LOOT

{words brian}

Hey Chrisb

Heatsaver Gloves…you can usually find them in farm implement stores for less than $10. I coat them with some SnoSeal and they’re good for almost anything. I even use those gloves for skiing all but the coldest of days. (check out the Happy Holidays post) They absolutely rock.


It is with a heavy heart that I must admit that I am no longer wearing cycling clothes as yourself. I remember my very first mountain bike race in 1991. I was wearing sneakers, swim trunks without a chamois, cotton t-shirt, a beat up sweatshirt (it was cold), and a Giro Tequila SunRise helmet. I religiously rode in this type of gear for years. I never set foot in a Bike shop for Cycling clothes. Goodwill and the Salvation Army were my “sponsors” for years.

Today on my lunch ride I noticed that my new Sidi Dragons cost more than my first mountain bike and all my “riding gear” put together from that first bike race. How did I get to this point? Best I remember it was 1997. I was a volunteer wrench at USA Cycling with the grand hopes of becoming a Pro Mountain Bike Mechanic. Unfortunately, so did ¾ of the mechanics out there. I was asked to be a mechanic for the Track Sprint Program instead. Track racing?! Isn’t that like road racing but with no scenery at all? I had grand hopes of traveling to all the various races, turning a wrench, and getting to ride all these mountains. Instead, I saw the various ways an oval can be constructed. So instead of mountain biking everywhere, I got a road bike…(sigh)…and a full National Team kit to wear on the rides. It’s been a wallet vortex ever since.

While my Republic of Doom vest was given to me by my buddy Higgins, it’s a far cry from the sweat shirt that looked like I stole from the set of Flashdance. Custom made for me by Single Speeder Extraordinaire/carpenter/PDX messenger Steve Fassbinder. While I’ve had the vest a mere month I’ve worn it on almost every ride I’ve done since I got it. The GoreTex material blocks out the rain and wind like you’d expect, and keeps my core warm. There is one small Velcro pocket in the back and subtle reflective striping. The cowboy styled pistols and gun casing zipper grab more ‘eye humps’ and comments than any other piece of cycling clothing I have. While his vests are pricey…anything that fits and looks as good are worth it.

SOMETIMES WE LIKE TO WEAR TIGHT PANTS

{words carey}

I swear those words (in the title) come from a song and amazingly enough I think it is a song I listen to often, but of course I can't place it.

Anyhow, it seems both Brain and I had malfunctioning alarms this morning, which meant we both missed the biking time slot that would get us to work on time. So, we packed our road gear into our bags and threw our bikes in the back of the truck so we could spin our legs at lunch.

There is a loop just outside our HQ building here that we all deem the "lunch ride" - it is a 15.47 mi loop that hugs the Green River (check out the route...here). Amazingly enough Brian had never been on the lunch route, "Oooo, this is going to be so much fun to show you the route!" I giddily said when I picked him up this morning. So, we dropped our camera's in our back pockets and snapped a couple shots.

{click images to enlarge}

bikes hanging in the lobby ready for the ride.

it is winter and moss seems to grow on everything

I got to visit the Castelli headquarters this summer down in Portland; G. Cowen the president hooked me up with a vintage Castelli piece that was calling my name...it had 2 of my favorite colors on it, black and hot pink...yeah!

Our route takes us through the holes of a local golf course - which I am surprised still exists because isn't road biking the new "golf"?

Ah...we both have the same bikes, same water bottles, same toe covers, same shoes (B. & C.)...good thing we don't have the same hair cut!

On the last little stretch back we saw a runner on the path staring up towards the sky. Brian asked, "What do you got?" It was a bald eagle feasting on some fresh kill; he was pretty gorgeous and seeing him he rounded out what was already a great ride.

Ahh...bikes they are so damn fun!

MONDAY's HABIT

{words carey}

Everyday that I leave my house without my bike under me I feel a little uneasy; uneasy because I start to put myself through a fairly intense guilt trip: "You should have taken your bike! You need to ride! The weather is going to be ify the whole rest of the week except for today - it is sunny grab the bike! Why didn't you ride?" and such.

So, I am teaching myself that it is alright if you don't ride every single day, it's OK to just rest, sleep in a bit, and enjoy the warmth of the car. Monday's are my devoted days for this rest, warmth, sleep catch up, and body rejuvenation. Every Monday I try to drive in with a weeks worth of groceries and clothes because riding 50 miles round trip is a lot more comfortable with only a lock, some incidental items, a camera, ipod, and some bike repair stuff in your bag.

My Monday habits have started and I must say on this icy/snowy filled day I was happy to have developed this habit.

Cheers.

Enjoy.

IF THE LOFTIES MOVE TO GEORGETOWN...

...they might as well bring this along with them?! A $20,000 coffee maker - check it out...here

NIER COLD STORAGE & ICE

{words carey}

Yesterday morning Brian and I rode through Georgetown with a heavier heart than normal because the Rainier Cold Storage & Ice building was a skeletal mess of re-bar, brick, and glass. This building was home to three breweries in 1893 and of those three, Rainier Beer was one, that would help put this building on the map as being one of the sixth-largest brewing facility in the world.

So, now the "vacant warehouses standing tall on the edge of Airport Way, making you feel like you're riding through an urban canyon" will no longer be a highlight to our rides in the morning. It is sad and as I had mentioned in an earlier post, "Georgetown is one of the last little pockets in Seattle's industrial area that hasn't been taken over by the LOFTIES"

We can only hope that this vacant lot doesn't become home to the "lofties."

For a more detailed article click...here

Looking south down Airport Way.

After photographing the Rainier Cold Storage building we found this clown in a nearby window and Brain swore it was the clown from Pee Wee's Big Adventure.

What do you think?

The result of me photographing Brain...

...the result of Brain photographing me.
Who's camera is better?

Do you think it will hold?

A bit of frost sparkling in the morning sun...

If you look at my face closely my smile is laced with pain...

...I suppose because my toe was frozen.

SNAP, CRACKLE, POP

{words carey}

BRRRRR..................

First text 6:04am carey to brian : It is 22 degrees out there! can u snag some valve extenders? do u still want to ride?
6:16am brian: 22?! f me thts cold! u hv heat in that fancy new truck?
carey: (then I just decided to call brian) - well I'm all suited up and ready to roll...I'll be the gauge to downtown and if you hear from me that means it is way too cold to ride and you can pick me up...otherwise I will see you at All City Coffee.
7:11am - now at All City Coffee with a triple tall americano in hand and thinking I should have stopped downtown and put a call into brian.

It was down right cold today for us Seattlites and to keep our minds off our numb digits we decided to crunch through every frozen puddle we could...(I will report and provide images later).

Short post today we actually have to "work" today (smile): but don't fret as I will post a story with images later that will include a demolition, an experiment with a large puddle, frosted beard beads, and a white toe.

Until then keep warm.

SALT CITY SPRINTS

We donated a 2008 Raleigh Rush Hour as a prize for the Salt City Sprints...so if you are in the lovely land of Utah and happen to be in Salt Lake on the January 24th stop by the Urban Lounge for a night of Gold Sprints.



Cheers!

ME in Team

{words brian}

It’s cold so I spent an extra 15 minutes in bed milking the warmth of my comforter.
I turn on ‘John in the Morning’ to hear him groan about the weather while the water boils for my Coffee.
It’s cold…but only a 15% chance of rain.
20 miles each way to work.
15%...20 miles…plus I slept in. Ugh.

The only way I can ride in on days like this are to grab one extra cup of sludge, play the rain odds and grab my fender-less Team bike. While it is my Race bike (if you want to call what I do racing) it doubles as my ‘I need to trim some time off my commute’ bike as well. The frame is light, stiff, comfortable and yellow (saving me the indignity of having to wear it on my body). My Dura-Ace components work like every single review you have or will ever read on ‘em. The Dura-Ace wheel-set is the nicest wheel-set I’ve ever ridden that weren’t hand built. I’m trying to get rid of my Easton handle bar with an annoyingly HUGE Wing on them…my hands feel more comfortable around a pint glass not a Trapper Keeper. The Easton stem, seatpost, and Truvative Rouleur cranks attach and help guide me on the bike provided the java went straight to my extremities.

15%...20 miles…plus I slept in. I should be right on time.

Sweet little trio of Dura-Ace, Raleigh, & Twin Six

It's all about personal possession or is it passion?

TRIPLE TALL SUNSHINE W/ A TOUCH OF WHAM!

{words carey}

Away in California for 6 days soaking up the sun and riding around Santa Monica...now back in Seattle all bundled up and happy to be drinking good coffee and beer; I do miss the sun and warmth though.
While in Santa Monica I wondered into a shop in the Abbot Kinney district by the name of Topo Ranch...the window display had a great t-shirt with a revolver on it that I had to have. And after checking out all their other wares my husband came across this sweet bicycle shirt:

Check out their site here...Topo Ranch

Sitting in the dark of the morning at All City Coffee on the ride in yesterday I realized that I keep forgetting to mention that our barista, Keo, is a rider for Cadence Clothing and I must say he makes a phenomenal triple tall americano...

Also...while Brian and I were making our way out of South Park last night, Brain mentioned that his product group was meeting with SRAM today. So, we got started on a SRAM pronunciation stint: SSSSRAM, SHRAM, ETC. and then of course the word WHAM! came about. As I looked over at Brian I saw his eyes looking in his memory box and he asked, " Wasn't there a Wham! Rap? You know, George Micheal rapping?" So, my inbox was just graced with this amazingly awful video:

ENJOY!

NEW YEARS EXCLUSIVE

{words carey}

One of the bands that gets me to work on my bike almost every other morning - Radiohead.

If you haven't already checked out their new album In Rainbows, I highly suggest it. Here is a video that they did exclusively for the new year....enjoy!



via josh spear

I came across this article as well and it is great...David Byrne interviews Thom York

MORE DIGITAL BROWSING...

Pretty cool posting of some vintage bike photos - this one was my favorite.
via (ampersand vintage)

PONDERING THE PAST II

(continued from pondering the past I)

FEBRUARY 2007

*Matt turned 30 years old and had the first Kemyooter crash when a herd of cats ran across the road at 6 am in the morning somewhere on 4th ave south.

*Brian inspired me to pull out my single speed to conquer our 50 mile round trip commute and now I only look at gears on those tired mornings when one might have been ingesting to many liquid calories (smile).

*It seemed the month of February was filled with weather, weather, and weather.

*Brian questions why we ride...

WHILE BROWSING THIS DIGITAL WORLD

{carey}

I was on the Twin Six website last month and failed to post a couple snaps of their home web page. Our One Way (though abstracted) makes a mighty fine display rack for their new Speedy Jacket don't you think?

If you aren't wearing any Twin Six apparel, or slurping out of any of their water bottles, or slipping your toes into any of their socks...then I suggest you grab one or all of the above.




ENJOY!

PONDERING THE PAST

{words & photos carey}

Though a couple days late, I have decided to recap, revisit, look back, and ponder KEMYOOTERS existence in 2007. I have also decided to cover it in 12 days...posting short memories of each month.

This blog started out as just a casual journal so to speak; one that would document the rides into work of Brian and I. We thought it would be fun to show the world (which at that time just our friends and family) just how crazy we were to be getting up at the crack of dawn to ride 25 miles to Raleigh/work. Since those first couple of posts we had other riders join in - such as Matt, Reed, Tim, and other here and there. Since those first posts we've also built this blog into a venue that celebrates our love for the bicycle, inspires readers around the world, exposes people to Seattle through our stories and photographs, and we hope it is just an all around fun place to see what us kids do on bikes up here in Seattle and Raleigh.

My hope for 2008 is that we get more people on board at Raleigh writing stories and snapping pictures.

Now for the first recap...

{click image to enlarge}

January 2007

*Blog started and so did the snow!

*We snapped pictures and documented the many...many...places we stopped to fulfill one of our addictions.

*Only six posts in total for the month but we were stoked when the stat counter hit 5 by the end of the month!

*On that snowy filled day the ride home from Kent to Seattle we tacked on about and hour to our commute as the path was covered with ice. While Brain and I were on our RX 1.0's with knoby tires, Matt was on his DBR race bike - it was amazing we didn't crack any of our bones.



ENJOY!

37th Annual Jerry Baker New Years Day Ride

{words & images reed}

January 1, 2008 – I did manage to keep one New Year’s resolution this year – I rode my bike on New Years Day. After a month of cooler than normal temperatures (.9 degrees cooler for an average of 39.8 degrees), snow on December 1st, and record rain fall (3.5 inches above normal and measurable precipitation on twenty five days) I was just not that enthused about getting out on the bike in the rain and cold. I know, pretty wimpy, 39 degrees may not seem cold to many of you. Hey, I just don’t like being wet and cold – there I admit it.

Fortunately the weather broke on December 31st and Seattle’s bike riders got a two day break from the long dark tunnel of overcast skies and rain. I joined in the celebration of the New Year and the weather break by joining the 37th annual Jerry Baker First Ride on New Years Day. Jerry has been an active and important part of the Seattle cycling community and industry for many years. He won the first Seattle to Portland in 1979 when it was a race and has ridden every one since. Jerry has been at the forefront in promoting and administering local cyclocross racing and the Marymoor Velodrome Association. He is a venerated leader of the cycling community here in the Seattle and many riders come out for the First Ride just to say hello and thank you to Jerry.

Around Noon the riders began to arrive at Enatai Beach in Bellevue under the Interstate 90 bridge that links Mercer Island to the Eastside shore of Lake Washington. Although it is hard to see in the photo below, that strange “ball of fire” in the sky is the Sun – a rare sight this time of year here in the Pacific “Northwet”.

About 75 riders started off a few minutes after Noon and the “First Ride” was under way.

After 37 years the “New Ride” has evolved into a social event with friends coming out to see each other and talk about the holidays, last season’s rides and the upcoming season’s plans. The route is well established and the pace pretty “conversational”. Along the way the New Ride picked up other riders joining from their own New Year’s rides and by the halfway point the ride was well over 120 riders strong.

The ride heads north from Enatai, through Bellevue, Medina and up to Evergreen Point for the annual tradition of heading out and back to the dead end of Evergreen Road/76th Ave – hey it’s a tradition!

The ride then heads east on a bike path along Highway 520 to Northrup Way and the south back through Bellevue. Details on the route, including the distance and profile can be found at...Bicycling - click here.

As the ride wound south through Bellevue many riders pulled off to head home or out for a longer training ride around the south end of Lake Washington. It was a smaller group of about 50 of us who finished back at Enatai Park and exchanged New Year’s greetings. It was a great start to 2008 and I know I will be back for the 2009 version.