Rhode Island Race Weekend (cupcakes)

The annual Rhode Island cylocross weekend takes place this weekend. I won't be there, but my cupcakes will. These are my favourite races, right in my home state, and put on by great guys. I'm sorry to miss it, but I'll be partying with the stars in LA. Buy a cupcake, and think of me.

New Work

I've just finished new posters for two events on the same day. If only I could be in two places at once!

On the left is an advert for the NBX/NArragansett Beer Gran Prix of Cyclocross in Rhode Island. You can reserve one at BikeReg.com, or buy one at the event if they haven't sold out (or contact NBX to make special arrangements if you can't be there).

On the right is a screenprinted gift for guests at my cousin's wedding, and letterpressed invitations and envelopes.

Below is my expert assistant Meg Tuner celebrating with me by the Vandercook letterpress at AS220, where we editioned these invitations.

Busy, busy

I've been doing some of this, and a lot of that (10/22/08 entry).

Hurricanes and Heartatack

By the time Hurricane Hannah precipitated on the East Coast, she was only a tropical storm, and soon she was eclipsed by Ike's devastation and then the imminent threat of Sarah Palin. But I will remember my Hurricane not only because we share a name. The weekend she dumped sheets of rain on Providence, I rode my bike across town through streets like rivers to spend my first night in an empty apartment, my own storm of activity gaining momentum. The moment the tropical storm blew away my brother blew into town to help my haul my belongings from my old house of chaos to the new apartment.

The beginning of August was the eye of my storm. A deceiving week or two of normalcy between the end of my road racing season and the beginning of cyclocross racing. With the new racing season and the new living situation also came some wonderful design and printing jobs–if I always had this much freelance work I could quit my dayjob. When it rains it pours.

Bikeworks/Hallamore/Swansea Velo club present the BLOUNT SEAFOODS FALL RIVER CRIT

My racing club is putting on it's annual criterium around the seafood factory. It will be fun.

So far I am the only person signed up for the Women's 1-2-3 category. I beg you all (that is, you who are of the appropriate gender and racing category) to sign up! If there are less than twenty of us it will be lame, if there are less than 10 it will be cancelled.

I offer my thanks to Bikeworks/Hallamore for their generous support of my road racing season!

Fried Clams

In some bike races, I suffer so much that I wish for a flat tire or mechanical problem–a shameless reason to quit. Today was not one of those days. Coming off a week of rest (that included a little relaxing, and not just buzzing around doing everything I don't have time for when I'm training), I felt strong and relaxed riding around the three-mile circuit at the Yarmouth Clam Festival. Coming into the hill before the last lap, I was excited to try to put myself in a good position to sprint like crazy, and finish in the top ten–undeterred by the funny noises coming from my drivetrain.

That drivetrain was my undoing. Crunch! Crash! road rash and a broken chain. The good, or at least not bad, news is that I took no one with me, and walked away (pedalling doesn't get you far without a chain). Ice cream, a Lime Rickey, and then fried seafood were some consolation.

I enjoyed the race (until my chain took me out of contention), the hokey carnival surroundings, and the excuse to spend a weekend at my uncle's harborside home in Maine; I hope for a better outcome next year.

Lantern Rouge

I finished Fitchburg at the back of the train, swinging my red lantern. It was my first stage race--four consecutive days of challenging courses--and my first time in a field stacked with top-tier competitors from around the country. I finished.

I did not race well, stylishly, or competitively. I stayed with the field as long as I could each day, and then when I gave up on myself and got dropped, I completed the race to make the time cut and be allowed to race the next day. But I hope that finishing this time is a step towards competing next time, or the time after. I may never drive the engine of a high speed train, but I'd like to move up to a more comfortable car.

The Triumph of Cupcakes

I almost gave up on my dreams in Home Depot. Equipped with some sketches and a handy friend, I had come with a lofty plan to construct a bike rack that could carry six dozen cupcakes. Their plywood saw was out of order, no one could tell me where to find and 8-gauge locking pin, they didn't have the right kind of hinges, I had only one day for this project–and I was really hungry. Overwhelmed and defeated, I weighed my options: sit down on the floor to rock back and forth crying beneath the buzz of neon lights and the judgmental eyes of strangers, or go home empty handed to eat pizza and take a nap. My friend looked also on the verge of meltdown. Yet somehow, against the odds, we gathered our strength and triumphed.

Could my dreamy sketches of a cupcake bike become a reality? What if I was wasting all that time and money on a foolish idea? So what if I was! Sawing plywood in my livingroom, turning an old mop handle into an umbrella holder, taking turns drinking beer and screwing down hinges, I dared to beleive it could work.

Days later I was pulling the last of 14-dozen cupcakes out of the oven, frantically frosting as I prepared to debut my cupcake business at the downtown bike race and then AS220's fundraiser ball. I baked in a bikini and apron to bear the blistering heat.

The cupcake bike's maiden voyage terrified me more that the most competative and technical criterium I've raced. If I let the back heavy bike wheely or tip as gravity wished it to, days of labor and six dozen cupcakes could scatter into mush on the pavement. Now I understood why vending bikes are invariably three-wheeled or front-loading (but not homemade fro $60). Miraculously, with my roommate guiding me through traffic, we made it across downtown to set up at he bike race.

It worked. I sold dozens of cupcakes at both events, glad I didn't let Home Depot defeat me, and that I followed through on my foolish idea.

hannah's cupcakes

hannah's cupcakes, originally uploaded by too many bicycles.

My new business

cupcake courier

really. no, really., originally uploaded by meghanface.

How do you carry 6 dozen cupcakes on a bicyle?

Check back soon for pictures.

Buy stuff I made!

My prints are listed on Etsy now!

http://hannahheartattack.etsy.com

Win Some, Lose Most

Because road racing is hard, and takes discipline and experience to do well, it is rewarding; however, sometimes it is simply frustrating. At those times I wonder if it's sick to put oneself through the rigors of training and stresses of competing, if it's worthwhile to push other passions and responsibilities to the backburner to pursue sport.

My season started in early April. I raced timidly at Turtle Pond and finished not last. The next weekend, I went all the way to upstate New York to race 10 miles of Battenkill (a 55 mile course) before quitting because of breathing problems. A third weekend offered two chances to compete, Sturbridge and Palmer. At Sturbridge I felt stronger and more confident, but dropped and broke my chain in the first of four laps.

With nothing to lose I rode more agressively at Palmer; I attacked early, but didn't have it in me to stay away alone for nearly fourty more miles. I sprinted well and finished 3rd! That's not winning, but my best finish ever in a road race, and enough to renew my optimism. It' worthwhile.

The Turkey that Made My Day

Riding my bike didn't sound like fun today, but I want to be fast, so I did it. In a sulky mood, I pedalled out to the hilly side roads around Scituate reservoir. Little did I know, a giant chocolate chip cookie would raise me from my slump.

I strictly adhere to a policy of ALWAYS stopping at children's lemonade stands. They stir nostalgia for my own entrepreneurial youth, and my enthusiasm for simple delights. The gumption of five girls to set one up on chilly day in early April (with cookies) earned my admiration, and a five dollar bill.

After I gulped my lemonade and rode away from the giggling girls, munching on my giant cookie, a huge wild turkey crossed my path! As a west coast girl, I am not accustomed to seeing wild turkeys, and I found this thrilling. My bad mood was vanquished.

POWER

Anyone have a powertap they could loan or sell (cheaply) to me? hannahheartattack@gmail.com

Artcrank on TV

http://www.wcco.com/video/?id=40060@wcco.dayport.com

Did you catch the glimpse of my pink polka-dot packing tape?

New Work:

"your bicyclelife is wonderful"
March, 2008
silkscreen with glitter on paper
20" x 26"

I sent forty of these to the Artcrank Poster Show in Minneapolis. Billed as "a poster party for bike people," the opening is sure to be a good time, and an opportunity to buy affordable artwork.

Since printing the final color, gold glitter has infected my clothes, food, floor, boyfriend, cat, and bicycle.

NBX blog

Adam offers some good advice on bartape, "Looking good makes you faster. White tape is the fastest." Read more at nbxbikes.blogspot.com .

Embrocation

Embrocation is the warming salve cyclists slather on their legs to protect them from chilly weather and accentuate their physique. It is also a magazine (designed and printed with coffee-table-book quality) that could titalte any cycling enthusiast. Read their blog, order a copy, or flip through one at the HUB (or NBX?).

and when I'm not baking

IMG_1649.JPG, originally uploaded by hhhannah.

I've been in the studio drafting a design for a print to be in this show in Mineapolis.
My Dad was in town from Washington state last weekend, and he helped me print the first color.

when I'm not bikin' I'm bakin'

"How is my cake coming?"Adam asked me a few days before his birthday.
"In my imagination, very elaborate..."
"How are you going to make yellow cake with chocolate frosting elaborate?!?"
"Ha! You'll have to wait and see!" I retorted, hoping that my first foray into frosting flowers wouldn't fail.




It is well known that Adam Sullivan is "pretty much the best ever"; his birthday cake, however, is pretty much the best thing; ever (oops). He didn't seem to mind that I screwed up his catch phrase.

winter

Been doin' some bike practice.

My friends do cool things!

Brian Vernor is riding the Tour De Afrique, and making a movie about it.

Nostalgia; a long ride in the rain, and the same old story.

Nostos: homecoming. Algos: pain. Nostalgia: the pain of coming home.

On the East Coast, where I live, rain falls in heavy drops for a few hours at a time. On the West Coast, where I grew up, the overcast sky seems to spatter almost constantly. But people don't use umbrellas, because the rain won't soak, just dampen them. There is a joke about Dublin,"It only rains twice a week: once for three days, and once for four days." The same could be said of my hometown at the base of the Cascades mountain range.

I spent four hours today riding in spitting rain showers. This uncharactaristic weather brought me home–to running in soggy fields and cycling muddy gravel roads–to always being wet. If I still lived there, most days would be like this. In spite of foggy glasses and puddles in my shoes (all athletes must have at least a touch of masochism) I was enjoying my ride.

Out two hours and near nothing but trees and water, I remembered that my seat bag was on another bike; I had nothing with me to fix a flat. I hoped for good luck.

I got a flat. A doozy. I felt really stupid.

But by that time I was passing through a town with a bike shop. I called my GPS, by which I mean my roommate who is never far from the internet, and she gave me the shop's address and hours, and walking directions. It was less than a mile. I bought a tube, did the change with numb wet hands, and was on my way home–lucky after all.

Kyoto and Providence meet in New York City

Takuya and Ogura (friends I met while visiting Kyoto) pedalled around New York city this week collecting merchandise and connections for Ogura's new bicycle lifestyle shop. Currently, Ogura runs a high end clothing shop popular with international celebrities. He is modest and friendly, shy about speaking English. Takuya–messenger, artist, and bicycle socialite–accompanied him to help translate and introduce him to fixed-gear fetishists and bike culture guru's that he knows from events like Cycle Messenger World Championships and KyotoLoco. Ogura brought his stylish track bike, while Takuya, with some chagrin, borrowed a mountain bike.

Since New York is a lot easier to get to than Kyoto, I threw my bike on the bus and made a daytrip to reunite with my foreign friends. I met them at Trackstar Friday morning.

The cupcakes I'd carried from Providence in my bike basket looked rough when I presented them to Takuya; nonetheless he devoured them. When I traveled to Japan last spring, he hosted me generously, having never met me. He helped me to meet my favorite painter and the national champion of cylcocross. I couldn't understand much Japanese, but I believe he exaggerated my credentials, tailor my introduction as "an artist from America" or a "great bike racer from America" to fit each situation. He was my guardian angel in the form of a dirty old bike messenger with mischievous eyes. The least I could do was meet him in New York with a box of jostled cupcakes.

After hob-nobbing with our friends who run Trackstar we ate sandwiches at a shop the Kyoto due had frequnted three times already this week. I guess it's hard to get an affordable sandwich in Japan. Over roast beef and cheddar cheese, Takuya updated me on Japanese bike scene gossip, and also decided to commission me to design and print some shirts for the new shop (look for pictures here in a few weeks)!

We parted ways; they continued their schmooze tour (pictures of it are on Ogura's blog) while I headed to Chelsea to peruse galleries before returning to the bus. Perhaps if I sell enough t-shirts I can visit them soon.

Equal Prize Money for Female Cyclists

This is really important. Please read it, and sign it.
http://www.petitiononline.com/equalpay/petition.html

Sweet January

Four and a half hours spent pedalling up and down country roads, then almost as much time spent preparing an elaborate meal*, all in good company: I couldn't dream up a more satisfying day.

*homemade gnochi in spicy red sauce with littlenecks, broccoli rabe sauteed in lemon and garlic butter, and then red wine poached pears over vanilla ice cream.