New York Sadly NYC Meet-Up for October

finguanzo said:
I had been planning to go for a few months, had to cancel hotel and all.. O well, next year.. Will try to get the pass as well if it is on next year.. Great shots by the way.
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Thanks.
I'm not sure how to get the special access pass.
Last year I got some semi behind the scenes photos, but this year it was fenced off.
I will try emailing the guys who run the race to see about getting access next year.
 
I remember seeing an email address to request a press pass.. They wanted to see examples of images, published or not, etc..
 
Yesterday at housing Works they had their semi annual photo event,
picked up a few cheap lenses that I could use on my Nikon and Pentax
camera's
 
CNNY said:
Sadly, a nicely inflated meetup ended with a flat tire.
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My worst flat tire happened on a fire road in West Virginia. A year ealier the road was just plain dirt and I could attain a terminal velocity around 50 mph in a tucked position for the high speed downhill on a titanium mountain bike. (currently I own three titanium bikes)

The following year Mike and I returned with two other friends, and on the very same downhill things rapidly got squirelly and outa control because now the road that once was just dirt the year before was now covered with railroad gravel.

Vinney and I were side by side starting our descent when I heard the wizzing sound of a tire making the phase shifting sound like a Leslie speaker with a rotating horn.

I pointed to Vinney and then to his rear wheel, but Vinney shook his head and then pointed his chin at me. It was then that things started to become unglued because my rear tire was collapsing quickly and I could hear the sound of rocks crushing and grinding my rim while I was doing 35 mph.

One of the things I love about mountain biking is that it really is the study of physics in real time. It is all about momentium, acceleration and your wheels and tires are gyros that you are trying to control. The thing I like about racing is that if you are not almost out of control you are not really racing, and I was kinda famous for my crashes. I kinda knew that rolling or sliding on railroad gravel at speed would make me resemble a bloody piece of gauze found at a hospital emergency room.

I knew to not jam on the brakes. It was one of those moments when time seems to slow down in a surreal manner, and reality becomes heighten by a rush of adrenalin. When I applied the brakes my rear wheel became like a skate as I by then was riding on the metal sides of the rim; I started fishtailing in wide oscilation back and forth almost like I was sking. Meanwhile I was hearing this terrifying sound of rocks hammering and destoying my rim.

It took a long-long time to come to a stop, and "HAPPILY" somehow I did not become a rather large orange sponge. Road rash is one thing: railroad rash is another. I walked my trashed bike up the hill and put on a spare rear wheel and did several runs before we went home later that day. The railroad gravel damaged the tire on the wheel I had borrowed by tearing off knobs to the bare casing, and I bought a new one to replace it when we got home.

BTW the keyloid scar on my left shoulder was from a crash the day before on a single track trail called "Tea Creek."

Cal
 
Christian,

What is worse than a flat tire is "rolling" at tire.

Happen to me once while road racing. Basically sewn up tires are glued on to a rim with no bead to save weight, and the force of turning rips the tire from the rim to cause a violent crash.

Whay back in the day "Bicycling" magazine showed a series of shots taken of two guys racing on a tandem going mighty fast rounding a switchback when they rolled a tire. The sequence was remarkable for two reasons: because it must of been shot with a motor drive in contin-U-Us mode; and because the text was simplified in a funny manor to resemble a first grader's "Dick and Jane" story.

"Hear Bill curse." "Bad Bill-bad-Bill." with the photographs as illustration.

BTW tandems can sustain parkway speeds on descents with two crazy guys that are very strong.

Cal
 
Once again, I'm unable to make the meet. However, I'm in Paris for the next six days specifically for street photography. Results soon (if they're good). Have fun, everyone.
 
Cal, the piece of tarmac I was on near the bridge was almost as bad as what you describe. Tire pressure went from good to nothing in a second. I was about to blame the road, but then I saw a 1/4" piece of glass sticking out. Not much you can do about that.
 
CNNY said:
Cal, the piece of tarmac I was on near the bridge was almost as bad as what you describe. Tire pressure went from good to nothing in a second. I was about to blame the road, but then I saw a 1/4" piece of glass sticking out. Not much you can do about that.
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Christian,

No doubt that good bike handling skills and an understanding of physics saved you from harm. Funny thing is part of the fun is the danger. One does not need a Ducati 821 "Monster" with 120 water cooled horsepower to get hurt or even killed. Also funny is how one gets used to a scary short wheelbase and twitchy steering.

My bikes are kinda aggressive, and some of my friends consider the Ibis Mountain Trials that I love to ride as being unridable because it is rather unstable. BTW I consider your bike as being crazy on a new level, and at high rates of speed it must be rather far from stable, but I wonder what would be the terminal velocity on the Vari-zano Bridge if you did the 5 Boro Bike Tour. It would be scarry exciting and approaching certain death for sure. LOL. BTW it is kinda scarry on a mountain bike doing around 50 MPH. Life goes by really fast...

I am known to drive like a fighter pilot, meaning aggessive, and fighter planes are designed with a "High Angle of Attack" meany inherently unstable for violent manuvering. Anyways that's my style...

Cal
 
BTW Last night I replaced some steel bolts on my new Ti Ibis Mountain Trials with titanium bolts. I now have a bike set up as a single speed with narrow slicks that weighs just 17 pounds even.

This is very light for a mountain bike. The only problem with light bikes is that they tend to stay on the ground less and it is easy to get big air.

This bike is made and designed for constant acceleration.

Cal
 
Cal, One of the first times I rode one of these I got up to some acrobatics. I was coasting down a shallow hill in traffic, while indicating for a right turn. With only my left hand on the handlebar, I hit a pothole, and in a reflex applied the brake. The wheel locked sending me over the handle bar. Thanks to the high seat, and the handle bar being close to the seat, I could frog jump over the front, and land on my feet. I got back on the bike as if nothing happened, but the driver behind must have thought; w t f! Now I ride with my right hand ready to brake, and the left one ready to ding the bell. No accidents since.
 
CNNY said:
Cal, One of the first times I rode one of these I got up to some acrobatics. I was coasting down a shallow hill in traffic, while indicating for a right turn. With only my left hand on the handlebar, I hit a pothole, and in a reflex applied the brake. The wheel locked sending me over the handle bar. Thanks to the high seat, and the handle bar being close to the seat, I could frog jump over the front, and land on my feet. I got back on the bike as if nothing happened, but the driver behind must have thought; w t f! Now I ride with my right hand ready to brake, and the left one ready to ding the bell. No accidents since.
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Christian,

I have mountain biking friends who like to ride behind me due to the propensity of violent crashes for entertainment value. It seems the geometry of my bikes throws me over the bars extra far, but I tuck and roll to avoid serious injury rather frequently.

We use to practice in this place that we called "The Bone Yard" which was a rough trail created by Quads that had very steep terrain with a descent that was like a chute. It was said that if you could do 4 laps in an hour that you could race and win because it was very much like a mountain bike race course with the correct mix of terrain. The Bone Yard got its name because it was right next to a grave yard BTW.

On one cold morning I did my first lap. The ground was frozen and I did not take notice that on my second lap the the sun had thawed a section at the bottom of the chute, and at the bottom of this fast descent was a bath tub sized hole I would call a "Tank Trap" that would rudely swallow my bike and launch me over the handlebars. Understand the area right in front of the bath tub (about as deep a hole as a claw footed tub) was no longer frozen ground and was now slippery mud that took away any capacity to steer. Of course I picked the fastest line which was the center of a long rut. Suddenly I am like a gutter ball in bowling totally trapped.

My bike fell into the Tank Trap and launched me; and I tucked and rolled. That slow motion happened like in a car accident where a heightened reality takes over and like time lapse it becomes moment to moment like in a fist fight. As I'm rolling like a ball bouncing on the ground at the bottom of the chute, I take notice that my bike is doing cartwheels right behind me, and I'm going to get hit by my own bike going at a high rate of speed. As I'm rolling I remember throwing my arm up to divert my bikes impact as we tumbled together.

I got up and checked for damage, and both my body and bike were fine. The only thing I noticed is that my front teeth were a little loose. When I met up with my friends (both mutants: Mike had thighs like a speed skater and was like a short version of Arnold; and Eric built swimming pools mixing cement by hand for a living) they told me to take off and look at my helmet because I had a chainring scar embeded over my right ear in my helmet. It was clear that if I did not have a helmet that my bike woulda like sliced off my ear.

Cal
 
Sadly a cop was shot and killed in my neighborhood last night not far from where I live.

This is the world we live in, and this is what you need to know: If you get shot once and a vital organ is not damaged you have about 2 hours to get to an emergency room before you bleed out. Your chances of survival if a vital organ is not hit is surprisingly high at 80%. Also best hospitals for gunshots and stabbings are the local public hospitals in poor neighborhoods because they have mucho experience.

The sin-air-E-O is for multiple gunshot wounds is not so good, even if vital organs are not damaged. In this case, even if vital organs are not damaged you only have a 20% chance of surviving.

Know that if someone draws a deadly weapon on you that you are entitled to use deadly force. This could save your life because one needs to be prepared, and during times like these there is no time to think.

I've noticed a lot more shootings/killings in my neighborhood lately. Please be careful out there.

Cal
 
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