Lilac City Twilight Crit is looming -- it takes a mountain

In my navel-gazing, self-indulgent state of late I have continued to put off mentioning this event.

And that's stupid, because, I've actually wanted this to happen for  along time. A long time ago I alluded to this idea because someone (who is *not* in SRV) offered up the idea of "downtown crit" to me... I see this kind of stuff forming and bubbling up and I turn on my heel and run the other direction. I had the same reaction with Bill Bender pitched SpokeFest years ago at a BAB meeting. I told him, in my nicest way, that "no way. Never in Spokane."

In short: it turns out that I'm the lazy bastard "idea guy"  (not to mention the token naysayer -- a charming combo)... Irony has come full circle.

So -- I really should do something beyond just post this cry for help from Alan "I actually do stuff. And I race" Jacobs.

And so should you.

Without further ado:

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The Lilac City Twilight Criterium (Saturday, September 8) is the finale of the 2012 Inland Road Race Series presented by Larry H. Miller Downtown Dealerships and Spokane Rocket Velo. The crit will thrill racers and spectators alike as we fly through the streets of the vibrant heart of Spokane.

The long-awaited return of the downtown criterium is happening this year thanks to the hard work and support of the City of Spokane, the Downtown Spokane Partnership, Visit Spokane and all of our other sponsors. The event kicks off a weekend of bike-centric events with Spokefest—Spokane’s largest bike-related event—happening the very next day.

We need a mountain of volunteers to pull this race off. If you're able to help--even for just a couple of hours before or after the race--we greatly appreciate it. We promise to make it worth your while: free food, t-shirts, races, forced upper-body workouts. Click here to read what positions are available. To volunteer, call or text Alan Jacob at 509.270.8347 or email ajacob@whitworth.edu .

 

What's in it for volunteers:

• All volunteers receive a volunteer t-shirt
• All volunteers receive free hot coffee compliments of Roast House, a local Spokane roaster
• All volunteers receive a bag of freshly-roasted coffee from Roast House
• All volunteers receive free snack foods and drinks
• Any racer who volunteers during the Inland Road Race Series receives two points towards the series total
• Any racer who volunteers twice or provides two volunteers at any time during the season receives one race entry fee waived

Volunteer Details:

1) Saturday, September 8 with morning, afternoon, and evening positions available.

2) Downtown Spokane, Riverfront Park. Spokane Falls Blvd between Howard and Stevens .

3) Approx. time commitment: 2 to 4 hours depending on the position. It is encouraged and appreciated if you're able to sign up for multiple positions (just as long as the time commitments don't overlap.)

4) While we accept any volunteer who can do light to medium lifting (~20 to ~50 lbs) we prefer volunteers ages 18 and older. Some position MUST be staffed by a person at least 18 years old.

5) No prior experience is necessary. All volunteering duties are very easy to understand but also very important do to correctly. Adequate instructions for all volunteers will be given before the race begins.

6) Volunteers should print, complete, sign, and bring the USA Cycling Volunteer Release to the SRV trailer. In the "Type of Activity," simply write, "assorted volunteer duties."

Full volunteer details (times, locations, duties) are found at http://spokanerocketvelo.com/index.php?option=com_content&view=article&id=270%3Alilac-city-twilight-crit-volunteer-needs&catid=43&Itemid=174

Transition

Big changes are afoot at the Speare house. Liza has a new job. I am shifting my status at work to vendor so I can go back to school. Yow.

So not much to carry on about on the bike front at the moment. I'm not feeling the burn for CX this year, but maybe that will come as this transition settles out.

A few bikey bits:

Shogun in river mode. City mode looks the same minus the pole and one bucket pannier.

I've been riding the Shogun for all city riding over the last couple weeks. It's mostly perfect. I'll be commuting (mostly by bus) to Cheney in a few weeks. I plan on using the Shogun and the Bridgestone Hack as my main campus daily drivers. When I can swing the ride home, I'll take the 747or the Elephant.

Speaking of Elephant.

Here's a recent bike Glen finished. I friggin love this bike. I love the color scheme and the fact that it's rolling 26" (559!) wheels on an "average" size frame. Man I love this bike. This is before the Tubus Fly and hammered Honjos go on and the black bars are swapped for silver.  I'll try to get a shot before the customer comes for it next week.

One point of school/job shift is to manage summers off to optimize river time. Life's too short to work all summer. We'll see if I can pull that one off....

There's a nice, mostly flat dirt road out-and-back between our place on the Kettle and my uncle's place about 8 miles away. That makes for a nice cruise. The Legolas isn't making weird sounds anymore since I replaced the front wheel.

Anyway I guess the point of this post is to inform you that you should lower expectations even more than normal for blog content...

Long distance miracle food?

Sometimes I have a really hard time with food/stomach issues on long "event" rides. The Midnight Century was particularly frustrating in this regard this year.

I just read this on a cycling mailing list:

On the subject of general “fueling”, I’d like to throw in my 2 cents. Boiled potatoes. My stomach won’t allow me to each much food while riding and not at all when running.  But a lightly salted potato, eaten over the course of 50 plus miles (if a century, take two), works great for me.  Potatoes provide some carbs and are very easy to digest.  This has become my miracle food, along with Gu, Nuun, water, dried figs or dates.


Damn, I don't know why that speaks to me so clearly, but that sounds like a good idea.

Review Redux: MSR Fast Stash 2

No pictures here. Lots in my initial review, which was luke-warm.

I'm changing my tune. The Fast Stash will become my go-to basecamp tent from now on.

This is a rocking tent. I used it for two weeks up at the river.

During that time we had a freak rain fall that dumped nearly 3 inches(!) in a single night. To hit 3 inches, we're talking about huge volume rain drops in huge volume coming down the majority of the night. I was dry. The tent held up beautifully.

As a side note, the light show that went with this storm was phenomenal. I wish I would've taken video. It was like a bad horror movie -- totally overdone: with multiple flashes of lightening every minute and deafening cracks of thunder. At first it was terrifying, but after 20 minutes or so, it became awe-inspiring.

The money piece was the next night. A crazy windstorm. This was 100+ MPH winds. Really.

Here's documentation.

As trees cracked and fell over just a few hundred yards away and as the mosquito tent/shelter buckled and blew over, this tent just hunkered down and held its ground.

Amazingly, so did the REI 4 person Hobbitat, though I would not have wanted to be in it as it leaned and contorted in the wind.

Anyway. I still think the Fast Stash 2 would be a squeeze for two, but it after experiencing these these events with this tent, I would say this tent is worth having. As noted, it's a perfect basecamp tent for one.

That's all I got.

Perfect summer mornings

These are the mornings you will be dreaming about in February. Get out there!

Freaky broken axle

That explains some weird noises I heard as I bombed off the South Hill into downtown this morning.

The fork on my Legolas was bent for a few months after getting Eberlized. Glen noticed it right away. Of course I ignored it.

Glen recently straightened out the fork when he got a hold of this bike for a day. But it appears the damage was already done.

Time to ponder a different bar setup?

Maddie says she wants to  ride this bike forever.