Key Biscayne Memorial Ride.

Cristophe Le Canne was killed while riding his bicycle last week by a motorist in a hit and run accident. As many as one thousand cyclists are expected to participate in a memorial ride tomorrow morning to pay their respects to Cristophe and to raise bicycle awareness. More info here.

IRHM product review: Bern "Baker" helmet

Anyone who has seen me ride anything knows that I'm strangely fond of white helmets. I think it is because I secretly long to look like a rebel soldier.

This fact, as well as my lady-friend knowing me as well as she does, has resulted in my most recent and awesome-est christmas present ever: The Bern Baker.

This fine piece of equipment is super-strong and useful for everything from cycling to skiing to water-sports. On top of all that, it's just about as stylish as a helmet can get. The Bern helmets have a "sink-fit" style of fitting which lovingly cradles the cranium. Plus, the built-in visor is great for keeping the piercing Miami sun out of my eyes, greatly reducing my need for sunglasses or for wearing a cycling cap under my helmet. This is all well and good, but the most ultimately-awesome aspect of this doo-dad is the fact that the winter lining (which can be traded out for a lighter, summer lining) is equipped with built-in speakers! Perfect for jamming out to whatever genius-mix or book-on-tape you've got stored on your mp3 player. Your ears will assuredly be both toasty and entertained.

If I had any issues at all, it would be that the winter lining covers a bit more of my forehead and neck than I'd like. It makes it sort of difficult to keep my head up when I ride. Of course, this is a non-issue with the summer lining, and is largely resultant from my head being about half as long as everyone else's.

The International Bicycle Film Festival: Miami

As we wander from day to dreary day here in Miami, there is little that is exciting enough for us to mark on our South Floridian calendars. The first half of December was a hot and moist collage of sweat. Sweaty bike-riding. Sweaty car-riding. Sweaty getting-the-mail. Sweaty standing-still-for-two-minutes. With all this dehydrating perspiration, it's easy for people to lose track of time. Fortunately for a fair number of Miami cyclists, we had the Bicycle Film Festival to look forward to!

An event that lasted from December 10-12th in Miami, the Bicycle Film Festival (BFF) is an annual, international affair that hits up cultural hubs such as NYC, London, and Tokyo. Since it's commencement in 2001, it has been gaining popularity and steam, expanding its reach to more new cities yearly. The 2009 edition was Miami's debut on the BFF circuit, and it was a fun one. There were dance parties. There were races. Of course, there were films. Although the BFF's true stars were the films, the alleycat race on Saturday was one of the main events for many participants. Renowned race-photographer Lucas Brunelle was there to film, and Miami locals were eager to sweat for a reason other than standing still. Even this blogger was pumped for the main event.

As you can see, I was equipped with all the necessities:

• racing jersey
• bulbous white helmet
• messenger bag
• smug air of confidence

Unfortunately, all these attributes, including my burning desire for victory, were not enough for me to win. In fact, It wasn't enough for me to finish 3rd, 20th, or even before anybody. To tell the truth, I came in last. "Dead Fucking Last", or "DFL", as many amateur racers might call it. Maybe it was the intense winter heat (contrary to now, where we can expect daily highs in the 50's farenheit), or maybe my smug air was too confident, but I took such trivial things as "maps" and "directions", and threw them out the window. Long story short, I spent something in the order of 15 miles outside of the race's original 20 mile loop. By the time I broke down and called for help, the race was basically over. It was pretty rough, and it made it very difficult to remain either smug or confident. Defeated, I made my leisurely, loser-ly way to the Colony Theater in South Beach.

The Colony Theater is a small but swank theater, which entertained a more-sweaty-than-usual crowd that weekend. Spandex'd cyclists mingled with well dressed cultured-types to enjoy some quality bicycle related films. To cater to the cyclists, BFF volunteers had a free bicycle-valet parking operation going on. I caught Where Are You Go, a documentary which described the four month cycling journey from Cairo to Cape Town called the "Tour de Afrique." As one might expect, it was full of emotion, Africa(ns), and bicycles, as well as some beautiful and startling imagery. A unique film, and worth checking out.

All in all, the Bicycle Film Festival was a much needed burst of excitement for many Miamians and myself, and for a few short days I forgot how much the city sucked. Keep your ears open for information about this year's festival, and check out this flickr stream for more photos from the 2009 event.

The story.

This is the point in time where I cautiously enter the room, somewhat abash. Everyone sits with their heads drooped between their shoulders: hunched over a drink. They are all sipping from the same cloudy bottles. One Sudanese gentleman pours a small quantity of fluid between his lips, allowing it to swill around in his mouth before swallowing. This is no nectar. The grimace on his face makes clear the shocking bitterness. It is the drink of Neglect.

As a loose floorboard squeaks beneath my left shoe, they all turn their heads towards me. The Blog-Followers. They peer over at me, their eyes bleary with Neglect, and it is clear what they want: a reason why. Why have they been forsaken? Why has their been no warning? Why have their been no blog-posts? Without a word, these questions are communicated to me. I'm looked upon with the same disappointment and disdain found in the eyes of a mother as she catches a boy desperately trying to cover himself with his Playboy. When  he finally emerges from the bathroom, the sense of awkward embarrassment is thick in his mind. It is this same shame with which I come before you, the Blog-Followers.

I could brush it off: "I've just been busy. There were final exams, and I had a lot of work to do."

But no, you deserve the truth...

I've been involved in a top-secret excursion to save the world against rabid-laser-wielding-lions. It's been a long, top-secret battle, but we've finally prevailed...top-secret-ly. This is why I've been gone, but now I'm back!

Coming soon! The International Bicycle Film Festival: A detailed look into what this was all about, and an insider perspective of what it's like to be Dead Fucking Last in a bike race (this was me).

The Fucking Word of the Day

I am under the delusion that grad school might be in my future, so I've been stuffing ridiculous vocabulary into my brain as of late. Unfortunately, it seems that I've been created with a design flaw which allows all information entering my brain to promptly exit within the subsequent five minutes. Clearly I need to brush up my memorization techniques.

One method for memorizing terribly useless and dull words is to associate them with things that are worth remembering. I have discovered the ultimate source for applying this tactic.

the fucking word of the day

My new challenge will be to stop myself from spontaneously cracking up while taking the GRE.

Cranksgiving Food Drive Alley Cat: November 21st

To misquote a friend, "There's never nothing to do, this city sucks!" To which I never replied, "Why don't you advertise for an awesomely fun benefit event that involves Miami's citizens in doing something good for their city and it's people?"
"Absolutely, and why don't you help by posting about it on your blog?" were the words that never left his mouth.

Here's the event.

Of the 3 people that read this blog, 2 of you might be wondering, "What is an Alley Cat?" I will give a definition by leading you through a creative exploratory journey into your own soul:

-Close your eyes ( but keep reading...)
-Imagine yourself at the beach, or at least at a coastal city in South Florida.
-Envision yourself participating in a scavenger hunt, harkening back to the joyful days of your childhood.
-Envision this same scavenger hunt, but with a fast bike between your legs, taking place in the streets of your said coastal city in South Florida.
-Envision all the hot people of the opposite sex watching you do this and thinking "damn, I want that speedy person's children."

This is an Alley Cat race.

Be sure to come out, and as always, refer to miamibikescene.blogspot.com for all your Miami cycling needs.

SOFLO Skate and Bike Shop

Miami has been up to the same old same old this October. CSI: Miami continued to be a terribly written show set against an unrealistically vivid depiction of magic city, pot-holes lurking in the shadows cast by palm trees have caused me at least 3 flat tires, and a solid crew of dare-devilish locals participated in the monthly Loose Cannons Race. However, considering my diet consists of more Pollo Tropical yucca fries than you could shake a palm-frond at, I decided to sit this one out due to out-of-shape-ness (or maybe being too shapely?). Not to let one of the precious few quality Miami nights pass me by, however, I motored on over to check it out. 

I bet you're thinking, "Nice helmet, Arthur!"...I know.

This month's race started at a relatively new addition to the loose cannons circuit: SOFLO Skate and Bike Shop. These guys have been in Miami for years as a prominant skateboarding resource, but have recently branched out into the cycling scene; specifically the fixed gear aspect. I wish I had my camera with me at the time, but alas I can only describe my visual experience in words. For starters: Pretty flippin' sweet.

Once you walk into the relatively small shop, you're faced with a colorful explosion of custom painted skateboards, a glass-fronted counter stocked with the latest and greatest of skating and cycling accessories, and a small collection of beautiful bike frames displayed about the shop. The walls are decorated head to toe with the doodlings of the same artist who is working with the shop on creating the custom skateboards. With the added charm of a pair of vintage barber-shop chairs, an awesome dog named Cognac, and the laid-back attitudes of the shop's owners, you can count on an atmosphere of chill during your visit. No snobbery here.
I managed to talk with a co-owner of the shop, Cristian Moreno, before the race began. When I found him, he had just finished setting up a set of cycling rollers in the front of the shop. Without hesitation, he gladly gave me a tour of the shop, and we sat down in the barber chairs for an interview:


Arthur: What do you guys do here at SOFLO?
Cristian: Mostly chill. Help customers with all their skateboard and bike needs.


Arthur: Who are your customers?
Cristian: We have a base of customers in local skaters. Skaters who go to Peacock Park have been coming for some years now, but over the last year we've picked up bikers. Not that we've ever ridden much fixed gear before, but we rode all types when we were young. Everything from bmx to cruisers. We started to get involved with the MIAfixed forum, which inspired us to help people get into fixed gears. So the number of cyclists coming in is starting to pick up. David Berger of Bikes-to-Go has been great in helping us start up.


Arthur: Are you finding that there's much overlap between skate culture and bike culture?
Cristian: Since I've been riding, I've gotten at least 10-15 friends into biking, whether they were skating or not. My roommates, my friends, they've all started getting into it. Biking is getting huge.


Arthur: What made you get into bikes?
Cristian: I've skated for the last 12 years or so, So relative to that, I've only recently started riding a bike. I got hooked up from Bikes-to-Go at a great price ...it gave me liberty to go from one end of the city in the matter of an hour. It's pretty much the freedom of riding throughout Miami with no problems... something you can't do with a skate board.


Arthur: What do you think people should know about your shop?
Cristian: If you're a skater, I've got the best prices and selection you can find. As for the bikers, nothing pleases me more than seeing somebody ride out of here on their own bike. If I know that I've helped them accomplish that, It's the best feeling. Whether its building up a frame they've found, or getting them a bike from scratch.


Arthur: What makes the products here so unique?
Cristian: On the skating side: most products are small companies, usually owned by pro skaters and made local to the states. We use a really small west-coast distributer who provides with stuff that's hard to find at bigger stores. As for bikes; we're still pretty new, but we're developing a pretty good collection of vintage parts and frames.


Arthur: How about the clothing?
Cristian: We've got mostly earth friendly stuff; organic cotton and such. We carry Satori Movement from San Francisco, for instance.


Arthur: You guys have stuff going on at SOFLO besides bikes and skating?
Cristian: We plan on having acoustic shows, the un-plugs of local bands. We also have our blog at soflomofo.wordpress.com. We update it all the time with everything that goes on here; products, events, general info.


Arthur: what's your favorite aspect of Miami?
Cristian: The last couple of years, Dade County has opened up some free skate parks which is great. They're always packed with young skaters. Something I've been waiting for in the 12 years I've lived in Miami. It was everybody's dreams, and now its coming true.


Arthur: What is your least favorite aspect of Miami?
Cristian: Shitty law enforcement. Also, the heat and rain is a bad combo.


Arthur: where's the best place to chill in Miami?
Cristian: The News Lounge is great to chill at after a Loose Cannons Race, and SOFLO before the race.


Arthur: Thanks for your time.
Cristian: Of course bro.

The next event happening at the shop is on October 15th: the Grove's Bicycle Scavenger Hunt. Check out SOFLO's blog for more info.