'DIA DE LOST MUERTOS' Ride And Festivities, Along With Great Prospects For The East Side

Dia De Los Muertos, or Day of The Dead, is a Mexican holiday which recognizes and remembers friends and family members who have died over the course of the year. The cycling community in Little Rock gathered at Lost Forty Brewery on Sunday for "Dia De Lost Muertos", a slightly more festive event than tradition might dictate, as I don't remember the deceased being remembered with a trike toss.
Here's a description of the event from its Facebook page:

Join us for the Lost Forty Brewing 'Dia de Lost Muertos' End of Season Procession & Pints Ride on Nov. 1st at 2pm.

We'll lay the cycling season to rest with a Dia de los Muertos inspired costume fun ride, a lowrider bike styling competition, tacos, Mexican brunch items, cash prizes for best dressed riders, lots of free swag, a Trike Toss to benefit Recycle Bikes for Kids of Arkansas and of course... beer.

Chainwheel Bikes, Arkansas Outside, BikeAR Magazine, Arkansas Times, and El Latino have teamed up with Lost Forty Brewing to bring you the best last ride of the season. Take advantage of the Halloween season, and get those sugar skull costumes ready! We'll see you Sunday Nov. 1st at 2pm - Cheers!
I was pleasantly surprised by the number of enthusiastic participants who went to great lengths to get into the spirit. Sunday was a suitably gray and dreary day, but temperatures were comfortably in the mid-sixties and spirits were bright.

Pictures tell this story far better than I can, so, here we go:

 Addie Teo trying not to crack a smile.

It is really hard to remain solemn when you're having so much fun.

 

I'm reasonably sure that Chainwheel's Pat Barron is somewhere in this photo.

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Outstanding costumes and cool bikes were the order of the day

Dan Lysk and Addie Teo led the not-quite-solemn procession.

Of course, I always love seeing a woman ride in a skirt and heels. The handlebar mounted alter was a nice touch.

I'm not sure the second rider  on this tandem arrangement was much help. Too skinny.

This young rider was getting a lot of encouragement as she negotiated rail tracks, a little traffic, and a large group of costumed riders on the route to the Clinton Presidential Library.

 

I'm sure that the organizers were please with the large turnout and the enthusiasm for Dia De 'Lost' Muertos. From the response, I would guess that we will see it held again next year. The success of the event says much about Central Arkansas' embrace of cycling, good craft beer, and a vibrant downtown community.

 

Revitalization

 Only a few years ago, this area of east Little Rock could not have been imagined as a flourishing and rapidly growing entertainment and business scene. The Cromwell architectural firm recently announced that they would be renovating and moving into the Stebbins and Roberts properties at 6th and Shall, and new projects seem to be announced almost weekly that will bring more life to the neighborhood. The success of the River Market District and South Main have helped provide the impetus for more central city growth and, hopefully, the slowing of the urban sprawl that has helped to kill the heart of many cities, Little Rock included.

As discussion heats up on the widening of I-30, it is heartening to see some civic leaders question the wisdom of allowing the growth of the barriers that interstate highways represent to cities. The highway and transportation lobbies are powerful, but the recently raised voices give hope that we might begin to be more focused on infrastructure that supports living in our cities rather than simply speeding through them.

 

Bike Shop Profiles: Chainwheel

It is pretty well known in the cycling community that Central Arkansas has a motherlode of great local bike shops, along with a couple of industry big boys in the form of Orbea USA and Competitive Cyclist. It is also pretty well known that almost everybody that's anybody in the bike business in town has done some time at Chainwheel. In business since 1971, Chainwheel could be called the mothership from which many other entities have been spawned. That topic has been covered in an article of its own in the local daily, so I'll be more concerned with what's happening at Chainwheel today.

You can always count on the usual offering of good service and a broad range of bikes and accessories. Speaking of service, sometimes customers are put off by having to schedule a service appointment a few days out at local shops during peak riding season. Having been in the HVAC business for many years, I know that they can't staff up for those half-a-dozen spring weekends when everybody wants to get the old bike out and take a spin on the BDB. That said, last spring, I noticed that Chainwheel was offering curbside service on peak days for minor repairs. Pull in, get a quick derailleur adjustment, top off the tires or throw on a new chain and the casual rider is off and pedaling. I thought that was a great idea to help move a good number of easy jobs through the shop and I'm sure that it was worth a few smiles from customers as they headed out to ride.

Yes, the shop is staffed by a crack team of professionals. Really. You'll just have to take my word for it.

Chainwheel offers a broad range of rider services, including bike fit using the ReTul fit system, winter spin classes, yoga for cyclists, and group rides. Staff folks are also often out among us. Chainwheel is a long-time sponsor of the CARVE club/team and supports many local events. Ernie Lechuga is the usual speed monitor on the winter CARVE rides (I've been dropped enough times that I skip the summer lake loops) when he's not on the sales floor, working as a trainer or training for his own triathlon events.

When I dropped by Chainwheel recently, Ernie Lechuga was helping customer Inez Reeder select cycling shoes and accessories. Inez has been burning calories in spin class and is getting ready to burn up the miles out on the road.

 Sarah Miller was seen throwing out the first Huffy at the recent CARPe Diem Mountain Bike Race and always seems to have something lively happening on the Chainwheel Facebook Page . In addition to being active on the riding scene, Sarah gives back in other ways, like adopting a mile of the Vista Trail. Service manager Bill got high marks on last Fall's MS150 ride by getting my buddy Sam, among others,  back on the road after a component failure. OK, I'm about to get to the tipping point where I have to say something nice about each and every one of them, so I'll suffice to say that they're a bunch of nice folks and, at some point in time, I've been pulled, helped, repaired, advised and/or entertained by just about the whole crew.
So much for the folks, how about the stuff? Chainwheel offers Cannondale, Trek, Guru, Pivot along with Grail custom bikes.

Do you have a hard-to-fit bod or just the desire to have a bike built to your own specs? Chainwheel offers Grail custom titanium bikes and Pat Barron can help you be sure of the right fit. They're built right here in the good ol' US of A and nothing rides better than ti.

You see a lot of Chainwheel kit around town, and they also handle a broad range of gear from Louis Garneau, Pearl Izumi and other top brands.

After reporting recently on the opening of Spokes, I felt that the other great shops that serve us so well deserved notice. Our household spreads the business around and we seem to have bikes from just about every shop in town. Diane's Cannondale mountain bike came from Chainwheel and, after an unfortunate wrenching incident last summer (OK, I screwed up her bike), I was delighted with the prompt service that I received. I was even more delighted that I suffered only mild ridicule for my faux pas.

Here's a kicker and a good reason to drop by Chainwheel after your Saturday morning ride:

 HUGE WINTER CLEARANCE SALE THIS SATURDAY.

Pick up a copy of the Arkansas Times, get a little enlightened reading, AND get an extra 10% off when you bring in the ad. It was funny enough watching Bruce flinch every time Sarah said "50% off". Whip out the 10% coupon and you may have him rolling on the floor in anguish. Who says shopping isn't fun? You can support your local independent press and save some money supporting you local bike shop as they practically give away winter gear.