ChrisCowan.us

Chris
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(Sent from my iPhone which is why everythig is misprlles)

       

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For_Sale.zip (499 KB)

Chris
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(Sent from my iPhone which is why everythig is misprlles)

The first is clipless pedals. As you know I've recently switched over to platforms. For years and years I thought if you want to be a fast mountain biker you had to use clipless pedals. Much of this was encouraged by the bike industry. Boy was I wrong... I'm much faster now and I can hammer without any residual knee pain. I feel like a kid again!

What's really irritating is when I see magazines still pushing clipless pedals like they are what real mountain bikers use. They are just plain wrong (and I shouldn't care but for some reason it still bugs me).

Another pet peeve is people at the gym lifting way too much weight with really bad form. Lift only what you can handle and still maitain good form. I know my form isn't perfect but from what I can see in the mirror it's not that bad. And if you can't sit the weights down with out dropping them then you are lifting too much.

Stems (and handle bars) on new bikes. Why can't they catch up with the latest trends and start putting short stems with wide bars? Every bike I've ever gotten I've had to replace those two parts.
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Better_Than_Dead.zip (2206 KB)

Chris
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(Sent from my iPhone which is why everythig is misprlles)

When I was a kid everyone had a BMX bike. We would tear ass around town bunny hopping curbs, we thought we where hotshit. I don't think you could have thrown a stone in any direction in my little town without hitting a kid on a BMX bike. Now days I just don't see that as much... It saddens me (I'm literally trying to hold back the tears as I type this... sniff sniff).

As a kid I struggled with my weight until my mom bought me my first bike. I've been riding ever since (which doesn't explain why I suck so bad... you would think after 30 years I would be awesome at this crap ). With the childhood obesity problems we face I think we need something like the Green River Bike Park in Arizona more then ever. This would provide a safe place where kids could hone their skills and start a sport that they could stick with for the rest of their lives (which could be pretty short if they hit a 20 footer and landed wrong).

(Image curtosey of GreenRiverBikePark.com)

According the the Hilride website (the development consultant for Green River's Bike Park)... Cycling is the number one gateway activity that gets kids outside (2008 Outdoor Foundation). Think of mountain biking (and cycling) as the gateway drug for exercise. It's really fun, everyone's doing it and for the most part safe. Once you get addicted to feeling good it will lead to other forms of exercise like weight lifting (and maybe even running... althogh I would not recommend running. It's really bad for your knees and it doesn't have as many cool accessories as mountain bikes).

I've contacted a few local agencies in town, rumor has it there is a city (my source didn't provide a name) in the valley who is looking to build some kind of park/feature for bikes, maybe a bike park maybe not.  The most promissing prospect right now is happening out at McDowell Mountain Regional Park. They are currently building a pump track in the parking lot of the competive loops (which was originally built for the Cactus Cup). The project is currently being executed by a few volunteers, dontations from the local community and the support of the park's supervisor, Rand Hubbell. This will be the first public pump track built at a goverment owned park in Arizona (Trust me that is some pretty ground breaking stuff.)

I've been volunteering some of my time (which is typically reserved for riding) to help build the pump track. Rand has stopped by a few times to see the progress and chat about this new exciting addition to his park. He gets a special twinkle in his eye when the conversation starts to expand beyond the pump track. He seen the web site for the Green River Bike Park and has planned a detour to stop by and see it in person on the way up to Yellow Stone at the end of July. When I asked him what he thought about the Green River Bike Park his response was "That Amazing! I can't wait to see it in person".

In my mind we are lucky to have a park supervisor like Rand who truly supports the mountain bike community. It's my hope that once he sees the Green River Bike Park (in person) he comes home with enthusiasm to see something like that come to furition here in Arizona. Hopefully the pump track is the first step towards something great like the Green River Bike Park.

Fingers crossed... for the children (of all ages).