have tears which have been mended, there's a wide variety of colors, but they've got street (or velodrome) cred. If you've signed up for the ride already, & would like to provide me with what your name tag should read, that'd be great: drop me a note. It's not too late to sign up for LBL: drop me an e-mail telling me you're coming, print out the registration/ waiver & mail it(along with the $10 registration fee) to:
Lonnie Mulder
1844 S. 41st Lincoln, NE
68506
Note; for those of you who have pre-registered, if you would rather have a t-shirt, please let me know.

The check's in the mail

Today, I mailed out the "goodie bags" to everyone who has signed up for LBL. Just a couple of CiTy BiLLy items to get your hearts fluttering (yeah, right). There'll be more at the ride. In ride related news, Gore will not be able to give us sag support aboard his Harley. We are scrambling to find a suitable replacement.

A Man & His Bikes-the Singlespeed

This is the first mountain bike I ever owned, a Diamond Back Ascent. I bought it in 1993, & thus my love affair with cycling began. I rode this, complete with knobbies, on 70 mile road rides. I rode it in Winter Park, on the MOPAC for miles & miles. I eventually upgraded some of the components & then decided to convert it to a one speed, complete with WTB dirt drops, which required some getting used to. I now use this bike as my foul weather commuter.

A Man & His Bikes-Ventoux, the flying bike

This is the most eclectic bike I own. I was looking for an old Petaluma made Salsa road frame on eBay, & was contacted directly from a seller in Michigan. We negotiated & I ended up with the beautiful frame with a Kinesis carbon fork. The original Salsa steel (is real!) fork could not be found. I scoured eBay & found a Steelman fork & pulled the trigger. About the same time, I totally fell in love with old school Campagnolo components & through multiple eBay purchases, was able to score pretty much a full gruppo. The wheelset is not the original wheelset: in the roofrack fiasco, the back wheel was severely bent. Luckily, I scored a totally sweet wheelset on eBay: Bullseye hubs with Campy Ypsilon rims. The headset on this bike is a Shimano Dura Ace that has been specially machined- it started out as a threaded headset, but is now threadless. This bike is extremely light, hence the name "Ventoux": she's a climber.

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Now playing: Miles Davis - In a Silent Way/It's About That Time: In a Silent Way/It's About That T
via FoxyTunes

A Man & His Bikes-Croll

This is as close to a custom bike as I have. When I was riding a mountain bike frequently, my LBS raced on these frames. Croll frames were built in Minnesota, originally by Walter Croll, who was a master. He built road, cyclocross, track & mountain frames. This frame was built after Walter sold the company. It was semi custom: many sizes to choose from, including short & long chainstays (east & west coast geometry), 853 tubing. The paint was my own selection, a beautiful forest green with pearl white panels. House of Kolors paint is a paint used for show cars & while it has to be seen to be believed, it probably is not the wisest choice for a mountain bike. Chips appeared within a few days of build-up. To combat this, many vulnerable areas (the bottom half of the downtube, for instance) are covered with a paint protecting clear tape. The bike is built up with XT components, save for the Truvativ crank. A Marzocchi Atom Bomb fork handles shock absorption & a Thomson seatpost (the first I bought) holds the WTB saddle. As you can see, this bike is more of an eye-candy bike at the present: I don't even have pedals installed. Maybe someday, I'll start riding mountain bikes again, but with my paltry bike handling skills, maybe not.

Now, to cleanse the pallette:

I'd forgot completely about this band, & then stumbled across them just the other day. Forgive the outrageous costumes & cheesy staging of this video. These are power pop masters, "Jellyfish", with "That is Why" from the very early 90's.

A Man & His Bikes-the Panzer

The year was 1979-I was a senior in high school & saw a movie, "Breaking Away". I was instantly hooked. I drove to Omaha, to the Bike Rack & purchased this Trek 714. Reynolds 531 frame with a combination of Sun Tour & Shimano components. Two things were immediately apparent: the bike did not fit me (stem too long) & the Rigida rims were not up to the task at hand (I used to carry a spoke wrench with me on rides, because the wheels would go out of true constantly). I used this bike as my primary transportation when I went to college. Then, due to the fit & wheelset, I quit riding for almost 10 years. This bike languished in my basement. Finally, in 1993, I bought a mountain bike (another chapter in this series) & began to ride again. I started to educate myself about cycling. I had a local mechanic rebuild the wheelset with Sun rims & voila!, that problem was solved. eDBiLLy gave me a stem & the bike started to shine. I bought a set of fenders from Lincoln Bicycle Company & began to commute on my "new" old bike. Hence, the headlight & tail light were installed (the Scott drop- in handlebars provide a perfect perch for the headlight). I was lucky enough to get a Brooks Swift saddle & it now adorns the "Panzer". Why name the bike after a tank? When you ride this bike, the stoutness of the frame is reassuring: it's not a go-fast bike, but you have the feeling it could get you anywhere, no matter the weather or road conditions. Therefore, when the KeRNeL, Russ & I decided to ride a 300K brevet, this was the bike I chose.