Tis the season for CYCLOCROSS!

No more road races... fewer and fewer group rides... what will we ever do to stay in shape this winter?

I have an idea! Lets mutate our road bikes to go off-road and then race each other through fields, streams, dirt, mud, and pretty much anything else that we can find!! And of course if the going gets too tough, we can always throw our bikes on our shoulders and run...

Sounds like fun, right? Well ok, it really wasn't my idea, its the sport of cyclocross!

Cyclocross (or 'cross') is yet another form of bike racing that is consistently growing in popularity. Races typically take place in the autumn and winter, but here in the south the season lasts well into the new year. Cyclocross races consist of many laps of a short (~1-2 mile) course featuring pavement, wooded trails, grass, steep hills and obstacles requiring the rider to quickly dismount, carry his/her bike over the obstruction and remount. So, it has parallels with both mountain biking and criterium road racing.

You can race on a mountain bike, or get yourself a purebred cyclocross bike like this Trek XO2:


There are a lot of us cross junkies here in Chattanooga excited about the up and coming cross season, so if it sounds like something you'd be interested in, stop in the shop and ask about our weekly training sessions!

Lastly, here is a little cyclocross YouTube fun to get your blood pumping!

Create your own personal sports drink!

Thank you to those of you that attended our Infinit Nutrition clinic last month. I've heard quite a bit of positive feedback, so we'll try to get Michael back again in the future.

If you haven't tried it yet, Infinit Nutrition solves customers unique nutritional needs with customized solutions that taste great and help them perform better. Every one of us have different bodys and different needs, so why would we all drink the same sports drink? You can customize everything in your drink: Calories, carbohydrates, protein, electrolytes, amino acids, caffiene, and even flavor! And they have nutrition specialists that help guide you every step of the way.

We also have three stock formulas for sale here at the store: Ride, Run, and Repair. We even have coupon cards that can help you order your first custom formula, and get a special discount.

Come in and check it out, and feel free to ask a salesperson if you have any questions!

Trek Pro Deal

  Hurry up and stop in. The Trek PRO Deal is here. You can save a ton of money on Mandone and Fuel Ex Mounting Bikes. The sale will last through June 30th. Stop in or call for details. 

Man Power

I love this commercial!

BikeFriendly

Check out BikeFriendly. BikeFriendly is a new website that allows users anywhere to post photos, rank and comment on places you ride your bike. Want to make others aware of a new pothole or a recently opened bike lane, sign up and post it for all to see!

Car Free Photographer

Russ Rocha is a car free photographer in L.A.

Need a Hug, a Helmet?

Why can't the Police here be more like this!

Bike More...Drive Less!

New Belgium, makers of Fat Tire Ale, are promoting a car-free lifestyle.

Denver, Colo.—When New Belgium Brewing Co., Fort Collins, Colo., was offered a package of urban Denver billboards, pro bono, for a pro-biking ad campaign, it quickly accepted, and assigned its agency, CULTIVATOR ADVERTISING & DESIGN, Denver, to create the outdoor messages. Neither client nor agency imagined how appropriate the placement would turn out to be.

The headline, “Work to Bike More,” was inspired by the priorities of several New Belgium employees who may well be more passionate about cycling than about gainful employment. The billboard promotes New Belgium’s Team Wonderbike, which encourages both New Belgium employees and the general public to trade in their cars for a bike (motto: “Bike More. Drive Less”). The placement above PT Motor’s “Cash for Cars” sign, at I-76 and North Federal Blvd., Denver, was fortuitous.

Media space was donated by Lamar Outdoor, via New Belgium’s media agency, Explore Communications, Denver. The vinyl on which the billboard is printed will be “repurposed” by Ecologic, Boulder, Colo., into bike messenger bags, which will be offered to Team Wonderbike members (including the billboard’s poster boy, Bryan “Big Bry” Simpson).

New Belgium Brewing Co. is employee-owned, wind powered (since ’99), pro-bicycle, and recycles, reuses or composts 73% of its waste stream.

Cultivator is a creative-focused advertising and design firm. Other accounts include Red Robin Gourmet Burgers, Anthony’s Pizza, Spyder Active Sports, Pronghorn Club (luxury golf community) and ink! Coffee.

Check out the site here. I guess bikes and beer go together like, well, bikes and beer...

Got Boat?

I saw this on another blog, had to share!

Our Tool Box Goes to Eleven!

Is your road bike tricked out with the latest Campy 11-speed?  We have 11-speed chains and cassettes in stock.  We also have the necessary 11-speed chain tool.

Ditch Your Batteries for Earth Day!

Sick of replacing the batteries in your bike lights? Consider getting a dynamo hub. A dynamo hub is a small electric generator housed inside a hub shell. Hub dynamos have been around since the 1930's, but where generally overlooked due to their tendency to overdrive the bulbs at high speeds. Modern dynamo hubs have circuitry to prevent bulb damage. Not to be confused with sidewall or bottle dynamos, hub dynamos house all the electricity generating bits inside the hub shell, save for a small wire which connects the lights to the hub. Most modern dynamo hubs have such low drag as to be unnoticeable by the rider. With most dynamo hubs you have the choice of running a 3 watt headlight or BOTH a 2.4 watt headlight and a 0.6 watt taillight. Drop in sometime and check out our selection of Hub dynamos and lights.

King Bling a.k.a Quality

We like to sell products we ourselves would use.  That's why we stock more Chris King components than anyone else in the area.  King started making headsets over thirty years ago.  Using their experience in making headset bearings King makes wheel hubs and most recently bottom brackets.

The guys at Chris King believe so strongly in their product they warranty their headsets for 10 years and their hubs for 5 years!  Come check out our Chris King inventory next time you're in the shop.  We currently have headsets in every color Chris King makes!

We also have all the tools necessary to service all King components to keep them running smoothly long after the warranty has expired.

Rim Wear

Our first of many "tech" posts. Now I have a place to showcase and talk about my vast collection of broken bike parts. I promise it wont all about broken bike parts! You will get a look around the shop and hear some of my thoughts and ideas about bicycle repair and maintenance. Trust me it will be fun!
Alright, this first post is going to show you what rim wear looks like, some causes, and how to prolong your rim life. This wheel below failed due to the "brake track" being so thin, that when this rider hit a hole, that the rim failed at the brake track, causing the rim to look like he ran over a mine. Not to mention a walk back to the car in cycling shoes. We all know how much fun that is!



There is a lot of friction between the brake pad and rim when slowing you down. While riding your rims pick up dust and small particles of dirt. All the tiny dust and dirt act like sand paper while the brakes are applied. Slowly causing wear on the brake track of your rim. When it's wet out, this process is accelerated. Another cause of rim wear, is pieces of debris embedded in your brake pads. This can be metal, small rocks, dirt etc.

Above a picture of a brake pad with pieces of metal in embedded in it. A very slow and painful way for your rim to go. Once a month you can remove your wheels and resurface you pads with a file. Also not a bad idea to replace pads once a year or as needed.

What you DON'T want you rim to look like! If you hold a flat edge up to the side of your rim, you do not wan to see any light or a large gap "like pictured above" between the edge of your ruler and rim. Your ruler or flat edge should lay flat.

OK now how do we prevent this from happening. Well, you really can't. Eventually your rim will wear out. That's part of the deal when you using brakes. Which I highly recommend you keep doing. What you can do is pro long the life of you rim and by knowing what to look for your rim wont look like you ran over a mine, and you wont have to walk home. It can wear out in a few thousand miles, or many 10's of thousands of happy miles later. So here is what I recommend you you do.

The same time that you lube your chain....once a week right? OK, good! After you are done lubing your chain take some rubbing alcohol apply to a rag and wipe the brake track of your rims. It's that easy. Doing this will help prevent dirt build up on rims, improve braking, and also help in rim life. Your rims and wheels will Thank you.





Enjoy your ride!

Teffki

The Idaho Stop

Bicycles, Rolling Stops, and the Idaho Stop from Spencer Boomhower on Vimeo.

Maybe this could work here? Whether you blow through stops or patiently wait your turn, I think we can all agree it would be nice to LEGALLY roll through safe intersections.

Old Timey....

Our apologizes for the lack of posts. The shop has been busy as of late. I was going through some old pictures and came across these. Something to hold you over.

Oh yeah, we have some news too. Word on the street is that we are having another kick ass party. It's for a cause we can all get behind..bike riding. Details on the way

Teffki

P.B.R.

P.B.R. (Pub Bike Ride) is on tonight! We'll be leaving from the Greenlife parking lot at 7:30pm. Meet at the bike racks. Hope to see you there!

Handlebar Mustache Club

Who's in?

Morizumi

Christmas came early this year! We now have our very own Morizumi spoke cutting and threading machine. The Morizumi is widely considered to be the finest spoke cutting machine available. The ability to cut custom spokes will allow us to maintain a faster turn around time on wheel builds. Come in today and let us build your dream wheelset!

P.B.R.

Originally uploaded by hrtmnstrfr

Join us Thursday nights for our weekly Pub Bike Ride (PBR). We will be leaving from the Greenlife parking lot at 7:30pm and riding around town. This is a casual urban ride, all are welcome to participate. Eventually we will end up at the Tremont Tavern to take advantage of their "Buy a Burger get a Beer" special.

Hope to see you there!

Get Out and Ride!

Miles and Miles (of Dirt Road) Before I'm Home
Originally uploaded by hrtmnstrfr

Just a friendly reminder to get out there and ride this weekend.

Cycling News in Times Free Press...

This artical was in the paper today. It discusses some of the issues cyclists are facing riding in chattanooga.
http://www.timesfreepress.com/news/2009/mar/25/chattanooga-cycling-safely/?local

BIG NEWS for the shop.....

We have some big news to share in a couple of weeks. A party might be in order. Stayed tuned!!!

-Teffki

Read this...

Here's a blog you should check out. Riding in the rain should be a bit easier.
http://arcticglass.blogspot.com/


Enjoy. Mike

Free Campy Tattoo!!!

Thats right, free Campy tattoo from the Trek Store Chattanooga. Here's the deal. You come in and buy a full Campy Record 11spd group and we pay for your new Campy tattoo. It's that easy. Once in a lifetime deal....

- Mike

Ride your bike, it's fun.

A weekly ride in the making? I hope so. We started with 3, and now have 6. The list is growing. Bikes, friends (old and new), food, beer, and exploration. It doesn't get any better than this. Email for ride info. mike@trekstorechattanooga.com






-Mike

Street Smarts Class this Saturday

For anyone interested in learning the rules of the road, and gaining confidence riding in traffic. This looks like a great way to spend your Saturday morning. Link with info below.

http://timesfreepress.com/news/2009/mar/13/chattanooga-class-teaches-cyclists-street-smarts/


Thanks,

Mike

A website to check out

I was sent this awhile ago. Take a look at the video.
http://www.3feetplease.com/
http://www.3feetplease.com/Media.html

Thanks

Mike

Locally Owned

Thank You!

We just wanted to "Thank" everyone that came to our open house Tuesday night. It was great to officially kick off the season and see everyone. We had a blast, and hope you did too! Plans are in the works for the next one. It will be bigger and better! Here are some pictures to hold you over.













-Mike

Rumor is.....

You'll be seeing these in the shop and around town. More to come...

-Teffki

Commuter Project

Here is a project we just finished up at the shop. We built up a Salsa La Cruz cyclocross frame with Sram x.0, a red crankset- 50-34,handbuilt wheels using brown King hubs, and some 8inch discs. All said and done with fenders the bike comes in at 25lbs. This bike was built as a "jack of all trades". Low enough gearing to get up any hill Chattanooga can throw at it, and strong enough to take to the dirt.




Enjoy your ride.

Mike

Welcome to our Blog!

Welcome to our blog! This is the place to get to know us and the shop. Stop by to see whats going on. We promise to keep it interesting!

Thanks for stopping by.
Mike