BFF Photos

Hanging outside of Alona's (Sp?) house

Megan from Memphis wins 1st place lady
David from Baton Rouge is happy to finish the Memphis Watercat Race
Andy's back got dirty...

Andy and Travis revel in the fun that was the Memphis Watercat Race

Here is a link to more: http://www.flickr.com/photos/brooksmuseum/sets/72157619024479487/

Memphis and the Bicycle Film Festival

Travis, David, and I went to Memphis this past weekend for the Bicycle Film Festival. For those of you not familiar with the Bicycle Film Festival, it started 12 years ago in NYC. It has since grown to be in 38 (I think) cities across the world this year. Well, we went to it in Memphis.

We left Thursday evening around 6:30 PM and made it to Memphis around 12:30am. We checked in to the Pilgrim House hostel located in First Congregational Church on Cooper St in Midtown Memphis, then pedaled to meet up with Cort and AB at a bar. We stayed there til the bar closed at 3AM, then rode around getting our bearings on Memphis. The Brooks Museum, which was where they were showing the films, was about 1.5 miles north of our hostel in Overton Park. We checked that out, and just did some miscellaneous exploring. http://www.gmap-pedometer.com/?r=2876032

Friday morning, we woke up around 9 or 10AM and rode east towards the U of Memphis campus. We ate breakfast at Brother Juniper's (amazing!!) before heading out on our day of riding in Memphis. Then we walked across the street and bought a few innertubes from Peddler's Bike Shop on Highland St before riding around campus. We hit up a parking garage just for good measure. We then headed to the Schwinn Bike Shop on Summer Ave. They held strange business hours for a bike shop, and we never actually made it in to look around. Thru the windows, it looked like it had a pretty amazing collection of franken-parts. http://www.gmap-pedometer.com/?r=2876052

Later that day, we did more pedaling to the No Regrets Tattoo parlor, back to the Schwinn shop with Cort and AB, back to the hostel, then to the museum, then to Nocturnal for the after party and open sprints, then to Alona's (sp?) house, then back to the hostel.

Saturday= woke up, ate at Huey's, went to the museuem, tried to play polo in a nearby parking lot but got kicked out. Ended up playing polo behind the Hi Tone for an hour or so before the showing of Road to Roubaix. After the movie, headed to the hostel to drop off our stuff before heading back to Rainbow Lake in Overton Park for the Watercat race. No bags, no locks, valuables in a zip-lock bag because you will get wet, we were told. Here's my route: http://www.gmap-pedometer.com/?r=2876218

I got sepearated from David and Travis coming back over the Auction Street bridge, but still managed to beat them both by a hair. Here is their route (I think): http://www.gmap-pedometer.com/?r=2876140

We then went back to the hostel to clean up, rode to Bosco's for dinner, then to Murphy's for the after party. Then, I went back to Alona's house, then to the hostel to sleep. Travis and David stayed out later and went to a few more bars and stuff after Murphy's.

Sunday, we rode to Huey's again, then got our bikes washed by the Memphis Belles burlesque show girls at Shangri-La records, bought a bunch of vinyl while they were doing that, rode back to the hostel and visited Revolutions Bike Co-Op, and headed back to B.R.

Baton Rouge Critical Mass

The next Baton Rouge edition of critical mass will be this Friday (May 30, 2009) Meeting place is the LSU Clocktower at 5:30. Typical roll out time is around 6PM.

I have no idea what the potential route will be as this is an informal, leaderless expression of our right to assemble and our right as cyclists to be on the road.

I implore you though, if you come out to critical mass, please try to be as legal as possible.
I.E. please especially have lights. The ride typically extends into the twilight hours. Lights really are necessary for everyone's safety. Please don't depend on someone else to ride with lights so you can ride next to them... If we all do that, no one has lights...

From NYC Bike Blog

From Vlad at the Glass Bead Collective:
The next NYC critical mass is this Friday 5/29 at 7pm starting at union square north. Come out and enjoy what is now becoming a much safer ride.
We are releasing a new video that takes you inside the New York Critical Mass bike ride from this past March 2009. This immersive short was shot with a 180 degree lens and does a good job communicating what the experience is like.
video posted here, of police harassing the March ride. (this video was posted up earlier on bikeblognyc)
Critical Mass is a leaderless bike ride that takes place in 100s of cities worldwide on the last Friday of every month. The New York Police Department has had a very confrontational relationship with the NYC ride since 2004. From 2004 – 2007, hundreds of police officers were dispatched each month to stop the ride and arrest the participants, deploying helicopters, blimps and undercover officers with video cameras to monitor the ride and engage in the violent take down of the cyclists, initiating a civil rights battle. After much embarrassing media attention and several losses in court, the NYPD were forced to retreat from these tactics. The arrests have stopped, but the police continue to harass riders by giving out tickets to cyclists who do not have lights or bells on their bikes. Anyone receiving this ticket can get it annulled by presenting lights and/or bells and their ticket to a precinct the following day.
Hence - please come to the ride but make sure you have a bell and lights on the front and back of your bike - this will significantly reduce a chance that you will be harassed by the police.
This selective targeting is currently being challenged in federal court in the Five Borough Bike Club vs NYC . See 5bbc.org/parade
This event is no longer just a bike issue, but a civil liberties issue. The harassment of this ride is a direct result of New York City’s police leadership trying to impose a permitting system where spontaneous gathering of citizens would be subject to a permission’s process. In effect they are trying to take away our constitutional right to assembly and association.
We ask all of you to please forward this message around, as well as the links to the video. Put it on your blogs. This is a fun, family friendly activity that protects some of our most fundamental liberties.

Sunday Fly By Night 5/10/2009

Here's my route from the Sunday Fly By Night. (Despite what the map says, I really started and ended at Highland & Lee....

http://www.gmap-pedometer.com/?r=2811434

Memphis Bicycle Film Festival

So far, there are 3 of us heading to Memphis for the Bicycle Film Festival. Are you going?

This Blog

So this blog has fallen by the wayside these last few weeks because my other blog (brbikepolo.blogspot.com) has been taking up all my time. In case you follow this blog and not the other, we are doing a series of races here in Baton Rouge on each of the first four Fridays. There is a points system, and whoever has the highest total points wins prizes. There are also prizes for each individual stage winner, as well as fun categories like Fixied Gear Rider, Lady Rider, Out Of Towner, etc etc etc.

We have some really nice sponsors for that too, so you should check it out.

+++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++

In other news:

BRASS has several events coming up.

At every Sunday In The Park event at Lafayette Park in downtown Baton Rouge, Brass will have a bicycle corral. This is a manned location where you can leave your bike while you go enjoy the festivities. There will also be bicycle corrals at several other festivals in the downtown area.

BRASS also has VELO rides. These have been wildly successful in the past, and are back with a vengeance. Unfortunately, I forgot to post this info before the first one occurred, so you missed the first one. But, the second one, Velo des Oiseaux is Sunday May 17, and celebrates Baton Rouge's bird population. The third, Velo Feliciana actually occurs in St. Francisville area, celebrating the beautiful country that is West Feliciana Parish.

Please check out http://brsafestreets.org/ for more information on those