Counterfeit carbon fiber products and catastrophic failure

Interesting article in the latest issue of Bicycling Magazine if you have not  read it. One guy broke his neck in two places when his counterfeit handlebars snapped on a fast descent. Hit the link below and scroll down to the Ken Avchen story for that discussion.

http://www.bicycling.com/bikes-gear/components/catch-counterfeiter-sketchy-world-fake-bike-gear

As Jerry Merkey said to me in an offline conversation, even "genuine" parts need to be assembled and used properly and instances of good stuff breaking are in the record. Malformed, improperly assembled, crashed, or poorly constructed stuff is not worth the risk of a brutal crash.

Father of Mountainbiking, Charlie Cunningham, In Dire Straits--Crowdfunding (Medical Fund) request

A recent picture of Charlie

Read below. Los Alamos is a bastion of mountain biking. We need to help.

"In early August, 2015, Charlie Cunningham, bicycle builder, inventor and all around amazing person, fell off his bike and sustained several serious injuries.

Charlie suffered broken bones, bruises, and trauma to his head. At the time, he didn't feel his head injury was significant. Unfortunately, six weeks later, the head injury manifested into a subdural hematoma, a life threatening condition that resulted in emergency brain surgery.

Currently, Charlie is in the hospital, recovering. His condition is stable, semi-conscious, but he cannot walk, talk or safely swallow food yet. He is making very slow steps to regain very basic tasks. The road to recovery is going to be long and involve many specialists to help him get back to his former self. Charlie's wife Jacquie Phelan, racer and ladies cycling advocate, is teaching him basic speech, in tandem with his speech/swallow therapists. Their home will need modifications to allow him to live there. It is unknown know how long he will be wheelchair bound. Your donations will help to offset the costs of his rehabilitation and the "ramping up" of his home (Offhand Manor). Thank you for your generosity.

A bit about me: I'm a friend of Charlie and Jacquie's, since the 80's. An early Wombat and bicycle painter, just helping out a friend. All funds go to Charlie.  :)"

 I got a couple of emails directly from Charlie's significant other, WOMBATS founder Jacquie Phelan, confirming that the info on the GoFundMe page linked here is correct and Caroline James, the lady running the GoFundMe effort, is an old buddy of Charlie's and his web developer as well as a charter member of WOMBATS. Charlie is currently in his third week in an ICU.Its gonna be a long hard climb to the top of this one.  -Khal

Marin Independent Journal article
Bicycling.com article written today about the crash here.

Go Read This Discussion

Once again, Charles Marohn hits the bullseye in this discussion. Go read it.

Oil Being Sprayed on DOE Roads

I discovered this too while riding home from the Jemez on West Jemez Road. Thanks to Mike Warren for the shout-out on the Pajarito Riders e-list. You can ride it, but its like riding on flypaper and of course once you get fresh tacky oil on your tires, good luck with all the glass shards, debris, and goatheads that will stick to your fancy racing rubber....

Pajarito road is currently impassible by bike due to fresh oil sprayed from edge to edge.  Same thing appears to be happening on E/W Jemez in neighborhood of TA-3.

Mike

Here is more from LANL.

A LANL road project currently is in progress and is expected to be complete by Friday, Sept. 18.  The Laboratory's main arterial road surfaces are being treated with an asphalt emulsion intended to extend the service life of the pavement. The following road sections will be worked on this week from 9 a.m. to 3 p.m.: 

• East Jemez (Truck Route) from NM 4 to the Omega Canyon Bridge
• West Jemez from West Jemez to NM 4 
• Pajarito Road from Diamond Drive to NM 4.  

The treatment sets up and road surfaces are drivable within 20 minutes. Traffic control will be in place as sections are treated. Motorists should expect delays and are asked not to drive on treated areas until traffic-control personnel direct them to do so. 

 
Once dry, the road is fine to bike on. --KJS

Calling All Los Alamos Bicyclists!

All,
This Thursday, September 10th at 6:00PM, the Los Alamos County Council will be meeting to discuss Capital Expenditures for FY16.  The Tuff Riders have decided to put our hat in the ring by requesting a percentage of those funds be used to build a bike park at Pajarito, similar to the one found at Angelfire. 

That may sound like a pipe dream, but the current council is very amenable to ideas for increasing tourism and mountain biking has piqued their interest.  We believe that providing a professionally-built alternative to Angelfire would draw crowds from Santa Fe, Albuquerque, and beyond.  These crowds would have a positive economic influence on many of the hotels and small businesses in town, and set a precedent for mountain biking tourism as a positive influence in Los Alamos.

If you've got the time to drop in and voice your support for these improvements to Pajarito Mountain, we'd really appreciate it.  Public comments will be handled first, so please arrive early if you'd like to make a statement.  Opinions are absolutely welcome but we'd also like to give the council some hard facts about mountain bike tourism.

Thanks,
Chris (from Tuff Riders)

p.s. If you can't attend, you can send your $0.02 via countycouncil@lacnm.us

Extol the Change of Seasons

 Its not all gloom and doom as the seasons change. Enjoy the cooler weather, different sun angles, and the trees changing. By the way, any preference on extol vs. extoll?