Starting Tuesday, January the 11th, the Hub Bike Coop’s winter spin training will resume at the Hub's 3020 Minnehaha Ave. South location. We are offering spin training two nights a week.

Tuesday nights, we will be suffering to performance training videos. On the 11th , we will be watching “Cyclops Race Day”. In this video, we will be riding with coach Robbie Ventura in an Elite level National criterium, via a POV camera. Experience the strategy, the failure, and the effort required to climb back to the top. This video is thrilling to watch and uber motivating.

On Thursday nights, we will be Zombie Interval Training version 2, or Z.I.T. v2. Z.I.T. v2 involves watching movies from the extensive zombie genre and cranking up the RPMs when ever the still living on the screen are running from or fighting with zombies. Based on feedback from the last season of Z.I.T., version 2 will include a bit more coaching to guarantee a good workout and to ensuring participant’s RPMs are matching the intensity of the film’s brain hungry undead. We will begin, January 13th , training to outrun undead Nazis, by watching an Official Selection from the 2009 Sundance film festival, “Dead Snow”.

Dead Snow trailer.

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=3-KQh87_V2Q

We will have 12 trainers available for attendees to use with your own bike, and 8 storage spots for spinning bikes. Call the Hub to reserve your space 612-729-0437. If you are not at the Hub at 7pm the night of your class your reserved spot will be forfeited to Spinees who are waiting. Please bring your own trainer, if you own one, so more people can participate.

Giant Anthem X 29er 2

The other day I was fortunate enough to spend some quality time with the hottest new bike in Giant's 2011 line-up. Before I get too much into it I would like to describe this bike as what you get when you mate a howitzer with a razor blade. The 2011 Anthem X 29er has all the design features that previous 29ers simply didn't provide. The combination of it's tapered head tube and QR15mm front thru-axle give you razor sharp stearing and a BB92 bottom bracket to ensure stiffness clearly shows that Giant went the extra mile in producing their first ever full suspension 29er. Giant also uses their Maestro suspension system which gives you a single floating pivot point to increase your pedaling efficiency. The frame was designed using Giants very own ALUXX Aluminum, a light weight grade of aluminum created to withstand the highest tolerances, not to mention it is molded at Giants in-house foundry.

If you're looking for a bike to pound the competition into a fine powder, look no further. This bike has already been proven a race winner as Carl Decker of Giant's pro race team won the 2010 Sea Otter Super-D in California. I feel confident in saying the Anthem X 29er will far exceed all expectations, don't believe me? Come on down to our 3020 location for a test ride,we've got a medium in for limited time as a demo, so come in and ride it!

The best season for cycling begins now. Nothing is automatic. Step out the front door,
throw your leg over the bike for your commute and the sleepy winter mind comes alive.
A quick trip for groceries becomes a complex adventure. The ride to often becomes the
event of the day, and some of the best conversations are the ones a winter cyclist has with
them selves and the environment. Should I ride the off camber ice transition next to the
parking lane, or the sidewalk? How are the cars doing with these conditions? Wow! I
made it down that whole block of tire ruts without putting a foot down. Now that was a
little bit of hell. So hard core. I’ve never seen snow do that. I’m sick of the wind.
My god that’s beautiful. Cars are so filthy. I didn’t know it was possible. I’m going to be
so strong come spring and my skills are growing like mad. The list goes on and on.
Sun., Nov. 21, 2pm David Meyer and Chris Huff (me) will be presenting a talk
on Winter Biking at the Midwest Mountaineering, Expedition Stage. I started winter
commuting 17 miles at midnight to my job sorting at U.P.S. in Eagan the winter of 1987.
My first winter bike was a Schwinn Varsity, and my gear was well suited to deer hunting
at that point, but also worked for cycling. I’ve had many winter bikes since. I rode a
Centurion Ironman down Franklin Ave. the morning after the Halloween blizzard in 30
inches of snow. I’ve run various MTBs geared and single speed. I’ve had everything go
horribly wrong and gotten some good lessons from that that I can help you not repeat.
I’ve seen a lot of what works and what doesn’t and I’m still learning every year. David
has run fixed and this year is running a kick back brake and has an impressive resume
himself. So come to Midwest Mountaineering on Sunday if you want some of this frost earned wisdom. It's free.

Hubsters annual retreat!

Every year at the shop we close our doors for a day or two and assemble ourselves for some dedicated Hubster time. This year we were fortunate enough to land at the beautiful Lily Springs Farm just east of Osceola, Wisconsin. Go there! So we had two days to cram in as many trainings, workshops and bottles of wine as possible. I tell you what, mission accomplished! One of our good friends, Celia Kutz, was an amazing presence as our all-star facilitation trainer! Many thanks Celia! Will was on point with the food, the vegan cuisine machine. Lily Spring is set on Mud lake, a modest sized body of water best seen early in the morning hours. I have never seen such dense fog, amazing! All in all, it was a great way to spend a pair of days with The Hub Family. Thanks to eveyone, espeically Lily Spring Farms!

Women’s Appreciation Night : Rescheduled

To our wonderful women customers:

We would like to say thank you. Please join us for our first annual Women’s Appreciation Night on October 9th, 2010* from 7pm to 9pm at the Hub Bike Co-op (3020 Minnehaha location).

You may have participated in our Women’s Weekly rides, maybe you rode your first Triathlon with our neighbors at the YWCA, rode RAGBRAI across Iowa for 7 days, braved the weather at the Twin Cities Tour de Cure, raced in an alley cat or hit the trails by the lakes. Or maybe you started commuting to work by bike.

We want to thank you for doing it with bikes and gear from the Hub Bike Cooperative, so we invite you to come have some eats and drinks and hang out with us. There'll be a line of 2011 women-specific bikes for demo and new women’s cycling apparel on display, too. The Hub thanks Zipps Liquors and the local vendors and artists in partnership with us.

Please bring friends and RSVP at rsvp@thehubbikecoop.biz.

*This is the new rescheduled date for the event! Please disregard any previous information about this event happening on 9-26-10.

Speedhound Bikes Now at The Hub

We have partnered with local bike company Speedhound, and now have a demo bike and framesets available at our 3020 store. These bikes rock! They are made in Minneapolis and have all the flair you would expect on a custom frame. These are unique framesets that allow for almost any drivetrain option due to their patent pending drop out system. Allowing for a super tough belt-drive is the focus of the system, but singlespeed, geared, and fixed gear also work.

However, there are a lot more bells and whistles to the bikes than just the drivetrain. For example: there is an investment cast double crown fork with inset badges to add the bling, multiple brake system options (caliper, canti, coaster, or v-brake), and 8 color options. Nice!

WE want YOU to race cyclocross!

Want to start cyclocross racing but don’t have a bike or any
experience? The Hub wants to fix this for you with a serious sale featuring big discounts on race-ready cyclocross bikes and free cyclocross technique clinics led by 2008 Cat 4 Cyclocross State Champion Jeanette Sample and David Meyer, 3rd place in the 2008 Single Speed Cyclocross National Championships.

The free cyclocross clinics will be every Monday from September 13 through October 4 at 6 pm in Matthews Park on the corner of 27th Ave. S. and 25th St. E.

What's that? Now that you've got your skills dialed you need a bike? That's cool, we've got you covered:

2011 Redline Conquest Pro, Cyclocross Sale price $1522.93, normally $1849.99

Redline's Conquest Pro gets key upgrades to the frame with an integrated headset, BB30 bottom bracket and a slightly tighter rear end. All of these improvements create quicker handling and makes this one fast racing machine. Component makeovers include the quality Mavic Aksium wheels, aggressive Schwalbe Racing Ralph tires and easy to adjust Kore Race+ brakes. The sure shifting SRAM Rival combined with the FSA BB30 Gossamer crankset handle gear changes flawlessly. While the frame has features like the Dirty Mudders Power Stay to eliminate chain suck, it also sports a full compliment of braze-ons for rack and fenders that make this bike a blazing fast commuter when it’s not 'cross season.

2009 Bianchi San Jose Pro Cyclocross Sale price $699.99, normally $1049.99

Looking to race Single Speed 'Cross this year? Want an exceptionally refined high quality steel frame? We have an amazing deal for you! The San Jose Pro frame is disc-brake ready and built with Bianchi Chromo Lite heat treated steel and comes with a disc-ready carbon fork. This build
gets the extra Italian touches like a Fi?zi:k Pave CX Sport, cyclocross specific saddle and Deda Elementi Big Logo stem, and Deda Elementi Big Piega handlebar combo. Light, agile and race ready the San Jose Pro also has fender and rack mounts to make this single speed an ideal year round commuter.

Does cyclocross sound like it might be your style?

How about now?


Then go check out the Minnesota Cycling Federation for info on your local races. We'll see you in the mud!