I'd expect to see a few more of these stories coming in the future. This one is in Popular Mechanics, of all places, and talks about bike manufacturers' efforts to create more commuter bikes, since we're now, get this, riding our bicycles to work. So if I buy one of these, I don't have to buy gas, and it's fun, and I lose weight? Yes, America, the Year Of the Bike is here. Please join us in embracing it. 

Thought we'd just follow up our earlier post on Florine/Hirayama with an update. Looks like they regained the title, with a time of 2:43:33, two minutes faster than the Hubers. So great, good job. Slap on the back. Woo, hoo. Lets get to the real point of this post; the Hubers, hair flowing in the breeze, shirtless, in leather pants. Seems the brothers are a bit offended that we would think they're Euros with bad taste in clothes and hair. Because sure there's that, but there's so much more:

The Hubers were unhappy with depictions of them by Yosemite habitués as shirtless, leather-pants-wearing rock-star types, complete with entourage and groupies. In fact, Thomas Huber is a husband and father of three. His younger brother, a certified physicist, comes off as serene and intellectual. Many of those who met them described them as friendly, down-to-earth folk. The movie about their record attempt, "To The Limit," depicts them as complex, transcendent personalities for whom climbing is more a spiritual quest than a competition.

Boys, you reap what you sow. Nobody forced you to wear chaps. Face it, you wear leather pants and go shirtless, you suffer the repercussions. Read the article. Good stuff.. You also find out Florine thinks he's Lightening McQueen, a cartoon character. Via SF Gate.

Put John Lennon in your butt. Put a little man in your butt. Put the boogie, in your butt. Not to be outdone by Chanel and to do their part in combating global warming we're sure, venerable fashion house Gucci has come out with their own customized bike. Yay.

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Sad news from Broad Peak. Slovakian climber Vlado Plulik has been missing since June 26 after a summit attempt on Broad Peak:

Slovakian climber Vlado Plulik is missing and feared dead on Broad Peak (8047m), Karakoram, Pakistan. Despite extensive search efforts by Plulik's partner, Jozef "Dodo" Kopold, and other climbers up to nearly 6500m, no trace of Plulik was found, and as of June 30, 2008, the search ended.

Via Alpinist Newswire.

This is from 1996, and with the benefit of hindsight, it's pretty easy to see why it didn't really take off. I mean, I love climbing, so when I'm not out there doing it, the next best thing is sitting on my ass drinking Mountain Dew and playing this game. "Adventure means facing challenges at every turn. Scaling sheer rock cliffs, facing down wild animals, navigating through mine shafts -- whatever it takes." Outdoor adventure, to the max, indeed.

If you ride every day, unless you're riding clipless, your shoes take a beating in the clips. Forget about Converse or any canvas type shoes, they last about two seconds. Chrome had some shoes with reinforced toes that were money, but they're discontinued. That leaves Vans as the go to shoe for riding every day. You'll see all the cool kids on their fixies wearing Vans  classic lace-ups. Their slim profile means they easily fit into the toe clip and they're cheap. All good things. So it's no surprise to find  Vans coming out with a "fixie" specific shoe, the 45LX Fixed. It's the classic lace-up with reflective material in the laces and on the heel logo. The shoes also come with a tool bag for under your seat. Way to jump on the bandwagon Vans. I salute you. Images from Crooked Tongues.

As far as I can tell by asking The Google, this is one of two Swiss dams that have a bunch of climbing holds bolted on to its face (the other one is the Emosson). The route on the Luzzone Dam is 225 meters long and has about 650 holds. Who wants to haul a Bosch and a crapload of climbing holds to the base of the Hoover Dam with me?

Yes, the rumors are true. I'm back from my travels. Once again I enjoyed myself in Poland, up until I got knocked off my feet by a stomach virus for 5 days. That was awesome. I love Polish bathrooms. A lot. Anyway, eBomb was kind of bummed I didn't return and post an apology for having left you to read his drivel for 2 weeks. My response was that it goes w/o saying that I always feel bad when people have to read his stuff. Which is another way of apologizing.

Anyhoot, back to the post at hand. It's summer. You're gearing up for your trips, buying needless things because you live in a consumer culture and are conditioned to do so. So, if you're out there exerting your rapidly dwindling purchasing power, consider upgrading your dinnerware. Strangely, I have to say some of the coolest innovations in the industry are coming out of the camp kitchen, specifically the silicon based tableware. Now I personally would be hard-pressed to switch from the old yoghurt container I always use, but some of your gear heads might be persuaded to upgrade to the silicon products from Guyot Designs or Sea To Summit.

Both offer a line of squishable or collapsible plates and bowls that are durable, heat resistant, and take up very little space in your sack. Beats a yoghurt container any day I know, but I'm a traditionalist. Both lines cost about the same, about $15 on average, so that leaves it up to your personal preference; squishable or collapsible. I can see arguments for both. The collapsible bowl from Sea To Summit can also serve as a nice plate or cutting surface, while the bowl from Guyot Designs reminds me a bit of a cantaloupe and you know what creative things you can do with a cantaloupe in the backcountry. Gets lonely out there sometimes without the ladies. Wow, that was borderline offensive. So sorry, these things just come to me. I'm an auteur, what can I say? And lets be honest, you guys were thinking the same thing when you looked at that picture of the clenched fist. No? Just me? Right, so moving on, to summarize. Good to be back. Love Polish bathrooms. Excited about the summer. Talk amongst yourselves. See you next week.

From Fritz at Cyclelicious:

Keeping Las Vegas as the host city for the Interbike trade show came into question two years ago in preparation to renew the show's contract with the Sands Convention Center, which expires with the 2009 show. Among other things, members of the industry were interested in seeing the show support a more cycling-friendly city, while maintaining the best return on investment for exhibitors and retail buyers.

But, they're not looking for a city you can actually ride a bike in, so they've decided to stay in lovely Las Vegas, where you can throw one hell of a party.

Maybe I'm bitter because I think Denver would have been a better city to host Interbike. Vegas doesn't even make the LABC list of Bicycle Friendly Communities. But man, let me tell you what Vegas does have, compared to Portland or Minneapolis: A crapload of convention center space and hotel rooms and buffets and hookers (not within the city limits, mind you, but in several counties in Nevada) and strip clubs and gambling and all kinds of things conventioneers like to do and not tell their spouses about when they get home.

[Photo by Fritz]

What title you ask? Good point. Perhaps "title" is a bit much. Lets just say that the man formerly known as Hollywood Hans and his partner, Japanese climber Yuji Hirayama, are in the Valley this week trying to regain the speed record for climbing The Nose. If you'll remember, and believe us we usually don't, the current record for speed climbing The Nose in 2:45:45 was set last October by the Hirsute Teutonic climbing duo of Alex and Thomas Huber. This article in the Chronicle makes it seem like Hirayama is hurt and out of shape and only here to give his film crew something to shoot, but hey maybe they'll make a go of it and bring back the title. What title you ask again? Yeah, good point. Hey, how about that Euro Cup this year!

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