Bikes in Shows and Showing Off on Bikes

Work:
With the Handmade show on the horizon, I have been balls to the wall at the shop. I have been ordering parts, deciding on paint schemes, ordering more parts, coordinating with the shop which bikes we want built and to what spec all while doing my normal 30+ daily tasks. There is a saying around here, "If you are bored, you may need medication". This week is proving that statement to be true, yet false. I am not bored by any stretch of the imagination, but I think I still may need medication.

I spent some quality time on the phone with my friend Brandi at I9 this week. I dropped the whole NAHBS thing on him just as rapidly as Mark did to me, but he was totally cool about it. On all of the show bikes and test bikes that leave this office, I try like hell to make sure that they are spec'd with I9's. They look and ride the best and I want everyone else out there to love them too, plus they are a great company. But they usually have a slight back order going on due to their custom wheel building. So to call them up and have a set shipped right out is rare. But not for me...I guess I am one of the lucky ones on the cool kid list. Like my boy Beck puts it, Hell Yes!
Two sets coming to me...one for show the other for go.

I will be scrambling all week long to get the last bit if stuff worked out before my Jan. 28th shipping deadline. On that fateful Monday, I must make sure everything is built, painted, built up, photographed and then boxed and shipped. I definitely need medication. I did manage to get our latest 29er cruiser posted on twentynineinces.com...many thanks to my man Guitar Ted for the love and the post. This is easily my personal favorite...or at least the bike I would most likely want to ride if I rode a geared bike. More on the bike show craziness to come in the following days. The term "train wreck" keeps popping into my mind. Stay tuned.

I had a nice visit with a local police officer today. We are building/donating a R420 to him to ride in the Police Unity Tour in May. I am very pleased and proud to be working on this project. They will ride from here to Virginia, then pick up with a bunch of other officers to complete the ride to Washington, DC. The frame is getting a killer paint job and all of the parts are being donated by various industry folks. Considering all of the crazy stuff I have done in my life, if feels pretty good to help out the guys I have spent so much time running from. When the bike returns from paint, I will post some pictures.

Ride:
This week I have gained some new found focus for training. I was pretty pissed and bummed out by not getting into the worlds and that set me back a few days. But now I am back. I am working on my revised racing schedule and think that not having to worry about Napa is going to be better. My focus is now on wrapping up the Snake series and looking forward to the Cohutta 100. Garth P. has made mention of the Mohican 100 and the timing looks pretty good. So a couple of hungies on the books with the SSUSA mixed in should keep me on my toes for the Spring. A light sprinkling of SERC races will keep me from getting bored until the big ones come.

Tuesday night was bittersweet. Jason is still banged up from last week's crash, but insisted that we still ride to keep the traditional alive. Plus it was Bishop's last night in town, so we went out on the road bikes. Road bikes at night in 25 degree weather is not very fun in my book, but we managed to have a good time anyway. We rode down to do the local North Chatt loop a few times and ran into an "organized" training ride, so we jumped on the tail of the train for giggles. As we made our way towards the middle of the pack, we decided to stir things up. At the first climb of the loop, we attacked. The beauty of roadies is they are so predictable. Of course, everyone counter attacks and we just keep digging in to pull away. We backed off at the top of the big climb and there were several folks who held our wheels, then we attacked again. This went on for 2 more laps until the 3 of us were the only ones still attacking on the last and final climb. I think that we successfully screwed up everyone's training ride. While that was not our entire plan, it was fun. That may be the only way I will ever like road biking. Some people take stuff way to seriously.

So long Bishop, it was nice riding with you one more time before you roll out to Asheville. Look up my boy Jut Rut, I guarantee you will not be sorry, well maybe. I am looking forward to a visit in the next few weeks. Know that Jason and I will be killing it here and with the addition of Jon McL. it is only going to get more balls out. Good luck on the collegiate circuit...that is where all the fast ninjas are. But remember, old guys can ride forever...ninjas cannot.