The 23rd episode of The Spokesmen Cycling Podcast included David from The FredCast Cycling Podcast, Carlton Reid from Bike Biz Magazine and QuickRelease.tv, Tim Grahl from The Crooked Cog Network, and Tim Jackson from Masi Bicycles and The Masi Guy blog.
Among the topics we discussed:
- Interbike 2007 Preview
- Outdoor Demo / Indoor Tradeshow
- The Spokesmen LIVE! Event
- Tweener Wheeled Bikes
- Commuter Bikes
- SRAM Red
- Belt Drive Bikes
- Single Speeds and Fixies
- Tour of Britain and Tour of Missouri
- Tips and/or Rants
Subscribe via iTunes (CLICK HERE), listen to the show directly (CLICK HERE) or subscribe to our feed (CLICK HERE).
Ummm… that Grahl guy was with us too…
My bad. I need to stop rushing when I post these things.
It’s fixed, of course, with my apologies to Tim Grahl!
700c/29er/650b/26inch… Whatever next?
Try this:
http://www.hyperbike.info/
😉
Yikes! No thanks.
In regards to the Tour of Missouri, the event was fantastic. I’d say all of the problems about road closures occurred in the larger towns. The small towns rolled out the red carpet for the peloton and really enjoyed the hell out of the whole thing. The teams were all thrilled with the reception and surprised by the way our rolling hills can wear you down after a few hours. They don’t let up sometimes. Plus that TT was not just an easy hammerfest. That was fun to watch.
My enduring memory of the event will be the start line in Lebanon, MO. It’s a small town, with nothing to put it on the map other than it’s a nice small town. The elementary school let the kids off and groups of kids adopted certain teams. Because cycling is so open, these kids were able to go meet and talk to these teams, learn more about the sport and get excited. The vibe at that start was amazing. To see a bunch of third graders high fiving a Tour de France winner, a load of Germans and Danny Pate was pretty darn cool.
The good news is that it showed that the US is willing to support several large, professional bicycle races. The event was well-run, well-received and amazingly well-attended. Honestly, it’s a great addition to the US calender. Would it be nice to have more of the Pro Tour peloton here? Sure. But we didn’t need them. George Hincapie got as much love and admiration as did Will Frishkorn, Ivan Dominguez and others. But the 55,ooo people lining the streets of St. Louis while there was a baseball game and a football game going on at the same time didn’t seem to care that there were only a few big stars there. They just enjoyed the amazing spectacle put on by teams hungry for a good race, regardless of their Pro Tour status.
“.. Yikes! No thanks. ..”
I’m sure if it was Carbon and had a Colnago sticker on it you’d think differently. 😉
Well in that case, where can I get one?!? 😉
I promise I’ll work on my audio capabilities…
… great show just the same though. My “fans” are sending in tips though, so eventually I’ll have something I can use.
Fan-submitted tips are always welcome. Just be sure to give them credit! 😉
See you in Vegas.
The discussion of single speeds and fixies was long overdue, but didn’t quite cover the subject as well as it could have. After riding only multi-geared bikes for 35 years, I built up a fixie road bike last spring with the objective of making a training and utility bike. It has been a revelation — the quiet drivetrain, the smoothness, and even the added PAIN on hills — up and down. It is an absolute pleasure to ride, it turns a shorter ride into a better workout, and it provides a feeling of “connectedness” to the road that brings a smile to my face every time I ride it.
Fixies aren’t for everyone, as they are more demanding of the rider in several ways. The terrain in my area is gently rolling, and steep hills are rare and can usually be avoided. This is terrain that suits a fixie or SS just fine.
For me, the fixie provides a great alternative for shorter solo training rides. It’s a back-to-basics experience with a surprisingly high benefit-to-cost ratio.
I tried listening to this podcast, but I gave up about two-thirds through (somewhere in the fixie segment) because the skype interference makes the podcast just plain unlistenable.
I have traditionally enjoyed the Spokesmen podcast, but there just have been way too many episodes recently with severe audio problems. I probably won’t listen again unless the audio problems are cleared up.
Michael,
Thanks for your comment. All I can say is that we are desperately working on this problem and expect to have it worked out after Interbike, so please try to hang in there. We would hate to lose you as a listener.
We hope you’ll keep in mind that we do this show while literally scattered all over the world, and sometimes even our best-laid plans to avoid these problems go awry.
If you listened to show #22, then you know how good things can sound. We’re trying to get everyone on board with the technology we used for that show and hope that by our post-Interbike show the problems will be gone.
We hope you’ll continue to listen.
Thanks again for your comment.
David
Eric N- Believe me, the last thing YOU or any of the other listeners want is for ME to go on a long poetic rant about the virtues of the single speed/ fixed gear- it’d take up the entire podcast hour. As it is, the other Spokesmen have threatened to install some kind of timer on my audio so that it shuts me off automatically when I talk. It’s sad, actually… 😉
(But you’re right.)
Michael- David is right, we are really trying to get the audio worked out better. I am one of the techno drains causing the problem, but I’m trying to fix the glitch so that we can go back to better listening. Please be patient with us because the content is surely worth it.
Tim (the guy who talks too much about Masi)
Last two episodes were poorly recorded or you had Skype difficulty. Speaker/participant’s voices faded in and out leaving gaps in what some said. This is the second time this was experienced listening to The Spokesman.
Stan,
Thanks for your message.
As I noted in my introduction to this episode of The Spokesmen, we had some technical difficulties on this show. As for the previous episode, we felt that it was our best audio quality yet.
We’re working on it as hard as we can.
Thanks for listening.
David
Fixed riding is great – on the track!
My “Stag Night” started at the Manchester Velodrome doing a ‘Taster’ session, great fun if you ever get a chance try it!
S/S off-road ( Non fixed ) is a very cathartic… no messing about with getting the gear selection just right for the terrain, because it’s always WRONG! First experience of S/S was a 5 hour TrailQuest ( mountain bike orienteering ) on a prototype On-One… great fun, but I’m getting too old/slow/lazy for that now. 😉
http://www.on-one.co.uk
http://www.manchestervelodrome.com
Rich Kelly ( Interbike Times blog) has the first picture of a Spokesman:
http://www.interbiketimes.com/outdoor-demo-setup-and-day-one/
Does he get a prize or a verbal warning? 😉