Where oh where has the time gone?

I promised Captain Shants that I would come through here on the regular to pen some of this, or some of that, and I'll be damned if keeping my own ship off the rocks has prevented any such activity. It is with my heart in my hand (or is the adage 'my hat in my hand'?) that I come here right now to get some work done. Whatever the case, at least my record is still cleaner than Hurl's. Anyhoo, the primary reason for darkening this blurg's door today is to mention for the forth year running, Interbike will be seeing the underside of the bike industry converge at the nearly world Famous 'Underbike Industry Mixer®. The players in this bash will of course be the Soulcraft Bicycle Corporation, Ritte Van Vlaanderen, Swobo, and my personal All Hail The Black Market imprint. I've lost track of what we're actually celebrating, but when friends who don't see one another but on an annual basis do, celebrating in the most debauched way is advisable. Do your worst, cats and kittens. It's going to be the handsomest of all trainwrecks.

Ben is a married man!

This is somewhat old news, but I recently came across this picture from the 2012 24 hours of the Old Pueblo (held in February), and Ben recently was married in June. I also really like this picture as Ben has been an important part of my life since I met him. So, I wanted to say congrats Ben and his new bride Sarah! Ben has had a relationship with SOULCRAFT bikes almost from their inception, and I met Ben at SOULCRAFT dealer Absolute Bikes in Flagstaff in 2001. We hit it off immediately and we subsequently attended the 2001 race together, which was their second go in Tucson. We still tell stories from that early race and we added a few more to the cache this year.  Thanks for all your help this year Ben.

A RUOTA LIBERA: A celebration of artisan pizza, handmade bicycles and music - August 12, 2012

Second annual "free-wheel" event to be held at Una Pizza Napoletana, Sunday August 12th 2012 1pm-7pm

Una Pizza Napoletana and Soulcraft Bicycles invite you to spend an afternoon with a collection of passionate craftsmen as they showcase the fruits of their labor in the second annual "A Ruota Libera" -- Italian for "free-wheel" – a celebration of handmade bicycles, handmade Neapolitan pizza and live music. Doors to the event open at 1pm.

The annual event developed by Anthony Mangieri, founder of Una Pizza Napoletana, and Sean Walling, founder of Soulcraft Bicycles brings together a cross-section of the preeminent names in the cycling industry with a focus on bicycles, parts and components created in Northern California.

Anthony Mangieri will be working his pizza oven surrounded by exhibitors, including: Steve Potts, Bruce Gordon, Soulcraft, Black Mountain, Rock Lobster, Steelman, Hunter, Inglis/Retrotec, Falconer, Caletti, Frances Cycles, Black Cat, Paul Components, Ahrens, Pass and Stow, Rebolledo, Blue Collar, and White Industries. Handmade bicycles, parts and components will be on display around the restaurant for people to enjoy up-close and personally.

The event features an exhibit by photographer Brian Vernor and will be soundtracked by a live performance from San Francisco native and legendary Bones Brigade skater Tommy Guerrero. The Reveille Coffee truck will be on the scene to give a little extra boost.

"A Ruota Libera" is sponsored in part by Beer Moretti and Lambrusco Pronto wine. Doors open at 1pm and the show will close promptly at 7pm. Admission of $10 includes pizza, music performance and secure bicycle parking

"A Ruota Libera"
August 12, 2012 1pm
Una Pizza Napoletana
210 11th St (at Howard St)
San Francisco, CA
For more information: 415-861-3444

H2H, finally

Sorry for the delay. I run perpetually behind schedule, especially during this time of year as I become anxious about the new Fall Semester. I teach a couple class and my old brain has lost some it's wattage to remember all the facts. Anyway, I wanted to report on another successful Hump-to-Hole (#4) before it also faded from my memory, if that is possible. This year was my 3rd attempt at the H2H and 2nd finish (I cracked on the rim two years ago after my brakes were rubbing  (sure, JQP!!) for 30 miles). Although our stellar group (there was 4 starters) of adventurers made one wrong turn that cost us at least an hour of precious time, the total time from the top of Arizona to the bottom of Arizona (about 11,000 feet of descending) was about 14 hours and 35 minutes. We started the day around (that's A.M.):

 Bagged the 12,600 ft. peak at (dawn):

And finished around dark (that's about half way down):

It was another great day on the bike. The best part, as always, was my cohort: Art, BGR, and Mel are the best of the best. My favorite part of the day was this:

In this image, Art is fetching water using a MSR filter. Another foot down and he would have needed to jump into the tank. Although it seemed like a lot of work, we were stoked to have taken the time to pump water here. There was little water to be had over the "course", which as about 100 miles in total. My other favorite part was this single track during a lusher time:

Thanks for reading!