Just in case you didn’t get that from the title change – we have moved to our own domain and all content that was here has been transferred to the new site.
Check our new digs out at http://thebonebell.com This blog will be deleted from cyberspace relatively soon – but its up to catch any folks who may pop in to it accidentally from cached searches, RSS feeds, etc.
Thanks for stopping by and go catch our new pimpin’ new site out (well soon to be pimpin!)!!
Regards,
The Bonebell Crew
Comments OffCategories: Bonebell Tolling · Newsworthy · Sumthin
Just a note to folks that this site may disappear and reappear throughout the weekend. We’re performing the mapping changes and official move to a new hosting provider – so if all goes well – you may see no changes at all and we’ve done a terrific job.
However – we do anticipate some hiccups – and we’d prefer to do these changes during the day as staying up late at night to do change control windows is for the corporate minded.
Sorry for an link breakages – but all should be well soon enough!
If something doesn’t appear right in your browser – please e-mail us to let us know –> thebonebell-at-yahoo-dot-com
Comments OffCategories: Sumthin
Don’t let the winter blahs get to you – rest up – keep warm, hug your dogs (or cats if you must), your kids, your mug of coffee.
Or watch this:
→ Leave a CommentCategories: Sumthin
LET’S LIVE LIKE WE NEVER HAVE BEFORE! LET’S JUST GO FOR IT! LET’S BE GOOD AND COOL TO EVERY SINGLE PERSON WE COME IN CONTACT WITH! LET’S DO IT! LET US ALL RIDE ON THE DIRT AS MUCH AS POSSIBLE TOO !
→ 1 CommentCategories: Sumthin
It is funny indeed how hard it is to discern people in nice clean street duds as opposed to mud splattered lycra, pointy sunglasses, and helmeted heads. This past Sunday, at 4PM at EJ’s Place in Skokie – the cyclocross racing community of Chicagoland came out to enjoy conversation, food, and award handouts that were wonderfully plentiful. The sentiment was good cheer and laced with great talk about the upcoming series. There seems to be plenty in the works for some teams in rider changes, uniform changes, and even bicycle sponsor changes – this is great to hear. It is definitely reflective of how eager and well thought out that these many teams are looking into 2009 with a fun and competitive glance.
The Chicago Cyclocross Cup Series folks should be commended for bringing more racing to Chicago, spreading the dirty joy that is off-road cycling, and continuing to look ahead to keep our fix going for the years to come.
→ 1 CommentCategories: Sumthin
Everyone may have heard about the indoor time trials – the ones where you go sit on a saddle on a bike on a trainer, and watch a screen and pedal furiously as your terry white cloth towel catches your dripping bad ass self from staining the carbon top tube of your ‘beater’ carbon winter bicycle….
(We seriously do love you roadies!)
But if you wanted to have some actual fun in riding indoors and hitting a pump track, flying some wooden berms, dropping in from the 42 foot cieling level of a start of an indoor cross country race course for a time trial – against the pros? Hellz yeah. That’s how dirtbags roll in the winter!
Ray’s Indoor MTB Park
Get your arse to the indoor cross country time trials and watch the legendary Nat Ross smoke this course – and word is that Mr. Strout-Father-of-the-Sprout will be heading there in special WBR regalia. January 24th – Cleveland, OH. You game?
Time to check the calendar!
Post up if you plan on going – perhaps there’s a reason to have a throwdown at the park and at the RRHOF that weekend.
See – Rock and Roll and MTB makes a great combo….(moreso if you ride this at Rays baby!)
→ 2 CommentsCategories: Sumthin
My first bike was not gifted for Christmas. It was beat up and old even in its day. Hard plastic tires fading yellow plastic seat, white rims and spokes, with a brown painted frame that seamed to hide the birth of rust well. No training wheels it was at first glance nothing special. But it was definitely something special, it was my first bike. With no training wheels my first ride was not the marathon on the lake that El Maya endured but it was freedom unleashed in a way that can only be felt.
Two Christmas bikes.
The Red Huffy BMX 1000 was my first bike that was under the tree so to speak. Tomato red, black pleated seat, chrome bmx bars with a “v” crossbar. Black and white checkered pads on bars, frame, and gooseneck. Silver rims, with motocross looking square knob tires. No hand brakes, just the coaster. When I saw that thing I was transformed on the spot. I had graduated, from the beat up old brown to the new red hotness. Now, I had a bike that could stand up to the rigors of an all day adventure, or just a ride down to the big blue corner store Barbaro’s. Later it became apparent to me the favorite candy store for the local youth, was also the favorite liquor store for those a little bit older needing a different kind of candy. Barbaro’s was farther away than the gas station owned by the grandfather of my friend Bill Bass. Far enough that I needed special permission to go there for candy. The trails were closer and I could go there whenever I pleased. So fortunately for me teeth that’s where I usually went.
The second Christmas bike was a Murray BMX bike. Smoked chrome frame black pads and a rear hand brake, with the grips that had the little raised bumps and the holes in the bottom. Dad set that brake up right, and then sent me on my way to the land of powerskids. According to Bill Bass, the local bmx older dude down the steet, all bmx tires at that time were named after an animal of sorts. The only two I remember were the monkey paw, and the snake belly. If you rode a bmx bike in 1981 and got your tires from KMart then you probably remember those tires. I rode the monkey paw because it was designed for better traction, at least that was what Bill Bass said and for me, back then his word on bikes was gospel. I mean that guy could pop a wheelie all the way down the block, clearly he knew what he was talking about.
Walnut St. was for me a Tour de France of sorts. To travel up and down the street was my spring classic. At the end of the street was ‘the woods’. I would ride up and down those trails that now, in hind sight would take about five minutes total, for hours on end. Down the hill with the sewer grate jump, through the mud pit, left towards the swamp pit and tall weeds, right back towards the house. It was that section back to the house that held the tastiest of the singletrack. The never to muddy to ride, twisting flowing trail that even back then I knew was a small piece of something special. But, the good trail led past the local bully’s house. If I rode fast enough, George could never catch me. I was a ghost and he never knew I used the trail that emptied into the side of his front yard. On the off day that I walked or ran I may have paid the price by being forced to wade through the creek. But on the bike I was unstoppable. Not once did he catch me, cause I knew that trail like the back of my hand, I had to…I had no choice. That was how I cut my teeth. Who knew back then that being chased by bullies in the woods would be my entrance to this world two wheels and two triangles propelled by a chain that we now know.
→ Leave a CommentCategories: Sumthin
Here we are kiddies – the Top 10 Best and Worst for 2008 – all dirt baggin’ related. This is all in good fun and not meant in any other way but pure entertainment and reflective value over this past year. We’ve enjoyed the year greatly – and if you happen to land in the best or worst list – at the very least we noticed something to laugh about (again in a good way!). Be well – celebrate safely tonite and Happy New Year! (P.S. we’re riding a New Year’s Day ride (CX friendly) out by Waterfall Glen tomorrow morning at 10AM).
Top 10 Best
10. Stiggity realizing that his online name doesn’t match what was knitted on his son’s sweater – its two g’s – like Tigger.
9. The word dirtbag first being perceived as ‘negative’ to roadies when they first heard it from Stiggity, sweet!
8. MTB teams actually put faces to the names – at least most of ‘em (Hey you’re that guinness rider I ran into at 3 Ravines, and raced at WORS against, and raced at Rock Cut with, and had apple pie with your sister!?)
7. The time that Nevada Dave went on a training ride for 40 miles, and followed it up with a 60 mile cooldown not going below 21mph – on knobbies – into the wind – to Gary, IN and back.
6. El Maya realizing that buying things for your kids is about as cool as buying things for yourself – especially – when its bike related.
5. Meeting the Dirt Rag crew at 24/9 and learning that we all have the same love of the dirt indeed.
4. Nevada Dave placing 9th at 24/9 in the National Championship Solo Category.
3. Stiggity hiring a coach and finding out that the ‘fitness deuce test’ might actually have a benefit – or not – but he never let go of Taco Bell.
2. Stiggity coming in 2nd place at the Chicago Cyclocross Cup Championship Race!
1. Nevada Dave coming in 1st at the Chicago Cyclocross Cup Championship Race after blabbing all season long, he’s not serious about cyclocross after endurance events.
Top 10 Worst
10. The oddest fun ride of the year where out of 10 dirtbaggers, 5 crashed, 1 serious 3rd nipple inducing injury, 3 flats, and several mechanicals were had – in the name of fun at Palos.
9. El Maya making his first appearance Expert category race in a WORS series and DNFing.
8. Stiggity making his first appearance Expert category race in a WORS series and DNFing.
7. Team Pegasus’ uniforms!! Or is it the Sprockets uniforms??
6. Giving Stiggity his shoe buckle back that El Maya broke off his shoe – over year ago.
5. Finding out that all of the Killjoy riders really ‘are’ nice people.
4. Taking a swig of a beer handup – and then handing it ‘back’ all frothy and spit up on to the Half Acre Crew (Sorry!).
3. El Maya’s red Surly (Jerry) gets stolen off of his back porch.
2. Stiggity actually rides a real cross country race wheelset …. on his freeride bike.
1. Riding behind a knobby tire on the bridle paths at Palos – it ain’t all mud.
→ 1 CommentCategories: Sumthin
Ho Ho Ho – Dad is not a mechanic
I remember my 1st bike. I got it for Christmas. It was blue and it had the words free rider on the top tube – banana white seat, monkey bars, and lots of chrome. It was the Sears special I’m sure (my mother and step-father worked for Sears – so everything we got was from the Sears catalog – wicked!) – and I remember knowing exactly what it was despite my mom’s wrapping effort.
I also remember how unbelievably unsaavy my step-father was at assembling the parts on the bike – in hindsight, its probably the reason he didn’t buy training wheels in the 1st place. Less to screw up. It did ride awesomely though – I remember that 1st snow ride down Glenwood Ave. I was a free rider for sure. Having two dads was kind of a ‘cool’ thing – if only – because they both got me bikes. My pops got me the BMX the year later – it was all over after that. Christmas and bikes – life was and still is really cool for those wonderful bikes. My daughter was in the shop recently with me – I adored the fact she went straight for the bikes and said the word out loud – ‘BIKE!’. She is so getting a pimped out BMX with Pink Chris King parts.
What up with the missing parts on the site?
We are currently in the process of overhauling some parts, if not all, of our site – so bear with us as it looks fugly for a short bit and sometimes missing information – we’re officially under re-construction of sorts. The Bonebell Crew has a lot of work going on to bring you something really cool for the New Year. You’d think we didn’t have day jobs sometimes. At the very least – our jobs like what we are dedicated to such worthy causes (thanks bosses!). Enjoy the posts while we retool some things around!
National Parks Service Rule Proposal
Kiddies – you like to keep dirtbaggin’ alive in National Parks – then you better read up on Proposal Document 1024-AD72 and drop your positive comment that you support this initiative. In short – this regulation puts more control of these decisions to the local land managers which cuts the review process shorter (typically takes ‘years’ to approve a trail system). This is great for all areas that may deserve a trail system and folks in other organizations have a better lead into working with a local land manager to review possibilities of opening new avenues into MTB trail use – think of how many people C.A.M.B.r have to talk to get just ‘one’ trail laid out – now think of how many National Parks out there without trails (lots!). Its a lot of work but every suggestion to improve the process counts. Bikes belong in parks – well laid out plans with the help of I.M.B.A. can make them a reality when outlined correctly. Many studies have proven that erosion due to bike tires are not an issue when there are well laid out trail systems that are designed to combat the same erosion and protect the natural landscape.
Happy Holidays to everyone – be safe out there the next few days and enjoy!
→ 2 CommentsCategories: Sumthin
It was a sobering cold last night. As in, walking home in the windy below zero gusts was really really sobering – at 2:39AM.
What a great night it was – so many conversations, in different languages even – all spreading the cheer and good vibes.
People are jazzed to be biking even in this weather. We have a lot to be grateful for and even more grateful for the ability to do much more with ourselves for the new year. It’s always great to hear how positive the dirtbag’n community is. Here is a vid from ‘mapsandmagic’ – the drummer is a friend of Nevada Dave who volunteered his talent to keep us going in the cold. Thank you kind man. Drummer Boy ain’t got nothing on you this season.
Is this year really wrapping up? Nice because we can’t wait to get the new one going.
Chicago Cyclocross Cup Freak Out! from mapsandmagic on Vimeo.
→ Leave a CommentCategories: Sumthin
