Minnehaha Panniers and Other Stuff

The Minnehaha Canvas Utility Panniers I ordered arrived Friday afternoon, just in time for the Bike Friendly Arlington ride. I took one with me on the ride and had it loaded with essentials and as usual, stuff that I didn't need. I attached it as far back as possible on the rack for maximum heel clearance and took off. I completely forgot it was there which is probably the most complementary thing you can say about a pannier. There was no swaying or sagging despite the excessive gear (for a casual ride). Unfortunately the panniers are sold out at Restoration Hardware. At $27.99 I knew they wouldn't last long. They still have some saddlebags in stock although you might want to hurry.

The quality of these panniers was much better than I expected. I had read people's complaints about problems with heel clearance when using these panniers. I think the longer chainstays kept me from experiencing any problems.

Facebook: To my new Facebook friends, it's pretty obvious that I'm new to this stuff. I haven't picked up on all the do's and don'ts yet so please be patient with me.

Tour of Flanders this Sunday: Even if you're not a pro-cycling fan you're bound to enjoy the Tour of Flanders. The steep climbs up cobbled roads are legendary. The race is even better if the weather gets nasty. As far as I'm concerned this race and the following weekends Paris-Roubaix are the high points of the pro-racing calender.

My favorite place for links to live coverage of most professional races is Steephill.Tv (which is where these images were borrowed. I hope they don't get angry).

Stijn Devolder, former Belgian national champ. This guy is awesome!

This is about the only race where you'll see pros running their bikes uphill.

Ride and Race Report

Just as I expected Ian posted an excellent report on his trip to Belgium for the Tour of Flanders and the Sportive.

Final Print

My blank shirts arrived a day early. My wife suggested that I print the design in brown ink. I think it looks much better than the red in the test print. I plan to list these in my shop tomorrow.

My son refuses to stand for photos unless I promise to not show his face. 

I don't know if anybody read the comments on my last post about the Tour of Flanders, but Ian from the U.K. rode the course on Saturday and watched the race from the side of the road on Sunday. Here's a link to his photos. Keep checking his blog, I'm sure he'll be posting a report soon.

Thanks Ian!

Now this is completely random. Me and my 12 year old son and 16 year old daughter watched the Woodstock documentary on VH1 last night. My kids have been interested in classic rock since they started playing Guitar Hero. I had watched the documentary before but I had completely forgotten that Sly and the Family Stone performed. Awesome!

Tour of Flanders This Sunday!

Don't miss the Tour of Flanders this Sunday.  Even if you're not a pro cycling fan this is a fun race to watch. I always enjoy seeing elite riders forced to run their bikes up steep cobblestoned climbs. It's supposed to be dry this year which is too bad. Nasty weather always makes this race more interesting. You can go to Steephill.tv to find a live video feed or a link to text updates. Versus will be showing the race at 4 PM central time. I've said this before, Steephill.tv is my favorite site for race info.

This is one of a series of famous photos from the Tour of Flanders by the Great Graham Watson. No, the car actually missed the rider's foot. This climb, the Koppenberg, has been widened and improved but it still a classic.

Here's the climb from as seen from a bike mounted camera.

George Hincappie says he's feeling good this year. Poor George seems to have some of the worst luck. I hope he does well this Sunday.

Photo from Roadcycling.com

Tour of Flanders

Tour of Flanders is this Sunday. I'm looking forward to it. Velonews has a nice collection of Graham Watsons Tour of Flanders photos displayed. Take a look.
VeloNews

Welcome to the new Rat Trap Press blog

I'm finally printing again after a short lay-off after the holidays. I opened a shop in Etsy a little while back but didn't really start selling until November. I was really happy with the sales we had in the late part of November till about December 15th when we closed the shop for vacation. Thankfully the Etsy sales paid for our kids Christmas. Since I had a little free time I decided to prepare a couple of new designs.

Here's the screen for an old racing bike design taped up and ready to go.


Test print on a gray t shirt


A highly distressed Tour of Flanders design.