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 BEN
POPPER
Chicago, IL
NICKNAME:
Tiny Tanks, if you'd like the story just ask.
AGE:
25
CURRENT SPONSORS: Twin
Six
CURRENT BIKES: Voodoo
Limba CX, JBC Pro Lightning MTB, a highly modified
Bianchi Castro Valley with custom racks made
by Ahren Rogers at banjo Cycles in Madison WI
BEST RACE RESULT: 1st
Place / Cat 4, Illinois State Championship 12/2/06
FAVE RIDING STYLE:
Fast, smooth,
tight, yet flowing downhill singletrack with
trees spaced just far enough apart that you
can squeeze right through them without even
thinking of the brakes, pump a little and pump
some more.
THE BEST RIDE: A
few years ago I took a road trip to Vancouver,
BC with a couple friends. The best ride of my
life was an hour and a half spent in a snake
run up there in Canada. It was in the middle
of the woods on a sunny fall day. Shorts and
a sweatshirt type of weather. There were not
any huge tricks thrown down or any super awesome
burly guys to watch. It was just the three of
us 3500 miles from home hanging out at one of
the most unique places to ride on this continent.
Fast runs down those snake runs are and always
will be my favorite kind of riding
CYCLING TIPS:
1) There are
not any rules against running your bike while
racing cyclocross. Sometimes it is alot faster
that way. Slippery downhill corners, why fall
off when you can run around the guys playing
in the dirt.
2) Things are easier to ride over if you are
going fast. It takes some confidence building,
but once you are there it makes obstacles so
much easier.
BIKE SHOP OF RECORD:
Rapid Transit,
Chicago IL
GUILTY PLEASURE:
I have a soft spot
for record collecting. It sort of goes in spurts
for a week or so where I will pick up some records.
Then it goes away and then it comes back. People
will be quick to point out that I don't even
own a record player anymore.
LAST MUSIC PURCHASE:
I have never
downloaded a song, Lucero's Nobody's Darlings
CD and the original pressing of Jawbreakers
Dear You LP
PAPER OR PLASTIC?:
paper, if I don't have
my panniers or the B.O.B. bag with me. But when
buying beverages of the alcohol persuasion here
in Chicago, they don't let you leave the store
without it in a bag, so sometimes it is paper
for the single bottles and sometimes it is plastic
for the many bottles.)
I WISH I NEVER SOLD
MY soul for 5
bucks in order to buy some stupid little growing
dinosaur sponges that i thought would destroy
my sister, but instead just floated down the
driveway and into the gutter.
I
THANK MY LUCKY STARS FOR two legs, two
wheels, and a girl and a dog who are very supportive.
I AM INSPIRED BY the
stories of other people having fun on their
bikes. Nothing gets me more excited to be on
my bike other than watching other people ride
or hearing about their adventures.
I AM CURRENTLY LUSTING
a hot fancy road bike.
RIDING IS LIKE how
it felt to be let out for recess in grade school
all those years ago TO ME.
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