Saturday, August 21, 2010

up and running again!

The catalog is fixed, so you may order at will! We'll still be updating more, but everything is working right now. Cole took some great new photos of our shirts, and they look really great!

We're also going on tour next weekend, so all shirts are back on sale for only $15.99 each!!!
This time the sale will be over when the tour is, so act while it's happening!

Friday, August 20, 2010

hey-


technical difficulties:
we know a lot of people haven't been able to order certain items due to a glitch with our paypal buttons. i don't know how it happened other than something happened when we ended the sale a couple/few weeks back, so to make up for it- and because cole and i are going on a 5 day tour at the end of the month and need all the help we can get, all shirts will be back on sale- only $15.00!

the catalog should be working again very soon- with all new pictures even! i'll let you know when it is- should be sometime tonight. thanks a lot for your patience! we appreciate your business and support- it's people like you that keeps the air in our tires & our dreams alive. we hope you stop back soon!

want a couple stickers on us?
we'd love to hear a good cycling story and know you do too- everybody's got at least one- even if they don't ride!

like the first time i rode my blue schwinn stingray without training wheels in the lutheran church's parking lot across the street from our apartment where i grew up. about how i fell hard & skinned my knee up- it hurt like hell! blood was running down my leg...

but my grandma helped me wipe the blood from my knee, made it all better, and i got back up on that blue steel horse and kept on going. that was probably 31 years ago. i'd say i kept going and haven't looked back, but here i am, looking back.

so big props to my grandma for getting that stingray & teaching me how to ride- it's been a great ride ever since! the bikes have changed over the years, just as i have, growing with each one... and 31 years later here i am, and still riding as hard as i can, as often as i can... alone, with my better half, and my best friends when i see them in chicago...

so like i was saying before my lil' story, we'd love to hear- and post yours!

please send a related (or not) pic along with it (if possible), along with your name/address and we'll send you a couple stickers for your time!

it can be about ANYTHING bicycle related- first bike, favorite place to ride, what got you riding... those are just a few examples.

please try to make it at least a paragraph or two, and longer is fine- but one sentence won't cut it unless it's a damn good sentence- one that will make me wanna get up & dance because i got too much booty in my pants kind of sentence!

i used to get a graffiti newsletter/email once a week & it had a "chase/cat & mouse" story (if'n ya catch my drift...) or two at the end. it was great and i miss that newsletter, and i'm trying to do the same type of concept here except with bicycles, making our blog more of a community.

i don't care if you ride bmx, parks, street, fixed, geared touring, mtb, trike, recumbent, cyclocross, rollin' on 29's, or your sister's 10 speed! we wanna hear about it!

send your submissions to me: brandon@1lesscar.com

thanks again!!!

we've been getting things in to review again- i'll post a pic & fill you in as soon as I can get the catalog fixed and updated- not to mention shirts are back on sale for $15.99, but only for a limited time! due to the following, i'm trying to stay busy and will be in top of things this time around!

brandon

p.s. have you checked your tires lately? not just pressure, but for wear too? might be a good idea...

Wednesday, August 18, 2010

pathless pedaled video

being that im a fan of touring and photography i totally dig this video from pathlesspedaled.com

Monday, July 19, 2010

Bicycle Illinois

I'm sitting in Morton Grove, IL, at some public park. It's 8 in the a.m., and I've laid out a table full of trail mix, pretzels, water, Gatorade, fig newtons, and fruit. You're probably asking yourself what the hell is he doing? I'm on the support end of Bicycle Illinois.

It all started here in the Land of Lincoln a week ago. A staff of three- myself included, drive a truck full of food, supplies, luggage, and 17 bikes along with two suvs from Chicago to Cairo, Illinois. The trip is 600 miles starting at the Mississippi and ending on the beautiful shores of Lake Michigan in Chicago, IL, with five over night stops on the tour. I've slept in closets, on gym floors, teacher's lounges, and even considered the parking lot outside- I sleep pretty much where I fall.

My job is simple: support all the riders the whole tour, doing whatever it takes to make the trip as smooth as possible. This is my second year and I was the baggage guy. I would wake up at 4:30 a.m., set up breakfast for the riders, and fill all the water coolers with ice and water, then load the support vehicles for the day.

At 6:00 a.m. the two other support vehicles head out. One scouts the route making sure there's no construction so we don't have to re-route the riders to avoid it. The second vehicle heads out to set up the first rest stop for the riders, then each rider hits the road at 6:30.

After the riders leave, I clean up breakfast, do a "dummy check" to make sure everyone has everything, then head out to pick up the baggage of the people who chose to stay in the comfort of a hotel instead of the local school or reccenter with the rest of us. After I load all the luggage, its off to the second rest stop where I will take over the route scouting.

I drive the course ahead of the riders looking for construction and praying there is none. After about 20 miles or so, I set up rest stop number three and wait for back up. Once all the riders go through the rest stop, one of the support guys comes up to relieve me, and I head into a town to drop off the hotel baggage and get our lodging set up for the night. A few hours later riders start coming in off the road.

The first few are usually the fast riders, and they head back out and do a few additional miles so they can get a century (100 miles) in. The rest of the pack trickles in over the next few hours as I set up water, cut up oranges, and start to restock the rest stop kits with food and whatever else was used during the day, so the next day we can do it all over again.

I hang out and talk to riders as they come in and see how the ride went. After a few hours we head to dinner. We see a few riders there, talk, eat, and laugh. Being vegetarian in southern Illinois is not the best- the restaurants do their best, but there's no tofu, that's for sure! After dinner it's back to the main lodging site to set up breakfast, and find a place to sleep for the night.

The previous year I worked this I always snuck out and had some alone time at this point, but this year I hung out with a few of the riders and staff and had fun. 9 o'clock would roll around and we would think about bed and try to get there by 10. At this point you're so tired, you just fall asleep despite the fact you're sleeping on a hard floor and there is always a light somewhere that's shinning in your eyes. 4:30 a.m.- the alarm goes off, and you do it all again for 6 more days.


This years ride was great! Last year when I got done I felt relieved, but this year there was a certain amount of sadness. It's hard to just be done and get back to regular life.

I watched 17 people ride 600 plus miles (except Lauren and Bruce who did 700+)! I watched them push themselves to there limits in intense heat. I laughed with a lot of them, listened to their complaints, and offered a word of encouragement here and there.

You really begin to bond as a group, and when it ends, there's just a certain void. About halfway through it wasn't about the money anymore- it was about helping these people reach their goal for me. Last time when it was done I never talked to any of the people or read their blogs, but after this year I made some friends who I hope to stay in touch with, and I've been reading the blogs of a few of the riders. Check these out! http://www.spokein.com/ and http://tiny.cc/m552k.

Well, I'm home now. The cars have all been returned and the polo shirts are in the wash. I want to say thanks to my fellow worker Bill, and the guy in charge, Rob (I can say it now- WE DID IT!). And a special thanks to Rob's truck. It's the little engine that could, that's for sure! I took a few pictures along the way- I wish I could have had more action shots, but I never had a chance to see everyone out on the road...


















'Til next year
Cole

Wednesday, July 07, 2010

happy wednesday- hope everyone's week is going good! i'm finally finished with that roofing project. a few days later and my feet are still killing me. hurts to walk in the a.m.'s really bad, then it just hurts, but like R.E.M. said way back when, everybody hurts.

enough whining- but yeah, i would like some cheese...a sharp cheddar thinly sliced sounds great right now.

like the title says, we've got 2 reviews this week-

mission workshop: vandal: waistbelt



This is the biggest, most bad ass waist belt for a bag that I've ever seen.

If you don't know what the Vandal is, then all I gotta say is what the hell already!? Wake up!! Read more about it in my review here. My only complaint of the Vandal was that the waist strap wasn't included. When it came, I saw why. It's not a "traditional" waist strap- it's a full on waist belt! Read more...

Pace Sportswear: Classic Cotton Cap
Pace makes a a wide variety of cycling caps and they come in just about any flavor you like. I'd been wanting a brown hat, so I was pretty stoked when I came across this.

The Classic line all have a minimal stripe down the middle, and that's it. No logos or anything- just a great cap with a stripe. I like that a lot. Then again, I've always been a fan of stripes.

Basics: it's a 3-panel dome cap, and the bill- or visor (toe-may-toe, ta-mah-toe...) is a little longer on this model. It's really rad while still retaining full flipability. I think I just made that word up- at least according to the automatic spell checker- wait- it should technically be hyphenated, but I'm claiming it as a word! Go ahead and say it- flipability....feels good! Read more...

thanks for stopping by- see ya soon!
-brandon/OLC

Tuesday, July 06, 2010

today is the last day to get shirts for $15...I'm taking it down tonight (after i go for a ride!)- and if you want the sale price, add the item to your cart from the main products page!


come back tomorrow for a few reviews!

signing out- ride in progress...shortly!

see ya tomorrow-

brandon

Thursday, July 01, 2010

So Cole just returned from his work with Bicycle Illinois, and my birthday was last Friday...we've had guests over and have been re-roofing our other building 10 or so hours a day since then. The roof still isn't finished, but it's getting close!


Just to let everyone know what we've been up to, and what's been going on. Things should be back to normal here very soon!

Remember the Chrome X Krooked bag I was telling you about? It just dropped on their site today- VERY LIMITED! http://ow.ly/25VkV

Happy July!

-Brandon

Friday, June 25, 2010

That's right- Cole did a couple reviews this week- from PDW we got their Magic Flute, and from North St. Bags their Avenue B Convertible Bag.

It's my birthday today, & Cole took off early this a.m. to work for Bicycle Illinois!

Been a long week too- chemo trip & other crap...

My old lady is out in the truck waiting, so I'll tell ya more later!

Monday, June 21, 2010

My girlfriend is a photojournalist and recently bought herself a new camera, so she gave me her older dslr! I'm stoked and will start taking more pics for the blog. Last week was Bike to Work Week and Chicago has a rally for everyone on Friday. It starts early with a breakfast and goes all day. This year they had music, polo, and huge ass storm...






-Cole

Thursday, June 17, 2010

Happy Thursday- hope it's been a rad week for everyone! I got my mac back with more things fixed than i was counting on, so that was pretty nice, but things should be back to normal a bit now.

We've extended the shirt sale!!! All shirts are only $15.00, but you have to order from the main page to get the discount!!! meaning, don't click the link to go to the shirt's own page, add to cart from the main products/new home page!!! if you don't do it right, tough luck.

Cole and I both have a review for ya this week- I got to review a really rad trailer from the folks at CycleTote, and Cole got a handlebar mount for his Blackberry from Arkon!

So without further a do...

Arkon Blackberry Handlebar Mount
Carrying my phone while on my bike has always been a perplexing thing for me. Sure, you can put it in your pocket, but it gets all sweaty, and if your keys happen to be in there, your phone gets all these scratches on the front of your phone, and then your pissed- at least I am. So I thought I would try and find a handlebar mount for my Blackberry.

Akron makes cell phone mounts for pretty much everything, so they had what I was looking for. The mount is pretty straight forward- rubber spacers and screws and it attached. The phone snaps in and is held in by tension.


CycleTote Touring Cargo Trailer


A few years back, Cole had a trailer -which was later stolen from the mean streets of Chicago- but I'll admit I envied that trailer- ideas were flying through my head of all the things that I could do with one, and all of the opportunities to ride my bike more and drive less. I could go get groceries, pick up cool stuff- ie: other people's trash, etc. With no welding skills nor the equipment to weld with, I didn't see a trailer in my future.

A few years later- or a little more accurately, a few weeks ago- enter CycleTote, trailer manufacturers extraordinaire. They were kind enough to send out their touring/cargo model to test out. CycleTote has a wide variety of trailers too- besides the touring/cargo model, they make trailers for adults and people with special needs, trailers for children, and even trailers for your pet! Read more...

Ride on...
Brandon