Coming Up For Air

Wow...has it really been that long since there was a posting on this site?! I'd like to say "it's that time of year in the bike industry" because...well...it is that time of year in the bike industry.

2008 is history, 2009 is getting ready to hit the streets, and we're working on 2010.

I'm going to post more in the next couple days, but just so ya'll don't think I've been sitting on a yoga ball in front of my computer not doing a darn thing...

We've been doing a couple more photo shoots for some Avenir Product last week...and we had another one that failed last nite due to Seattle being Seattle.

I've been trying to keep up with the news that we're putting out a Pro version of our XXIX bike. A couple folks, outside of myself, have posted about it here and here.

We're putting the finishing touches on our website and new catalog so everyone can get a glimpse of the new product we're putting out this fall.

On a more personal note...I'm wrapping up a commute challenge that we had this summer.

I've signed up for Star Crossed.

They've announced the dates for SSCXWC and have started registration for it. I've signed up and am trying to come up with costume ideas. Odds are, I'm going to show up with about 20 people this year...so any "group" costume ideas would be welcome. I haven't heard much on it this year, but there are going to be a bunch of folks sporting Raleigh Single Speeds at the event.

I just found out today that I'm heading to Eurobike next week...I'll try and report as best I can while I'm there on what's new in beer technology...I mean bikes.

And don't forget Vegas is right around the corner.

While it doesn't look like there will be a ton of Commuting going during September, there should be plenty to write about. So if ya'll just want to hear the stories that will be following me for the next month...stay tuned. I'll still try and get as many riding stories and observations up...but they might be a tad...sparse.

I apologize for this Tag heavy/slightly corporate post...just know...deep down...I just want to ride my bike, drink a couple beers, and over caffeinate myself...everyday.

A Different View

Took an old familiar route into work the other morning, Lake Washington Blvd.

{i can't stop riding this thing!}

I've been riding so much in the industrial sections of Georgetown, South Park, and SoDo that the scenery change had me comparing it to my 'normal' route. On this ride I saw
more bikes than cars
more trees than smoke stacks
more water than railroad tracks
more nice houses than decrepit hoovervilles
more yachts than semi-trucks
more 'share the road' signs than 'speed limit 50mph'
more Starbucks than All City Coffee...wait...that one's not as good.

{best kept secret? summer in the NW}

{i heart my new saddle}

It's nice to change things up every now and then...I'm sure I'll hit this route a couple more times before the rain starts to fall again.

A quick side note...we got another 2009 bike in the office the other day. It's pretty sweet. Check it out here.

Photo of the Day

This just arrived in my Inbox a little while ago. And while it has nothing to do with any Raleigh Employees riding...maybe it has something to do with someone else riding?

Yup, Ivan Basso requested a Raleigh One-Way to get around on. While he could've procured almost any bike out there, the classic steel bikes we're putting out grabbed his attention.

Does this mean Raleigh will be sponsoring a Pro-Tour Team anytime in the near future? My magic 8 ball says...

2009 Photo Shoot...

is a wrap.

Last year Carey did a great job of filling in the details day, by day, by day, by day. I was not afforded such a luxery this year.

This year we did not head out and rent a sweet house to crash in for a week. We did not have meals made up for us. We did not go out and secure a ton of product to place in the shots. We did not go out and secure "talent" to ride every single bike we have in our line.

The year felt a little more gurellia style. We kept the the shots local, running around Seattle and finding locations that fit the lifestyle and culture of the bike. I had a hand in picking a few of the places so I delved into the places most familiar.

The archetecture of the Seattle Public Library is pretty amazing, so we spent an entire Monday afternoon on the Detour Delux around the building and avoiding drivers with "Pylon Rage".

{At the Library or on the road, the Detour is one smart bike}

{did I really just type that?!}

My addiction to coffee is well noted and the kids at All City Coffee down in Georgetown make one of the best Quad Tall Americanos to start the day. So why wouldn't I want to spend a Tuesday there, to drink coffee and get some shots done of the Clubman? We got all hopped up on Americanos and took a ton of great pictures down there with one of my riding buddies Nat, and even got Keo to jump on a bike for a couple shots.

{I have a feeling people will be talking about the all new Clubman}

Rainier has been a popular topic for me lately, so we borrowed a friends cabin at Rainier for a couple days to pound out the Road and Mountain bikes on Wednesday and Thursday.

{Every bike should be taken for a walk at least once}

{Chasing a truck at 40mph on the Team}

{XXIX at play}

{The Competition got a make over}

Back in Seattle we crashed the Dead Baby Downhill on Friday for some Rush Hour snaps, and hung out in the sun for the Tour de Fat on Saturday to get the cruisers and the new Roadsters a taste.

{The liveliest bunch of Dead Babies you'll ever see}

{Roll'n a couple Fatties at the Tour de Fat}

{I can't wait for the Suberb Roadsters to be available!}

Sunday we wrapped things up fast and furious with 2 different and completely new bikes for the ladies. The Alysa flat bar road bike and the new, more aggressive, Eva 8.0.

{Alysa FT 1 hitt'n the streets}

{All new EVA 8.0 roll'n dirty}

All told...I can't wait for this new catalog to come out.

Thanks to Chris and Greg over at Motofish. They did an amazing job and took more pictures than pre-pubescent boy at the Playboy Mansion. We should have a lot of fun photos to play with this year.

And thanks to these kids for making us look good while we were out there.

http://www.rapha.cc/

http://www.twinsix.com/

Cross Stoke...

Apparently my bike showed up just in time. And I know Cross Season isn't here yet but my inbox has been filling up with people telling me that it's time to start registering for these things. Just today I got signed up for this one....

So if you find yourself at Interbike, you should make your way on out to the race. I signed up in the Manufacturer category and am going to start working on my "Race Kit" this weekend. To anyone going to CrossVegas, I expect plenty of 'hand-ups' and Preems. I'm going to be in full on training for SSCXWC (which haven't been announced yet, but I'm starting to hear things).

I want to try and crash the Crit as well. We'll see if I can get my Upgrade in time. I tried again today and got shot down again by USA Cycling.

Dear Brian,

The following request to change your USCF category has been denied by USA Cycling:stifflink - 2008-08-08 12:22

Member: Brian

License: Road RacerRequest to change category from Cat 5 to Cat 4

USA Cycling Response from Martha Lane Walsh:
Brian: USA Cycling guidelines specify that you need experience in 10 mass-start races to upgrade to cat 4.

I'll keep trying, but there aren't many more races I can hit before the whole thing goes down.

Plus...I gotta get on the Ball for the Cross season Kick off a few days before hand. Seattle's Star Crossed Cross race is one of the biggest in the country and really gets the season up here started. I've been eyeballing through the registration...and they don't have a Single Speed Category. I'm gonna have to talk to someone about this as I'm thinking there's gonna be enough people nutters enough to ride Single that we should get our own category.

The real kick in the pants about Star Crossed is I have to be on a 8am flight the next morning for Vegas. I already feel for the person who's going to be sitting next to me on that flight.

Tag

It would appear that I was tagged a couple weeks ago on the Bicycle Design Blog with some questions that were made up/modified and sent on. The whole reasoning for the questions is quite confusing and I have a hard enough time with Laces on shoes (I'm so thankful to the aliens for Velcro!).
Anyway...here are the questions and my responses. Please remember that these responses in not way reflect the attitude and opinions of Raleigh America and it's partners. The opinions expressed in these questions are by me and me alone.

If you could have any one — and only one — bike in the world, what would it be?

I hate to sound corporate right now, but I’m still riding my ‘new bike stoke’. Scroll down and check out my new sweetness. Question one. Easy.

Do you already have that coveted dream bike? If so, is it everything you hoped it would be? If not, are you working toward getting it? If you’re not working toward getting it, why not?

Whoa, the first question just asked about picking a bike…nothing about that bike being a dream bike. I think the word ‘covet’ is very appropriate for this question though. Shouldn’t dream bikes remain just that…as Dream Bikes. As soon as you acquire your Dream Bike your mind begins to wander to yet another bike. And suddenly you’re committing Bike-dultry on your dream ride. So, much like dating, I’ll continue to ride bikes that are ‘obtainable’ and allow my Dreams to evolve with the industry.


If you had to choose one — and only one — bike route to do every day for the rest of your life, what would it be, and why?

Seems I already do this one. I ride into work every day, on the same route…all the time. Best part of mine is it involves a coffee shop in the morning and a couple watering holes on the way home. Any time I can incorporate Bikes, Coffee, Rainier, and friends on a ride…it’s a good one.

What kind of sick person would force another person to ride one and only one bike ride to do for the rest of her / his life?

Ask my employer.

Do you ride both road and mountain bikes? If both, which do you prefer and why? If only one or the other, why are you so narrowminded?

Sure do. And seeing as how “the one” bike I would ride forever (see question 1) would be a Cyclocross bike…I don’t think I can say I’d prefer to do one over the other. Give me a mix of both and you have one happy cyclist.

Have you ever ridden a recumbent? If so, why? If not, describe the circumstances under which you would ride a recumbent.

Aren’t there a few jokes out there about riding a recumbent? I will admit nothing here. Me riding a recumbent is like UFO and Sasquatch sightings…there is no real physical evidence that I’ve ridden one, but no one can prove I haven’t either. The truth is out there…

Have you ever raced a triathlon? If so, have you also ever tried strangling yourself with dental floss?

Funny. I was registered to do a Tri this summer. Then I sobered up long enough to realize that I sink and there wouldn’t be a recumbent riding homicidal axe wielding maniac after me and forcing me to run. So I did a Crit instead.


Suppose you were forced to either give up ice cream or bicycles for the rest of your life. Which would you give up, and why?

Thank God this question didn’t ask me to choose between bikes and bacon. Wait…is there bacon in the ice cream?

What is a question you think this questionnaire should have asked, but has not? Also, answer it.

Given the line of questions that have been asked, I expected a question like “If you could ‘hook up’ with one professional cyclist (living or dead) and no one would know about it, who would it be?”

The answer…Marco Pantani (Elefantino)

You’re riding your bike in the wilderness (if you’re a roadie, you’re on a road, but otherwise the surroundings are quite wilderness-like) and you see a bear. The bear sees you. What do you do?

Offer the bear the number of a good Waxer. Hair is dirty, and the chances of your wounds becoming infected increase dramatically with that much hair.

Now, tag three biking bloggers. List them below.

With that I'll add 29inches to this, the kids over at Bike Hugger, and those dirty little Vigilantes down in Portland.

For some reason...I feel dirty now. I don't know why.

Raleigh Rainier

I'm originally a Colorado kid at heart, but since I've moved to the Pac NW I've grown a fondness for the Beer From Here. And with the current state of Georgetown and the old Rainier Cold Storage building I've been on a rant as of late.

So to honor the the local brew, I came up with this Single Speed Cyclocross Bike to race this fall.

{Ahhhhhhh, finally}

{Force brake hoods and FSA at the helm}

{Rainier since 1884, Raleigh since 1887}

{Horizontal drop outs and double 39's up front to make it look mean}

{made for SS racing, nothing extra}

{Makes you want a Tall Boy, don't it?!}

I've been posting the parts as they've shown up and giving thanks to the companies helping me out with this project. But I'd like to say thanks again to FSA, TRP, Crank Brothers, Sella Italia, and Michelin. I'll extend my thanks here and here once the final pieces of this bike show up.



I was busy doing the 09 Photo Shoot last week (2009 is going to be quite a fun year around here!) so I haven't had a chance to really beat it up. But believe you me...this thing will be ridden hard, put away wet and will crash the 2009 SSCXWC with quite a Bang!

RAINY FRIDAY HAIKU

MICRO DROPS OF RAIN

STINGING NETTLES ON MY FACE
WIND-WHIPPED, WET RIDE IN



-KJT, 01August08