Weekend reading » Cory

Week 2

Another week is in the books and The Biking Hub is starting to roll. Once again, I thank everyone for their support and all of the contributors appreciate the compliments and constructive criticism that we’ve received over the past couple of weeks.

I’d like to start turning the comment section of these weekly ’roundups’ into an open forum where the avid TBH reader can discuss whatever bike-related stuff they’ve got on their minds. So fire away — just remember to be polite and to enjoy yourself.

Original content

We had some interesting stuff this week, starting with the first ‘official’ Biking Hub review. For those of you coming over from Making It Easier, you’ll have noticed that the reviews on this site are structured a little differently from those that were posted on the old site. On Monday, I posted a review of the Cannondale Carve cycling shoe. Ashwin’s article on the relative efficiency of different types of weight loss for cyclists went live on Tuesday and generated some good discussion — I encourage everyone who’s interested to chime in with your thoughts too. In their first article for The Biking Hub, Greg and Denise had lots of good, practical advice on the research and planning stage of a biking vacation. While the material focused specifically on a freeride-style road trip, many of the ideas are equally as applicable to weekend trips to regional cross country races as they are to a gravity-fed vacation. Next up, Dan’s contribution for the week tackled winterizing your bike and identified a number of important factors that will help make riding in the snow and the ice more enjoyable for all of you cold weather nuts. As I read his writeup, I was all the more grateful that I live in an area with a mild climate, even if we get a tonne of rainfall during the winter. Brrr.

Elsewhere on the ‘Net

asilvertouch zine went on a mountain biking adventure in Zermatt, Switzerland. The mother of a boy who was injured when his bike failed to stop at an intersection filed a $900,000 lawsuit against megaretailer Walmart and manufacturer Pacific Cycle. Canadian cyclist Genevieve Jeanson retired from comptetive cycling in a swirl of controversy after failing two drug tests. Under the ‘oldie-but-goodie’ category, a German mountain biker bailed in front of cameras and a live audience. Go Clipless posted a decent review of the Trek Top Fuel 98. NSMB.com provided some great photos that feature top riders on location in Morocco.

And, last but not least, giant jellyfish are ‘inundating’ the waters surrounding Japan. In a sure sign that the Apocalypse is upon us, these creatures, weighing up to 220 kilograms and measuring as much as 2 metres in diameter are wreaking havoc on the local fishing industry.

5 Responses to “Week 2”

1. Posted by Fritz | 9:12 am, 20 January 2006

500 pound jellyfish! First you were all like “whoa”, and we were like “whoa”, and you were like “whoa.” You’ve got serious thrill issues, dude. Awesome.

2. Posted by Greg | 12:30 am, 21 January 2006

haha had a quick glance at the jellyfish link and I misread it as national enquirer instead of national geographic. That’s one big hunka…cell matter. Anyone know what those things are made of anyway?

3. Posted by Cory | 6:36 am, 21 January 2006

So, uh, I looked into it and I came to the conclusion that jellyfish are kind of creepy:

“Free-swimming Scyphozoan medusae jellyfish occur in all oceans and include the commonly familiar disk shaped animals that are often found floating along the shoreline. The bodies of most range in diameter from about 1 to 16 inches (2 to 40 centimeters); however, some species are considerably larger with diameters of up to 6 1/2 feet (2 meters). The bulk of the Scyphozoan medusae jellyfish consists of almost ninety-nine percent water as a result of the composition of the jelly that forms the bulk in nearly all species.

Like their close relatives, sea anemones and corals, jellyfish have no head, no heart and no skeleton. Jellyfish don’t have brains - because their bodies are organized differently from ours. Most animals we encounter have what’s called bilateral - or two-sided - symmetry. They have a head end and a tail end. In the head end, they have a concentration of nerve cells — where these cells are complex, we call it a brain.”

From Aloha.com

4. Posted by Greg | 8:00 pm, 21 January 2006

mmmm…yummy…As a sometimes surfer it would seriously suck to get my butt kicked tag team consisting of a no brained, water filled jelly sack and a no brained, bottom of the sea sittin’ piece of coral. The coral is bad enough.

5. Posted by From around the ‘net 1 » The Biking Hub | 11:32 am, 7 February 2006

[…] A couple of weeks ago, I mentioned that Walmart was headed to court as a defendant in a Tennesse lawsuit involving an allegedly-defective bike. Now, there’s a verdict expected in another bike-related suit involving the company, one that alleges that ‘Walmart conspired to cover-up defective quick releases‘. […]

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