Candy Cranks

Tonight Queen City Cycles is hosting movie night at the Patton Alley Pub

Life Cycles is the movie, and it looks absolutely amazing. So if you’re not by good ol’ Springfield Missouri I would definitely check this movie out!

Check it out!

Here in the Midwest United States we are dealing with some crazy weather.

Here is me on Friday -

And a few days later…

Somehow we went from a high of 68 to over a foot of snow…

Stay safe out there!

Last night was the January Final Friday – and we were given a beautiful day! It was in the high 50′s yesterday and after having single digit temperatures it felt amazing. Everyone met at the bike shop, hung out, and then rode to Galloway Station to have dinner and drinks – which is about 8 miles away. There was a big turn out and I was sure happy to be on my bike. The majority of us ride fixed – but everyones welcome to join us.

I didn’t take as many pictures as I wanted to – definitely need to invest in a camera I can use while riding my bike.

I was home in Chicago for winter break and managed to get my hands on these! This guy created the Illinois Bicycling Law website, created awesome stickers and patches of the Chicago flag made with bike parts, and the website has ways to ride smarter, and what to do if you’re in an accident.

Last Saturday (December 4th) my friend Isaac threw a race called December to Remember: Alley Cat Poker Run. I was pretty nervous about it, since it was my first race. It being in the high 20′s (F) that night didn’t help either.

It was pretty simple, there would be seven locations around Springfield where there would be a deck of cards, at each location you would grab a card from the deck to show you were there. At the end of the race there were prizes for first girl single speed in, first girl geared in, best hand, and the first guy in (geared and single speed). I wanted to participate to show support for my friend Isaac since this was the first race of this kind to happen in Springfield (well that I know of anyway).

There was only three girls that came to participate, my friend and I on fixed, and one girl on geared. I was pretty sure my friend would beat me since she’s a really great rider.

We received the map of the locations about 30 minutes before the race started. I wasn’t too worried about it, just figured I would do my best. When he gave us the signal I ran to my bike, dodging the huge guys racing next to me. I hopped on and went to the first location I was unsure about (had never been to the area it was in) because I just wanted to get it out of the way. I found it pretty easily and headed to the next one where I couldn’t find the deck. I decided to just not worry about it since there were at least 6 other guys trying to find it, figured they all saw I was there. So I just moved onto the next ones.

I found the rest fairly easily, except for one being under a bridge, super creepy (and I definitely didn’t feel very safe about it); but I found the deck as soon as I was about to head out of there. I rode as fast as I could back to the start. When I got there, I showed Isaac my cards and looked around. I was the first girl in!

I was super excited to win the first race I ever participated in, and got a new pair of brev handlebars! Definitely a fun race, and I had a great time. I was trying to wait to post until they posted the pics from the race but I’m too happy about it

Tonight was our first Fixxed Ride – Springfield Missouri’s weekly Ladies Ride were trying to start. Unfortunately it was only my friend Mallory and I, who are the ones trying to start it. We (according to google) biked 5.9 miles tonight. I guess a bike ride in 30 degree (F) weather isn’t for everyone, but hopefully more girls show up next week!!!

TOMORROW, SATURDAY DECEMBER 4 !!!

Happening in Springfield, Missouri – should be a lot of fun.

Then this coming Monday my friend Mallory and I are starting the Fixxed Ride - Springfield Missouri’s weekly ladies bike ride

I’ve been riding an SE Draft road bike for the last year and a half and turned it into a fixed gear this past summer. After riding it more this year I kept thinking about getting a new frame and building up a new bike but couldn’t really decide what I wanted.

Finally! I decided to just buy a Kona Paddywagon complete bike. Got it from my friends at Queen City Cycles. Best purchase I’ve made in awhile!

^My SE Draft on top, Kona on the bottom!

^Shiftless Bastards, the group I ride with here in Springfield, and my lovely Candy Cranks spoke card!

^Nice foot straps my friend Issac made for me, I will probably be posting more about them later! Still testing them out

This upgrade has DEFINITELY made me a better rider and I feel so much more capable of doing things with this bike. Before I was struggling with learning how to do a track stand for example, and I basically have it down now.

Stumbled upon this link for an airbag helmet. Seems pretty cool to me, its a collar that you wear and it has a bunch of computerized gadgets in it that sense impact. So when you hit something or fall it takes .1 seconds to inflate and protect your head.

Probably wouldn’t be good for all those fakie riders who usually hit something to get them riding backwards but for daily commuting it could be pretty awesome! I think it would take me awhile to fully trust it though.

Check out the full article here

It’s called the Hövding (“Chieftain”).

Did a lot of riding today, wanted to clear my head. There is a trail that leads from the Northwest edge of Springfield, Mo up through Willard, Mo and ends some where that I can’t remember the name of. But the trail stops being paved a little bit past Willard so that is as far as I rode.

Getting to the trail was MORE of a headache than I thought it was going to be, had to ride on the shoulder of West Bypass which is a super busy kind of highway thing. The path was pretty straight and they had labeled the ground at certain miles which was awesome.

I put a picture of a cow, because I’m still amazed to be riding and look over and see a cow. Born and raised in Chicago, not used to it  .   Saw some rock piles, and when I got to the point where the trail turned into gravel I decided to turn around. Saw a llama? alpalca? thing? on my way back which I was kind of amazed at.

Oh, and check out my awesome spoke card

I google mapped my route there, then after wards I headed to a friends and back home. According to google I rode 33.2 miles today, which makes me quite happy.