2013 3rd Annual #Defcon Bike Ride Sign up Online!

TLDR: TShirt Pre-Orders here.  Ride with us at Defcon signup here.

Hay there – it’s time to announce  3rd Annual #Hacktheheat Defcon Bike ride.

The date of this years bike ride is Aug 2, 2013 at 6am. Yes – this is Friday of Defcon. We will meet outside the Rio at 5:30am by the valet.

Registration is here. This is just so we can get a count and capture if you want a tshirt. It will also give us your email so we can blast out any details needed pre ride, or at 5:25am on Aug 2nd .

Here’s the deal – we have partnered again with McGhies Bike Shop in Las Vegas for our ride. Yes – they will throw your clipless pedals and seat posts on if you insist. They have 3 levels of road bikes:  a ~$40 Cannondale Synapse,  and a ~$100 Lance Armstrong starter kit road bike (think Madone.)  There’s also a $125 level also.

Bike rental is first come first serve! — there are about 18 $40  male road bikes and 5 female — after that it’s a hybrid or a $100 bike.  You can always ship out your bike for about $130 also on some airlines!

Here’s what YOU have to do:

You need to go here and reserve your ride. You will need to pay with a credit card. You should note anything special here and you should indicate you are reserving for the Defcon Bike Ride.

Here is what you should put in the comment box: (your own specs of course)

“Defcon Bike Ride

Size: 54 cm – will bring my own pedals

Need bike at 6am”

And for pick up:

Please select pickup at store – Las Vegas

Use this chart based on your height and inseam to figure out your size and fill the comment box out accordingly:

You alone are solely responsible for your bike reservation. McGhies is aware that we are running this event and will support us, but it’s on you to make sure you are all set with a bike.

THE ROUTE

NOTE: This ride may be at a higher altitude than you are used to. (2600-3800 ft)

OK — last piece the route – you can see the route here. This is the same route as last year. Basically the route is slightly uphill out – and mostly downhill back. It’s looking like we’ll have a car heading up the back. (thanks @myrcurial ) There may be a bigger loop for those interested – we’ll let you know soon (basically taking the scenic loop around and catching up w/the group on your way back) – but it will likely be unofficial.

We are looking for sponsors so let us know if you are aware of anyone interested in throwing in some schwag or some cash to help support this ride.

What do I do next?

Once you reserve your bike — all you have to do is wait for Defcon 21! Oh and keep riding!

Cheers!

The Cycle Override Team

PS if you have any questions — leave a comment so everyone can see the answer!

Introducing the Mobile Command Center

Over the last 2 years, the Cycle OverRide crew has done several “test rides”; basically short, multi-day rides that helped us understand the ins and outs of what it will take to go cross country. We learned things like “get up early to finish early” and “have all your shit together the night before” and “New Jersey is flat.”  One of the big take-aways, however, was the toll these multi-day trips took on the support crew. As tough as it was to be in the saddle all day, it was actually quite difficult to be cooped up in a car in some random town with not much to do, no room to move, and generally feeling stuck. Keep in mind that what we ride in a day you can easily drive in just a few hours. So if there wasn’t much “supporting” to be done, the chase team was pretty bored. And this was during week-long rides. Obviously, spending 2 months like this going across the country won’t do.

So, to fix this situation, we have acquired our own Cycle OverRide Mobile Command Center (CORMCC… which doesn’t really have a ring to it.. we’ll come up with a better acronym). The MCC is a 2013 Airstream Interstate Extended.

While it can sleep 4, we won’t actually be sleeping in it. The more important aspects are seating for 8, a full bathroom, a kitchen (with fridge, convection oven, sink, and stovetop), storage for lots of bags and bike parts, 2 TV’s, a huge AC, a solar panel, and an awning. Basically if things or people break, the MCC is our bike shop on wheels to help get the riders through the ride and the support team stay sane.

We’re going to be putting some custom vinyl on the MCC over the next few weeks include the COR logo and all our sponsors. When we’re done, it should look like a serious bike support vehicle from the outside.

The next step will be to transform it in to a serious geek machine inside. We’ve already acquired a router with a 4G/3G interface to have “always on” Internet. We also have 2 Raspberry Pi’s running RaspBMC for streaming video to the 2 TV’s and a Mac Mini for a file server. The install of all this will be completed over the next week or so. However, that seems like it’s just a starting point. If folks have any ideas on how to pimp out this ride, please leave suggestions in the comments. I’ll be honest, I’ve never dealt with a vehicle quite like this before so I’m still wrapping my head around the possibilities. So suggestions are welcome. 🙂