Oh hell yeah, look who is playing for free tonight during Ribfest, at Harriet Island downtown St.Paul.

-April Wine
6:00 - 7:30pm

-Ted Nugent
8:30 - 10:00pm

Grilled beast, hickrock, and malted beverages. Does it get any better than this?

Surly email seems to be up and working again. Contact us at derby@surlybikes.com with all those questions causing you sleepless nights and gaping ulcers. We'll do our best to get you on one of our bikes and relieve all the troubles.

Our office is located about 2 miles from the Minnesota river, home to one of the original mountain bike trails in the Twin Cities area. In the summertime, you can ride these trails along the river until it links up with the Mississippi river and take that all the way back into Minneapolis or Saint Paul. So basically, I can ride almost all the way home from work off-road.

Yesterday was one of the most stellar days Minnesota has seen in a long time, 72 degrees F and sunny with little wispy clouds and a very blue sky. I rode it solo on my Karate Monkey, which sadly hasn't seen action since May in Fruita. The first 12 miles of trail are almost purely singletrack, and good singletrack. Beyond that is a section of trail that rarely gets ridden. Even though some of it could be really killer stuff if maintained and ridden, it's now overgrown with weeds and plants. For mile long sections, you can't even see the trail ahead of you and the itchweed makes your arms and legs burn. There are also a couple sketchy creek crossings where you must dismount and hope a log is down to walk across. Lots of sandy sections and downed trees. It's what I remember about the early days of mountain biking, before hardpacked and groomed IMBA trails existed. Bushwacking at it's finest.

Why ride it? Because it's still fun to go slow and work your way through the debris leftover from storms and flooding. There is also no fear of a head on collision with another cyclist, as I went 45 minutes without seeing another person. This trail empties onto some double track dirt roads and eventually paved bike paths. When you finally see signs of people, it's almost a relief to know you're back in the city.

I saw 5 turkeys, countless rabbits, 2 deer, a weasel of some sort and met a guy named Pete who said he reads the surlyblog. All within a mile or two from the famed and lame Mall of America. It's rare to be so close to the city, but be able to escape it so easily. Two and a half hours later I arrived home and inhaled two hamburgers, two PB and J's, two pieces of pizza and two beers. Eat, sleep, ride, work. That's good livin'.

There was a blog posting about a New Zealand man a few weeks ago who is attempting to ride his bike through 2,000 km of the western Australian desert on a Puglsey. Here is his brand new website for all of you to check out and keep track of his progress. It's nuts!

Our e-mail system is currently down for the count. Once we get some smelling salts up it's nose , possibly later today or tomorrow, we can respond to your e-mails. If it absolutely cannot wait until then, give us a call at 1-877-743-3191.

There is something amazing that happens to you when the weather makes a sudden change. For instance, it has been humid and hot for the past two weeks straight. While there are ways to cope with heat like swimming, riding through lawn sprinklers, stopping at some kid's lemonade stand or wearing the thinnest old concert t-shirts you still have leftover from the 80's with sleeves cutoff. But as good as hot and sunny weather can be, a change of pace is always very welcome.

It rained so hard last night on the ride home, it was starting to flood in spots. Two minutes into the ride, I couldn't have been more wet. While cars floundered in the massive puddles and created huge waves of water, I blasted through them with a boyish sense of freedom. One puddle was so deep it pulled the velcro straps on my old Sidi shoes open. There were sheets of rain intermittently slapping my face about every 10 seconds. Some drivers looked at me as if they felt sorry for me. Little did they know I was having one of the best rides I've had in weeks.

As I approached home, I noticed the Minnehaha creek was flooded and running like mad. The swimming lately has been tough because our mini-drought lowered the water levels to the point where you'd scrape your shins on rocks through the rapids. This may just be the last gasp of decent swimming left in the creek for the year. So being as wet as I could possibly be, I went for a swim. Screw the lightning and thunder and common sense to go home and dry off, swimming was more important. If I was going to die by getting struck by lightning on my bike or while swimming, then everybody would know I died doing exactly what I loved doing. I didn't bother taking my most of my bike gear off to go swim, it was already soaked. The water was really warm, like bathwater. I hung onto the tree branches hanging out over the rapids as long as I could, then pedalled home.

A north wind finally blew the wet weather away and it was a cool dry night. Perfect sleeping weather and perfect commute in this morning. Change is good. I love this town.

Product ETAs

Cross-Check framesets, all sizes and colors, in stock by next week

Offset drilled Large Marge rims for Pugsley, 32 or 36 hole, in stock by next week

More stainless steel chainrings in stock by next week

Karate Monkey framesets, all sizes and colors, early August

Steamroller framesets, all sizes and colors, early August

Cross-Check complete bikes, all sizes (except 62cm) and colors, end of August

1x1 framesets, all sizes in white and large black, early August. The rest of the black sizes, end of August.

Pacer framesets, 50, 56 and 62cm sizes, end of August.

Now wasn't that boring?

Hi. For those of you planning on building up a Pugsley, please remember that this is a weird bike with, um, special needs. Check this out:

*135mm hub spacing front AND REAR
*use rear disc caliper adapters FRONT AND REAR
*wheels need to be built 17.5mm offset (reverse dished, basically)*adapter tool for building offset wheels comes with each Pugsley frame.
*we have specially drilled Large Marge rims specifically for Pugsleys (the frame offset requires offset drilling of the spoke holes too). Pug specific LM part numbers are: RM0008, RM0009, & RM0010. These rims are not yet available but we should have them by early August.
*uses an E-type front der.
*uses 100mm BB shell

Now go back and read all that again. We've been mentioning this on the blog from time to time, and I think we kept a few folks from buying the wrong thing, but I've also heard from a few bummed out individuals who could not sit on their hands and bought the wrong rims. I'd like to keep the number of people with the wrong rim, wrong caliper adapter, wrong BB or whatever to a minimum, so for more info on all Pugsley's odd quirks, please read the Pugsely frame page, or look to the right side of this page for Spew #14. Help us help you....

P/S/ Today's post has an added BONUS FEATURE! Read on...

As you may imagine, we get quite a few requests for sponsorships or "bro" deals. While we're not likely to sponsor most of you that race or break stuff or run some website, we do get the occasional odd request for something so sick and crazy, it's hard to say no.

We got a request last week that really fit our idea of somebody and something we want to sponsor. Jacob Postrzygacz is a New Zealand resident planning to ride his bike across the Canning Stock Route (CSR) in the western Australia desert region. This route was developed in 1906 to herd animals across a shorter distance between two towns. It still remains the worlds longest "stock route", but due to the harsh conditions, the route fell out of use when the numbers of livestock deaths outweighed the benefits.

This September, Jacob plans to ride 2,000 km by himself, unsupported, without sag wagons or food/water dropoffs! This can only be done by travelling from watering hole to watering hole in the springtime. His mode of transportation will be the Surly Pugsley frameset with Large Marge rims and Endomorph tires. He's also having a local craftsman build a custom trailer to fit around the Endomorph tire. That should be really cool.

The conditions are truly difficult, as there are over 900 sand hills and a whole lot of dry unforgiving terrain. It is exposed to the sun, with hot days and cold nights. What a perfect test of man and bike versus nature. So much of a test, that it's never been completed on bicycle before, despite numerous attempts. But then again, there has never been a truly rideable production mountain bike with 3.7" tires before either.

We'll post as many updates and photos as we can before and after his CSR journey.

Just when you think the bum rush of parts going into stock is over, we get a bunch of HG splined cogs and threaded track cogs. We've had every cog size in stock already, but some popular sizes have sold out quickly. This batch going into stock today should fill most of those gaps. YAY

OK, Pugsley framesets are here AND in stock. Remember, this is a relatively small batch and we'll have more ready soon if you miss this run.

If you plan to use our Large Marge rims, the necessary offset-drilled versions should be here by the end of July. The special tool and instructions to build your wheels offset are included with the framesets.

We don't have an ETA on the Endomorph 3.7" tires and full size tubes yet. So it's going to be sometime in August before we see them. More ETAs when we know.

FYI: This project took about 15 months from the start of designing to getting them in stock, which is fairly successful for such an oddball project. Getting the framesets, offset drilled rims and tires in stock at the exact same time is quite a challenge. So thanks for being patient while the remainder of these items get finished up.

Yes, Pugsley frames are here, but please allow our distributor some time to get them on the shelves and in stock.

Pugsley framesets are here!

We got a relatively small batch of Pugsley framesets ready to go and they look fantastically purple. If you miss out on this batch, don't worry, we'll have more ready in approximately 5-6 weeks.

Endomorph 3.7" tires, offset spoke drilling Large Marge rims and full-sized tubes are all coming soon too.

Part numbers are:
FM6001- small 16"
FM6002- medium 18"
FM6003- large 20"
FM6004- X-large 22"

Public Radio is cool.

Ever heard the show Weekend America? Well, they were doing a piece on President Bush falling off his bike (and David Zabriskie crashing in the Tour), and they wanted to interview someone who knows how to fall down. So, they called me.

Wow. Is it that obvious?

I was flattered. If you want to tune in, it will be aired tomorrow (Saturday, July 9) and the times will vary with your local public radio station. Here in the Twin Cities it's on KNOW 91.1 at noon.

Neato.

Last night, I laced up a 24" Large Marge uni wheel and installed it in my first homebuilt uni frame...made from a 1x1 fork. I'm using an Intense DH 24 x 3.0 tire.

As expected, the Large Marge rim makes the tire more laterally stable compared to the narrower rim I had been using. The increased footprint will provide more float and traction in the soft stuff.

New stuff in stock really really soon:

- Front Nice Racks just passed quality control and they look fantastic. Black or silver should be in stock by Friday.

- 24" Large Marge rims also passed QC and should be in stock Friday. 32 or 36 hole

also,

- We just got almost every model of fork we carry in stock in that lovely black hue.

OK, time to go ride your bike. Turn this computer off, swing a leg over and spin somewhere pretty.

More photos of BrauerPower's big adventure:

After seeing some photos and reading the stories from the 1st two weeks of our friend BrauerPower's bike tour from Portland, Oregon back to Minneapolis, it's very hard to just sit here and do nothing about it. Last we heard, he's leaving the comforts of Park City, Utah. If you see him out there, guide him to the closest brewpub, pizza shack and campground. Here are just a few of the photos he's sent so far.

Product ETAs

-We'll have a full run of Cross-Check framesets in both black and dark green colors in about 3-4 weeks. No ETA yet on Cross-Check complete bikes.

-Pugsley stuff- framesets will be delayed at least into August, as sort of expected. Offset Large Marge rims will be 3-4 weeks. Endomorph tires and 4" tubes should be here before the framesets.

-More Stainless chainrings in 3-4 weeks, although we have most sizes in stock now.

-Front Nice Racks should be in stock in about a week or so for the first time.

-All models of standard black forks in a week or so.

-More cogs in a week or so.

-24" Large Marge rims in a week or so for the first time.

-Frameset production is finally catching up! Karate Monkeys and Steamrollers should be available around the beginning of August. More 1x1s, Pacers, Instigators and Long Haul Truckers should be end of August/Early September. More accurate ETAs coming as soon as we know.

Thanks!

Tracky McVelodrome Reports:

So, as much as I abhor the concept of racing - and as much as I lothe training - I do occasionally get up to the velodrome at the National Sports Center in Blaine, Minnesota for some hot roundy action.

The way I figure it, the miles I accrue commuting, wednesday night riding, dirt churning, and derbying just for fun are enough to keep me competitive enough for the Cat 4 circuit. This has only been mostly true.

Last night I was excited to get back in the saddle on the boards (yes, it's a wood track) under gray threatening skies (yes, it's outside) becuase there were some good short events planned for the 4s. I don't do so well in the long ones, go figure.

So, I resolved to save myself for the chariot race - the second event of the night - which is a held-start 2 lap drag race. Love that. The first race, then, I would use as a warm up, or maybe not.

The first race of the night was a Snowball in which the first across the line on every lap will recieve an increasing number of points as the race progresses. One point for winning the first lap, 12 points for winning the 12th and last lap.

So, off we went. As we came around for the first lap, I found myself in position to blip forward a bit to nab the point. "What the hell," I thought, "I'll at least have one point." Then, feeling pretty good, I grabbed the second lap - now with a total of 3 points. "Cool," I thought. When I took the third lap, the delusions of grandeur began. "Hell, that's 6 points. A few more of these and I'll be in contention."

So, I put the pedal to the metal and went. I took the fourth sprint. Looking back, I was ALL ALONE! Sweet, I'd pedaled right off the front. Now I had to settle into a good pace. I knew I wouldn't last the whole 12 laps (trust me on this one), so I had to give it all.

Fifth lap. Sixth lap! SEVEN! Finally, on the seventh go 'round I felt the breath of the pack rolling up behind me. A last burst of energy scored me the seventh win and I had 28 points (do the math) and was completely out of gas.

All I had to do now was hang on, likely people would duke it out and split the remaining laps and points leaving me with a sweet sweet victory. Sounds pretty promising, right? By this point my reserves were below the big E on the gas gauge. I was seeing a bright light and struggling not to let it take me. My lungs were jumping out of my chest and squeezing back in with every breath. My legs were full of a gelatinous substance - like a mix of hot tar, tapioca, and 8 slump concrete.

As the 12th lap began I was struggling to even stay upright, let alone hang with the leaders. They'd left me behind on lap 8 and on the backstretch of 12 (gasp!) they lapped me.

What did that mean? I lost all my points and only one guy had grabbed all 5 of the last sprints. He won with 50 points. The people on the same lap as him placed, and I rolled in defeated... dfl... but laughing my ass off.

People, the lesson is this: if victory suddenly shows you its proverbial goods, I say go for it. But when fate slaps you silly for trying, remember that you're just on your bike, and it's just fun, and it's stupid and great. Revel in your successes, and tell long rambling stories about your failures.

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