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The Collective

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The VeloBoy and I settled in last evening to watch The Collective. It’s part of a genre I’m familar with from my time in the outdoor biz: Bro crowd gets a sponsor, loads up a motorhome, does things most folks only want to watch, videos same, sells video. Repeats.

Not my thing, usually. But I’d been hooked by the online teaser, which features some interesting footage. So I finally got around to watching it. The verdict: It’s…okay.

One thing distinguishes it from the typical bro bud movie: It was shot on 16mm film, and it’s obvious that the filmmaker cares about craft. So technically it’s a few notches above the typical outdoor adventure epic. And there are some outstanding segments – the city-as-trials course was amazing. But a lot of it is predictable – pseudo artsy shots of riders winding through fields, down mountains, and catching air.

And it left me with one burning question: What’s up with pushing bikes uphill? I thought the point was to ride them.

Eleven days until Bike Virginia,

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Eleven days until Bike Virginia, so I’m making final preparations. Saddle comfort is something I’m still tweaking; the Regal wasn’t quite right and the C2 isn’t getting it either, so I went back to the trusty Turbo. I also took a trip to the store to pick up some Chamois Butt’r.

Most of my shorts are years old and wearing thin, so I was happy to see a pair of Castelli Dome bibs arrive in today’s mail. I picked them up from Sierra Trading Post for less than $40. A bargain, considering they used to go for about $130. The fit’s excellent, and I’m looking forward to riding in them. They seem to fit like a good pair of shorts should.

I’ve also been grappling with the problem of how to carry stuff with me on the bike. I don’t need to carry a lot, but it will be more than I usually have on board for a local ride. I considered a Cage Rocket, but I don’t want to sacrifice a water bottle for relatively little carrying capacity. I thought of a Rivendell Banana Bag, but that seemed a bit too big. Then I came across the RavX MaxiX wedge bag. It sits neatly against the underside of the saddle, has enough room to carry a tube, two CO2 cartridges and an Instaflate, tire levers, patches, a cell phone, and a digital camera. Plus, it has a rain cover. Looks like the perfect solution, and it was only about $15.