146: Some Cyclocross Stuff.

Brian Vernor has a new film coming out. Cyclocross fans at Nationals this year will be the first to view this full length feature starring Barry Wicks and Adam McGrath. Should be good. Right? Because anything and everything about Cyclocross is good. Especially the things exploring the relationships that bicycle racing not only develops but expands around the world. I am personally excited to see how the film portrays the Japanese racing scene in comparison to that over here.

And the film looks to have great titles. Which, as we all know can make or break a film.

Also, if you have not tried the Uber Secret blend by Mad Alchemy, well, there is no time like the present because it is only going to get colder this year. This little bit of heaven was concocted by Mr. Pete Smith himself. He wrote a little race recap over at the Embrocation Team Site. You should check that out. If you know what is good for you that is. And this will be good for you.

The beans came from a one Mr. Corey Grove. He has been killing it at the Cross races out here with his little Panasonic Lumix Camera. This camera is an absolute favorite of mine and C and I have been in discussions on whether or not a Lumix Camera Club is in order. Let me know if you are in. Because I know you are.



Also, in case you live in a cave somewhere, we, meaning the Embrocation Cycling Team have partnered with some pretty great people this season. Fizik saddles, Mad Alchemy Embrocations, and even another small town company by the name of Taza Chocolate. You may know Alex from his years racing with the Harris Cyclery Team. Well, somewhere along the way he decided to make some chocolate. And knowing Alex, this Chocolate had to be dome damn good chocolate.

Well, fortunately for you it is damn fine chocolate. So, head over to the Embro blog to check it out. Taza Embrocation Collaboration. My friend Robin writes a pretty amazing food blog over at Bacchanalia. She recently put up a blog post about the Taza Chocolate where she actually made S'mores with it. Honestly, something that I had not thought about but sounds pretty awesome. Chances are it was. In fact, with the way that this Taza goes. I am sure that it was.


There are a lot of things coming up this week and I am hoping to get them to you as soon as they break the surface of things that are amazing. The Cyclocross Single Speed World Championships is one of those things. I am signed up. I have a pretty sweet bicycle that is being built up as we speak for this. Then, I will make that bike available to you sweet sweet viewers in an auction of sorts. It is all going to be good.

Stay tuned.

114: JRA

Arkansas by John Brandon is a book about a "bunch of rootless drifters who form an unstable drug-distribution network..." Hmm, do they race bikes as well? Sounds familiar. Nah, I'm just kidding. I did however sit down and start reading it the other night. Ten pages in and I hit the snooze bar pretty hard.

Now, I love to read but I feel like my attention span + working on shit + riding early in the mornings has taken my read space down to zero. Ah well, the good news is that I've been reading a ton of magazines lately.

Take Bicycling for example. I read that. And can I just say that the current issue of Bicycling Magazine has some pretty good (and Bad) stuff in it? I'll list them here and then you can decide if you want to run your Petite Feet over to the newsstand to pick up a copy.



Things about Bicycling this month:

1) its feature cover story is helping me get lean (AND strong!)

2) a bitchin Cervelo ad with Thor on the first page (a weird/lame Pearl Izumi ad on the second page)

3) Sylvan Chavanel's "Favorite Things" like a Genuine Six Day Derny and (My Boogie Buddy whatever the hell that is?)

4) A Teddy Pendergrass Reference.


Bill Strickland's article "Bullfight" is probably the most entertaining article within the publication. Strickland has been following Armstrong around for god knows how long (since he's returned to the sport) and my guess is that generally the focus is on him (Armstrong) so the fact that he's chosen to focus more on Contador is a great decision. Why? Well, for one because I'm sick of hearing about Armstrong. And b) because (and this is why Strickland is great) because there is more humanity AND humility in Contador than there ever will be in Robocop,

And that's what I want to see. I want to see people! Not robots, unless they're robots hands.

Then I'm all in.

Also in the issue is a great photo spread by Rouleur Photographer Camille McMillan. And if you really want to know some more about that. You should check it out on the Rapha blog. Which I have been contributing to lately. While you're there you should check out the Design posts by Joe Hall, he's a fantastic writer and has a keen eye for design as well.


Can I just say that I can't wait to get my grubby little mits on the Rouleur #13 Box set? Of course I have every copy, that's not the issue here. The issue is that they have issued a new box for it. I'm in. Is that strange? That I want to get it just because it exhists AND is limited? . Don't worry, I'm not going to get it, I just want it. Especially because they only made thirteen of them.

I think I might have a problem

What I don't have a problem with by the way. And the REAL reason why I'm Stoked on the new Bicycling Magazine is this.

BAM!

And I'll say it again..Bam! Way to go Peter Smith. Do yourself a favor and get some Mad Alchemy for your bum. It helps remove the stutter out of your remount (you can use that one Pete).

Also, have you been wondering where the new Embrocation Cycling Journal is? Why it hasn't shipped yet? Well, to tell the truth, I've been wondering the same thing....what's going on here?

101: True (Mango) Love.

I know that this looks like "fat siphoned out of Marlon Brando's Ass" (name that movie quote) but it isn't. In fact, I don't think that they'll let you take that on a plane. Or maybe they would if it was within the 3.6oz limit. What's in that plastic bag is actually is Mango Love siphoned out of James Selman's jar of Embrocation. At the airport.

James is at the Airport with Carey SH and they're on their way to the last leg of the Rapha Continental summer tour 09. Its almost as big as Wolfmother releasing a new album only in Australia and then touring (only in Australia). That's how exclusive this group of cyclists are.

Anyway I have to commend James for his diligence.
I wouldn't want to give up a jar of that sweet smelling sex-for-your-legs-in-a-jar either.

Who is James Selman though? That is the question of the hour. Well, lets start with this photo. Intensity is the first word that comes to mind when you look at this. At least that's what I think, and I took the photo. He was sitting right there. And he didn't blink for five whole minutes. I timed it.

Besides being intense James is also a designer. An Uber Designer if you will. The reason I chose this photo is two fold.

Fold 1) Mellow Johnny's. James was the man behind the design of the Mellow Johnny's branding. Which, if you follow bike racing at all (I don't, but if you do) you might notice that a few interesting people are behind this Mellow Johnny's scene. People like Chris Horner because you'll note that he and Levi Leipheimer wore it at the Tour of Gila. But besides that he's done some other interesting design projects as well (*cough* HUP) like being the Creative behind the Beloved Bicycle design I spoke of earlier...

Fold 2) My friend Kaiko Shimura made this hat. She made this hat for James, but it was too small, so I gave it to Erin over at Mellow Johnnys. She made it as a sort of one off tribute to Big Tex* (if you haven't seen this, its one of my favorites, but only because I wanted to be a professional basketball player). Anyway, she makes great hats (I've heard) but she's also got a lot of other irons in the fire...more on that later.

*its too deep, I have to add stars. James actually made this ad.

Up Next:
Hipster Showdown on the streets of Portland, and T-shirts.

089: Mangocation.

Remember when I came to you and presented you with the Uber Secret embrocation team up with Mad Alchemy and you went nuts for it? Well, that was a while ago and I figured that you needed something new.

And this is that something.

I don't even know where to begin with this one. It is so damn good. I've actually been testing it for a couple of weeks now and it literally turns heads. In fact, when Dan Action said that he liked Embrocations in general because they felt like, and I quote, "20 year old girls are licking my legs," this is the one that he was talking about. He just didn't know it yet.

I can't take all the credit for coming up with this one either. Somewhere along the lines this summer someone mentioned to me that Mango was actually an aphrodisiac and a light bulb went off in my head. That's step one. Now, once that light bulb goes on, and it doesn't happen that often, I start scrambling around thinking "ok, I can see now, what do I do?"

Insert Mango into every part of your daily life? Maybe, but that's not where I'm going with this one.

So, we're riding along on some country roads. Delirious from the hundreds of miles of riding and Dan-o brings up the aforementioned licking scenario. Suddenly thing are getting clearer and I link the two of them together in my brain piece. Bing-Bong. Phase two, completed.

Now enter Steve Francisco into the mix to drop a little bit of that JDK science on your ass and we're off and running. A veritable explosion of the senses this one. Why? And I don't even mind letting you in on the secret here.

Because it smells like summer.

We all know what the spicy embros smell like. The cold weather ones. The ones that make you blanch a little because they're so strong. And those are all well and good and have their place on my legs. However, Mango Love is their long lost cousin. The cousin that just flew in from California and just can't stop calling everyone "Brah," or "Bro" or saying everything is so "Rad."

The (Endless) Summer Solstice happened the other day, and all yoga pants aside, this is going to be a good one.

And, since I designed the label, and I know you're wondering... why the large "IS" in the middle of it. It is simple, and I implore you to remember this one:

Because "Chamois Time IS Tanning Time" and you can quote me on that.

082: Our Man Fran: Two Videos

I don't know if you, dearest readers, remember our good friend Steve Francisco? Well, Fran and I got to spend a lot of time on the road recently. While on this crazy adventure across the country I noticed a good number of things about our man Fran.


1) he calls his wife and kids everyday and talks about them non-stop. In fact, Ben and I took to calling him Worlds Greatest Dad from the back of the van. He even had a special space-age hook up for his laptop that would let him skype from the road. The Future?

1.5) he rides a sweet Seven. And a sweet Giant for that matter.



2) Steve runs the shit over at JDK. And while those fools may make fun of him behind his back for shaving his legs, drinking coffee, and then prancing around in the "spando" or "dex." But they obviously haven't had their legs literally torn off by him. I have. It hurts. Especially when he turns on you with said legs and pummels you about the head and neck with them...but that's another story...

3) The best part about Franny is that he knows what's up with the PROgram.


I have two videos for you that are examples of this. The first one, and I argue the more important of the two, is about the application of embrocation. The thing that stands out for me here is his actual application PROcess. Pay heed that his choice of embrocation can be found at the Embrocation Cycling Journal Store. I use the video below to not only illustrate the techniques, but also to let you know that next to the Russian Tea, this is my favorite Mad Alchemy product.**

Video #1

Recap:
-start with the sunblock. SPF4 works good. I guess. If you want some pro tan lines. Which I think you do.
-cover legs lightly with a smattering of embrocation. think: cat's tongue gently licking at your extremities.
-work it in to your legs, massage any areas that might be tender or sore from your previous days riding.
-repeat.


Video #2
The PRO way to utilize the vents in your helmet.
Watch.

Couple Things to note:
-Glasses go on the outside of the helmet straps. Justin Spinelli told this to me over and over the last time I rode with him. I don't know what it is, but I can't do it. They have to go on the inside or it just doesn't feel right. Just sayin.

- Would also like to note the Icehouse Football in the background. You only get to see it for a second or two, but damn if it isn't worth it. Yes, we were in West Virginia.

Thanks to Steve for his help with these videos.

** But the embrocation is almost as good as the stuff we just teamed up to create. Wait for it. Seriously its that good.