Portland Mystery Checkpoint Clue

There will be TWO mystery checkpoints in the Portland UAR. This is your clue for the 1st mystery checkpoint.
Have at it folks (you can click it to make it bigger...but not any easier)...



See you soon!
Josh and the UAR Crew

Go Sol!

UAR friend and friend in general, Soliolio Frost took home a big win in Houston recently. Check it out. He says he learned this attack style from my 1 kilo sprint starts in TX mountain bike races. Well...if so, very well applied my man.


In other news...just a few more days until the 2nd annual PDX NBB UAR (That's Portland New Belgium Brewing Urban Assault Ride - for the acronym-impaired). There have been some rather unique contests to win team entries:

Here's the 1st from the Portland Mercury (no we didn't come up with this one)
Here's the winner:

Interesting indeed. Hopefully we'll see this dude at the race.

Next, Barb at Portland's Bike Gallery set up a Haiku contest.

And the winner is...

Go By Bike they say

Urban assault ride, hooray

Drink Fat Tire all day

Nice work Peter Koonce. You are a man after my own heart. The 1st few rounds of Fat Tire are on me!

Giro

In Italian, this means Tour. Next to France, the Giro d'Italia is the big daddy. If I was a pro road racer, and I had the engine to be on a pro tour team, and I was selected to be in this race, I'd be really excited about a stage coming up soon.

On 5/21, there is a stage that finishes in Riomagiorrie. To those who have not had the opportunity to travel to Italy, Riomagiorrie is part of Cinque Terre.
The photo above is a photo of Cinque Terre. When I was a young lad, about to wrap up a degree at the University of Texas, I was gifted the chance to travel around Europe with my bicycle. I spent a good 1/3 of my journey studying the wine, beaches, girls, trails, and locals of Cinque Terre. Here was the daily routine: wake up around 8, eat a breakfast of yogurt/cappachino/cereal, go back to sleep, head to the beach to sort through the sea glass and meet my american/canadian traveler of the day, get some some, head back to the hotel to suit up for a ride, hit the roads/trails for the most beautiful rides of my life, shower - then meet my new friend for dinner/bottles of wine, kick it with Gian Carlo - the hotel's host and local partier. The next day, I'd do the same. For a single, bike-riding, wine drinking dude, it was just about heaven. A bottle of wine and good bike ride did the trick just about every day.

On our honeymoon trip, I took Jackie to Cinque Terre. We have travelled to many lands on this planet and this perhaps our favorite.
..And now, a Giro d'Italia stage finishes in Cinque Terre. I would be lying if I said I was not jealous. It's an individual time trial. The climbs are not too steep and the decents (if my memory serves me correct are VERY technical). AND it's probably going to take about 1 1/2 hours to compete. Man - I wish I were in this race. I know that Gian Carlo would have some grappa and incredible bread waiting for me at the finish.

I'll be watching the stage here. You can too. Please do. It'll make the world a better place

The AMAZING power of the UAR

In addition to Beer, Bikes, and Big Wheels, there are other things that interest us in the world of the UAR. Namely mustaches, music, and marzipan.

We're such big fans of the above that we often create contest to showcase our love. We did our own Mustache Contest and decided to open it up to the competition. Each event this year had some impressive mustaches for sure, but Seattle's mustache contest was a fierce battle.
Pictured above is Seattle's winner, Mustachekateer, Bryan Johnson. He proved that with lots of hard work (two months), you really can make a difference in the world (and win a mustache contest).

It was no easy journey and in case his mustache inspires you as much as it does me, here are some mustache journal entries:

"Day 1. Two months until the UAR Mustache Competition and my goal is to win it all. I put my razor in the drawer – it starts now.
Day 3. I had to get my razor back out of the drawer to shave the parts that aren’t mustache.
Day 5. I haven’t had the start out of the gates that I was hoping for, but this morning I noticed a definite darkness under my nose – not like coffee grounds, more like gunpowder. Maybe gunpowder after it’s been burned.
Day 10. I told my UAR teammate what I’m doing and he called me a “hairless pirate.” It hurt, but I’d rather be that than the hairless non-pirate that he is. He’ll never be a real pirate, but all I have to do is grow a mustache.
Day 16. A new milestone today: I got a taste of the soup I had for lunch a full three hours later just by licking my lips. It’s really happening!
Day 22. Nothing very interesting happened with the growing of my mustache today.
Day 35. Today I got a haircut – just a couple of centimeters – but due to a related optical illusion, my mustache actually grew two centimeters. I’m considering shaving my head for the UAR.
Day 47. It's too bad that women can't really compete in this challenge. Maybe next year the UAR staff will consider having a competition for kneestaches. That would be cool.
Day 53. Only a week to go and I think my mustache has just gone to the next level. People on the sidewalk give me twice as much space as they used to, and the elementary school where I teach just fingerprinted me for the third time.
Day 60. Today was the big day. After the bike race thingy everyone gathered for the main event. There were several worthy competitors, but the roar of the crowd when Josh pointed to me meant only one thing: victory. I won some sweet Specialized gear and a woman in the crowd gave me one of her beer tokens, but the true prize was the glory. Thank you New Belgium. Thank You Urban Assault. Thank you mustache. "

It's an impressive and tear-jerking tale Bryan. Thank you for your bravery, fortitude, and masculinity. Well done, Sir.

Never to be outdone, we've had quite a few ladies who have wanted to be included in all things UAR, but feel that they are at a genetic disadvantage. We're all about equal rights here at the UAR, so instead of the ladies drawing or pasting the best mustache, we've had another suggestion: a "Muffstache contest". Now, I'm not too sure what the rules or categories for judging may be, but if you have some feedback, feel free to share.

Another beautiful day in Seattle

Here's what went down...



All photos courtesy of Dapper Lad Cycles.

We'll have results and more photos up soon. In the meantime, check out this photo gallery.

Thank you Seattle! What a killer day!

Seattle Mystery Checkpoint Clue #1

Use your brain and google skills...

See you in Seattle! PS - the Seattle Bonus Quiz was sent out - check your email.

scenes from Nashville

Hey folks, Jim from Memorable Photos got the photos up from Nashville - with even more coming soon. Something really cool - all of the money generated from you buying these photos goes to charity!

Here are some of our favorites...
powerslides are a bit easier in the rain
hope the strategizing payed off dude!
sogging through the park
the Keen Blue Ball Challenge
Nice sunglasses choice for the cloudy day
...and they're off!
That's a good looking cap you got there!
more blueballin'

LOTS MORE PHOTOS HERE. Get yours while they're hot.

Nash and other things of interest

We're still waiting on the official photog's pics from Nashville. In the meantime, we found a couple here: Nashville Scene Photos
We'll keep you posted on photos when they come. Sorry for the delay.

• Specialized sent us some bikes to display at the UARs. The model that peaks the most interest is the navy blue Globe San Fran 3. It's rockin an internal geared DISC hub, hydraulic discs, led light stem, bear claw pedals, and a cool angled frame. It's a great option for cruising around town in style and speed. Check it out at the next UAR.
• this evening, I'm sampling a new beer from a local brewery called UpSlope. It's an IPA, which I'm fond of in the warm temps, AND its main ingredient is 'snowmelt'. For real? Or is all 'water' actually snow melt? One way or the other, 7.2% is doing the trick. And it's served up in cans. Seems to be the new trend in CO breweries - cans that is.
• Speaking of cans, I was happy to see my old standby/daily drinker Sunshine Wheat, available in aluminum style. The experts say that aluminum is the prefered way to store beer for best flavor and less light penetration. I guess that's why kegs work so well.
• it seems that even Lance is experiencing sponsorship woes. I'm sure if push comes to shove, he can just make a new 'special edition' livestrong wristband and finance the team for a decade or so. Must be nice to be Juan Pelota.
• Nat Ross has been joining the UAR tour this season. We got to share a couple beers in Nashville and got to know this MTB hall of famer a bit more. We're working on hitting the local trails in each city the week of each UAR. So, if you've got some trails to share on a Friday am, let us know. We'd appreciate the local tour. Hook us up in Seattle. So far, we're planning on this.
  
• Music. Lately, T.I. has been on the play list, as well as Girl Talk, and CCR, and Minor Threat. We have a diverse play list, to say the least. Got something we should be listening to? Send it our way. Please.

Ok - besides that...we're just working away, putting together a bunch on bad-ass days on the bike. We did take shipment of 20 longboards with a new obstacle in store. We'll be kicking this one off in Seattle along with some of this action.

Oh....and last but certainly not least the latest NBB UAR hero, Sadie sent us some updated photos.
Das head shot
Sadie riding Peppermint
...and the leggy pose.

We'll have the full Sadie interview soon. But for all of your single dudes out there, Sadie tells me she is newly single and she will be at the FtC UAR in July. So line up at the Fort Collins Urban Assault...and prepare to get your ball bearings ridden off.

So for now, peace, bikes, and big wheels...

Back from Nashville!

We're back in Colorado after a soggy trip to Tennessee. We had rain almost everyday, but the kind folks of Nashville took care of us.

Many thanks to John and Nat with New Belgium, The Melrose for offering up their pad for a killer big wheel course and PPU spot, Cumberland Transit for building up the bikes/wrenching/and coming out in the rain, Freddie/Drew and all the Walk Bike Nashville Crew for your help, Halycon/Oasis center for sending out a crew of willing helpers, Brittany at Whole Foods for the tasty post-ride treats....and last but not least - Mother Nature for not dumping on us!

The weather report said that Race Day had "a chance of life-threatening flooding" - but fortunately not much rain came down on Sunday. And that whole pig-flu...that couldnt keep us away either.

Here are our winners, Jenni and Matt. Congrats on a great ride in Nashville. Enjoy your new Cruisers - lucky!

Thanks to everybody for celebrating beer bikes and big wheels with us!
- the UAR Crew