Spring is in the air.

So..........you'd think I'd know better than to trust anything the weatherman'd say on TV. Don't you wish you had a job where you could be as wrong as often and still rack in the big bucks like those guys?! Anyway..........I fell for it and scheduled a special indoor ride for last Sunday, secure in the knowledge that my man Craig and his "Storm Team" posse were callin' for cold, crappy weather.

Yeah, right.

The worst thing is findin' yourself in the position of wakin' up on a February morn, peekin' out the window and thinking " Dammit! It's nice out!" How messed up is that?

I shoulda known better.

Still....we had a great workout, all 2 hours of it and I'm pretty confident that all 6 of us were pretty worked by the time ol' buddy Coach Troy f-i-n-a-l-l-y shut up. Thanks for the company, boyos.

Lots goin' on @ the shop. I just saw the '06 Pearl Fall/Winter line. There's an awesome wool jersey that we all dug and some new wind pieces that make ya wanna go out in what we usta call "Flemish" weather and hurt for awhile. We just got a small load of those sweet Castelli sweaters that they call the mechanic's sweater. Not sure I'd do a lotta wrenchin' in it, but it's way-stylin'. I'll be sendin' out the March Reader tomorrow or Thursday........gotta figure out a way to tie in the "Fun-Raiser" w/ St. Patty's Day. Maybe a "Sean Kelly Ride"? What would that be, exactly? you eat a lot of potatoes and abstain from sex for a month? What fun would that be? If anyone has any ideas...........hook me up!

Rach just about has her Seven on the road. As soon as she does mine officially becomes the second coolest lookin' ti road bike in town. Oh well...........at least my bike will still beat hers to the stop ahead sign!

Wanna see a cool shop that's so far away I don't mind telling you about it? My good friend Zac has his new project up-n-runnin' in Seattle. www.cascadebicyclestudio.com

Man, I really think it's gonna be an awesome season! There's so much good riding to do and so many cool folks to do it with and so many cool bikes to do it on!

I can't wait!

Back From Frostbike!

So...Ted and I just got back last night from 3 days in Minnesota @ Frostbike, a combination bike show/gathering of the tribe @ the headquarters of Quality Bicycle Products, our biggest non-bike supplier. We took in seminars, did the whole "networking thing" w/ fellow dealers and venders, saw a buncha cool stuff and came back with some new ideas that you can expect to see around here as we head into the season.
As I was walking around the show I was struck once again with the realization that this is a seriously cool industry! The passion and knowlege displayed by the various seminar presenters was inspiring and a bit humbling. There are a lot of talented people doing this "bike thing" with joy and drive and energy and verve and I for one am honored to be able to play a little part in it. I listened to living legend Tom Ritchey talk about product design. I saw Grant Petersen of Rivendell try and explain what he's been trying to do w/ his bike's designs over the years. I met shopfolk from Portland Oregon and Cinncinati Ohio and everywhere in between. Everyone was excited and looking forward.

And so are we.
Thanks to Dennis and the rest of the folks @ QBP for inviting us. Thanks to Brian @ ABS for the company and thanks to all our fellow bikepeople....be they retail, wholesale, behind the scenes or in-between...... for keeping it real!

Ride Report, 2-12-06

Wouldn't you know it.................kinda nice all morning, a little sun, not much wind, 'bout as good as you have any right to hope for in February and literally 5 minutes before we saddle up it starts snowing! Pretty hard, actually. There were 10 brave and hardy souls @ the shop today for the 2nd ever Soup Ride, #2 on the 2006 "Fun-Raiser" schedule. 10 riders and 4 pots o' soup seemed to be a good omen for the post-ride festivities.....but we had to get the ride outta the way first, so off we went down 8th street, bound for the Southwest side of town and familiar roads. Tom, Chris, Rach, Dan, Paul, Jeremy, Ben, Mossimo, John and myself were the riders, there were 4 fixies, 2 full sets o' fenders and a lot of steel tubing on this ride! In fact..........once Ben turned around near Kollen Park........I think everyone was on steel! Huh, go figure. Too bad steels' dead...someone oughta tell all the folks on today's ride!
We had near white-out conditions on the way out, a little sun on the way back, in between we all got throughly wet and cold and had a blast. Doesn't seem like that computes, does it?.............Still, 'tis true.
Back at the shop much soup was consumed and fellowship once again broke out amongst the group. The next "Fun Raiser" has yet to be scheduled, but when it is you'll be able to get the scoop on either of our websites, the club's site, our newsletter or @ the shop. It'd be great to see you there!

Heres the thing....................

So, I had a great ride today. I'm not vain enough to think that anyone wants to hear about it, but it got me thinkin'............I had the day off and I had a dual agenda- I needed to drop off JDRF posters and flyers @ all the other bike shops in the area and I wanted to try and exorcise the lactic-acid demons that had taken up residence in my quads after last nights brutal workout. So..........I climbed on the trusty fixie with the flyers in my messenger bag and Steve Earle in my ears and rolled out. I rode north from the shop to CC Cycle and Lakeshore Cycle, then over to Zeeland to hit Jade and Zeeland Schwinn, then Taco Fiesta for lunch, then Holland Cycling and Fitness on the way home. It was great.
So...........what's the point? Good question. Think about the route I had to use to go where I just said I did: Not exactly a great route eh? I rode on North River, I rode on Butternut, I rode on Riley, I rode on Old Chicago Drive, I rode on Lakewood Blvd, and I rode on South River too. With the exception of South River, all those busy roads have a "bike path", or as the Township suits refer to them to one another, "Multi Use Pedestrian Paths". Did I use them, even once?
I did not.
Was there tons of traffic? Well.........I rode from 11:00 am to 2:00pm..........you tell me. ( Hint for out of town readers.......there was tons!) Did I get hassled or feel unsafe?
I did not.
That's what I wanna talk about...............why didn't I get hassled? Why didn't I feel unsafe? is it 'cuz I look intimidating? Not likely. Is it 'cuz I just got lucky? Well.............maybe. but the fact is that I never use "M.U.P.P's" and I rarely get hassled. I'm always amazed how many more car-nightmare stories my buds and customers have than I do. Hell...........I've been ridin' around this town for 35 years!
Here's the thing................I think it might have something to do w/ the way I ride. I ride my bike in town just like I was driving a car. Always. I stop for every stop sign. I yield. I get outta the right lane if it's "right turn only" and I'm goin' straight. I act like I belong there, 'cuz I damn well do and my theory is that drivers get that, maybe on some subliminal level, and they make room for me. That's my theory anyway, and I'm sticking to it.
It's worth a try anyway, isn't it?

Here's another thing I was thinking about: I was thinking about just how completely cool Merino wool clothing is. Lemme tell you a quick story to show you what I mean: I have a black, thin wool pullover. Not just a base layer, an actual shirt, thinner than a sweater. I wear it a lot. (In fact I have it on right now.) But here's the thing....................It looks nice enough that I wore it to Doez and Mel's wedding..........that's about as dressed up as I get...........nice shirt and "church pants"...........and I wore it as our band played the reception. I put it on when I got up Sat. morning, wore it to work and all the rest of the day. First thing Sunday morning I put it on and used it as my base-layer under a wind-front jersey for that day's ride, then wore it 'til bed time. At no time during that 3 days did it smell, nor was it ever inappropriate, uncomfortable or too warm. I can't think of any other garment I've ever owned that I'd try that with. We have some wool @ the shop, Smartwool base layers, those Fox jerseys we just got it, but I think we hafta have more. If we can get folks to try it..........they're sold. ( Kinda like bib shorts!) I've heard good things about Ibex stuff and Swobo is supposed back in business after goin' under a few years back. I'll have to look into it.