This past Sunday, July 11, 2010, in the wilting heat of the San Fernando Valley, the second of four Coaster Brake Challenge off-road races took place.
The Coaster Brake Challenge is a an off-road, unsanctioned, bike race organized by Atomic Cycles in Van Nuys. Competitors can use any type of bike frame they like in the race, but are only allowed to use a coaster brake (common on childrens bikes and beach cruisers) to bring their bike to a halt.
Competition was fierce, with 2009 Coaster Brake challenge champ Dingo emerging victorious yet again. Charlie from Team Flying Pigeon came in second place. Dingo and Charlie placed in the same positions in the first race of this series, setting up something of a rivalry for the trophy in the remaining two races.
Another member of Team Flying Pigeon sent in a report of the first race in the series, which took place on July 4, 2010. DJ Chicken Leather emailed a massive missive via email:
h
dear fellow fan,
maybe i should rephrase it on this post holiday drag after the 4th of
july. everything
has that slightly out of sync ring to it like an over medicated horn player in
one
of those nineteen -fifties biopics trying to kick the drug of the day the
filmmakers
have put in with the local law enforce to kick to the curb, kick.kick
the flashback is coming on now from stale p,b & j and all the while ‘times
a wasting clorissa ; tick-tock’ –try to move thru space and how did this frame
get so heavy? maybe a little more kick. kick,c’mon kick, move you hunk of
reconstituted
pot steel, which in a past life was some auto part widget- probably a pitman
arm.
isn’t that ron kovick passing me in his wheel chair ? he waves and tells me i’ll
go far
if i just stay off the hard stuff-like from china.kick,damn it!
and then i realize that only got five minute,no,no it five minutes past the time
they’re
suppose to meet up for midnight ridazz and what was the theme — oh yeah
world cup-kick,kick you back to the old school,head butting,why are the french
not
in the finals? if only for comic relief .kick.kick till the sport has no
resemblance to the
real world–hey wait a minute,i don’t even get a signing bonus,or the old city
to sing
me a “we are the world” knock off,let alone a boys and girls club to surround me
at the big press conference -say isn’t that like seal clubbing ,out till the
bars and
liquor stores close.right, right i know why i’m like this.
instead of appreciating the five/four day weekend i cut it short
and eased back into the groove of that race everyone shakes their head over.hello coaster brake to coast fan,
did ya miss the heat at seven am, or how the cahuenga pass starts to
curve
when you you approach the speed of light? paul’s grin as he explains the course
like it’s one of those old wartime escape/chase espionage films
” back for more?here you are on the dog run.you will approach the park
here,paying careful
consideration to not exhaust your ammo on the bmx style encampment near the
bridge.watch the water trap-gerry does so like muddle up the works on that back
section.here’s your shirt,patch and your number plate. good luck. ..oh.yes the
new start time ,five pm.”after the local color tells me all the ins and out of ‘low-budget internet porn’
in the valley and intimating that I might want to make that award winning
career move;we straddle the pigeons and are in hot pursuit of the field.
charlie or is it ‘spidey’ due to all that parcore (sp?) gives chase as last
years
winner pulls up with wheel trouble.
“i’ve got some tools.” i hear myself saying,
“i’m done,for today” he says.and then i remember i’m still kicking it for
another lap.this is the point when i caught my local neighborhood spideyman on the flats
with
the female spectators cheering and doing the jackie o wave.
then like some lone gunman,the sound of thunder rips thru the silence of the
lambs
with dingo in the lector roll,twisting and putting the final touches like a
cheap
chianti .to us adding more shame–schwabe,white friend with reflector,
calls the hand and i’m left with holding a hand of also ran rubber and
mr.pigeon.
heavy,eatting dessert mr.pigeon.the bead blown after too many wild rides with
spidey ,new old stock put together in the eleventh hour in an effort to get
an extra five minutes of sleep.
do i short cut back? thru enemy lines back to the start? nah,i hoof it back
the long way,watching all those i lapped ,lap me just to say i finished on the
up and up
wasn’t it kip keno who said that his nation didn’t send him to just start the
race but to finish it. pigeon nation lives just barely.(will chicken be back for round two? or is the charm of the valley about to have
it’s
way with our heroes? and what of that whole support crew/extra that is now
following the tour
the twittering,facebooking,my spacing. will he ever know the ways of team fast
or
the joys beyond dial-up?…stay tuned)
You can find out more about the Coaster Brake Challenge by visiting the Atomic Cycles page for the Coaster Brake Challenge. The next race is on Sunday, July 18, 2010. Dingo, Charlie, DJ Chicken Leather, and all the rest of the gang will be pushing their coaster brake bikes to the limit to win points and take home the home made trophies done by Paul at Atomic Cycles. More importantly, they will all be there “[t]o have fun, to race, to sweat, breathe hard, to ride hard, to challenge ones self.”