We’ve been making the most of the few nice days left. They’ve been short but sweet.

Now I know riding a wheelie on a fixed gear is kind of hard, but i think about half of the Empire riders can do it. As the main filming driver, I will say that riding a wheelie on a scooter is much harder. But this guy up in Maine pulled it off for a half mile.

We’ve posted quite a bit about cross lately. In case anyone isn’t clear on the connection, this should explain it.

Pic from Dave Trimble

The Mercer Cup was last weekend. I heard the mud was pretty thick and horrible. Dan and Dwain were there, but came back without much to report. I was promised better results soon so a race report would be warranted.

Pic from Dave Trimble

Until then, check out this awesome interview. It’s a two-parter – part 1 and part 2. The writer is so good he made me think that Dan is less of a jerk than he really is.

Pics are borrowed from Dave Trimble and are of the Cat and Kitten cross race, which Dan won.

Most Empire riders ride other kinds of bikes too. Dan and Dwain have been tearing it up racing cross, Crihs races on the road and is planning a cross appearance soon, I got heavy into bikes racing mountain bikes, Wilis has a diverse stable of rides, before moving to New York John used to hit the back roads and trails of Charlotte, North Carolina on road and mountain bikes, and Kai, Tom, Tony, and Ed all ride BMX too. Here’s some proof.

Wonka’s back

Tom was in town.

John’s foot is still fucked.

And these dudes tried to steal the new hog.

Poor turn out but the race was great. I came into the race trying to repeat with a bike I had been riding for  a day and JT came into the race wanting to kick my ass. From the start I knew it was going to be a long race because there were 3 manifest. I knew who I had to beat to win, two of them being EMPIRE riders. Middle of the race I developed a pretty decent lead on Cali, Yatika and JT. As I was going over the Williamsburg bridge, I felt like i was going backwards. Got caught by JT and Cali. Rode with them to the finish until I got lost with JT on our way to 409 Willoughby. Out-sprinted JT, no repeat. Good job Cali!

1. Cali 1:41

2. Yatika -0:00

3. Crihs -01:00

4. JT -01:00

5. Pavel -09:00

Congrats to Dwain on his Category 3 upgrade and Dan on getting his Category 2 in cyclocross!

Dan off the front.

Dwain dancing through the mud.

Photos by Keith Snyder

After learner more than I wanted about motors, I learned the original jalopy was beyond repair. So we upgraded.

And then we took advantage of some nice sunny weather and shot with JT.

Darren over at Brooklyn Machine Works turned me on to some great pictures over at Life of Sir Chris Hoy in the gym.

I haven’t really raced for a while, but I like to pretend I might, and I’m a big fan of lifting weights, Heavy weights. When I lift I keep it simple and stick to squats, dead lifts, and occasionally presses.

In the picture above Sir Hoy is performing a high bar back squat.

Notice here that Sir Hoy is going deep. This is absolutely crucial to move through the full range of motion. Don’t cheat yourself. Go below parallel.

Weight training is great for total body strength, but it does slow you down. Consequently, this winter I am going to experiment with Olympic Lifting at my gym and may even pay a visit to some specialists in Queens. I highly recommend a visit to that site. The pictures are amazing, and according to Alex, it’s even better than you think.

If you don’t have the time to put together a complete strength and power training program, here’s an interesting short cut. Remember, “Strong people are harder to kill than weak people, and more useful in general.”