Cranksgiving!

Told ya the alleycats were popping up all over. I'm excited! I haven't done a recap of it yet, but yeah, I did pretty well in the Spookycat, so I can't help but be amped about another one! It's crazy how many races have popped up in 2012. To my knowledge, there weren't any alleycats at all in 2011, and so far this year there's been Cort's mixed-terrain, Charles' puking blood, Rem's spookycat, and now Cranksgiving! And also the ghost of maybe one during the Christmas season? (Actually, someone just suggested there be one near Christmas because they'd be in town around then, but I don't think anyone has stepped up and said they'd wanna organize it.)

The ten mile route has been posted already, but yeah, I'll be gunning for that 30 miler. Word is it'll be hitting Harbortown and Shelby Farms, but I can't for the life of me remember where I heard, so ha, that could be wrong. Still haven't quite decided on the fixed gear or the road bike. Both are pretty janky right now and probably won't be changing any time soon. The fixed gear is definitely more fun, definitely for anything up to 20 miles. Thirty might be pushing it.

Aaaanyways, stoked!

Drag Race 2k12

Yo, Vinny Diesel. You think you know about drag racing? YOU KNOW SQUAT.


REAL drag racing. Photo by Victor Amandor.

So, mucho thanks to Melinda and Jimmy for getting together the first of hopefully many Drag Races. Lots and lots of fun. Pretty good crowd, different kind of scene than I usually see - maybe kinda art schooly/LBGT-ish than bike-ish. It's always fun when you see people riding bikes and you're like, hey...I don't know you!


Jimmy an' Melinda, organizers supreme. Photo shamefully cropped and stolen from Clint Kobeska. Of course, the odds that he'll see this are miniscule, right? I mean, we don't live in a microcosmic city where everyone ends up knowing everyone within a specific niche...say, bike-riders. But I digress...

When I first heard about this, Cort had suggested sprints instead of an alleycat and I was a little apprehensive, but it was actually pretty fun. Of course, I only got to do three actual races, but there were plenty of for-fun races too.


Linin' up, complete with pretty lady enthusiastic not-lady. Photo by Victor Amandor

I managed to win against Victor and Giles, but ultimately fell to Gill. No question about it, he was fast, and he got the jump on me every time. About halfway down the strip I could start to close the gap, but I just didn't have enough room to really have much chance, finishing a whole bike length behind him. I had the same problem with Cort in the warm-ups. Thinking I'll bring a wheel ready to flip-flop next time - maybe running 46x17 instead of 46x16 would have put me over the top, but then again, I might have maxed out too quickly anyway.


Giles, looking dainty as fuck, and myself. I was having the hardest time just letting Cort hold me up and kept struggling to trackstand against him. Also, Gill hungrily waiting his chance to eat me alive. Photo again nabbed from Clint.

I'm not sure what place that would have put me in, and looking over the brackets didn't really help me figure it out, since I don't see the race with me and Giles on it, but yeah, who cares, it was really fun. Kinda wanna do like a weekly sprint thing, or monthly or something. Or actually, more accurately, I'd want someone ELSE to set it up, like the Flat Track Attack that Cort did a few years ago but I missed out on because I didn't really know the crowd very well at that point.


Brackets, stolen from Cort's instagram.

I'll leave you with a few more photos, one of Charles being Charles and another of Jason being fabulous. You can check out Jeff's photos on my flickr, as well as the aforementioned Clint's set, and finally Victor's set as well.


Charles' legs look...weird. So did his dinner, when it came up later that night. Jeff Gardner's photo.


Don't you tell me to smile/ You stick around I'll make it worth your while/ Got numbers beyond what you can dial/ Maybe it's because I'm so versatile

Alleycat mating season

Alleycats are poppin' outta the sewers, spillin' out all over the Memphis streets! Check it, it's going down:



Like Charles', another lap-stylie. Do some laps around downtown, and hey, if you're fast, win some cash. BE THERRRRRRE. And wear a costume? Thanks to Rem for getting this together, should be fun.

How to make polo decisions

If you're ever on the fence about whether or not to do something polo-related (say, drive eight hours to another dang tournament where you'll probably place in the bottom half, at best), all you have to do is watch Mr. Do's classic video, World Class Polo. Bam, you're in.

World Class Polo from Mr.Do on Vimeo.

Go ahead, watch it one more time.

Insight Into Fixcraft

If you're into polo, you should be reading Lancaster Polo already, but just in case you AREN'T, check out their Interview with Fixcraft's Sean Ingram.

LOTS of insight into what goes on behind the scenes at Fixcraft. Don't like to piggyback posts if I can help it, but this is really a great interview. Check it.

Puking Blood Cat!

BOOM. I think that pretty much explains it, right? BE THERRRRRRRE.

Get Buck

Just bleep out every time someone says music in this and it's still super true. This is pretty much how I often feel about Memphis.

Trailer: Meanwhile in Memphis: The Sound of a Revolution from Meanwhile in Memphis on Vimeo.