Slim Pickins

Wow, tomorrow we celebrate the two month anniversary of no-posts-on-BnC. I know plenty of you lot are out turning pedals and taking in the sights, so feel free to mail in with tales and pictures and other stuff that we can use to fill this gaping hole of a website!

Tomorrow sees me start a new summer job in Queenstown, working with the Skyline Gondola mountain bike crew. I’m hoping that’ll mean plenty of bike action over summer and hopefully there will be something to kick things along around here. What I’d really love is to be wandering off into the mountains on a bike with drop bars and knobby tyres, but I think instead I’ll have to spend all summer saving my pennies and sessioning the bike park…it’s a rough life.

So yeah, write in and tell us your tales. We need the entertainment.

Todos Santos Cuchumatan

The Guatemalan town of Todos Santos Cuchumatan celebrates All Saints Day (November 1) each year by holding a horse race that is best described as follows:

“Dressed in special holiday clothing, a mob of men on horseback race back and forth down the main road into town between a throng of onlookers, stopping at each end of the course to take a pull of hard liquor before galloping at breakneck pace to the other end. This exciting diversion goes on for hours as new riders enter the festivities and other riders fall off or just drunkenly give up”.

Sounds like a race Nic White would win, although I’m sure Hunners with his South American experience might fancy his chances.. New B’n’C event this November?

Line of Sight

If you’ve been following along here for a while you’ll know I’m a massive Lucas Brunelle fan. His helmet cam alleycat footage inspired me to build a fixed gear bike and encouraged me towards stupid antics in traffic. Watching his videos gets me just as pumped for riding as the highest budget 1080p flying-camera mountain bike films. Safe to say I’m pretty excited seeing the trailer for Line of Sight, a new film about Lucas and his cameras. Check it out (and some info I ripped from Spoke Mag’s website)…

Line Of Sight is a rare view into underground bicycle messenger racing which has become a global phenomenon. For over a decade Lucas Brunelle has been riding with the fastest, most skilled urban cyclists around the world while capturing all the action with his customized helmet cameras to bring you along for the ride.

This is bike riding like you’ve never seen before, in gripping first-person perspective through the most hectic city streets, on expressways in Mexico City, over the frozen Charles River, under the Mediterranean Sea, across the Great Wall of China and deep into the jungles of Guatemala.

Directed and Edited by Benny Zenga, Line of Sight is 60 minutes of the best Lucas Brunelle footage, with titles by Futura 2000, plus extras, outtakes, and a 40 page art book featuring photography and spoke cards from a decade of Alleycat races around the world. Get the DVD at: lucasbrunelle.com

“Lucas Brunelle goes for it. If you want to see what it’s like to play a live game of ‘frogger’, on a bike, with only one life, check out Line Of Sight.” – Mat Hoffman

Join or Die

A bunch of people have been asking how to join Bottles and Chains lately, so I thought I’d better clear things up. It’s a pretty complex process, so pay close attention to ensure you don’t mess it up. Once you feel confident with the process, assist your friends to make it easier for them. Here’s the three-step program to become a fully legitimate member of Bottles and Chains…

1. Claim it

2. Don’t be a jerk

3. Go ride your bike

Welcome to the gang. Let’s have a beer and go do skids.

Grinding

I think Ben posted about this a few weeks back, but day two wasn’t online. Anyway, ol’ John Prolly found his way to Australia and ended up out in the styx with Dan and Andy. Gravel, sweat and endless climbs, plus a bunch of snaps to go with it. Go have a look if you haven’t already. And if you’ve got some spare coin, can someone ship my CX bike over to NZ for me, that would be great.

Mail

It turns out I forgot I hadn’t set up the BnC e-mail account after re-installing Windows. If you’ve e-mailed us anything important/interesting and didn’t get a reply I’m terribly sorry. Please resume communication. We love you, I promise.