Grease Rag Ride & Wrench

I mentioned in my last post that I would really like to hear from the women that raced in Stupor Bowl.  Luckily for us, Christina was willing to write something for us.

For those of you that don't know Christina Peck, a quick google will confirm that she is the real deal.  She rides with the Chicago Cuttin' Crew and has some major accolades for being fast as funk.  She won first place overall (!!) at the North American Cycle Courier Championship (NACCC) in 2009 by a landslide, and was the first female in at the NACCC in 2010. 

Right on!

Read Christina's Stupor Bowl XIV race report, below.

A belated congratulations to Chelsea Strate- 1st women's speed, Jana Velo- 2nd women's speed, Lee Penn- 3rd women's speed and Christina Peck- 1st women's stupor ANNND 1st out of town, for racing a terrific Stupor Bowl XIV!

Chelsea Strate

(I do not have a photo of Jana riding- boo!)

Lee Penn (Raced on a single speed)

Christina Peck

The Rider
By Naomi Shihab Nye

A boy told me
if he roller-skated fast enough
his loneliness couldn’t catch up to him,

the best reason I ever heard
for trying to be a champion.

What I wonder tonight
pedaling hard down King William Street
is if it translates to bicycles.

A victory! To leave your loneliness
panting behind you on some street corner
while you float free into a cloud of sudden azaleas,
pink petals that have never felt loneliness,
no matter how slowly they fell.

From http://www.loc.gov/poetry/180/165.html

This poem makes me think about why I ride my bike. Running from loneliness, running from anger, chasing sunshine, chasing joy, reveling in the weather, exploring new places, celebrating my body. As a newcomer to the cities, I wasn’t sure how far into winter I was going to keep riding. First I said, “Until I think it gets too cold.” Then it was, “Well, maybe until it snows.” And then it snowed and Grease Rag had a winter riding skillshare, and I just couldn’t stop riding.

I just got this in my inbox!  The deadline for pitches is Wednesday, so get on it, or at least email for a deadline extension.  Pass it along and tell your friends!  (They are all good topics, but check out the Minneapolis city feature...)

MOMENTUM MAY / JUNE CALL FOR SUBMISSIONS

Dear Momentum readers and contributors,

Momentum Magazine is looking for writers & photographers to participate in our Spring/ Summer Issue. Honorariums will be provided to feature story writers. Plus, you could see your byline on the pages of Momentum’s full color, glossy print magazine and on momentumplanet.com

Deadline for pitches: Wednesday, March 9, 2011

I have been really loving this blog Bike Fancy from Chicago, shot by photographer Martha Williams. The blog identifies itself as "people looking good on bikes." Sweet!

Here's a shot of the photographer, on her sweet winter bike.

Photo: Andrew Nawrocki

I'm actually a little jealous that we don't have something like this in our fair town. Can someone get the people at Minneapolis Affair to start shooting more bikes? If you haven't seen Minneapolis Affair yet, here are a couple of photos they shot of Stupor Bowl.

(I recognize Sarah and one of the Speed race contenders, Natalia!)

I can't find a good way to link to the set of Stupor Bowl photos, so this will have to suffice:

1, 2, 3, 4, 5, 6, 7, 8, 9, 10

For more photos of hotties on bikes, there is always the Grease Rag Flickr pool!