Friday News And Views

Police Bike Fallout:

Social unrest in many US cities has resulted in many skirmishes between protesters and Law Enforcement personnel which has been captured by anyone with a working smart phone. Much of the focus has been on police abuses of power, and in some instances, police with bicycles have been shown using these bikes in tactics taught for crowd control. Police using bicycles as a tool, (or weapons, depending upon your point of view), has aroused some concerns over which brands 'support' this by selling their bicycles to Law Enforcement departments. Trek bikes, being the most prominent in these instances, has been tagged by many as being offensive for not pulling support from Law Enforcement. Many have called for Trek to issue a public statement that they would no longer sell these bikes.

Coverage of the issue has been world-wide as seen here. Instead of pulling support for Law Enforcement bike sales, Trek quietly removed links to pages for the bikes on their site and then Trek President, John Burke, made the following blog post detailing Trek's in house plan to address its systemic racism in five steps.

Many hours later, after the blog post went up, Trek did finally address the police bike situation with the following statement:

 “Recently we have seen photos and video of Trek bikes that have been used by police in ways that are abhorrent and vastly different from their intended use. For over 25 years, we have seen police on bikes, out of cruisers and offices, building relationships in the neighborhoods they serve. The past two weeks have turned the view of police on bikes from a community asset to a liability. A positive outcome of the recent protests is that we are starting to see real police reform being discussed at local and national levels. We believe bikes can play a positive role by continuing to get officers out of cars and armored trucks and into the community where trust can be built.”

While many were disappointed that Trek did not axe their police bike program publicly, (and we really do not know if they have or have not), the five step plan detailed in the Trek blog post was hailed by some observers as being bold and a great step forward. I would agree. It looks that way up front for sure.

But the proof is in the pudding, and there is really no way to know if what this five step program details will be accomplished. I mean, who is going to check in on this in a year? What evidence will be shown that anything was done? I don't know...... Maybe Trek will publicly hold itself accountable, and maybe we all forget about this in a few years. I don't know, but this does bear watching.

 Colorado Classic Proposes Plan To Hold Race:

The Pro Women's event, the Colorado Classic, has proposed an interesting plan to go forward with its tentative date of August 27th-30th. The race organizers have essentially stripped down the event to only have essential personnel on site, with no spectators allowed. They have set up live streaming plans and a network to disseminate images to an online viewership.

Colorado, noted for some of the more strict stay at home orders in the US during the early stages of the pandemic, has not fully lifted its restrictions as of June. Organizers of the Colorado Classic have submitted their plans, including a change of venue for the final day from ending in Denver to ending the event at the Red Rocks Amphitheater. The Colorado Classic does not have a confirmation from the State that it can, in fact, go forward with its plans. The press release had this to say:

".....State approval to host the event has not yet been granted but conditions are changing daily. The race organizers are targeting an early July date for the next update release of information and will provide more details to the media at that time."

Comments: Indeed, conditions are changing daily. Tuesday this week it was reported that 14 states had rising cases of COVID-19 and many in the medical field expect to see spiking cases due to states re-opening too soon, or from the mass protests held across the country recently. The Iowa State Fair, which has only been cancelled once due to WWII, cancelled their plans to hold a fair in August this year and will plan for a 2021 return. Obviously, the situation is fluid and whether or not the Colorado Classic still happens is up in the air. It is impressive to see the determination from the event organizers to put together a plan though, and it reflects the vacuum of 'goals' out there for professional road cyclists to train for. 

Perhaps the lesson here is to just ride your bicycles for the joy of it.  

Waiting.......

Standard Rando Update:

The "Saffron" yellow Standard Rando frame and carbon fork are still coming to me and I have an update on when that will be. The frame and fork were supposed to have come by now, but the hang up was in that the painted to match fork wasn't quite right, according to Twin Six.

They gave me options. I could defer until the forks were in and done right, probably in July. I could switch to the steel fork and get the frame and fork right away. The third option was to pay a small fee, get the steel fork now, and then get the carbon fork when it was in and right.

I deferred and decided to wait until the carbon fork was in and right only because I really do not want the steel fork, and I do not need another fork around here just taking up space. Besides, it would be school bus yellow, and what, if any, other bike would that work for? The word was that both forks 'ride stiff', so I figured that there was no advantage to get the steel fork. The advantage of a lighter weight carbon fork won out there. So, I probably won't be building my Standard Rando up for a while yet. Andy, the guy I work for now, has his already, since he went with a steel fork right away.

In the meantime I have sourced a bottom bracket and I have found my Cane Creek head set that will work on this bike. So, those two critical components are on hand which I need to get the bike going. The rest of the stuff I should have. There will be a bit of swapping of parts as well. I am going to switch over the Redshift ShockStop stem and seat post which are on the Black Mountain Cycles MCD. The drive train will be the Force 1 SRAM stuff I have around here in a box. Now that said, there is a thought bubbling here that I may do this bike as a single speed. There is an extenuating circumstance which may modify my desire to do that. It's a situation that is still fluid, so I cannot say now. Hopefully that situation will sort itself out while I am waiting on the Standard Rando to show up.

Finally, wheels..... I have been contemplating setting up this one as a 650B bike, but.... I don't know. It will pull 650B duties, but I think I'll keep it 'dual-purpose' for now and set it up initially with the 700c wheel set I have in mind for this bike. I'm thinking that will be how I use it most anyway.

That's all for this week! I hope that you all can get out and enjoy some bicycle riding this weekend!