I also give thanks to you, dear readers and friends, for your support and participation in this little blog of ours. We started 3 years ago assuming we would be the only ones reading it. We had no idea that we would be so challenged, celebrated, supported and loved!

Speaking of amazing readers, one of our most loyal readers, who requests to remain anonymous, would like to make someones day a bit more exciting. He/she will be sending one of our readers this package of 3 t-shirts (sized womens medium)!! When he/she asked, we were blown away…just wanting to do something nice, with no recognition…sounds like a cyclist, doesn’t it?!

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To win, just comment with why you are thankful for your bike, or for bikes and cyclists in general. On Friday we will pick a random winner using one of those fancy internet contest winner machines.

(we know that sometimes our comments do not show up so I (elisa) promise to check our spam comments every day to make sure that all comments are counted. We are working on fixing this issue)

Give thanks!

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I finally got the commuter bike I have been dreaming about: Schwinn Cream. Saturday, which happened to be my 32nd Birthday, I picked her up from Bicycle Michaels. After 2 days of riding I am in love. Fenders, rear rack, upright position, chainguard, single speed…yes, yes, yes.

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Bicycle Michaels was really helpful and fun. The salesguy there told me “today you got a new bike and a bike shop”, how cute is that? Oh, and all the guys in there were kind of dreamy in a bike shop kinda way. I digress…

My only complaint so far is that my panniers have a hard time attaching to the rack, which is curvy and has nothing to grab onto at the bottom. I am working on figuring out a solution, or perhaps will paint my old rack and put it on there.

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Aren’t she and I cute together? I don’t have a name, but am working on it. Ingrid is a top runner. Any suggestions are welcome!

Since it was too far for bicycling, Ross and I decided to snag his dad’s motorcycle and go for a spin!

Gotta admit, I felt pretty bad ass on this machine. I mean, if you can’t go by bicycle, I’d say that motorcycle is the next best thing. Don’t you think?

Anyway we were just there hang out and watch Sam destroy the single speed competition. He did, epically.

*****

As you can see by this picture, he is one serious competitor. Way to go Sammy! We fellow teammates look forward to being your sag whenever you decide to go pro!

Jen and Rebecca were partners, with Stewart directing them through town

Jen, Rebecca, and I drove up that morning and met up with our pals Stewart, Chris, and Justin to grab some pizza before the race.  You might remember Rebecca from our post a few months ago about her getting in a serious accident at one of our races.  Thankfully she has made a complete recovery, and this was her first race since the accident.  Needless to say she was super nervous, but got on that steed and we all ended up kicking some serious ass!

Chris was my partner…who knows what he was doing here

The race had a Le Mans start, but we got positioned so that when the yell to “get the hell out of here” rang out, we were able to grab our bikes quick.  I will spare you the grisly details, but stops required things such as getting a tattoo (for a 30 minute time bonus) or your face painted, a pie in the face, jump rope, seed bombing, making and eating the worst peanut butter and jelly sandwich, and a game of capture the flag.  Those Altanta folks really know how to do an alleycat, that’s for sure.

Stewart, face painted and pied (from here)

Chris and I opted for the tattoo (also from here)

(from here again)

There were an insane number of people that ended up racing, something like 75 teams/150 people.  Chris and I did pretty well and ended up finishing in 10th place – I was the 2nd female to finish.  Jen and Rebecca got the first all female team, with 22th team to come in.  AND they both rode fixed.  Pretty freaking bad ass!

Stolen off of someone’s Facebook, thaaanks!

During the awards ceremony of sorts

The after party was insane.  Photo booths, art show, a marching band, DJ, dance party, TONS of people.

From one of the photo booths, Scott Lowden Photography

Beat Hate!

The next day we had a delicious breakfast at Stone Soup, and then we put Rebecca in the bag she and Jen won.  Made by RFM out of Atlanta.

Just kiddin’ guys. Don’t hurt me. (photos to follow, obvy)

From here on out I think that Fall will forever be knows instead as Cross Season.  Today I spent a sunny day drinking beer, hanging out and watching CYCLOCROSS! at Sloss Furnace.  Sloss is the only publicly held industrial site in the world, as well as a killer spot for a cross race.   I, unlike Anna, was not racing so I came out ready to take in all the glory that is a bike race. Glorious it was.

Bici Coop team did very well, with Sam (took 2nd!), Alan (flatted out 2nd lap and had to run it in), Jesse Heath, Heath, Aaron Lane and Sean Malone in the mens 4-5 class and Anna (got 4th, maybe 3rd…jury is still out!) for the ladies.

The course wasn’t too muddy but had it’s share of gravel, hills, switchbacks and obstacles.  The site of bikes kicking up dirt in front of the huge foundry was beautiful.  Add beer and some good friends and I had a Sunday to write home about.  Oh and lots of bloody knees and elbow.  I am weird, sue me.

Anna will be writing about her experiences during her first cross race in Part 2.  Thanks to everyone at Bamacross for putting this together.  Besides the beer situation (Blackwell‘s I am looking at you for your no show!), everything seemed to go off without a hitch.

How was your weekend?

Hotter than a fresh baked muffin,

more dj-tastic than Don Juan,

Anna’s cousin can beat the stuffin’

out of any friggin’ one.

But one thing she must know

about winning the Sunday Night Skid race

is that Anna wasn’t around!

Thus, it could not be displayed to this fateful foe

that Anna could beat her stupid face

because, really, Anna’s skills are profound.

The Sunday Night Skid has been happening over the past few Sundays and we have been having a great time.  The Sunday before last I won the ladies sprints!  But my cousin Dani wasn’t there to battle with.  Then this past Sunday I was out of town and Dani dominated in the alleycat.  HOWEVER, next Sunday there is a Criterium and we will both be there.  Needless to say, I intend to win.

Congratulations for now, DeLuna

well, all of that changed yesterday! Over at Bike Frenzy, I entered a contest and was thrilled to see this when I checked back today:

And The ActionWipes Giveaway Winners Are

The Winners Are
In no particular order:
(other names are listed here, but who cares about them?!)
Elisa M
Free Stuff Fridays are somewhat new but I really hope it grows. Here are more Free Stuff Friday posts.

Yep, that’s me!! I won some Action Wipes, which is strange and wonderful since just yesterday I emailed my LBS and asked them to consider carrying them. Great timing, huh? Now I can try them and let the shop know if they are, indeed, a product they need to get behind.

woot woot! A bikecommuters.com profile and winning Action Wipes…life is sweet.

(review of Action Wipes to come)

Thanks Bike Frenzy. You rock!

Also stay tuned for a review of Everlight Safety Vests.