bicycles, bicycles, bicycles

I know it seems as though I'm always talking about bicycles. Forgive me but they're tons of fun. I don't know anyone who dislikes bicycles... other than when those bicycles have crazy people on them who disregard traffic laws and do things like ride against traffic on a one way street. Moving on...

We all know the current bicycle culture consists of two main groups that actually care about biking. That is to ignore people who own old mountain bikes and beach cruisers and ride the wrong way on one way streets. These two groups would, in my terms, be the roadies (those guys going really fast in their spandex and cycle jerseys on their $2000 bikes) and the fixies (those hipsters with their own tight clothes - jeans or cut-off shorts - on fixed gear bikes with deep v rims and deep v-neck shirts). That said, I own both of those types of bikes and clothes, to some extent.

What excites me is a new third bicycle culture equally aware of their bikes and their clothing only this group focuses on being classy and chic. That would be the new Cycle Chic movement. Very fitting to Charleston and other more bike friendly and stylish cities, cycle chic movements are all about looking good. The bike are classic and vintage in appearance, whether they be nice beach cruisers, vintage 3 speed Schwinns, or a new $3420 Gucci bicycle (see below), and the clothing is generally chic (think Banana Republic for all of you non-fashionistas).

If you want to find out more about the Cycle Chic movement in Charleston and the rest of the world, check out Charleston Cycle Chic. They have a ride coming up June 24th @6:00. 

For ideas on being the chicest bicyclist on the road, check out The Sartorialist's bicycle section.

And if you ever want to go for a ride around town, let me know!

Alright.. time to get back to it

It's been almost two months now. I apologize for my delinquency. First came finals and then came summer. But those are just excuses. Anyway, a lot has happened since I last wrote. I passed my classes, went to pa via va, got a car, drove back to sc, went surfing, started my internship, and started my online class, which brings me up to this weekend.

For those of you who don't know, I thoroughly enjoy biking. Something I've always wanted to do with my biking is to participate in an alleycat race, which is basically a race within a city with a series of checkpoints. I've been wanting to do an alleycat for the past two years or so but have always managed to miss them. Well yesterday (sunday) happened to be my lucky day because the suicide king alleycat came to town. It wasn't until the race that I realized why it was called the suicide king.

The race was scheduled to start at 3:30 so I thought I would try to get to registration around 3:00. Registration was at Holy City Tattoo way up king street, further than I thought. By the time I got there I was already hot and sweaty. Only then was I told that the race started another half mile up the road. I proceeded to bike up to the start and get there in just enough time to turn around and start back to where I had just come from.

Having been late, I didn't bother to look at the map, I just figured I would follow whoever I could to the first check point and then figure out where I needed to go. This first leg happened to be a 6 mile sprint all the way down king street to the battery, which is on of my favorite rides in charleston, only I generally do a 2 mile version.

After the sprint, we the proceeded around Charleston, reaching every corner of the downtown peninsula crossing back and forth across the city. Highlights included the top of the bridge, the old jail, some graveyard way out in the middle of nowhere, waterfront park, queen street grocery, and other great scenery along the way, finally finishing with a slip-n-slide in hampton park.

All told the race totaled about 40 miles not including any allowance for getting lost along the way, which probably was about 3-5 miles... so 43ish miles, thus the "suicide." I came in 22nd out of 43. That said not everyone ahead of me went to all of the checkpoints because of how grueling the race was so I probably came in somewhere more like 17th, which I would say is pretty good for my first race and being late and not bringing a water bottle and all that. Next time I'll be a little more prepared.