...of the pedals, that is. Actually - what I've been thinkin' about is the "Fixxie Thing". My Main Man Maynard wrote a piece on what he called the "fixxie cult phenomenon" on his blog a few days ago (what's that? you don't read his blog!?!?!??! Go to www.maynardnet.blogspot.com right away! I'll wait.) and I was moved to respond. I got an e-mail back from him basically pattin' me on the back for backing him up and there we were.......2 olde fartes bitchin' about "kids these days".
Yuck.
Here's the thing.....I DO sorta think that the whole "messenger" thing is just another fad that's gonna go away and I DO kinda feel like all these dudes w/ the knickers and the trucker wallets and the tats and the artfully-destressed Chrome or Timbuk 2 bag and the Chucks and the brand-new-but-looks-like-I've-had-it-forever lugged track frame are m-a-y-b-e missing the point a bit. And I DO doubt that many of 'em will be riding 2 years from now, even after bein' a rider no longer is a sure path to hipness and street cred. And I DO like to think that I could still dust 'em if I had to!
But...................they ARE riding. A lot. For transportation. For sport. For fun. Do I wish that they'd be a little better about traffic laws? I do.
Still................they're out there riding and there was a time-not all that long ago- when that would've been more than enough for me.
I sort of get the same feeling that I've always gotten from the "Free Ride" crowd.....w/ their ugly bikes and ugly clothing and "Extreme" everything, riding around w/ their saddles way too low and their shinguards. I worry that their version of our sport isn't sustainable...that they'll either run out of areas that they can carve jumps and drops out of or hafta quit 'cuz they're all to beat up to ride. I tell myself that's the reason that I don't dig it but there's an element of jealousy that I hafta own up to 'cuz those dudes can do AMAZING shit on a bike! Still....are they gonna be riding when their 40? 50? 60? We'll hafta wait and see.
I like what BikeSnob NYC said recently: "The technicolor skinsuit of cycling is truely a busy one and we all occupy a different part of it. (Although we all try to stay as far a possible from the chamois") [What's that you say? Not familiar w/ his work!?!?!?! Man, why are you reading THIS blog when you could be reading THAT one!? www.bikesnobnyc.blogspot.com!] What he means (I think) is that there's a lot to dig about life on 2 wheels and you oughta avail yourself of a nice fat chunk of it.
So.....I'm gonna ride my bikes and not worry about what everyone else is up to. Hope that's good w/ you.
Speaking of good................lots' o' good stuff goin' on here @ the shop. Got a coupla new Velo Citizens that we're excited about...Greg is a soon-to-be Hope grad and Tri-guy and Matt is a teacher (not another one!) from Holland that's gonna be helpin' Ted, Aaron and Berger out in the workshop. More about them later. April is almost here and hopefully that means that this ass-like weather is about over. The Fisk Knob TT is this weekend, then I make a run out to Midland to meet a buncha new JDRF teammates. Our team is 60 riders strong and Team Rides commence in just over a week. I made some progress on the aHolland Hundred - it's gonna start and finish @ Smallenburg Park so it'll be closer to Downtown and I think that's gonna rock. Our new website is close........sometime in Apriol for sure and it's gonna be a great season.
So let's get to it, shall we?
Here's a quote from Desmond Tutu. I know it'll annoy fans of fishing and thayt's not my intent. I find it irresitable just 'cause the source is so random! So w/ apologies to fishing cyclers everywhere..........
"Give a man a fish and feed him for a day. Teach a man to fish and feed him for a lifetime. Teach a man to cycle and he wil lrealize that fishin gis stupid and boring."
(Feel free to address all your pro-fishing rants to jeff@velo-citycycles.com, he handles all my correspondence)
Later, MC
Friday, March 28, 2008
Saturday, March 08, 2008
Kinda early to be this tired!
One of the risk/reward deals in doin' this whole BikeLife gig is the whole "seasonality thing". It gets almost TOO mellow in the shop from Christmas 'til about now and then.....as soon as the sun makes itself known again..........BAM! Full-tilt-boogie-madness ensues and the next thing I know - it's October!
This week is a good case in point. It seems like I've been runnin' me arse off all damn week and I have the funny feeling that it's nothing more than a glimpse into my immediate future. (Don't get me wrong here....as my loving wife is oh-so-quick to pont out most of my stress is self-induced and therefore not eligible for sympathy. That's not the point...and feel free to "skip a bit, Brother" if you don't wanna read about my week. On the other hand, if you're wonderin' what I've been up to....here ya go...)
Sunday - Work our JDRF booth @ Van Andel for the Griffin's game.
Monday - Drive to GR to meet w/ new National JDRF Head Ride Dude. Then the shop and then band practice.
Tuesday - Shop then a meeting w/ Ted and Jeff from 5-6, the bike club Board Meeting from 6:30-8:00 and the general meeting from 8:00 - 9:30
Wednesday - Workout /w John and Jess, then @ the JDRF Office in GR (My "day off"). Then to AnnArbor w/ Lin and #1 Son Sam for a concert. (Got home about 2am)
Thursday - Shop, then to GR again to participate in the Rapid Wheelmen Bike Club's annual Bike Show meeting.
Friday - Just the shop. Hard to believe!
Saturday - Lead the Indoor Ride @ the shop @ 8am. Then do the Bike Shop Guy thing all day (which was way busy) then back to GR to do the JDRF booth @ Van Andel again.
Sunday - Sleep in (hopefully) and then get down to the shop for the Pineapple Bob Classic ride.
So.....if I missed callin' you back I have a semi-good excuse, y'know?
Gotta go!
This week is a good case in point. It seems like I've been runnin' me arse off all damn week and I have the funny feeling that it's nothing more than a glimpse into my immediate future. (Don't get me wrong here....as my loving wife is oh-so-quick to pont out most of my stress is self-induced and therefore not eligible for sympathy. That's not the point...and feel free to "skip a bit, Brother" if you don't wanna read about my week. On the other hand, if you're wonderin' what I've been up to....here ya go...)
Sunday - Work our JDRF booth @ Van Andel for the Griffin's game.
Monday - Drive to GR to meet w/ new National JDRF Head Ride Dude. Then the shop and then band practice.
Tuesday - Shop then a meeting w/ Ted and Jeff from 5-6, the bike club Board Meeting from 6:30-8:00 and the general meeting from 8:00 - 9:30
Wednesday - Workout /w John and Jess, then @ the JDRF Office in GR (My "day off"). Then to AnnArbor w/ Lin and #1 Son Sam for a concert. (Got home about 2am)
Thursday - Shop, then to GR again to participate in the Rapid Wheelmen Bike Club's annual Bike Show meeting.
Friday - Just the shop. Hard to believe!
Saturday - Lead the Indoor Ride @ the shop @ 8am. Then do the Bike Shop Guy thing all day (which was way busy) then back to GR to do the JDRF booth @ Van Andel again.
Sunday - Sleep in (hopefully) and then get down to the shop for the Pineapple Bob Classic ride.
So.....if I missed callin' you back I have a semi-good excuse, y'know?
Gotta go!
Thursday, March 06, 2008
Oops! Too long Since the Last Entry!!!!
Man! How do Stud-Bloggers like Danielle do it? (www.daniellemusto.blogspot.com) How can they find so much time to update these damn things? Hell........Maynard writes for his frickin' supper and he still sometimies lets 3-4 days go by w/out a new post. (www.maynardnet.blogspot.com) It's not that I got nothing to say...as anyone that knows me will attest to with enthusism...it's just hard to get a chance to have a few minutes, y'know? So you put it off, you make a mental note to "get to it tomorrow" and the next thing you know your buddy J2 is givin' you crap during your "50 minutes of Pain" workout w/ Jess about how long it's been.
My bad.
I have a good friend waaaayyy up in Alaska. She busted my heart about a million years ago and then we were able to forge a strong friendship out of the pieces. My life's ambition is to someday start a letter to her that doesn't have to start w/ some variation of "Sorry it's been so long since you've heard from me...."
It's not you, that's all I'm saying.
There HAS been tons of cool stuff goin' on and BikeLife is sweet and fine. We had our 10th B-Day party here @ the shop last weekend and to say that it was an All Time Show Stopper would be stressing my limited grasp of understatement! There were at least 150 folks crammed into our little world for the better part of the evening...........we went through about 15 pizzas, a keg of New Holland's finest, tons of chips and dips and salsa and cookies and veggies and 2 E-normous B-Day cakes! We had about 600 bux worth o' schwag that we gave away, thanks to our reps from C-Dale, Rolf, Co-Motion, Tifosi, Salsa and Profile and The Veloras rocked the house for the el finale Grande! I ain't never seen a live rock band in a bike shop before - ever - and I'm pretty damn glad that when I did..............'twas here! Thanks to everyone that made it, (even if they were tired and on the couch) and thanks to everyone that's been a part of the shop's history thus far. I am much obliged.
We are really ready to get the season rolling w/ the JDRF Team too! I can't wait! I had a meeting w/ the New National Head Ride Dude and he's got some BIG ideas about the future. It'll be cool to see how many of 'em he can pull off. He has some big-time connections too......the new guy helpin' JDRF set up the Ride routes works w/ Medalist Sports, they of Tour of California, Missouri and Georgia fane. How cool is that? The Team grows every year and @ this point we still have a few open spots in Death Valley and Asheville so whatterya waitin' for?
The shop seems ready for the season, pretty much. A ton (literally!) of Yakima stuff rolled in yesterday. (I was @ the JDRF office - sorry Boyz) and this next 2 weeks will see an avalanche of goodies from Pearl, Sidi, Craft, Twin 6 and several others that I oughta be able to remember but don't. (Late night last night.......went to Ann Arbor to see Steve Earle. At least that's the excuse de jeur) I could still use m-a-y-b-e one more new Velo-Citizen, and Ted has yet to find himself a new wrench-type-person but basically we're set. Got the stuff, got the staff...............bring it on!
I'm fired up to see the new shop t-shirts. I have 3 different ones comin' soon, sort of a reprise of the 3 favorite quotes from past shirts. I know...I'm breakin' my rule about how our shirts are a one-time limited edition get'em-while-they're-hot sorta thing. It's is my rule after all! (Besides..... my original VCC tee w/ the Abbey quote is gettin pretty ratty!) They'll be here next week. A re-working of the shop jersey is in the works as well...........same design /w the colors moved around some. That'll be here in late April.
The Fisk Knob Time Trial is comin' up on the 30th of the month. A buncha us local types will be goin' over for the traditional Kick-Off of the road race season. Entires are limited to the firat 180 so if yawanna race.....get on it! We have entry forms at the shop.
This month's Fun-Raiser is the justly infamous Spring Pineapple Bob Classic and it's this Sunday. (The 9th). P-Bob rides involve some gravel and/or dirt roads but nothing that a good 'ol road bike can't handle. The weather forecast isn't bad, considering, and I reckon we'll have a good turn-out.
It'd be good to see you there!
Gotta go..............I promise to do a better job keeping up, but I promise that to Cherie-in-Alaska all the time!
Still...............to quote Lyle Lovett 'What would you be if you didn't try?"
MC
My bad.
I have a good friend waaaayyy up in Alaska. She busted my heart about a million years ago and then we were able to forge a strong friendship out of the pieces. My life's ambition is to someday start a letter to her that doesn't have to start w/ some variation of "Sorry it's been so long since you've heard from me...."
It's not you, that's all I'm saying.
There HAS been tons of cool stuff goin' on and BikeLife is sweet and fine. We had our 10th B-Day party here @ the shop last weekend and to say that it was an All Time Show Stopper would be stressing my limited grasp of understatement! There were at least 150 folks crammed into our little world for the better part of the evening...........we went through about 15 pizzas, a keg of New Holland's finest, tons of chips and dips and salsa and cookies and veggies and 2 E-normous B-Day cakes! We had about 600 bux worth o' schwag that we gave away, thanks to our reps from C-Dale, Rolf, Co-Motion, Tifosi, Salsa and Profile and The Veloras rocked the house for the el finale Grande! I ain't never seen a live rock band in a bike shop before - ever - and I'm pretty damn glad that when I did..............'twas here! Thanks to everyone that made it, (even if they were tired and on the couch) and thanks to everyone that's been a part of the shop's history thus far. I am much obliged.
We are really ready to get the season rolling w/ the JDRF Team too! I can't wait! I had a meeting w/ the New National Head Ride Dude and he's got some BIG ideas about the future. It'll be cool to see how many of 'em he can pull off. He has some big-time connections too......the new guy helpin' JDRF set up the Ride routes works w/ Medalist Sports, they of Tour of California, Missouri and Georgia fane. How cool is that? The Team grows every year and @ this point we still have a few open spots in Death Valley and Asheville so whatterya waitin' for?
The shop seems ready for the season, pretty much. A ton (literally!) of Yakima stuff rolled in yesterday. (I was @ the JDRF office - sorry Boyz) and this next 2 weeks will see an avalanche of goodies from Pearl, Sidi, Craft, Twin 6 and several others that I oughta be able to remember but don't. (Late night last night.......went to Ann Arbor to see Steve Earle. At least that's the excuse de jeur) I could still use m-a-y-b-e one more new Velo-Citizen, and Ted has yet to find himself a new wrench-type-person but basically we're set. Got the stuff, got the staff...............bring it on!
I'm fired up to see the new shop t-shirts. I have 3 different ones comin' soon, sort of a reprise of the 3 favorite quotes from past shirts. I know...I'm breakin' my rule about how our shirts are a one-time limited edition get'em-while-they're-hot sorta thing. It's is my rule after all! (Besides..... my original VCC tee w/ the Abbey quote is gettin pretty ratty!) They'll be here next week. A re-working of the shop jersey is in the works as well...........same design /w the colors moved around some. That'll be here in late April.
The Fisk Knob Time Trial is comin' up on the 30th of the month. A buncha us local types will be goin' over for the traditional Kick-Off of the road race season. Entires are limited to the firat 180 so if yawanna race.....get on it! We have entry forms at the shop.
This month's Fun-Raiser is the justly infamous Spring Pineapple Bob Classic and it's this Sunday. (The 9th). P-Bob rides involve some gravel and/or dirt roads but nothing that a good 'ol road bike can't handle. The weather forecast isn't bad, considering, and I reckon we'll have a good turn-out.
It'd be good to see you there!
Gotta go..............I promise to do a better job keeping up, but I promise that to Cherie-in-Alaska all the time!
Still...............to quote Lyle Lovett 'What would you be if you didn't try?"
MC
Monday, February 18, 2008
"Goin' Nowhere Fast!"
Okay..........maybe not all that fast. Still, the 2008 Ultimate Cycling Challenge is in the rearview mirror as of 8:00pm Sunday night and 'twas a hoot! (Some background.......in 'ought-six a group of local do-gooders got together around the idea that teams of bleary-eyed fools on trainers or spin-bikes for 24 hours would be a good way to raise money and awareness for the Lance Armstrong Foundation....whoever he is). I assembled a JDRF team in '07 and in accordance w/ my standard "too much is barely enough" manta decided that we oughta have 3 teams this year. So....we gathered up the forces and entered a shop team, a Macatawa Cycling Club squad and the JDRF team. All together we had 33 riders affiliated w/ one or more of the teams and forgive me a sec while I do a Public Call Out of the worthy:
Skip "Edward" Schott (VCC)
Ross Schueller (MCC / JDRF)
Aaron Dowling (VCC)
Randy Bultman (VCC / MCC)
Chad "McLovin" Pierce (VCC)
Dave Blandford (VCC)
Jim "JD" Stone (VCC)
Dan Ensing (VCC / MCC)
Jeff Wert (VCC)
Brian "Tenacious B" Bowe (VCC)
Kelly "KP" Slagh (VCC / Velo Valeo Vixens)
Joe Schmeider (JDRF)
Kevin Owens (JDRF)
Derek "DiD" Dykstra (JDRF)
Peggy Essenburg (JDRF / Herman Miller)
Scott Thompson (JDRF)
Linda Thompson-Poeder (JDRF)
Jack Clark (JDRF)
Katie Clark (JDRF)
Steve Clark (JDRF)
Sarah Bentley (JDRF)
Ted Bentley (JDRF)
Rob Andro (JDRF)
Steve Coombs (MCC)
John Wood (MCC)
Kirk Walters (MCC)
John Jasker (MCC)
Glenn Busse (MCC)
Krisanne Chapin (MCC)
John Paris (MCC)
Marshall Michmerhuizen (MCC)
Scott Chapin (MCC) oh..........................and me. I rode for 4 teams actually, all three of the ones we put together and then I filled in for a missing rider on Jessica's Valeo Personal Training Team too, since I'm a client of hers.
Thanks to these fine folks and everyone on the other 40 teams that were there nearly $40K was raised to fight cancer.
Cool, huh?
It was kind of a long day for this boy.................between getting there early-ish to set-up (thanks Jess-n-Mike!), riding 9 of the 24 hours, staying around between shifts to help out, switch bikes and be general Rah-Rah Guy and then tearing down it was a full 40 hour pull between gettin' outta the sack on Friday morning and hittin' it again on Saturday night. (Rumours that I dozed off while on the bike during that last l-o-n-g hours are just that..........rumours!) Nice to know I can still do that if I have to, I guess, but I don't think I wanna make a habit of it.
After a good night's sleep it was the JDRF Team Kick-Off party on Sunday Afternoon. The 2008 season is almost here for sure and I can not wait. It was great to see past and future team mates bonding over snacks, cookies and such!
There's still time for you to join us......we have room (at the moment) for a few folks on both Rides! (Asheville is Aug 8-10, Death Valley is Oct 16-19.) If you're interested contact me or go to www.jdrfwestmichigan.com/rideblog
So..............approaching the end of Feb always gets me fired up. That means that dry roads and open trails aren't that far away. Oh sure..............we're in for plenty o' winter yet and there will no doubt be one of those ultra-annoying "I thought we were done with this crap dammit!" late March storms but still..................just like my favorite-ever fortune cookie said "We're almost there".
Hang in there. I will if you will.
Mark Saturday 3/1 on your social calendar.............we're gonna have a 10th B-Day bash for the shop! Details soon!
Later...............................MC Hammered
Skip "Edward" Schott (VCC)
Ross Schueller (MCC / JDRF)
Aaron Dowling (VCC)
Randy Bultman (VCC / MCC)
Chad "McLovin" Pierce (VCC)
Dave Blandford (VCC)
Jim "JD" Stone (VCC)
Dan Ensing (VCC / MCC)
Jeff Wert (VCC)
Brian "Tenacious B" Bowe (VCC)
Kelly "KP" Slagh (VCC / Velo Valeo Vixens)
Joe Schmeider (JDRF)
Kevin Owens (JDRF)
Derek "DiD" Dykstra (JDRF)
Peggy Essenburg (JDRF / Herman Miller)
Scott Thompson (JDRF)
Linda Thompson-Poeder (JDRF)
Jack Clark (JDRF)
Katie Clark (JDRF)
Steve Clark (JDRF)
Sarah Bentley (JDRF)
Ted Bentley (JDRF)
Rob Andro (JDRF)
Steve Coombs (MCC)
John Wood (MCC)
Kirk Walters (MCC)
John Jasker (MCC)
Glenn Busse (MCC)
Krisanne Chapin (MCC)
John Paris (MCC)
Marshall Michmerhuizen (MCC)
Scott Chapin (MCC) oh..........................and me. I rode for 4 teams actually, all three of the ones we put together and then I filled in for a missing rider on Jessica's Valeo Personal Training Team too, since I'm a client of hers.
Thanks to these fine folks and everyone on the other 40 teams that were there nearly $40K was raised to fight cancer.
Cool, huh?
It was kind of a long day for this boy.................between getting there early-ish to set-up (thanks Jess-n-Mike!), riding 9 of the 24 hours, staying around between shifts to help out, switch bikes and be general Rah-Rah Guy and then tearing down it was a full 40 hour pull between gettin' outta the sack on Friday morning and hittin' it again on Saturday night. (Rumours that I dozed off while on the bike during that last l-o-n-g hours are just that..........rumours!) Nice to know I can still do that if I have to, I guess, but I don't think I wanna make a habit of it.
After a good night's sleep it was the JDRF Team Kick-Off party on Sunday Afternoon. The 2008 season is almost here for sure and I can not wait. It was great to see past and future team mates bonding over snacks, cookies and such!
There's still time for you to join us......we have room (at the moment) for a few folks on both Rides! (Asheville is Aug 8-10, Death Valley is Oct 16-19.) If you're interested contact me or go to www.jdrfwestmichigan.com/rideblog
So..............approaching the end of Feb always gets me fired up. That means that dry roads and open trails aren't that far away. Oh sure..............we're in for plenty o' winter yet and there will no doubt be one of those ultra-annoying "I thought we were done with this crap dammit!" late March storms but still..................just like my favorite-ever fortune cookie said "We're almost there".
Hang in there. I will if you will.
Mark Saturday 3/1 on your social calendar.............we're gonna have a 10th B-Day bash for the shop! Details soon!
Later...............................MC Hammered
Sunday, February 10, 2008
Damn....no ride today!
As I sit here @ my desk it is Full-On Winter out there. We've had a real one this year......lotsa school closings, dire warnings from the talking heads on the news, plenty of snow and weather in general. We had the Feb Fun-Raiser scheduled for today and I was lookin' forward to it all week, even as the forecast degenerated day by day. "High temp of 8 degrees" "Wind gusts of 30-45 mph" "Wind chills of 25-30 below" and such like. Still............I got up this morning and whipped up a big pot of tortilla soup in anticipation of a small-but-hardy turnout.
Then the phone calls began.
"Dude..are you watching TV?" That was Jeff, who must not know me very well or he would've know that it's pretty much NPR 'round our house when I'm in the kitchen. "Nope" says I. "Well...the cops are asking folks not to travel and everything's pretty much closed."
Damn.
We've never called off a Fun-Raiser Ride before. NEVER! But...in the interest of being good citizens I decided that there oughta be a first time and so...........here I am down at the shop so I can spread the word. (I will admit that my ride down here was grim............and the ride home's gonna be worse)
So................maybe I'll cancel the Indoor Ride scheduled for the 24th and we'll try again.
Stop by the shop next week..............we'll have some soup for you!
Other than that..................the Ultimate Challenge is next weekend, we have a big JDRF Kick-Off party on the 17th, our Big Sale was kinda fun the last couple days, we oughta have the Velo Ventures brochures in our hands this coming week, cool stuff from Co-Moti0n, Salsa, Twin 6, Redline, Cannondale and more keeps pouring in the back door.............I can't wait for the weather to break!
It's gonna be a hoot!
later, MC
Then the phone calls began.
"Dude..are you watching TV?" That was Jeff, who must not know me very well or he would've know that it's pretty much NPR 'round our house when I'm in the kitchen. "Nope" says I. "Well...the cops are asking folks not to travel and everything's pretty much closed."
Damn.
We've never called off a Fun-Raiser Ride before. NEVER! But...in the interest of being good citizens I decided that there oughta be a first time and so...........here I am down at the shop so I can spread the word. (I will admit that my ride down here was grim............and the ride home's gonna be worse)
So................maybe I'll cancel the Indoor Ride scheduled for the 24th and we'll try again.
Stop by the shop next week..............we'll have some soup for you!
Other than that..................the Ultimate Challenge is next weekend, we have a big JDRF Kick-Off party on the 17th, our Big Sale was kinda fun the last couple days, we oughta have the Velo Ventures brochures in our hands this coming week, cool stuff from Co-Moti0n, Salsa, Twin 6, Redline, Cannondale and more keeps pouring in the back door.............I can't wait for the weather to break!
It's gonna be a hoot!
later, MC
Tuesday, January 29, 2008
Meeting up w/ Maynard
Man! I just found out, thanks to buddy Amy waaaayyy out there in the PNW, that my fav-cycling-write-in-the-whole-world Maynard Hershon has a blog. Anyone that's had the misfortune of hangin' around me for to long has heard about Maynard and his tales.......I really truly believe that his books, (both lamentably out-of-print) should be required reading for anyone that aspires to ride a bike for more than a season and it's high praise indeed when someone compares our shop or even my-own-self favorably to Bob or his shop - the centerpiece of many a tale in Maynard's collection. It'd be pretty dang safe to assume that the style (such as it is) of Velo City (and of The Highwheeler for that matter) has been shaped somewhat due to my efforts to have a shop that I think that Maynard might hang out in.
( I'm serious when I say that you oughta read "Tales From the Bike Shop" and "Half-Wheel Hell". If you can't find em I'll loan you my copies, if you ask nice)
Anyway..............after wallowing in Maynard-Prose for a bit I got to remembering for I totally screwed up my only chance to meet and ride w/ him.
Sigh.
For the gory details........read on!
We had gotten to know each other after I had the bald faced nerve to send him a copy of our shop newsletter. This woulda been in '90 or '91 and our monthly letter had grown into an Honest to Gawd kinda magazine thing and I was sort of pumped up about it and I sent it to every BigWig in the biz that I could get an address for. He was the only one that wrote back and he told me that the "damn thing nearly made me move to West Michigan" and would I consider using one of his pieces if I did it again? Would I? Hell yes, and the next 2 issues of the "Highwheeler Annual Magazine Thing" proudly featured Maynard Hershon on the masthead w/ the rest of us nobodies.
Damn cool is what it was.
Anyway, we stayed in touch off and on and then when ex-co-worker Joel moved to Tucson we had another point of contact and when I made plans to go to Tucson w/ bud Suzy to ride w/ Joel I made plans to hook up w/ Maynard for a ride on what happend to be his 60th Birthday. To say that I was fired up would be a considerable understatement.......Maynard (fairly or otherwise) represented the Rider That I Wanted To Be........... hell.......the Rider that I wanted EVERYONE to be! I called him when we got to town, (On the phone! Just called him! He answered the phone just like a regular guy!) and we set it up for the next day.
That's where it went wrong.
I had a helluva cold the whole time I was there..........couldn't sleep, couldn't breath, not much company. Joel, Suz and I find the shop where we're meetin' up w/ Maynard (we're gonna ride out to a 17th century Spanish Mission out in the desert west of town, how cool does that sound?)
He rides up on a blue Rivendell and the first thing I do is comment on the slightly incongruous combination of modern Ultegra parts and wheels on the infamously retro frame. (I read later that he hates that! Hates it enought that he quit riding the Riv for a spell) We did our intros, he was w/ some woman racer who's name escapes me. (It was 5-6 years ago y'know) and we rolled out. I remember lots of big-city type roads, lotsa cars and it was a while before we got out of town enough to settle into a double line so we could chat. I don't remember much of the ride, I felt so crappy.
'Cuz here's the thing... The other thing... It was February. February for Tucson riders is like September to us West Michigan types. The end of the season, but no so much the end that you've lost your fitness. Joel had dragged us up and around a ride he called "the Quadriple Bypass" the day before (It crossed 4 passes, including Gates, a local test-piece) and I was hurting. Rememeber the February thing? It's kinda of critical to the story 'cuz while all the locals were tanned and shaved and end-of-season fit I was pasty white, hairy-legged and early-season fat. Besides...I was so damn sick that I was coughing and blowing all sorts of gross stuff all over my bike and self.
Now, I know where you think this is going, but it's not that bad. I didn't get dropped. I was fine hanging in, we went to the Mission (I have pictures!) and we rode back. It was nice. That night we went to a coffee shop w/ a bunch of Maynard's friends to celebrate his birthday. That was nice too. The thing is though....I was so sick that I didn't say a word, just sipped hot tea and tried not to sneeze on folks.
I just kind of feel that I missed out on a chance to have a REALLY significant experience, y'know? I don't even have a pic of me-n-Maynard and that'd be cool, no? I was just so sick, and I had to go and say something stupid and typically bike-geeky about his gear, y'know? What a dork.
Anyway..............go to www.maynardnet.blogspot.com and enjoy! If ya wanna read my story that won the silver medal in Velo News' "Write Like Maynard" contest visit www.velo-citycycles.com and go to "Stories".
Maybe I'll look him up next time I go through Denver on the way west.
I won't say anything about his Bike Friday though!
Ride on...........................MC
( I'm serious when I say that you oughta read "Tales From the Bike Shop" and "Half-Wheel Hell". If you can't find em I'll loan you my copies, if you ask nice)
Anyway..............after wallowing in Maynard-Prose for a bit I got to remembering for I totally screwed up my only chance to meet and ride w/ him.
Sigh.
For the gory details........read on!
We had gotten to know each other after I had the bald faced nerve to send him a copy of our shop newsletter. This woulda been in '90 or '91 and our monthly letter had grown into an Honest to Gawd kinda magazine thing and I was sort of pumped up about it and I sent it to every BigWig in the biz that I could get an address for. He was the only one that wrote back and he told me that the "damn thing nearly made me move to West Michigan" and would I consider using one of his pieces if I did it again? Would I? Hell yes, and the next 2 issues of the "Highwheeler Annual Magazine Thing" proudly featured Maynard Hershon on the masthead w/ the rest of us nobodies.
Damn cool is what it was.
Anyway, we stayed in touch off and on and then when ex-co-worker Joel moved to Tucson we had another point of contact and when I made plans to go to Tucson w/ bud Suzy to ride w/ Joel I made plans to hook up w/ Maynard for a ride on what happend to be his 60th Birthday. To say that I was fired up would be a considerable understatement.......Maynard (fairly or otherwise) represented the Rider That I Wanted To Be........... hell.......the Rider that I wanted EVERYONE to be! I called him when we got to town, (On the phone! Just called him! He answered the phone just like a regular guy!) and we set it up for the next day.
That's where it went wrong.
I had a helluva cold the whole time I was there..........couldn't sleep, couldn't breath, not much company. Joel, Suz and I find the shop where we're meetin' up w/ Maynard (we're gonna ride out to a 17th century Spanish Mission out in the desert west of town, how cool does that sound?)
He rides up on a blue Rivendell and the first thing I do is comment on the slightly incongruous combination of modern Ultegra parts and wheels on the infamously retro frame. (I read later that he hates that! Hates it enought that he quit riding the Riv for a spell) We did our intros, he was w/ some woman racer who's name escapes me. (It was 5-6 years ago y'know) and we rolled out. I remember lots of big-city type roads, lotsa cars and it was a while before we got out of town enough to settle into a double line so we could chat. I don't remember much of the ride, I felt so crappy.
'Cuz here's the thing... The other thing... It was February. February for Tucson riders is like September to us West Michigan types. The end of the season, but no so much the end that you've lost your fitness. Joel had dragged us up and around a ride he called "the Quadriple Bypass" the day before (It crossed 4 passes, including Gates, a local test-piece) and I was hurting. Rememeber the February thing? It's kinda of critical to the story 'cuz while all the locals were tanned and shaved and end-of-season fit I was pasty white, hairy-legged and early-season fat. Besides...I was so damn sick that I was coughing and blowing all sorts of gross stuff all over my bike and self.
Now, I know where you think this is going, but it's not that bad. I didn't get dropped. I was fine hanging in, we went to the Mission (I have pictures!) and we rode back. It was nice. That night we went to a coffee shop w/ a bunch of Maynard's friends to celebrate his birthday. That was nice too. The thing is though....I was so sick that I didn't say a word, just sipped hot tea and tried not to sneeze on folks.
I just kind of feel that I missed out on a chance to have a REALLY significant experience, y'know? I don't even have a pic of me-n-Maynard and that'd be cool, no? I was just so sick, and I had to go and say something stupid and typically bike-geeky about his gear, y'know? What a dork.
Anyway..............go to www.maynardnet.blogspot.com and enjoy! If ya wanna read my story that won the silver medal in Velo News' "Write Like Maynard" contest visit www.velo-citycycles.com and go to "Stories".
Maybe I'll look him up next time I go through Denver on the way west.
I won't say anything about his Bike Friday though!
Ride on...........................MC
Monday, January 21, 2008
Gear Report...just what you've been waitin' for, huh?
Yep....................what this sport and 'net and world needs most is yet another opinionated and self-impressed rider/writer that thinks his opinion about stuff matters, right?
RIGHT!
Okay..............WRONG!
Still, I'm sorta short on ideas @ the moment and there are a few things I've been using quite a bit that have left an impression. So...I'd be much obliged if you were to cut me a bit o' slack and let it go this time 'round.............I promise not to make a habit of it!
Kreitler Rollers: I've been doin' 100% of my indoor workouts on rollers so far this off-season - I started using them again in the middle of last winter and it's been fun (and challenging!) to do all the Spinervals workouts on 'em. The out-of-the-saddle stuff isn't too bad but the one-leg drills are pure hell! I switched from my old clapped-out Minouras to the Kreitlers about a month ago in some mis-guided attempt to make sure i wasn't givin' myself too much of a break w/ all my fellow indoor sufferers ridin' Fluid trainers. The Kreitlers are definitely smoother, in fact the alloy drums are so smooth that I felt a little squirrelly the first time I rode them. W/ the smaller diameter drums the resistance is noticeably higher as well - which allowed me to retain my grip on the moral highground when MM showed up for a workout w/ his rollers - and we all know how important THAT is! All in all I'd give 'em a rating of 'Pretty much perfect". They're kinda spendy, but you only hafta buy one set of rollers your entire life if you buy the right ones, y'know? (Wanna try 'em? Stop on by!)
Light & Motion Vega headlight: This little unit has become my go-to light for all road and Crazy Bastard dirt-road rides. I love the fact that it's self-contained...no cords flapping or batterypack swingin' under the toptube or stealing a H20 cage. It's way bright, light ennough and seems to have a 2.5-3 hour burn time, even on high. There are other cool lights here (and @ other shops I reckon) and I do wish it was easier to remove from the mount but still.............it gets a solid "Dang Near Just Right" rating.
Ergon Grips: These things are awesome /w a Capital "R"! Due to a thoughtless bit of pre-race packing I rode 95miles of the Lumberjack 100 w/ no gloves and I really don't think I could've done that w/ any other grips! My buddy CD swears that his chronic wrist pains are gone since he got some and basically...if you can get past the goofy look and you're not a 100% over-the-top weight-weenie...you'll like them too. These guys get the coveted "Hot-Damn-Tamale-Who-Loves-Ya-Baby-Cubs-Win Two Thumbs up" rating and you know it don't get no better!
Meijer Brand Organic Blue Corn Chips w/ Sesame Seeds: Our friend Scott hooked us up w/a coupla bags o' these bad boys @ the last Fun-Raiser and let's just say that they are the Ergon Grips of chips and call it good. Yum!
Continental Speed King Supersonic ATB Tires: After years and years of rockin' Ritchey Z-Max like we were married I'm having a love affair w/ these new treads. Light, grippy, fast....did I mention light? I'm runnin' the 2.4 on the front of my rigid S/S and the 2.1 in the rear and lovin' life. granted...I got like 5 rides on 'em before 'cross season and winter conspired to put the ATB in the rafters for a spell but these are cool tires! They do 'em in 29er too, as well as a non-Supersonic version which trades some added grams for added lifespan. It's kinda fun to be worked up about mountainbike tires again! It's been too long!
Steve Earle's "Washington Street Serenade" CD: My favorite singer/songwriter/hillbilly/activist/hellraiser done moved to the big city and got all happy! I could listen to this disc for about a month straight and keep finding new favorite tunes.
Anyway.............stuff is just that..................stuff. Sometimes you need some of it to make the things you wanna do easier or more fun but you wanna make sure that the stuff isn't obscurring the doing, y'know? Still............if you gotta put up w/ stuff it may as well be good stuff, no?
Too much stuff, too much stuff, whatterya gonna do w/ all that stuff?" (Delbert McClinton)
"How come your shit is stuff and my stuff is shit?" (George Carlin)
RIGHT!
Okay..............WRONG!
Still, I'm sorta short on ideas @ the moment and there are a few things I've been using quite a bit that have left an impression. So...I'd be much obliged if you were to cut me a bit o' slack and let it go this time 'round.............I promise not to make a habit of it!
Kreitler Rollers: I've been doin' 100% of my indoor workouts on rollers so far this off-season - I started using them again in the middle of last winter and it's been fun (and challenging!) to do all the Spinervals workouts on 'em. The out-of-the-saddle stuff isn't too bad but the one-leg drills are pure hell! I switched from my old clapped-out Minouras to the Kreitlers about a month ago in some mis-guided attempt to make sure i wasn't givin' myself too much of a break w/ all my fellow indoor sufferers ridin' Fluid trainers. The Kreitlers are definitely smoother, in fact the alloy drums are so smooth that I felt a little squirrelly the first time I rode them. W/ the smaller diameter drums the resistance is noticeably higher as well - which allowed me to retain my grip on the moral highground when MM showed up for a workout w/ his rollers - and we all know how important THAT is! All in all I'd give 'em a rating of 'Pretty much perfect". They're kinda spendy, but you only hafta buy one set of rollers your entire life if you buy the right ones, y'know? (Wanna try 'em? Stop on by!)
Light & Motion Vega headlight: This little unit has become my go-to light for all road and Crazy Bastard dirt-road rides. I love the fact that it's self-contained...no cords flapping or batterypack swingin' under the toptube or stealing a H20 cage. It's way bright, light ennough and seems to have a 2.5-3 hour burn time, even on high. There are other cool lights here (and @ other shops I reckon) and I do wish it was easier to remove from the mount but still.............it gets a solid "Dang Near Just Right" rating.
Ergon Grips: These things are awesome /w a Capital "R"! Due to a thoughtless bit of pre-race packing I rode 95miles of the Lumberjack 100 w/ no gloves and I really don't think I could've done that w/ any other grips! My buddy CD swears that his chronic wrist pains are gone since he got some and basically...if you can get past the goofy look and you're not a 100% over-the-top weight-weenie...you'll like them too. These guys get the coveted "Hot-Damn-Tamale-Who-Loves-Ya-Baby-Cubs-Win Two Thumbs up" rating and you know it don't get no better!
Meijer Brand Organic Blue Corn Chips w/ Sesame Seeds: Our friend Scott hooked us up w/a coupla bags o' these bad boys @ the last Fun-Raiser and let's just say that they are the Ergon Grips of chips and call it good. Yum!
Continental Speed King Supersonic ATB Tires: After years and years of rockin' Ritchey Z-Max like we were married I'm having a love affair w/ these new treads. Light, grippy, fast....did I mention light? I'm runnin' the 2.4 on the front of my rigid S/S and the 2.1 in the rear and lovin' life. granted...I got like 5 rides on 'em before 'cross season and winter conspired to put the ATB in the rafters for a spell but these are cool tires! They do 'em in 29er too, as well as a non-Supersonic version which trades some added grams for added lifespan. It's kinda fun to be worked up about mountainbike tires again! It's been too long!
Steve Earle's "Washington Street Serenade" CD: My favorite singer/songwriter/hillbilly/activist/hellraiser done moved to the big city and got all happy! I could listen to this disc for about a month straight and keep finding new favorite tunes.
Anyway.............stuff is just that..................stuff. Sometimes you need some of it to make the things you wanna do easier or more fun but you wanna make sure that the stuff isn't obscurring the doing, y'know? Still............if you gotta put up w/ stuff it may as well be good stuff, no?
Too much stuff, too much stuff, whatterya gonna do w/ all that stuff?" (Delbert McClinton)
"How come your shit is stuff and my stuff is shit?" (George Carlin)
Thursday, January 10, 2008
Just for Danielle!
The Big D sent me a note last week to the effect that, now that I was imortalized on her blog as a 'blog-bud" I had to write more often. I responded that if writing as much as she does was a requirement for Blog-Bud status I would hafta respectively decline.
We reached a compromise and this is the result.
There is a lot going on though, so it's not that I haven't got stuff to talk about........it's time that's the prob!
The Indoor Rides here @ the shop are gettin' outta control (in a good way!) and I wonder what we'll do if they continue to grow. We've had at least 2 new riders at each fo the last 3 and we're consistantly seeing 15+ at each workout! Man....2 years ago 8 was a big turnout! We're starting to have trouble finding room to store the bikes and trainers and Ted's all over my butt about gettin' them outta the shop so I gotta go to plan B, as soon as I figure out what that is! Still.....what a frickin' blast to look around the room @ 19-20 folks all sweatin' and huffin' and puffin'! Crazy!
The Ultimate Cycling Challenge teams are shaping up. We're doing 4........JDRF, Velo City, Macatawa Cycling Club and the Velo Valoe Vixens Tri Team. I'm gonna ride on the first 3, as I lack the aero bars, taste for neon and pair of X chromosomes for that last one! There's still room on all 4 teams.........get ahold of me @ the shop for the JDRF and MCC teams, Jeff for the VCC one and Jess for the Vixens.
mike@velo-citycycles.com
jeff@velo-citycycels.com
jessica@valeotraining.com
It's a blast...............24 hours of going nowhere fast! (As fast as yawanna anyhow) It takes place on 2/14-15 and you can get the big picture @ www.cteam4.com
Jeff is hard at work getting the schedule set for Velo Ventures and I'm way excited! 2008 is gonna be the year that we look back on years from now as the start of something very cool! On the menu is 4 days of road rides in GA in March, a Woman's Weekend in June, more road riding in Wis in July, the ODRAM in Sept and a trip (led by me-own-self) to the off-road Mecca of Moab and Fruita in late Oct! I 'm WAY excited about this deal! Watch for full details very soon!
The Crazy Bastard West rides ahve been dormant over the holidaze but wil be back 100% come next Tuesday.
We're doin' a "Special Sunday Super Suffer Session" this weekend. That means 3 hours on the trainer. Yee-HAW!
Ted and Jeff have been burnin' up the keyboards around here tryin' to get the inventory project done........the end is in sight!
Still looking for new Velo-Citizens................we have a part time winter/full time summer gig open in the shop and in sales. Talk to Ted for the wrench gig and me for the sales gig.
I'm chompin' at the bit to get the JDRF season underway. We're kinda in neutral while we wait for the National folks to get the schedule finalized so folks can officially register. Then the real work begins! We'll be sending teams to Whitefish MT and Death Valley again. It's about the coolest thing I've ever done and if you have any interest lemme know and we'll chat it up!
That oughta be enough for now. I'm on the cusp of starting a website re-do.......that'll be a hoot!
I need to ride more, but I'm starting to feel like I'm gettin' into the groove a bit, y'know?
I hope that you are too!
Later, MC
We reached a compromise and this is the result.
There is a lot going on though, so it's not that I haven't got stuff to talk about........it's time that's the prob!
The Indoor Rides here @ the shop are gettin' outta control (in a good way!) and I wonder what we'll do if they continue to grow. We've had at least 2 new riders at each fo the last 3 and we're consistantly seeing 15+ at each workout! Man....2 years ago 8 was a big turnout! We're starting to have trouble finding room to store the bikes and trainers and Ted's all over my butt about gettin' them outta the shop so I gotta go to plan B, as soon as I figure out what that is! Still.....what a frickin' blast to look around the room @ 19-20 folks all sweatin' and huffin' and puffin'! Crazy!
The Ultimate Cycling Challenge teams are shaping up. We're doing 4........JDRF, Velo City, Macatawa Cycling Club and the Velo Valoe Vixens Tri Team. I'm gonna ride on the first 3, as I lack the aero bars, taste for neon and pair of X chromosomes for that last one! There's still room on all 4 teams.........get ahold of me @ the shop for the JDRF and MCC teams, Jeff for the VCC one and Jess for the Vixens.
mike@velo-citycycles.com
jeff@velo-citycycels.com
jessica@valeotraining.com
It's a blast...............24 hours of going nowhere fast! (As fast as yawanna anyhow) It takes place on 2/14-15 and you can get the big picture @ www.cteam4.com
Jeff is hard at work getting the schedule set for Velo Ventures and I'm way excited! 2008 is gonna be the year that we look back on years from now as the start of something very cool! On the menu is 4 days of road rides in GA in March, a Woman's Weekend in June, more road riding in Wis in July, the ODRAM in Sept and a trip (led by me-own-self) to the off-road Mecca of Moab and Fruita in late Oct! I 'm WAY excited about this deal! Watch for full details very soon!
The Crazy Bastard West rides ahve been dormant over the holidaze but wil be back 100% come next Tuesday.
We're doin' a "Special Sunday Super Suffer Session" this weekend. That means 3 hours on the trainer. Yee-HAW!
Ted and Jeff have been burnin' up the keyboards around here tryin' to get the inventory project done........the end is in sight!
Still looking for new Velo-Citizens................we have a part time winter/full time summer gig open in the shop and in sales. Talk to Ted for the wrench gig and me for the sales gig.
I'm chompin' at the bit to get the JDRF season underway. We're kinda in neutral while we wait for the National folks to get the schedule finalized so folks can officially register. Then the real work begins! We'll be sending teams to Whitefish MT and Death Valley again. It's about the coolest thing I've ever done and if you have any interest lemme know and we'll chat it up!
That oughta be enough for now. I'm on the cusp of starting a website re-do.......that'll be a hoot!
I need to ride more, but I'm starting to feel like I'm gettin' into the groove a bit, y'know?
I hope that you are too!
Later, MC
Monday, December 31, 2007
Boom!
Man, I hit the deck yesterday like a ton of bricks! Feeling it today fersure...............
We had a great ride from CD's crib down in Ham-ville, 7 riders, 2 hours and 25-ish miles of "seasonal roads". 5 total crashes, of which mine was the "best" (read: "worst"). Dang..these dirt/snow/ice rides are just as cool as it gets and I 'don't even know why!
(Story within a Story- I was sittin' @ the Sub Joint on Saturday, eatin' lunch, readin' the paper and positively wallowing in the fact that I had NOTHING planned for Sunday. An empty square on the calendar is rare enough......but a weekend? Way rare! At that very moment my phone rang and there was CD, lookin' to see if I wanted to ride. Which I did, as it turns out.)
We were on the way back, after hittin' some new-to-me dirt roads and I was next to M-2, talkin' about their upcoming new kid when all of a sudden I was on the deck. No warning, no time to think to myself "careful here, feels kinda slick", nothing. Just Boom and Ouch! Still............the ride was a blast and a great way to wrap up a great year! (FNG Ross went down twice and Tator once, just to make me feel better)
New Years Ride tomorrow.............I haven't missed one in at least 25 years and I ain't gonna start now. Hope some folks show up. (I think they will)
No NY Resolutions for me..............I prefer the "Kaizen" (spelling?) theory of "continuous improvement". Lots of work to do!
What a full year 2007 has been! It feels like we made some progress @ the shop.........there were lots of great rides, a couple of good races, lots of new folks.
I'll take it!
We had a great ride from CD's crib down in Ham-ville, 7 riders, 2 hours and 25-ish miles of "seasonal roads". 5 total crashes, of which mine was the "best" (read: "worst"). Dang..these dirt/snow/ice rides are just as cool as it gets and I 'don't even know why!
(Story within a Story- I was sittin' @ the Sub Joint on Saturday, eatin' lunch, readin' the paper and positively wallowing in the fact that I had NOTHING planned for Sunday. An empty square on the calendar is rare enough......but a weekend? Way rare! At that very moment my phone rang and there was CD, lookin' to see if I wanted to ride. Which I did, as it turns out.)
We were on the way back, after hittin' some new-to-me dirt roads and I was next to M-2, talkin' about their upcoming new kid when all of a sudden I was on the deck. No warning, no time to think to myself "careful here, feels kinda slick", nothing. Just Boom and Ouch! Still............the ride was a blast and a great way to wrap up a great year! (FNG Ross went down twice and Tator once, just to make me feel better)
New Years Ride tomorrow.............I haven't missed one in at least 25 years and I ain't gonna start now. Hope some folks show up. (I think they will)
No NY Resolutions for me..............I prefer the "Kaizen" (spelling?) theory of "continuous improvement". Lots of work to do!
What a full year 2007 has been! It feels like we made some progress @ the shop.........there were lots of great rides, a couple of good races, lots of new folks.
I'll take it!
Friday, December 28, 2007
Post "Holidaze" Thoughts
So.
Another Christmas in the books. Another onslaught of bad holiday music, media-fueled shopping madness and travel.
I really don't like it that my first reaction to the "How was your Christmas?" question is that I survived it. Seems way too grown-up / world-weary / cynical............hell...........too bitter to be me, y'know?
Still...........there it is. I gotta figure out a way to change that...pronto... before I see an old fart in the mirror that I don't wanna see.
Other that that (kind of a cop out, huh?) things are pretty cool here @ Ye Olde Cool Bike Shoppe. We did have a pretty fun Christmas and we really don't have all that much added stress or angst, (making the previous bitching even less appropriate - we'll see if I leave it in there) and it's been cool having folks that we don't see all the time stopping in. (Travis, Tim from Colo. Springs, Hedgpeth!)
The Indoor Rides are rocking..........we're getting 12-14 every time and the sweat is flowing free.
I've missed the last two Crazy Bastard Rides and that's not cool............I need to get out w/ them boys and grrls and slide around in the muck! Next week for sure.
Next week is the big shut down for the inventory / computer deal. Ted and Jeff have been encouraging me to get outta here for the duration, given my lack of empathy for and/or tolerance of computers in general and our point-of-sale system in particular. I have the same malady that my friend Heather calls "that damn work ethic thing" so it's not likely but I will try and stay out of the way! We'll be closed from 3:00pm on 12/31 through the rest of the week.
Cool stuff comes in every day............we just got a few Co-Motion tandems, the first of the Salsa frames and our Surly Cross Check project bikes are gonna get built up as soon as we re-open.
Gotta figure out what to do about the website..............yuck.
Jeff's getting the Velo Ventures stuff lined up, that'll be way cool.
The weather for the New Year's Ride looks appropriately iffy. All the better for the main reason for the ride. (To gain the moral high ground, silly!) I hope we have a big turn out.
We're tryin' to put together 4 teams for the Ultimate Cycling Challenge from our little community and I'll be ridng on 3 of 'em and organizing 2. We'll have teams representing the local club (M.C.C.), the shop, the JDRF Team and the Velo Valeo Vixens, the women's tri team/club that Jess and I got roliing last year. It's a good cause and a ton of fun so If you wanna ride on any or all of these teams.....let us know! (Me for the MCC and JDRF teams, Jeff for the VCC one and Jess for the Vixens, but I can hook you up w/ whomever)
Jeff and I put together a tentative Fun-Raiser schedule for '08. I think we'll schedule them 3-4 months out instead of for the whole year, that way we can schedule around 'cross races and tours and such. Watch the website and the newsletters!
Gotta go..............sorry 'bout the post-holidaze whining there. Workin' on it!
MC
Another Christmas in the books. Another onslaught of bad holiday music, media-fueled shopping madness and travel.
I really don't like it that my first reaction to the "How was your Christmas?" question is that I survived it. Seems way too grown-up / world-weary / cynical............hell...........too bitter to be me, y'know?
Still...........there it is. I gotta figure out a way to change that...pronto... before I see an old fart in the mirror that I don't wanna see.
Other that that (kind of a cop out, huh?) things are pretty cool here @ Ye Olde Cool Bike Shoppe. We did have a pretty fun Christmas and we really don't have all that much added stress or angst, (making the previous bitching even less appropriate - we'll see if I leave it in there) and it's been cool having folks that we don't see all the time stopping in. (Travis, Tim from Colo. Springs, Hedgpeth!)
The Indoor Rides are rocking..........we're getting 12-14 every time and the sweat is flowing free.
I've missed the last two Crazy Bastard Rides and that's not cool............I need to get out w/ them boys and grrls and slide around in the muck! Next week for sure.
Next week is the big shut down for the inventory / computer deal. Ted and Jeff have been encouraging me to get outta here for the duration, given my lack of empathy for and/or tolerance of computers in general and our point-of-sale system in particular. I have the same malady that my friend Heather calls "that damn work ethic thing" so it's not likely but I will try and stay out of the way! We'll be closed from 3:00pm on 12/31 through the rest of the week.
Cool stuff comes in every day............we just got a few Co-Motion tandems, the first of the Salsa frames and our Surly Cross Check project bikes are gonna get built up as soon as we re-open.
Gotta figure out what to do about the website..............yuck.
Jeff's getting the Velo Ventures stuff lined up, that'll be way cool.
The weather for the New Year's Ride looks appropriately iffy. All the better for the main reason for the ride. (To gain the moral high ground, silly!) I hope we have a big turn out.
We're tryin' to put together 4 teams for the Ultimate Cycling Challenge from our little community and I'll be ridng on 3 of 'em and organizing 2. We'll have teams representing the local club (M.C.C.), the shop, the JDRF Team and the Velo Valeo Vixens, the women's tri team/club that Jess and I got roliing last year. It's a good cause and a ton of fun so If you wanna ride on any or all of these teams.....let us know! (Me for the MCC and JDRF teams, Jeff for the VCC one and Jess for the Vixens, but I can hook you up w/ whomever)
Jeff and I put together a tentative Fun-Raiser schedule for '08. I think we'll schedule them 3-4 months out instead of for the whole year, that way we can schedule around 'cross races and tours and such. Watch the website and the newsletters!
Gotta go..............sorry 'bout the post-holidaze whining there. Workin' on it!
MC
Friday, December 07, 2007
"Ironic, if ya like that sort of thing."
So...........we're bustin' down some icy dirt road somewhere out in the middle of whereinthehellarewe lat night on the Crazy Bastard ride.... (We spend a lot of time there!) and all of sudden my rear wheel locks up. I do those rides on my (in)famous glow-in-the-dark fixxie-'cross and the chain had somehow come off and jammed 'tween the tire and the chainstay so all of a sudden I'm doin' these b-i-g s-l-o-w fishtails down this hill w/ the other guys scattering around me like they'd all just found out that the paint on my bike WAS radioactive, as is sometimes speculated about. Somehow I keep the rubber side down and bring 'er to a stop in the middle of the hill. Put the chain back on, all the while wondering what happend and back down the road we go.
2 minutes later, on a nice flat open section of road I go down like a ton of bricks, damn near takin' CD w/ me. (Woulda gotten some bonus points for that!) In Crazy Bastard parlance I did a "spud" w/ a side of "slider", but no "bowler". (Translation- Spud: Noun. To hit the ground hard enough to be "planted like a potatoe". "Slider" - Noun: A crash envolving a long slide across the road surface, usually accompanied by flopping limbs and/or sudden stops as a result of collisions w/ inanimate objects. "Bowler" - Noun: A "slider" that takes out some or all of your companions.)
That's the irony by the way, assuming that you were wondering.
(By the way..........the title is a quote from a movie. Be the first to e-mail me w/ which movie and win a VCC pub glass!)
Other than that.............it's been a busy month or so! I've managed to crash in each of the last 4 'cross races but have yet to break anything major on bike or body. I did manage to tesr up my shin bad enough @ Manhattan Park that it got all infected and led to a trip to the doc for a RX of antibaotics and now every time I go down I hit the same damn place again. Still............so far so good. One more race, tomorrow @ Ridgepoint Church. the big Finale el Grande! We're gonna have chili and frites and stuff to give away..................oughta be a hoot! Jess and I are doin' the C race on the tandem and then I'll try not to suck in the B's.
JDRF stuff is happening...............we're getting close to haviing the '08 season planned out and we have a buncha new riders lined up already. Dang! That is so cool!
Ted's been gone all week @ Barnett's and he has 2 weeks to go. Kinda short-handed around the shop but we'll get through. Startin' to see a little Christmas biz, but not outta control yet. Kind of "good news / bad news" I guess.
Still looking for some folks to sign on as Velo Citizens for '08.........know anyone that wants to work in a cool bike shop and bust their ass for almost no $?
It's been quite a year! I was talkin' to a friend out west about a trip to the desert next Spring and that got to thinkin' about our trip last April.................man, that seems like it was years ago!
I guess that's good, right?................It means that there's so much goin' on that it makes it seem like it's been longer than it has since we did stuff last Spring or last year, right?
Right?
Right!
Gotta go..............be well and have a great Holiday!
MC
2 minutes later, on a nice flat open section of road I go down like a ton of bricks, damn near takin' CD w/ me. (Woulda gotten some bonus points for that!) In Crazy Bastard parlance I did a "spud" w/ a side of "slider", but no "bowler". (Translation- Spud: Noun. To hit the ground hard enough to be "planted like a potatoe". "Slider" - Noun: A crash envolving a long slide across the road surface, usually accompanied by flopping limbs and/or sudden stops as a result of collisions w/ inanimate objects. "Bowler" - Noun: A "slider" that takes out some or all of your companions.)
That's the irony by the way, assuming that you were wondering.
(By the way..........the title is a quote from a movie. Be the first to e-mail me w/ which movie and win a VCC pub glass!)
Other than that.............it's been a busy month or so! I've managed to crash in each of the last 4 'cross races but have yet to break anything major on bike or body. I did manage to tesr up my shin bad enough @ Manhattan Park that it got all infected and led to a trip to the doc for a RX of antibaotics and now every time I go down I hit the same damn place again. Still............so far so good. One more race, tomorrow @ Ridgepoint Church. the big Finale el Grande! We're gonna have chili and frites and stuff to give away..................oughta be a hoot! Jess and I are doin' the C race on the tandem and then I'll try not to suck in the B's.
JDRF stuff is happening...............we're getting close to haviing the '08 season planned out and we have a buncha new riders lined up already. Dang! That is so cool!
Ted's been gone all week @ Barnett's and he has 2 weeks to go. Kinda short-handed around the shop but we'll get through. Startin' to see a little Christmas biz, but not outta control yet. Kind of "good news / bad news" I guess.
Still looking for some folks to sign on as Velo Citizens for '08.........know anyone that wants to work in a cool bike shop and bust their ass for almost no $?
It's been quite a year! I was talkin' to a friend out west about a trip to the desert next Spring and that got to thinkin' about our trip last April.................man, that seems like it was years ago!
I guess that's good, right?................It means that there's so much goin' on that it makes it seem like it's been longer than it has since we did stuff last Spring or last year, right?
Right?
Right!
Gotta go..............be well and have a great Holiday!
MC
Tuesday, November 20, 2007
Ouch!
Man, I crashed my brains out @ the 'cross race last Sunday! That's 2 races in a row where I've stacked it up......which probably matches my 'cross crash total. I'm tellin' myself that it's 'cuz I'm racin' harder and goin' for it....(whatever it takes, right?) but I'm pretty damn sore and the novelty has worn off for sure. I need to keep the rubber side down this Sunday @ Richmond Park!
Speakin' of this week's race................it's gonna be a hoot! My 'cross gang The Crazy Bastards are large and in charge and we're gonna raise the bar for Kiss Cross Races once and for all. A sound system, food, prizes, posters, a Podium Girl...it's gonna be an All Time Show Stopper!
(At least 'til the race here in Holland on 12/8 that is!)
Our good shop buddy and recent convert to the world of shaved legs and embrocation Dave Blandford nows holds the dubious distinction of being the first ever KissCross racer to suffer a broken bone. Two, actually. There he was.........chasin' his buddy Brian W in the C race @ Manhattan Park last weekend when a frickin' Chocolate Lab came outta nowhere and took him right out!
And that sucks, big time. So buddy Dave has a busted collarbone on his left side and a busted "signaling finger" on his right. He'll need 2, count 'em 2 surgeries and needless to say....his season is over w/ a capital "O".
(HIs bike's okay though, I know you were wondering)
Other than that, not much to report. The Tuesday Night Ride is pickin' up steam as we ride all those nasty-arse dirt roads out near the Allegan Woods. (We roll @ 6:30 - soon to be 6:00) from the Hamiilton Grocery store on M0-40. You'll need lights and at least a 'cross bike).
3 more 'cross races and that's pretty much it for the year. Given that the 1st race of the year was the Fisk Knob TT waaayy back in March, it's been a plenty long season and I'm feelin' it a bit. My off-season core workouts w/ Jess-the-Destroyer commence again tomorrow and the shop Indoor Training Rides kick off next week. (See also: No Rest for the Wicked!)
Still.............Bike Life continues to be a Fine Thing. Lots going on here @ the shop, lots of interest in the upcoming JDRF season and lots to do as we roll towards the winter. I gotta find some new Velo-Citizens, re-do various bits of the shop, do a buncha back-room kinda VCC stuff and plenty more. Before we know it it'll be Spring and the whole dang dance starts again!
I can't wait!
Be safe out there, ride lots, have fun, be good.
MC
Speakin' of this week's race................it's gonna be a hoot! My 'cross gang The Crazy Bastards are large and in charge and we're gonna raise the bar for Kiss Cross Races once and for all. A sound system, food, prizes, posters, a Podium Girl...it's gonna be an All Time Show Stopper!
(At least 'til the race here in Holland on 12/8 that is!)
Our good shop buddy and recent convert to the world of shaved legs and embrocation Dave Blandford nows holds the dubious distinction of being the first ever KissCross racer to suffer a broken bone. Two, actually. There he was.........chasin' his buddy Brian W in the C race @ Manhattan Park last weekend when a frickin' Chocolate Lab came outta nowhere and took him right out!
And that sucks, big time. So buddy Dave has a busted collarbone on his left side and a busted "signaling finger" on his right. He'll need 2, count 'em 2 surgeries and needless to say....his season is over w/ a capital "O".
(HIs bike's okay though, I know you were wondering)
Other than that, not much to report. The Tuesday Night Ride is pickin' up steam as we ride all those nasty-arse dirt roads out near the Allegan Woods. (We roll @ 6:30 - soon to be 6:00) from the Hamiilton Grocery store on M0-40. You'll need lights and at least a 'cross bike).
3 more 'cross races and that's pretty much it for the year. Given that the 1st race of the year was the Fisk Knob TT waaayy back in March, it's been a plenty long season and I'm feelin' it a bit. My off-season core workouts w/ Jess-the-Destroyer commence again tomorrow and the shop Indoor Training Rides kick off next week. (See also: No Rest for the Wicked!)
Still.............Bike Life continues to be a Fine Thing. Lots going on here @ the shop, lots of interest in the upcoming JDRF season and lots to do as we roll towards the winter. I gotta find some new Velo-Citizens, re-do various bits of the shop, do a buncha back-room kinda VCC stuff and plenty more. Before we know it it'll be Spring and the whole dang dance starts again!
I can't wait!
Be safe out there, ride lots, have fun, be good.
MC
Monday, November 12, 2007
el Weekend Grande!
Man whatta cool weekend! I went up to the Iceman Race on Friday w/ good buds Doez, CD, Gid and Dan-the-semi-reformed-tri-guy. The race was a complete blast...........the course was in awesome shape, the weather was perfect and we started in the 6th wave which was great 'cuz the traffic in the tight spots wasn't an issue but there was always folks to chase and pass. I was happy w/ my ride 'cuz I was hopin' to break 2:20 and was in @ 2:14 and change. That was good for 28th outta 93 in my catagory. Danielle won the women's S/S class and most of my other buds had fun too.
It's a little bit of a drag that I had as much fun as I did 'cuz they're goin' to a lottery system to decide who gets to race next season and now I kinda care whether I get in or not!
I left after a coupla hours of post-race hangng out and headed home to make chili for the big Chili Chilly Ride scheduled for the next day. We had about 60 riders on a cool and kinda dreary day. The Cannondale Demo Truck was here for 3 hours and we ended up w/ 10 pots of chili along w/ plenty o/ beer and cookies and cornbread and such. A great time was had by all and fellowship was observed being had.
Things are still rockin' at the shop, despite the fact that we're deep into November at this point. I'm excited about being a Salsa dealer and a buncha frames and a few bikes will be rollin' in right after the first of the year. Sounds like a good excuse to declare a "Salsa Month" and have chips and a different salsa every day! The new Redlines are cool too and along w/ C-Dale and Gunnar and Co-Motion and Electra and Seven and m-a-y-b-e Niner.............I think we got it covered!
5 more 'cross races to be done over the next 4 weekends so the season isn't exactly slowing down either!
Man............BikeLife is soooo sweet these days! Good rides, cool bikes to be worked on and I love this time of the season when all our friends come by to hang and chat. We got a buncha new 'cross dvd's to play, indoor training rides start in 2 weeks, the big JDRF post-season party in tomorrow, the Tuesday Night Dirt Road Rides have begun, the First-Ever Danielle's Dirt Camp was a big hit, the Crazy Bastard Rides are rollin'..............................................
See what I mean!?
Want a taste? Come on by and sit a spell!
If you're lucky mebbe Ted'll wanna interview you for his Blog!
Or maybe that oughta be if you're not lucky!?
MC out
It's a little bit of a drag that I had as much fun as I did 'cuz they're goin' to a lottery system to decide who gets to race next season and now I kinda care whether I get in or not!
I left after a coupla hours of post-race hangng out and headed home to make chili for the big Chili Chilly Ride scheduled for the next day. We had about 60 riders on a cool and kinda dreary day. The Cannondale Demo Truck was here for 3 hours and we ended up w/ 10 pots of chili along w/ plenty o/ beer and cookies and cornbread and such. A great time was had by all and fellowship was observed being had.
Things are still rockin' at the shop, despite the fact that we're deep into November at this point. I'm excited about being a Salsa dealer and a buncha frames and a few bikes will be rollin' in right after the first of the year. Sounds like a good excuse to declare a "Salsa Month" and have chips and a different salsa every day! The new Redlines are cool too and along w/ C-Dale and Gunnar and Co-Motion and Electra and Seven and m-a-y-b-e Niner.............I think we got it covered!
5 more 'cross races to be done over the next 4 weekends so the season isn't exactly slowing down either!
Man............BikeLife is soooo sweet these days! Good rides, cool bikes to be worked on and I love this time of the season when all our friends come by to hang and chat. We got a buncha new 'cross dvd's to play, indoor training rides start in 2 weeks, the big JDRF post-season party in tomorrow, the Tuesday Night Dirt Road Rides have begun, the First-Ever Danielle's Dirt Camp was a big hit, the Crazy Bastard Rides are rollin'..............................................
See what I mean!?
Want a taste? Come on by and sit a spell!
If you're lucky mebbe Ted'll wanna interview you for his Blog!
Or maybe that oughta be if you're not lucky!?
MC out
Saturday, November 03, 2007
November!
Man, there's just a TON of stuff goin' on! It's so cool to sit here and write the Nov. newletter and be able to tell folks that there's still so much cool bike stuff (CBS?) to do and look forward to! There's a 'cross race on 5 of the next 6 weekends, the Iceman Race/Chili Chilly Ride double next weekend, a gig tonight, the first of several JDRF post-season parties on the 13th.........no let down, that's for damnsure!
Things are takin' shape here @ the shop for the "off-season" as well. The Tuesday Night Ride morphes into it's dirt road incarnation as of the 6th, Indoor Rides commence on the 28th, the Chili Chilly Ride is always a blow-out hoo-hah of a good time and the full load of cool new gear and bikes is rollin' in every day!
Some new stuff for '08 that I'm kinda excited about....I made a verbal committement to becoming a Salsa bike and frame dealer (We dig the Cassaroll fixie and the Mamasita 29r) and the next load of Redlines oughta be here soon. I think that the concept of a 29'r w/ a 1x9 drivetrain could easily become the hot set-up for trails in our area and both Salsa and Redline offer sweet set-ups like that outta the box. We are already lookin' forward to next Spring!
Still.............there's miles to go a'fore that happens! I'm gonna go and try to not suck @ The Iceman next week w/ some o' my best buds. I'll hafta hustle home after the race tpo get the chili on the stove 'cuz I'll hafta be here early on Sunday to meet the Cannondale Demo Truck when they show up here 3 hours before the ride on the 11th.
I haven't made a Crazy Bastard Ride for 2-3 weeks........lotsa travel, helpin' out @ the JDRF office on my day off, other reasons. I miss it like hell but I'm a little concerned that the ride's nature is changing into a 'training ride' as opposed to a group of guys that wanna ride together no matter the weather. What is it about rides? How come they get messed up when they reach a certain size? Why is it SO DAMN HARD TO KEEP a good ride togther?
More later, gotta go!
Things are takin' shape here @ the shop for the "off-season" as well. The Tuesday Night Ride morphes into it's dirt road incarnation as of the 6th, Indoor Rides commence on the 28th, the Chili Chilly Ride is always a blow-out hoo-hah of a good time and the full load of cool new gear and bikes is rollin' in every day!
Some new stuff for '08 that I'm kinda excited about....I made a verbal committement to becoming a Salsa bike and frame dealer (We dig the Cassaroll fixie and the Mamasita 29r) and the next load of Redlines oughta be here soon. I think that the concept of a 29'r w/ a 1x9 drivetrain could easily become the hot set-up for trails in our area and both Salsa and Redline offer sweet set-ups like that outta the box. We are already lookin' forward to next Spring!
Still.............there's miles to go a'fore that happens! I'm gonna go and try to not suck @ The Iceman next week w/ some o' my best buds. I'll hafta hustle home after the race tpo get the chili on the stove 'cuz I'll hafta be here early on Sunday to meet the Cannondale Demo Truck when they show up here 3 hours before the ride on the 11th.
I haven't made a Crazy Bastard Ride for 2-3 weeks........lotsa travel, helpin' out @ the JDRF office on my day off, other reasons. I miss it like hell but I'm a little concerned that the ride's nature is changing into a 'training ride' as opposed to a group of guys that wanna ride together no matter the weather. What is it about rides? How come they get messed up when they reach a certain size? Why is it SO DAMN HARD TO KEEP a good ride togther?
More later, gotta go!
Thursday, October 25, 2007
Pineapples, the desert and the Santa Ana winds!
Yep, thisis what happens when I don't keep up w/ all the cool sweet BikeStuff that's goin' on around here...........I get behind and hafta cover a buncha stuff all at once. You'd thing that I'd learn...but not so much.
Anyway, one of the coolest Fun-Raiser Rides we have every fall is the Pineapple Bob Classic, a ride usin' as much dirt road as we can find and a ride that pre-dates the shop's very exsistance by 5 years or more. (Not to mention the Crazy Bastards!) We have a spring edition as well and if you were here for that one you might have figured "no way the weather'll suck as bad as it did last spring, what with the 25mph headwind we hadta ride back into to!" Well.....you'd been wrong. Not just wrong, but General Custer wrong! The captain of the Titanic was this wrong! In short.....the weather sucked. We left the shop in a steady rain and I was amazed and impressed that we had 16 riders show up at all. Needless to say, the dirt roads were mud roads and the rain stayed for the w-h-o-l-e dang ride. We cut it a bit short, but we still got in about 35 miles and there were some cold, wet and weary folks hangin' @ the shop while we got the pasta ready.
The food and drink wqent down good and everyone recovered. The bikes were filthy and the floor was covered w/ wet muddy footprints so I knew 'twas a success. Next Fun-Raiser is the Chili Chilly Ride on 11/11 and you DO NOT wanna miss that!
4 days later I found myself on a plane headed to Death Valley by way of Las vegas for the finalo JDRF Ride of the season and the 3rd one for me in the last 3 months. We had a team of 32 riders, a "mascot" (Ted-n-Sarah's daughter Sophie) and my wife Linda as our support crew. We got to the Furnace Creek Ranch in DV about 4:00pm and quickly got into the groove of yet another fascinating and fulfilling Ride to Cure weekend.
Damn I love the desert! The austere surroundings, the huge sky, the stars at night........I dig it all. I totally understand why not everyone does........but it's the place for me!
On Friday morning we kitted up for the traditional shakedown cruise up to Zabrieskie Point. When I say "up to" I mean exactly that.......it's a steady 5 mile climb from the ranch to the Point. The view from there is kinda surreal and I heard about some funky / sleazy movie shot there in the 70's that I'm gonna hafta dig up. We hung there for a bit, then coasted back down to the Ranch, grabbed some lunch and split up for the rest of the day. Some rode a bit more, some hung by (or in) the pool and some joined Lin and I for a guided hike back up near the Point.
Then it was time for dinner in the Palm Grove......nothin' like al fresco dining w/ 300 other folks! (And the occasional coyote)
Saturday dawned nice and clear........and calm. Too bad it wouldn't last. We rolled out, bound for the turn around @ the top of Jubiliee Pass, 52.5 miles and 3000' feet of climbing away. There was a nice little cloud cover on the way out, when you don't really need it 'cuz it's cool in the am and you're in the shade of the the Funeral Mountains to the east. The team split up right away, there's no way to keep 32 riders of different abilities and goals together in a ride w/ 250 others and we didn't try, but we had a nice group in a long pace line for a bit. My grop arrived @ the bottom of the climb to the Pass about 10:30, almost an hour ahead of the cut-off times that they use to make sure everyone gets in before the sun drops behind the Panimint Range on the west edge of the valley. We started up the climb.....Pea, Carmen, Steve, Melanie, Amy, John, Tom, Mary and myself but again became seperated as everyone found their rhythm for the incline. I was w/Amy when she started to struggle and feel sick to her stomach. We dealt w/ that for a while then she rallied and we resumed the climb. At that point Joe came along and I entrusted Amy to him so I could go down the hill and find Katie 'cuz I'd promised her that I'd ride w/ her to the top. (She didn't quite make it to the top last year and was determined to do so now).
It took a while but we finally rolled up to the sign marking the top of the pass, posed for pix and re-aseembled the group for the return leg. I was worried about the wind and the fact that the clouds had burned off and the temps seemd to be rising as we hung around the top. The descent was the all-out blast that any 7 mile downhill would hafta be but right before we got to the Rest Stop @ the bottom a young lady wiped out in front of my group and I stopped to help her up. (Gotta do the Coach thing y'know!) By the time I re-joined my riders Amy was feelin' kinda punk again and the nexy thing I knew the med-folk had grabbed her away from me and had her in the back of the ambulance /w an IV in her arm. By this time the wind had whipped up and I knew we were in for a l-o-n-g day.
And so it was...........we had 45 miles to ride and the wind got worse for the rest of the day. Basically we were "blessed" with the tailend of the Santa Ana winds that were causing no end of trouble for the poor folks in San Diego and by mid-afternoon we were dealin' w/ full-on 30mph headwinds w/ gusts in the 40's and a temp of 104. Lovely. Needless to say we did our best and an amazing % of the Team managed to ride all the way back to the start/finish. I was amazed and impressed w/ all the riders on the team.....they ride so hard and they care so much and they are so good for each other!
The last of us dragged in just a bit after dusk........so the final count was 11 1/2 hours or so for the day and the wind was so strong that all the night's post-ride festivities were shut down by the resultant sandstorm. That was a drag too, 'cuz several of the staff told me that our team had been the topic of discussion all weekend and that a tribute to the West Michigan Team was planned for dinner. We deserve it.......the folks on "my" team are a special breed and are a class act all the way!
Sunday we split up , w/ half headin home and the rest of us to Las Vegas for a day (or 2) or R & R and just being together. As much as I despise Vegas it was great to extend the wekend by another day so we could spend some more time w/ our team mates. It's ggood to be home though.
So.......what's up 'round here? We have a bunch of folks signed up for Danielles' Dirt Skills Camp this sunday, the last Tuesday Night Road Ride is next week, Ted's on his honeymoon in Mexico w/ Sarah, 2 sweet Sevens go home this week and my wife's here to take me to dinner so I gotta go!
Anyway, one of the coolest Fun-Raiser Rides we have every fall is the Pineapple Bob Classic, a ride usin' as much dirt road as we can find and a ride that pre-dates the shop's very exsistance by 5 years or more. (Not to mention the Crazy Bastards!) We have a spring edition as well and if you were here for that one you might have figured "no way the weather'll suck as bad as it did last spring, what with the 25mph headwind we hadta ride back into to!" Well.....you'd been wrong. Not just wrong, but General Custer wrong! The captain of the Titanic was this wrong! In short.....the weather sucked. We left the shop in a steady rain and I was amazed and impressed that we had 16 riders show up at all. Needless to say, the dirt roads were mud roads and the rain stayed for the w-h-o-l-e dang ride. We cut it a bit short, but we still got in about 35 miles and there were some cold, wet and weary folks hangin' @ the shop while we got the pasta ready.
The food and drink wqent down good and everyone recovered. The bikes were filthy and the floor was covered w/ wet muddy footprints so I knew 'twas a success. Next Fun-Raiser is the Chili Chilly Ride on 11/11 and you DO NOT wanna miss that!
4 days later I found myself on a plane headed to Death Valley by way of Las vegas for the finalo JDRF Ride of the season and the 3rd one for me in the last 3 months. We had a team of 32 riders, a "mascot" (Ted-n-Sarah's daughter Sophie) and my wife Linda as our support crew. We got to the Furnace Creek Ranch in DV about 4:00pm and quickly got into the groove of yet another fascinating and fulfilling Ride to Cure weekend.
Damn I love the desert! The austere surroundings, the huge sky, the stars at night........I dig it all. I totally understand why not everyone does........but it's the place for me!
On Friday morning we kitted up for the traditional shakedown cruise up to Zabrieskie Point. When I say "up to" I mean exactly that.......it's a steady 5 mile climb from the ranch to the Point. The view from there is kinda surreal and I heard about some funky / sleazy movie shot there in the 70's that I'm gonna hafta dig up. We hung there for a bit, then coasted back down to the Ranch, grabbed some lunch and split up for the rest of the day. Some rode a bit more, some hung by (or in) the pool and some joined Lin and I for a guided hike back up near the Point.
Then it was time for dinner in the Palm Grove......nothin' like al fresco dining w/ 300 other folks! (And the occasional coyote)
Saturday dawned nice and clear........and calm. Too bad it wouldn't last. We rolled out, bound for the turn around @ the top of Jubiliee Pass, 52.5 miles and 3000' feet of climbing away. There was a nice little cloud cover on the way out, when you don't really need it 'cuz it's cool in the am and you're in the shade of the the Funeral Mountains to the east. The team split up right away, there's no way to keep 32 riders of different abilities and goals together in a ride w/ 250 others and we didn't try, but we had a nice group in a long pace line for a bit. My grop arrived @ the bottom of the climb to the Pass about 10:30, almost an hour ahead of the cut-off times that they use to make sure everyone gets in before the sun drops behind the Panimint Range on the west edge of the valley. We started up the climb.....Pea, Carmen, Steve, Melanie, Amy, John, Tom, Mary and myself but again became seperated as everyone found their rhythm for the incline. I was w/Amy when she started to struggle and feel sick to her stomach. We dealt w/ that for a while then she rallied and we resumed the climb. At that point Joe came along and I entrusted Amy to him so I could go down the hill and find Katie 'cuz I'd promised her that I'd ride w/ her to the top. (She didn't quite make it to the top last year and was determined to do so now).
It took a while but we finally rolled up to the sign marking the top of the pass, posed for pix and re-aseembled the group for the return leg. I was worried about the wind and the fact that the clouds had burned off and the temps seemd to be rising as we hung around the top. The descent was the all-out blast that any 7 mile downhill would hafta be but right before we got to the Rest Stop @ the bottom a young lady wiped out in front of my group and I stopped to help her up. (Gotta do the Coach thing y'know!) By the time I re-joined my riders Amy was feelin' kinda punk again and the nexy thing I knew the med-folk had grabbed her away from me and had her in the back of the ambulance /w an IV in her arm. By this time the wind had whipped up and I knew we were in for a l-o-n-g day.
And so it was...........we had 45 miles to ride and the wind got worse for the rest of the day. Basically we were "blessed" with the tailend of the Santa Ana winds that were causing no end of trouble for the poor folks in San Diego and by mid-afternoon we were dealin' w/ full-on 30mph headwinds w/ gusts in the 40's and a temp of 104. Lovely. Needless to say we did our best and an amazing % of the Team managed to ride all the way back to the start/finish. I was amazed and impressed w/ all the riders on the team.....they ride so hard and they care so much and they are so good for each other!
The last of us dragged in just a bit after dusk........so the final count was 11 1/2 hours or so for the day and the wind was so strong that all the night's post-ride festivities were shut down by the resultant sandstorm. That was a drag too, 'cuz several of the staff told me that our team had been the topic of discussion all weekend and that a tribute to the West Michigan Team was planned for dinner. We deserve it.......the folks on "my" team are a special breed and are a class act all the way!
Sunday we split up , w/ half headin home and the rest of us to Las Vegas for a day (or 2) or R & R and just being together. As much as I despise Vegas it was great to extend the wekend by another day so we could spend some more time w/ our team mates. It's ggood to be home though.
So.......what's up 'round here? We have a bunch of folks signed up for Danielles' Dirt Skills Camp this sunday, the last Tuesday Night Road Ride is next week, Ted's on his honeymoon in Mexico w/ Sarah, 2 sweet Sevens go home this week and my wife's here to take me to dinner so I gotta go!
Monday, October 08, 2007
Man, whatta a week!
So....I came back from the extended JDRF bike work fest/Interbike show w/ dead legs and a fat gut. Too much time in planes and airports, too much bad food (and too much food in general!) and not nearly enough saddle time makes Mike a s-l-o-w boy! So......in typical Clark fashion I tried to flog meself back into some semblance of condition by riding my ass into the ground last week. Not sure that I succeeded with the first goal (the fitness part) but I for damn sure accomplished the latter!
After doin' a Cyclo-cross presentation for the Macatawa Cycling Club meeting on Tuesday (by the way....it's startin' to get to me that I miss the Tuesday Night Ride 'cuz I hafta go to the Club's Board Meeting and talk about rides!) I rode w/ Da've, Aaron and Jeff Wed. before work onthe fixxie. thur night I did my first Crazy Bastard ride of the year.......forcing that 25# glow-in-the-dark fixxie over 38 miles of hilly dirt roads out there jusy outside of nowhere. What a hoot! The the Friday Morning bagel Ride w/ Jeff, Da've and JJ, then Jess and I did the Sprint Ride on the tandem on Sat morning, then Lin and I did the JDRF ride on the tandem Sat afternoon, (40 hilly miles in the Ada area) and then, after the gig Sat night......I met CD and his bud Dan-the-tri-guy-that-wants-to-be-an-all rounder @ Yankee Springs for some hot trail miles. I finally got to ride my Seven w/ the new wheels and fork and brakes. It's awesome. Ted built up my wheels w/ the pink King SS hubs and DT rims and I got a schweet Pace carbon rigid fork. I'm runnin' a 33 x 16 gear and it felt okay, given that my legs were kinda blown.
Things @ the shop are good. It's still been plenty busy, what w/ the weird "August in October" weather. The rides are still well attended and we have lots goin' on for the winter.
One development for '08 is that we are pretty much officially done w/ Bianchi. It's been coming for years as we do less and less w/ them and I think it's time, you know? It's always a drag when you make a change, but we're pretty dang determined to offer the best "menu" we can find, and I think we can do better. Stay tuned!
So..........for the most part Bike Life remains a rare and wonderful thing. The shop is rocking, the Death Vallet Ride is less than 2 weeks away, there's a 'cross race nearly every weekend, the Pineapple Bob Classic is this coming Sunday, new bikes and frames are rolling in almost every day..................it's all good. Lots of really cool project bikes have happened or soon will too; Gunnar Crosshair 'cross bikes for Bob L, Frank Y and Brian W, a sweet Gunnar Roadie for Maria V, Sevens for Matt B and Luke N, Co-Motion tandems for Paul T-for-Texas and a couple in GR and a freakin' bee-yoo-ti-ful Co-Mo single for one very lucky young lady right'cher in Holland. Lotsa cool stuff goin' on and goin' outta here!
(Note: the preceding paragraph should in no way be construed as an indication that we think that only way-high end bikes are cool! All bikes are cool!)
Can't wait for the P. Bob! Can't wait for Death Valley! Can't wait for the Chilly Chili Ride! (11/11). Man..............life is good.
MC
After doin' a Cyclo-cross presentation for the Macatawa Cycling Club meeting on Tuesday (by the way....it's startin' to get to me that I miss the Tuesday Night Ride 'cuz I hafta go to the Club's Board Meeting and talk about rides!) I rode w/ Da've, Aaron and Jeff Wed. before work onthe fixxie. thur night I did my first Crazy Bastard ride of the year.......forcing that 25# glow-in-the-dark fixxie over 38 miles of hilly dirt roads out there jusy outside of nowhere. What a hoot! The the Friday Morning bagel Ride w/ Jeff, Da've and JJ, then Jess and I did the Sprint Ride on the tandem on Sat morning, then Lin and I did the JDRF ride on the tandem Sat afternoon, (40 hilly miles in the Ada area) and then, after the gig Sat night......I met CD and his bud Dan-the-tri-guy-that-wants-to-be-an-all rounder @ Yankee Springs for some hot trail miles. I finally got to ride my Seven w/ the new wheels and fork and brakes. It's awesome. Ted built up my wheels w/ the pink King SS hubs and DT rims and I got a schweet Pace carbon rigid fork. I'm runnin' a 33 x 16 gear and it felt okay, given that my legs were kinda blown.
Things @ the shop are good. It's still been plenty busy, what w/ the weird "August in October" weather. The rides are still well attended and we have lots goin' on for the winter.
One development for '08 is that we are pretty much officially done w/ Bianchi. It's been coming for years as we do less and less w/ them and I think it's time, you know? It's always a drag when you make a change, but we're pretty dang determined to offer the best "menu" we can find, and I think we can do better. Stay tuned!
So..........for the most part Bike Life remains a rare and wonderful thing. The shop is rocking, the Death Vallet Ride is less than 2 weeks away, there's a 'cross race nearly every weekend, the Pineapple Bob Classic is this coming Sunday, new bikes and frames are rolling in almost every day..................it's all good. Lots of really cool project bikes have happened or soon will too; Gunnar Crosshair 'cross bikes for Bob L, Frank Y and Brian W, a sweet Gunnar Roadie for Maria V, Sevens for Matt B and Luke N, Co-Motion tandems for Paul T-for-Texas and a couple in GR and a freakin' bee-yoo-ti-ful Co-Mo single for one very lucky young lady right'cher in Holland. Lotsa cool stuff goin' on and goin' outta here!
(Note: the preceding paragraph should in no way be construed as an indication that we think that only way-high end bikes are cool! All bikes are cool!)
Can't wait for the P. Bob! Can't wait for Death Valley! Can't wait for the Chilly Chili Ride! (11/11). Man..............life is good.
MC
Thursday, September 27, 2007
Interbike Report, Days 3 and 4
Whew! I am fried to a crisp. The "real" show started yesterday, w/ about a gazillion ShopFolk crowdin'[ into the Sands Expo Center to wander the vast expanse of new bike goodness. I had appointments w/ Seven Cycles (who is actually shipping their amazing new carbon bikes) and Pearl Izumi and spent the rest of the day trying to systematically covering the literlayy hundreds of booths chock-fulla bikestuff madness. Pearl has trimmed down their line, re-done the chamois' in their shorts (again!) and the colors looked great. I looked @ Craft and Endura stuff as well........sinc ei'm seriously considering replacing Castelli as our main PI alternative. I looked at so much stuff it'll take me 3 days of mental downloading and messenger bag unloading to get a handle on. I talked to Titus, Ellesworth and Intense today, as the search for a new high-end MTN bike line continues. I met w/ Rolf and Mavic as well and musta talked to 25 other representatives at booths large and small.
As we don't invision major changes in the shops' list o' wares for '08 my main focus was to try and see everything and find some cool stuff. The list of potential cool stuff was a little shorter that in years past....not sure if that's me or the industry....but fear not - there will be things to talk about when I get back to the shop!
Fav Racer Danielle, her husband Scott, Betsy-from-QBP and I grabbed some dinner @ my fav mex place here in town (it's along the canel in Venice, 'natch!) and then headed out to the big "Cross Vegas " race last night. Man........100 pro 'cross racers battlin' it out under the lights and the full moon w/ Elvis and beer and burritos and rock-n-roll and a buncha bike fools whoopin' it up and ringing cowbells! What a hoot! There's a big crit tonight but it's 4-5 miles down the strip from my hotel, I'm low on taxi-cash and I hafta get up @ 4:00am to cathc my plane so...............maybe not, eh?
So, another Interbike in the rear view. I have no idea how many this makes.......maybe 15-20? It's still so cool to see how vital the industry is, but there is a little fatigue in my gut over the silly posturing of the various "cliques"........it seems that 90 % of the folks here were either flying the colors of the "Messenger Dudes" the "Freeride Tribe", the 'Serious Roadie" or the "BMX Rat". Just normal folk that love bikes seemed to be in the minority.
Maybe it's just cause those folks don't have a uniform, huh?
Anyway...........stop by the shop startin' on Saturday and I'll have lotsa catalogs and pix of new stuff.
Man.........I need to go for a ride!
MC
As we don't invision major changes in the shops' list o' wares for '08 my main focus was to try and see everything and find some cool stuff. The list of potential cool stuff was a little shorter that in years past....not sure if that's me or the industry....but fear not - there will be things to talk about when I get back to the shop!
Fav Racer Danielle, her husband Scott, Betsy-from-QBP and I grabbed some dinner @ my fav mex place here in town (it's along the canel in Venice, 'natch!) and then headed out to the big "Cross Vegas " race last night. Man........100 pro 'cross racers battlin' it out under the lights and the full moon w/ Elvis and beer and burritos and rock-n-roll and a buncha bike fools whoopin' it up and ringing cowbells! What a hoot! There's a big crit tonight but it's 4-5 miles down the strip from my hotel, I'm low on taxi-cash and I hafta get up @ 4:00am to cathc my plane so...............maybe not, eh?
So, another Interbike in the rear view. I have no idea how many this makes.......maybe 15-20? It's still so cool to see how vital the industry is, but there is a little fatigue in my gut over the silly posturing of the various "cliques"........it seems that 90 % of the folks here were either flying the colors of the "Messenger Dudes" the "Freeride Tribe", the 'Serious Roadie" or the "BMX Rat". Just normal folk that love bikes seemed to be in the minority.
Maybe it's just cause those folks don't have a uniform, huh?
Anyway...........stop by the shop startin' on Saturday and I'll have lotsa catalogs and pix of new stuff.
Man.........I need to go for a ride!
MC
Tuesday, September 25, 2007
Interbike Report, Day 2
In what has become the theme of this trip I was up before dawn again today, just so I could break fast, brave the madness that is 5:30am Vegas traffic on the 30 minute hike down to the Expoi Center, meet fav pro racer Danielle and get on the shuttle bus for the so-called "Hangover Ride" from the Outdoor Demo. (A.K.A. the "Tour of Lake Mead") I had secured the use of a coupla C-Dale SuperSixes for the 26 mile ride. (A bike that has the oh-so-rare distinction of being the only one I rode to a victory this season!) We grabbed 'em, fitted them up and joined about 300 other bike shop dudes, pros, hangers-on and various other types for a jaunt from Boulder City down to a bee-yoo-ti-ful lookout on Lake Mead, about 13 miles away. It was not lost on your reporter that it was pretty much 100% downhill all the way there........and despite the bikes's 15 pound weight and oh-so-still BB I was still hurtin' coming back up. My legs were fried from yesterday and I just wateched as Danielle rolled away, jabbering all the way about how it'd been forever since she was on a real road bike. (She raced tour of Lelanau on her 'crosser!)
Once I was f-i-n-a-l-l-y back @ Bootleg Canyou we did some more riding. First up was a Co-Motion Periscope tandem. We sell a goodly number of these way-cool bikes and they're claim to fame is the super-adjustable fit......one bike fits kids, adults and everyone in between. I figured than D's 35" inseam would be a true test of that but she fit right on. We hammered it a bit, got outta the saddle for the climb back up to the venue.....it feels as solid as a "normal" design w'/ a lateral tube.
Next up was my fav ride of the whole Demo..........a Spot single speed w/ a belt drive. It did'nt take long to remind myself how much I like a simple steel frame and the simpicity of 1 speed, y'know? The belt drive is light, efficient, durable and quiet.....at least that's what Spot claims......and they seem like nice folks. Since the last time I paid any attention to them they've moved from Vancover to Golden Colo., introduced some complete bikes @ sweet price points and even ventured into some bikes w/ derailluers (!) but only one...........they have a 1x9 29'r and a 'cross bike. The bike I rode was a 29'r and it was the only one Ive ridden besides Niner where you kinda forget about the big wheels. Sweet sweet sweet.
Then we hit the Salsa booth.............Danielle's lookin' for a new ride and wanted to ride their full-sus El Santo. Turns out they didn't have her size but by then I had picked out a Dos Niner to ride. I liked it more than I ever did when I rode our demo Dos last summer. Not sure if that was the trail sout here or the fact that I have a lot more time on a 29'r now.
I think that's it...........if I missed on eit must not have made much of an impression! I changed outta my lycra, walked around, took some pics (which'll be up as soon as I get home) and called it a day. Tomorrow is the first day of the actual expo and the Cross Vegas race in the evening. Can't wait!
Gotta go............and I may well be unable to get online 'til I get home Friday. Stay tuned!
Once I was f-i-n-a-l-l-y back @ Bootleg Canyou we did some more riding. First up was a Co-Motion Periscope tandem. We sell a goodly number of these way-cool bikes and they're claim to fame is the super-adjustable fit......one bike fits kids, adults and everyone in between. I figured than D's 35" inseam would be a true test of that but she fit right on. We hammered it a bit, got outta the saddle for the climb back up to the venue.....it feels as solid as a "normal" design w'/ a lateral tube.
Next up was my fav ride of the whole Demo..........a Spot single speed w/ a belt drive. It did'nt take long to remind myself how much I like a simple steel frame and the simpicity of 1 speed, y'know? The belt drive is light, efficient, durable and quiet.....at least that's what Spot claims......and they seem like nice folks. Since the last time I paid any attention to them they've moved from Vancover to Golden Colo., introduced some complete bikes @ sweet price points and even ventured into some bikes w/ derailluers (!) but only one...........they have a 1x9 29'r and a 'cross bike. The bike I rode was a 29'r and it was the only one Ive ridden besides Niner where you kinda forget about the big wheels. Sweet sweet sweet.
Then we hit the Salsa booth.............Danielle's lookin' for a new ride and wanted to ride their full-sus El Santo. Turns out they didn't have her size but by then I had picked out a Dos Niner to ride. I liked it more than I ever did when I rode our demo Dos last summer. Not sure if that was the trail sout here or the fact that I have a lot more time on a 29'r now.
I think that's it...........if I missed on eit must not have made much of an impression! I changed outta my lycra, walked around, took some pics (which'll be up as soon as I get home) and called it a day. Tomorrow is the first day of the actual expo and the Cross Vegas race in the evening. Can't wait!
Gotta go............and I may well be unable to get online 'til I get home Friday. Stay tuned!
Monday, September 24, 2007
Interbike Report, Day 1
Okay, first lemme state for the record that I've been here in this Hellhole called Las Vegas for about 30 hours now.................and that's enough! i really don't like town at all and if it wasn't for the bike show and the JDRF Death Valley ride this dump would never again see the like of Mrs; Clark's favorite son!
Still...............here I am, and here I stay, 'til early Friday morning at least.
I came here fresh offa doin' the tech support in Whitefish MT for a JDRF Ride to Cure Ride. Brother Berger from the shop and I flew out on Wed, re-assembled about 65 shipped bikes, tuned up the other 85 or so, drove sag on Sat and packed 'em back up that night. Worked our asses off! Still...........what a great thin gto spend some time in the presence of the extra-fine folks that make up a JDRF Ride! Everyone rocks! The riders, the staff, the volunteers.................200-some passionate, dedicated, fun people doing a great thing. I love it!
jeff from the shop along w/ his buds Chuck and Joel comprised the West Mich team..they had a blast too!
Anyway....................the title of this here post is "Interbike Report", not "Ad for JDRF" so lemme get to it:
Today was Day 1 of the Outdoor Demo, which happens about 25 minutes outta Vegas @ a place called Boulder City. A small city of Pop-up tents and trailers pops up for 2 days of test riding bikes on the gnarly singletrack and the smooth asphalt. I rode the new Cannondale Scapel.......it gets a new rear end w/ 4 inches of travel w/ almost no pivots. I dug it..............smooth, climbed well, the sus did it's thing w/ minimal fuss. (Can you tell that I'm not really a big full-sus guy?) Still...what a great michigan bike! Plenty o' travel for our trails, still light enough to race.
Next bike was a new brand.............Pivot is thebrainchild of the guy that ran Titus forever. They have 2 frames, a 4 and a 5.5 inch travel dualie. I took the 4 incher for a run on Trail #4. (4 is the longest and most technical of the trails out there. I figger I oughta ride 'em all on the same trail, yes?) 'Nother nice bike...........but more "suspension-y" than the C-Dale and I was lukewarm on that. The same company that is bankrolling Pivot also plans to import BH from Spain, in an obvious attempt to be the next Orbea. I rode a fancy carbon one, it felt like a high-end carbon bike but hardly broke new ground.
I found myself @ the Salsa booth talkin' to homeboy Joe and the next thing I know I'm out on the trail on a Mamacita, their Scadium/carbon 29er. nIce rig and I was diggin' the hardtail but it didn't fit all that good and had the widest bars I have ever seen and that was messin' w/ my head. Still............we'd be all over Salsa if we hadn't found Niner, and we still may be someday!
I had to go by the niner booth 4 times to get a ride on their full-sus R.I.P-9. Obviously I'm fairly comfy w/their hardtails but the RIP was on my list. (Besides......I know I'd catch tons of crap from Ted if I didn't ride it) Despite my well-documented ambivilance for both 29-rs and full-sus...............this bike was a blast! The rear suspension wasn't so obvious, despite it's 4.5 inches of boiiing and it kinda rocked! They have a new one for '08, the J.E.T, and it'll be a better Michigan bike w/ 3' of travel and a pound less frame weight.
By this point my legs were feelin' the effects of 5 days of wrenchin' w/out riding in MT and 4 loops of the 4 mile Trail 4. I walked the Expo for a bit, ran into the guys from Loose Spokes in GH, Bob from The Bicycle Shop in Gaylord, Chris Kegel (Fellow JDRF guy) from Wheel adn Sprocket in Wis, etc. Then I figured "Well.I camout here to ride so ...." I grabbed a bike from the Mavic tent to try their fly new RXS wheels. prett swank......hollow carbon spokes on the front and left side of the rear, 1400 grams and dollars. They spun up super fast and were laterally stiffer than the Rolf Elans I currently run............ but those are 100 grams lighter and 400 bux less and stiff enough for my Wide load arse so I dunno. Sweet though.
That was it for me. I ditched the lycra and climbed on the shuttle. 8 hours out in the desert sun and wind and dust done did me in. There's an early morning road ride out to Lake mead that Danielle and I are gonna do, then I'll hang @ the Demo for a bit. I'll get some pictures for ya'll.
Time to finish the hike to my hotel and ditch this trashy tee shirt shop / 'internet cafe"!
Later, MC
Still...............here I am, and here I stay, 'til early Friday morning at least.
I came here fresh offa doin' the tech support in Whitefish MT for a JDRF Ride to Cure Ride. Brother Berger from the shop and I flew out on Wed, re-assembled about 65 shipped bikes, tuned up the other 85 or so, drove sag on Sat and packed 'em back up that night. Worked our asses off! Still...........what a great thin gto spend some time in the presence of the extra-fine folks that make up a JDRF Ride! Everyone rocks! The riders, the staff, the volunteers.................200-some passionate, dedicated, fun people doing a great thing. I love it!
jeff from the shop along w/ his buds Chuck and Joel comprised the West Mich team..they had a blast too!
Anyway....................the title of this here post is "Interbike Report", not "Ad for JDRF" so lemme get to it:
Today was Day 1 of the Outdoor Demo, which happens about 25 minutes outta Vegas @ a place called Boulder City. A small city of Pop-up tents and trailers pops up for 2 days of test riding bikes on the gnarly singletrack and the smooth asphalt. I rode the new Cannondale Scapel.......it gets a new rear end w/ 4 inches of travel w/ almost no pivots. I dug it..............smooth, climbed well, the sus did it's thing w/ minimal fuss. (Can you tell that I'm not really a big full-sus guy?) Still...what a great michigan bike! Plenty o' travel for our trails, still light enough to race.
Next bike was a new brand.............Pivot is thebrainchild of the guy that ran Titus forever. They have 2 frames, a 4 and a 5.5 inch travel dualie. I took the 4 incher for a run on Trail #4. (4 is the longest and most technical of the trails out there. I figger I oughta ride 'em all on the same trail, yes?) 'Nother nice bike...........but more "suspension-y" than the C-Dale and I was lukewarm on that. The same company that is bankrolling Pivot also plans to import BH from Spain, in an obvious attempt to be the next Orbea. I rode a fancy carbon one, it felt like a high-end carbon bike but hardly broke new ground.
I found myself @ the Salsa booth talkin' to homeboy Joe and the next thing I know I'm out on the trail on a Mamacita, their Scadium/carbon 29er. nIce rig and I was diggin' the hardtail but it didn't fit all that good and had the widest bars I have ever seen and that was messin' w/ my head. Still............we'd be all over Salsa if we hadn't found Niner, and we still may be someday!
I had to go by the niner booth 4 times to get a ride on their full-sus R.I.P-9. Obviously I'm fairly comfy w/their hardtails but the RIP was on my list. (Besides......I know I'd catch tons of crap from Ted if I didn't ride it) Despite my well-documented ambivilance for both 29-rs and full-sus...............this bike was a blast! The rear suspension wasn't so obvious, despite it's 4.5 inches of boiiing and it kinda rocked! They have a new one for '08, the J.E.T, and it'll be a better Michigan bike w/ 3' of travel and a pound less frame weight.
By this point my legs were feelin' the effects of 5 days of wrenchin' w/out riding in MT and 4 loops of the 4 mile Trail 4. I walked the Expo for a bit, ran into the guys from Loose Spokes in GH, Bob from The Bicycle Shop in Gaylord, Chris Kegel (Fellow JDRF guy) from Wheel adn Sprocket in Wis, etc. Then I figured "Well.I camout here to ride so ...." I grabbed a bike from the Mavic tent to try their fly new RXS wheels. prett swank......hollow carbon spokes on the front and left side of the rear, 1400 grams and dollars. They spun up super fast and were laterally stiffer than the Rolf Elans I currently run............ but those are 100 grams lighter and 400 bux less and stiff enough for my Wide load arse so I dunno. Sweet though.
That was it for me. I ditched the lycra and climbed on the shuttle. 8 hours out in the desert sun and wind and dust done did me in. There's an early morning road ride out to Lake mead that Danielle and I are gonna do, then I'll hang @ the Demo for a bit. I'll get some pictures for ya'll.
Time to finish the hike to my hotel and ditch this trashy tee shirt shop / 'internet cafe"!
Later, MC
Monday, September 17, 2007
TIME FOR 'CROSS!
What is it about cyclo-cross? It's painful as all hell, I totally suck at it, it involves running, which I prefer to a root canel, but just barely and ..........well.......did I mention that I suck at it?
Still............every time that Fall rolls around and we start gettin' the 'crossers out I realize that in some ways 'cross is my favorite time of year. There's something sweetly subversive about a 'cross bike. There you are........sittin' there as if you're on a road bike but you're lookin' for gnarly shit to ride over and through! It's like you're getting away with something, y'know? I love it.
I love rubbing embrocation on my legs and wearing shorts when I oughta be wearing knicks.
I love the scene........it's casual and serious at the same time. Some dudes are there w/ their new 2500 dolla CX'ers and then there's always some guy on an old Schwinn World Sport w/ flat pedals. (And all too often he's ahead of me!)
I love the sound of the cowbells and the crowd yelling "Hup Hup" as we roll past.
Besides...........you get to rub weird smelly Euro-goop on your shaved legs and no one thinks that you're weird...........how cool is that?!?!?
The 'cross season is well-and-truly underway 'round these parts, there were 2 races last weekend and from now on there wil be at least one every other weekend 'til it all wraps up here in H-Land on 12/8. If you've not checked it out................yaoughta!
All the details @ www.kisscross.com and www.tailwinds.net
Lots goin' on here @ Bike Central. I'm off to MT for the next JDRF Ride on Wed and then I'll be going straight to Vegas for the Interbike show from there. I'll try and post reports on the show every day or so.
Hard to believe that it's Showtime again! Man.......it's been a crazy season! Mostly good......but crazy for sure!
Gotta go...............talk at'cha later!
MC
Still............every time that Fall rolls around and we start gettin' the 'crossers out I realize that in some ways 'cross is my favorite time of year. There's something sweetly subversive about a 'cross bike. There you are........sittin' there as if you're on a road bike but you're lookin' for gnarly shit to ride over and through! It's like you're getting away with something, y'know? I love it.
I love rubbing embrocation on my legs and wearing shorts when I oughta be wearing knicks.
I love the scene........it's casual and serious at the same time. Some dudes are there w/ their new 2500 dolla CX'ers and then there's always some guy on an old Schwinn World Sport w/ flat pedals. (And all too often he's ahead of me!)
I love the sound of the cowbells and the crowd yelling "Hup Hup" as we roll past.
Besides...........you get to rub weird smelly Euro-goop on your shaved legs and no one thinks that you're weird...........how cool is that?!?!?
The 'cross season is well-and-truly underway 'round these parts, there were 2 races last weekend and from now on there wil be at least one every other weekend 'til it all wraps up here in H-Land on 12/8. If you've not checked it out................yaoughta!
All the details @ www.kisscross.com and www.tailwinds.net
Lots goin' on here @ Bike Central. I'm off to MT for the next JDRF Ride on Wed and then I'll be going straight to Vegas for the Interbike show from there. I'll try and post reports on the show every day or so.
Hard to believe that it's Showtime again! Man.......it's been a crazy season! Mostly good......but crazy for sure!
Gotta go...............talk at'cha later!
MC
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