SHOP NYC: THE SPORTIEST STORES IN TOWN

While New York City is synonymous with great shopping, sporting goods are not usually the first thing that comes to mind, but there are an incredible number of sport stores in every neighborhood of the city. Fall is a great time of year for outdoor activ-ites and with the mixed weather weekend ahead its the perfect opportunity to go shop for some new gear.

With that I give you another regular STYLE OF SPORT feature... The Best Sports Stores review. While these all have the goods, they also have the style. So whether you're into sports and just want to look like you are, here are five stores you must check out.

    

NIKE RUNNING 

156 Fifth Ave.

Located in the Flatiron district, this spacious new Nike Running store carries shoes, gear and apparel for that one sport only. The goal, I was told, is to remind people that's how Nike began. The store has every running shoe Nike makes, from super hi-tech flats like the Nike Flyknit for elite runners, to reissued vintage Air Max models for the "sneakerheads". For the recreational runner in between, the store offers gait analysis and group runs where new gear can be tested.

The design of the store features that same juxtaposition of old and new. There is recycled gymnasium flooring, industrial lighting and a giant flat screen heat map highlighing the functionality of the gps sportwatches. One of the design highlights is a wall covered in sketches of the Nike Free Run drawn on the spot by the designer of the shoe, Mark Minor.

THE LONGBOARD LOFT

132 Allen St.

Down in the lower east side is the mecca for longboard skateboarders called The Longboard Loft. Longboarding is the hot new subculture of skateboarding and has taken hold with skateboarders looking for a smoother ride and an alternative to the bicycle as a way to get around town. 

The store feels like a skateboard gallery with wheels in every color and decks featuring the hottest graphics covering the walls,. They stock everything from the most basic cruisers to the most advanced and technical downhill race boards. You can buy the boards as is or customize as you like. Combine that inventory with a knowledgeable and friendly staff of skaters and all your longboard needs are covered.

BERGINO BASEBALL CLUBHOUSE
67 East 11 St.

Part clubhouse, part art gallery, part memorablia and souvenir shop, for you baseball fans this is one cool spot. Located off Union Square in the landmark Cast Iron Building, they sell both vintage and replica t-shirts, baseball hats, baseballs as well as specialty items like ballpark cufflinks made from old seats and vintage baseballs, and game-used uniform wallets.

SOCCER SPORT SUPPLY CO.

1745 First Ave.

Located on the upper upper east side, on one of the less attractive blocks of town, this insider soccer store is worth the trek. Family run and open since 1933, it is the recognized go to spot for all your soccer needs. And for all you soccer fans out there, this place has all your favorite team jerseys from Mancester United to Nike Barcelona.

HUB CYCLES

139 Charles St.

When I stumbled upon this store in the West Village, I wasn't sure if it was a flea market, art installation, junkyard or crazy bicycle store. Turns out it's a bit of it all but mostly the latter. HUB Cycles, which stands for Hudson Urban Bicycles, sells and rents virtually every bike you can imagine, new and vintage, with an emphasis on the hipster European touring bikes that are so popular right now. 

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Interval LC

LC 2x24kg: 5,5
LC 2x28kg: 5
LC 2x32kg: 8 (+2 no-counts)

The below is 1 min lifting/1 min rest:

LC 2x32kg:3,3
LC 2x28kg: 5,5,5,5
LC 2x24kg: 7,7,7,7

Long time since I did LC in this interval format. Got quite tired towards the end. The 32s felt nice up until in about rep 7, or 8, when the card house fell apart. I did think about Rudnev's video that I linked to last post. I wonder if it is about "searching" the lockout in the 2nd dip - that you keep dipping slowly until you feel arms are locked out. That is what I tried anyway.

Have a good weekend!

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Recent Findings: Our Sport Card Finds

Last week, we were given 2 boxes of random cards from a relative. The boxes contained opened and unopened cards mostly non-sport from a variety of years. We thought we would break down our findings and share them with our fans!!

We are almost to the end of our recent finds segment. One more after this one..and we saved what we believe was the best find for last!

Shaq's Mcdonalds rookie

Alonzo Mourning Rookie

2001 Topps baseball and gallery of cards with it

Tino Martinez Topps Gold Label

The infamous "Fat Toad" Hideki Irabu Topps Gold Label rookie

 Really liked the Mcdonalds set find...there was actually 2 of them. The Topps packs were still in there wrappers and opened. We were hoping for a Ichiro find but none was found. There were only four packs also.

What do you guys think?

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Thanks to John Holdren

We had a great day yesterday celebrating our Center's 10th anniversary. The day was capped off by a keynote lecture by President Obama's science advisor, John Holdren, to a big crowd at Old Main.

Dr. Holdren is pictured above after the lecture with one of my STS students, Adrianne Kroepsch, who asked him to pose for a photo with a message to some middle school girls Adrianne is going to speak to about science. Dr. Holdren showed good humor and readily agreed.

Thanks much to Dr. Holdren for spending the day in Boulder!

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CARDIFF DEVILS v EDINBURGH CAPITALS - Cross Conference cracker!

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Sport Card Collectors Player Of The Day # 11

 

Time to show off your cards of this player!! Remember the rules and how to score points is in this link:

http://sportcardcollectors.blogspot.com/2012/09/sport-card-collectors-player-of-day_28.html

You have til the end of the day to get your entry in!!

*Contests are open to U.S. RESIDENTS ONLY! (sorry) 

Amy Solorio's Andrew Luck cards. The one we count is the top Prestige one

mrblu1976@aol.com's Andrew Luck Prestige card.

  

Jamie B's Andrew Luck

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Spectator Sport

"So I hear you are into cyclocross," said Martina from Clever Cycles as we chatted on the second day of Interbike. I responded with genuine amazement. "Me, into cyclocross? What makes you say that?" And then I remembered that I'd spent the previous evening live-posting a continuous stream of blurry snapshots from Cross Vegas - "the biggest cyclocross race in America." I gave up two other industry events to attend this thing. I guess it did seem like I was pretty into it! But as I was quick to explain, I am only interested in watching, not racing. In fact, of all the forms of cycling out there, cyclocross is the one I am least likely to actually take part in (it combines every aspect of cycling I am terrible at!). Moreover, I had never before been able to tolerate - let alone enjoy - watching sports of any kind. So what makes cyclocross so appealing?

As it happens, Molly Hurford has just written a book that seeks to answer that very question. It's called Mud, Snow, and Cyclocross: How Cross Took Over US Cycling. Having borrowed a copy from the Ride Studio Cafe library, I finished it just days before Interbike. Aside from providing historical context, Hurford's book helped me make sense of my own feelings toward this bizarre sport. As race promoters all over the country have discovered, cyclocross is in many ways the perfect spectator event. And so I thought it might be interesting to describe it from the point of view of someone who is purely a spectator - and a fairly clueless one at that.

To do this, I will backtrack to last year's Interbike, where it all started. I had zero interest in attending Cross Vegas, but tagged along with Chris Kostman, who insisted I should at least stop by ("Come on, you can't go to Interbike and not see this!"). We drove to a giant field on the outskirts of town filled with tipsy people and flooded with electric light. In the distance I could see a colourful blur of bicyclists making their way through an elaborate obstacle course. As the sounds of cowbells and screams filled my ears, I remember wondering: "What am I doing here?" Five minutes later I was leaning over a barrier, ringing a cowbell and having a shockingly great time. And that's pretty much your typical "my first time watching 'cross" story. No one intends to like it, but inevitably they do.

This year we arrived to the spectacle of Elvis performing on stage before the start of the elite races. 

Visitors wandered around purchasing water, beer and cowbells. 

Cyclists rode around the grass warming up. Bicycles were being adjusted.

Before the crowds became too dense, I got the chance to survey the empty course. Winding around the grassy field, it did not look too technical, though there were lots of tight turns and a couple of short steep hills.

And, of course, these. I still remember how stunned I was when I first saw the riders hop right over them without breaking stride. How is this possible?

And then the race began. First the women's elite race; the mens would be next. Watching the hoard of riders charge cross the start line, the excitement of it all came back to me. I got goosebumps.

The thing is that at a cyclocross race, you can stand so close that you feel the energy of the riders wash over you like a wave.

And this wave is not some abstract poetic concept. It is very real, visceral. Even if you know nothing about race tactics and don't follow the background stories of any of the riders - just standing there and feeling so much human power and speed happening inches from your own body is a physical rush.

Watching track racing is more abstract in comparison, because the riders are further away. And with road racing you can only witness a small portion of the course at a time. But with cyclocross, all is laid out right in front of you in close proximity. The course winds around the spectators; it intertwines with them. There is a feeling that everything is happening everywhere, all at once.

Pressed against the barrier, I can see the riders' flushed faces, gritted teeth, twitching fingers, razor-burned legs. The physicality and rawness of it are overwhelming.

And then there are the technical parts that differentiate cyclocross from other forms of cycling. The obstacles, the vertical uphills, the dismounts and remounts, the bouts of running with the bike. No matter how graceful the rider, there is an intimate awkwardness to these struggles that makes us feel as if we are witnessing something private that perhaps we are not supposed to be witnessing.

Equally intriguing, is when a group of riders is so synchronised in their movements, that the dismounts and remounts appear to be done in choreographed unison - like a staged ballet.

And of course there are things like this - at which point it is the crowd's chorus of gasps that seems choreographed.

Watching first the women's, then the men's race, I noticed differences. The men stuck in larger, tighter clusters while the women were more strung out after the first lap. There were also difference in demeanor and body language - too subtle to describe, but nonetheless there. Watching the two races were separate experiences.

As the lead group of riders made its way through the course, spectators would rush to position themselves in different spots. This too was interesting to watch.

Through the elbows of others, I could see the anticipatory face of each rider as they crossed the finish line. 

What struck me was how much they seemed to be savouring the moment, rather than rushing through it. There was a performative, theatrical element to it.

Photographers were everywhere, capturing the action with impressive lenses and flash units. John Watson's Cross Vegas photos on Prolly is Not Probably are especially worth a look.

While my low-light snapshots are far from professional quality, they do reflect my experience of the event as a spectator: dark and chaotic, punctuated with bursts of light and blurs of colour. 

I am not sure whether any of this really explains what makes watching cyclocross fun. It is an evasive quality, but ultimately it is about entertainment - genuine entertainment. You don't even have to like sports or racing to enjoy it - though you might surprise yourself by developing a taste for beer and cowbells.

Accessible and awe-inspiring in equal measure, cyclocross strikes the perfect balance between a country fair, a bicycle race, and an alcohol-fueled block party. While the circus of Cross Vegas examplifies this more than typical races, it truly is the ultimate spectator sport.

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