News and links 11-18-08

• Japanese fixie trickery. A lot of the tricks don't look that spectacular, but I just like watching the Japanese doing bike stuff...
  

trailer for FUMIKIRI from JAN on Vimeo.

• How to commute in the winter without spending tons of $$$? (Hat tip to Brian Morrissey.) I'll follow up soon with a review of a couple of winter gloves. Stay tuned.
• Panniers for surfboards? Only in California. Via cyclelicious.

Sorry I can't keep you entertained any longer today. Later on this week:

-Collected stories from Lansing.
-Expensive and technical is not always the best.
-Ingredients of an epic ride.

Keep riding!

Race results and 2009 calendar

In case you haven't noticed, I have started to post the results of all the races held near Chicago after Sept. 21, on the left column of Morning Roll.

I have also updated my calendar with all the events that the Illinois Cycling Association has scheduled already for 2009--the dates are still tentative, though.

And, to wrap up this administrative post, let me note that I have added three new blogs to by blogroll (see the right column): Ben Popper's (M-1, Rock Lobster), current leader of the Chicago Cross Cup, Jim Brody's (Pony Shop) and the Pony Shop Cyclocross blog itself. (Hat tip to Patrick for the latter.)

Correction: Ben Popper is not the leader of the Chicago Cross Cup. Hat tip to Joe Kallo for the heads up!

About

Contact: morningrollblog [at] gmail [dot] com

I am a cat4 road racer, pedaling in Chicago, IL, USA. I am a member of both Team Tati and the University of Chicago Velo Club.

As of today (Sept. 3, 2008), I haven't decided what Morning Roll should be about. There are too many things I'm interested in: cycling gear, races around Chicago, pro racing, gossiping about the pros, etc., etc.

If I should put my eyes where I want my bike to go, as they say, then this blog should focus on amateur racing, specifically in the Chicago area. We'll see.

And why "Morning Roll"? A morning roll is

1. The reason why I get up at 5.30am, as in "Let's meet up at the bike shop at 6 for a morning roll."


2. The hypercaloric pastry that I am allowed to eat after it, as in "Let's stop at BonJour Bakery for a morning roll."