Saturday, August 29, 2009

Picking which foot is the best one to put forward.

As you all may or may not realize, next month marks the tenth year that Soulcraft Bicycles has been in existence, so to honor the occasion, I have already begun taking steps to ensure that my appearance is acceptable, starting with hem-taping several pairs of cut offs.

I remember that first trade show with Mo-Betta, Big Steve, Skinny Matt and The Sporty Pirate walking side by side like a mini wall of death, carrying what I can only assume was SC0000001. It was a red letter day, and the first success in a line of many.
It's hard to believe that if I'd knocked somebody up that preceding January, I would have a child that was starting the fourth grade this year..
Anyway, if you make it to Interbike, be sure to don your gayest apparel and slap the hand of the man who builds the frames that that make the whole world sing.

Thursday, August 27, 2009

The Long and Winding (fire) Road

My favorite down hill in Marin. Big Rock Ridge. Yes, a boring old fire road.
Posted by Picasa

Tuesday, August 25, 2009

While The Rev was out bumping around in Jumanji..

I was sitting at home wringing my hands and pulling my hair out, which is considerably better than wringing my hair and pulling my hands out.
All Hail The Black Market, y'all

Ouachita trail bike packing


Two days bike packing on the eastern portion on of the Ouachita trail in Oklahoma.. picked this up along the way

Saturday, August 22, 2009

My hair smells like vanilla.

Race Report, District RR: Crashing wasn't in the plan

It was a fine day for the District RR in Fort Ord, Ca. Heavy fog at the beginning made for some wet roads and the need to dig out the arm and knee warmies, but this is de rigueur in the Monterey Bay area. If any of you bikies have made it out this far to ride at Fort Ord, it is mostly rolling-type terrain, with a few sharp climbs thrown in here and there. Pavement is a 5 on the 10-scale; a few potholes, cracking, but everywhere the roads are covered in heavy chip-seal. Not much for building up momentum on the climbs. After playing it smart, and holding my own with the gunners up the loop's most significant climb, I made the 12-15 dude cut on the last lap for the run-in to the finish. The course turned in to a headwind, so people were trying to tuck in w/ about 1 mile to go. Then, after one near crash in the group, it happened: 4-5 guys hit the deck at 1K to go. The accident developed right and continued left across the road-I tried to veer even more left, but I couldn't get out due to another rider on that shoulder. (He later said he missed the whole thing by bushwhacking on the left side of the road.) So, as a bike flipped through the air on my right, its owner, presumably, rolled on the ground in front of me. Somehow, my front wheel missed him (bunnyhop?), but then my back wheel tagged him. When it did, I did a pitchout (more BMX terms), and my back wheel severely taco-ed-but I stayed upright (YEA!). I took it off the bike and tried the old MTB beat-it-on-the-ground-until-it-will-pass-through-the-frame maneuver, but alas, it was way too gone. I rode the last kilometer in the meat truck with some of the other carnage. Could have been worse, but after making ir the whole way and stacking it in the last K, it was a bit of a bummer. As Liggett says, that is the way the cards fall. "Til next time-next up is University RR and then Winters RR.

Thursday, August 20, 2009

Not the worst way to spend the middle of a Thursday...

As long as I am one of the 400- some thousand people in California who were invited not to come back to work last week, I may as well take advantage of the situation and see if the dirt is any tastier in the middle of the day. As it turns out, it is... And as I rounded a final corner in my adventure I came upon a couple of young women on a mid day walk. One of them said as she passed, "I heard you coming and I thought you were a bear." I said in response " I generally only get mistaken for one of those in the Castro with the exception that I'm too thin..."
Puzzled, she smiled and kept walking.

Tuesday, August 18, 2009

Man, if I only had a bike like this...

I saw this beauty at the California Academy of Sciences in San Francisco a couple weeks ago. Part of some Eco exhibit with examples of ways to reduce global warming. I love it when a bunch of smart people try to figure out ways to get more people to ride bikes by focusing on the bike. "What if we made it super-duper butt ugly, with a bunch of crap on it to make it actually harder to ride, and then put the bars on upside-down? That will totally work!" I told my wife right then and there that the reason she is married to a portly and unkempt man is that I don't have one of these. Then I would be a portly, unkempt, and mildly retarded man. There isn't a bike made that's going to save the world all by itself. We need parents (who themselves didn't ride much growing up) to get out there with their kids and show them that it's not a death wish to ride a bike. Otherwise, another generation of riders will be lost. If we leave it up to the smart people, we're fucked.

Friday, August 14, 2009

Guy turns 40 and his friends buy him a rug

I own the company, and I don't have one of these...

Thursday, August 13, 2009

SSWC09 FRIDAY NIGHT


Friday night of SSWC09 is shaping up to look something like this scene from HFF 2006. Good. Bad. Ugly as sin!

Wednesday, August 12, 2009

Sunday, August 9, 2009

Calling all Bay Area bike nerds.



The above represents about half of what I'll be bringing to the swap. BBs, drop bars, tons of tires, some mountain, some road, some cross, wheel sets, hoops, one Bianchi mountain bike frame, one custom Retodded singlespeed cross frame, a brand new Surly Steamroller frame set, a Redline 925 frame set, a Park mechanics pro tool bag, canti brakes, tons of wool jerseys, clipless pedals, forks for cross bikes, mountain bikes, track bikes, shoes.. the list goes on and on.
Chances are even pretty good that I'll trade some of it for beer.
I'm easy like Sunday morning.

Saturday, August 8, 2009

Haiku on Flat Tires


flying down the trail
the sky grumbles overhead
flat tires aren't my friends

Friday, August 7, 2009

I'm in love.

I don't speak any other language besides English, and let's face facts here, I don't even speak English all that well, but what I do know of our language is that there is no definitive description of how much I love this video that El Capitan Sporty Pirate just sent me.

Wednesday, August 5, 2009

sswc09


i'm thinking it won't be this flat in durango.

Monday, August 3, 2009

The day job and riding bikes = thumbs up!


My job for the next two weeks (August 1-15) has me on site at the 2009 National Senior Games at Stanford. My primary responsibility is making sure all 1000+ award ceremonies happen. They are happening all right.

One of the enjoyable pieces of the whole deal is that I can ride my bike around from venue to venue - it's actually highly encouraged. Not only that, one of the event sponsors has brought bikes on site and anyone can check-out a bike for free and roll it all day. It's so rad to see biking promoted like that. And people are flying around on bikes like crazy - it's nuts, but in a good way. They are even keeping a tally of the miles rode every day and posted on a jumbotron billboard at the front of the entrance.

I can only hope that when I am this age, I still keeping it real like these folks.

Saturday, August 1, 2009

Friendly is as friendly does.


Friendly Paul is a wicked committed individual who loves all things crafty and souly, and one who my better half has regularly referred to simply as 'a love', but he's the kind of individual who I wouldn't cross on a bet. Not unlike the big, floppy and lovable dog who is utterly dedicated to you and your every need, but the one time you do something stupid and abuse that trust, you can bet that you will find yourself on the business end of a foot that will most likely be kicking in your door and taking back what is rightfully his. He is what I can only strive to be.

Blog Archive