Our plan for this year was more about showing the experience of building and riding custom naked bikes, rather than really showing them off. This is why winning the award for best mountain bike as well as most innovative use of a belt drive was a real shock.

The mountain bike was the biggest surprise. It had spent its last three months being hammered on by Dirt Rag for a review and was sitting in the Schwalbe booth covered in Pennsylvania mud.

Not much in the way of pictures I’m afraid as we have spent most of the time talking ourselves hoarse.

It has been an amazing show so far, capping off a wonderful trip filled with great people.

One more day of meeting more cool bike nuts like ourselves and back home tonight or tomorrow!

Cheers.

]]> http://roadtonahbs.timetogetnaked.com/2012/03/03/show-time/ http://roadtonahbs.timetogetnaked.com/2012/03/03/show-time/ Sat, 03 Mar 2012 08:14:47 +0000 We hit the floor running this morning. Still exhausted and giddy from actually getting our booth together late last night.

This morning was likely one of the busiest Fridays of any show I can remember.

Lots of familiar faces.

In general, it seems like all the builders have stepped up there quality yet again. I saw very few bikes that I would call “poor”. I am excited by some of the experimentation going on as well as by the left of craft on more “standard” machines.

We had our bikes in for judging late in the afternoon. The format is different this year. It will be interesting to see how it goes.

Not a lot to report at this junction, but looking forward to a good day on Saturday.
Our good friend Lyle came down and helped out with our booth. He and Aran were great and we all had a good time with Steve Rex at his shop in the evening. It was an honour to have the man himself, Chris King, crumble cheese onto my tacos all evening.

I miss Andrea being here though.

]]> http://roadtonahbs.timetogetnaked.com/2012/03/02/load-em-up-load-em-in/ http://roadtonahbs.timetogetnaked.com/2012/03/02/load-em-up-load-em-in/ Fri, 02 Mar 2012 09:09:19 +0000 The day of load-in for any show is always a mine field of hungry, tired decisions compounded by anxiety. Details that matter probably to nobody but myself. Or do they……..?

We hit the ground running with a trip to the local television station for an interview about the up-coming show.

The rest of the day was spent finding things we needed for our booth display. We had brought a few items down with us but really our booth this year has very consciously been pared down to only us, the bikes we rode here on and a back drop of posters from the trip. All went well besides a failed mission to find string to hang the bikes. Currently we are using a couple of King cages and some custom hooks he bent for us. Looks a little funny but damn, who else can say they have custom King bike hooks.

Great debate was had over whether to clean the bikes or leave them dirty. So far we compromised and cleaned one of them. What do you guys think?

We had a nice surprise visit from Glenn Small, an old customer of mine from several years ago. He brought in his custom naked bike just for a photo. Really cool! Always fun to see a bike after it has been enjoyed for a few years.

Another short night of sleep and then a full day of cool handmade bike craziness starts tomorrow.

]]> http://roadtonahbs.timetogetnaked.com/2012/03/01/the-end-of-the-road/ http://roadtonahbs.timetogetnaked.com/2012/03/01/the-end-of-the-road/ Thu, 01 Mar 2012 08:16:51 +0000 We made it! At about 3pm we rolled into Sacramento over the Yellow Bridge to the state capital building like it was the last day of the Tour de France and we were rolling onto the Champs Elysees. There was much rejoicing and celebrating with a chocolate bar. We had obviously made good time today as all paparazzi and throngs of rabid fans had not yet thought to come out and greet us.

Today was our first real day of rain and even then it only proved to make us slightly damp for an hour or so. At least the installed fenders where not all in vain. The Ibex kit we had been wearing all week was perfect for this kind of day with it’s mix of temperatures and weather. Indeed it has been splendid all week.

Also splendid were our Schwalbe tires. Not a single flat! We took some nasty roads too….

After a siesta of 5 minutes we set about readying ourselves for a dinner with some local and state politicians to rally support for some of the issues facing cyclist in Sac as well as all of California. After experiencing many of the parks, bike routes, and signage first hand and then hearing that much of it may not last for budget reasons was sad to hear. Ever since I first toured and camped through California over 20 years ago with my dad,  I have not found a better area for cycling touring anywhere. What a pity if this was lost.

It is a strange feeling have finished our journey and yet really only just beginning. Tomorrow is a crazy day of building a booth with what we have with us, turning pictures from the trip into posters for display, and trying not to get distracted by all the cool stuff peaking out of other builders crates as they go through the similar prep frenzy we are. Then Friday is Show time!

Hope to see you there.

]]> http://roadtonahbs.timetogetnaked.com/2012/02/29/running-from-winter-to-winters/ http://roadtonahbs.timetogetnaked.com/2012/02/29/running-from-winter-to-winters/ Wed, 29 Feb 2012 08:30:33 +0000 Today I was reminded of the secret and instant trust of the fraternity that is found when travelling and adventuring by bicycle. Makes me smile as I write this.

Much of the morning was spent planning routes and figuring out how to dodge weather with Scot and Cheryl. We finally set off with the plan of going as far as we could before the freezing rain hit us, probably Davis. This would give us a short run into Sacramento the next morning.

We set off with an ambitious plan of making all the way over a very hilly 70-80 mile route and only leaving at about noon. This could have been a disaster but all went incredibly well, except for the bit where we got really hungry.

All the issues with the bike where sorted including “Captain Crunch” our Alfine rear hub. He was silent all day. A little brainstorming over several glasses of wine and 5 head scratching bike builders finally came to the conclusion that we needed a bigger wrench. After all the fiddling, it was simply a matter of getting the axle nuts tight enough. Thanks especially to Curtis Inglis for this one.

We ticked the miles over and feeling very spent from running steady to keep away from the impending storm we rolled into Winters which is a small town about 12 miles from Davis. From somewhere behind me, I heard someone holler from a truck: “Hey, it’s going to rain soon. Do you need a place to stay tonight?” The tired and hungry look on our face probably answered the question before I even had a chance to answer.

So, here we are at the house of Libby and Reid, drinking tea and typing to you. I love this. Andrea and I are always offering our place to random, tired and lost looking cyclists when they come to Quadra. The bicycle allows this trust somehow. In what other group can you still hear the words “Do you need a place to stay tonight?” from a complete stranger, and know right away that this is no stranger, but simply a friend you haven’t met yet.

Last day of riding tomorrow!

]]> http://roadtonahbs.timetogetnaked.com/2012/02/28/a-day-of-heros-and-fine-folks/ http://roadtonahbs.timetogetnaked.com/2012/02/28/a-day-of-heros-and-fine-folks/ Tue, 28 Feb 2012 08:30:33 +0000 Some days are just filled with damn fine people and this was one for the books.

The morning was un-assuming enough. We knew we had a great destination to stay tonight with IBIS founder Scot Nicol and his wife, but the rest of the day we were un-prepared for.

What started as an innocent email to Scot the night before asking if he had a standard handlebar and stem we could borrow for one of the bikes when we got to his place, was replied to with Scot riding all the way out to Jenner to meet us with bike bits strapped to his top-tube. He then lead us on the most spectacular journey of back roads, trails (finally got the bikes dirty!) and meandering climbs. Routes that we would never have figured out on our own.

Along the way we rode through Occidental, the stomping grounds of my own personal hero, Mr. Tom Waits. So this is the place he is writing about……..

A few miles later we stopped for lunch at the coolest bakery I have ever seen. When I asked them if they took a credit card they replied with: “No, but you can mail us a check later.” Nice.

As we came into Santa Rosa, we stopped by the frame shop of Jeremy Sycip. It wasn’t more than 10 minutes before I found myself, in full riding gear, tucked behind a welding helmet, patching up some wounds on the long bike, including the handlebars. At first, I was terrified by the idea of a “flaw” in the show bikes but now that it is dealt with and learned from, I’m even more excited to be doing what we are doing; Trying new things and testing them in the real world. I’m going to screw up sometimes and when I do, I just hope that people like Scot and Jeremy are there to lend a hand, in the same way I am more than happy to help when someone asks. I have a sticker on my milling machine that says:

“Someone who doesn’t make mistakes, doesn’t make anything at all”

This post is coming in late this evening as we are just finishing off a great feed at Scot’s with Curtis of Inglis/Retrotec, Jeremy of Sycip and there lovely partners.

]]> http://roadtonahbs.timetogetnaked.com/2012/02/28/clif-bar/ http://roadtonahbs.timetogetnaked.com/2012/02/28/clif-bar/ Tue, 28 Feb 2012 07:12:16 +0000 Here’s a company that really started from the roots up.  They are an inspiration for all of us small businesses. There is so much passion and belief in what they do.  It is wonderful to see a successful company that can be environmentally conscious,  community oriented, support hundreds of athletes, and provide fantastic incentive programs for their employees (including bike commuting programs and employee stock ownership!!).  Hmmm. I wonder if they need me to work for them?

Here’s Clif Bar’s Peter Berridge.  Lucky for me he was feeling chatty.  He’s got some interesting stories to tell about growing up Marin County.

1. Why bikes? What makes you passionate about riding?  Clif Bar is a company born on a bike. If you’ve ever read the back of a Clif Bar package, it talks about the epic 175 mile ride Gary was on, and how he just couldn’t stomach another one of the ‘other’ energy bars. It was on that ride when Gary had his epiphany and decided he could make a better energy bar. Gary is still a diehard cyclist, doing epic tours annually. And once a year in September, the whole company comes to California for the Clif Bar Epiphany Ride, celebrating Gary’s epiphany ride. There are rides of all distances, huge meal afterwards, all based out of Gary’s house. Safe to say it is the company’s most beloved tradition.

Personally, I grew up in Marin County during the 70’s and 80’s when mountain biking was just becoming a reality. I lived in Madrone Canyon in Larkspur and used to see long-haired hippies, the infamous Canyon Gang, in jeans wheelying down the street on cruisers after exiting the trails. I watched in awe. And I knew the trails from hiking with my family so the transition to bike seemed natural. My first  ‘mountain bike ride’ started by being driven to the top of Mt. Tamalpais by my mom, and riding my BMX bike all the way home solo. I flatted in the first few hundred yards and had to walk all the way home! Not long after, a buddy of mine got one of the OG Stumpjumpers for Christmas, then another friend got a Schwinn High Sierra. Then it was on. Somehow, one of us tapped into a group night ride out of Mill Valley, the infamous Thursday night ride. No joke, on most rides we’d see the likes of Gary Fisher, Joe Breeze, Steve Potts, Mark Slate, Joe Murray, Charlie Cunningham, Steve Gravenites and countless other legends. Shoot, it was more than that… we’d rub shoulders with them on the ride and share snacks at the rest stop halfway up the mountain. From there, the adults would charge onward to the top and my teenage friends and I would push on through the dark on our own, back around the mountain to the Larkspur side. Those adventures were filled with so many of life’s lessons for us, so much laughter, challenge, fun and camaraderie… they really shaped who we were, and they made us fall in love with mountain biking. Eventually organized races like the Rockhopper in Santa Rosa started happening and then it really became a sport. In college I stopped ski racing and started mountain bike racing, eventually turned pro and was pretty devoted to racing in the 90’s. To top it off and to put an end to this ramble, I ended up at Clif Bar largely through a Clif employee who I met… on a mountain bike ride. He hired me later that year.

2. Why have you decided to work with the handmade bicycle manufacturing community?  With our connection to food and cooking, coming up with new products and working to make existing products even better, we are involved in a craft of our own. That’s a long way of saying; we appreciate craftsmanship. And with our connection to bikes, this is a unique opportunity to support the heart and soul of the handcraft side of bikes. I’m sure plenty of people at Clif and even Gary himself would really appreciate the works of art at the show.

3. What was your first bike? My first bike was a Huffy. First mtb was a Stumpjumper.

4. If you could be riding your bike anywhere in the world right now, where would you be? Mtb touring on the Colorado Trail… in the heart of summertime.

]]> http://roadtonahbs.timetogetnaked.com/2012/02/27/a-nice-logical-day-ritchey-logic-that-is/ http://roadtonahbs.timetogetnaked.com/2012/02/27/a-nice-logical-day-ritchey-logic-that-is/ Mon, 27 Feb 2012 05:00:44 +0000 A nice Logical Day- Ritchey Logic that is.

We set off early this morning. Not because we had a long day, it was only 40 miles, but because we had a lunch date to meet and a long unknown climb to get to it.

One of the Granddaddies of the mountain bike had invited over for a visit. We had one of the nicest afternoons solving the worlds problems, one logical step at a time. It was refreshing to see one of the icons of the frame building world and king of the Ritchey Empire, so grounded. In his work clothes, surrounded by sketches and wood working projects, hands beaten to hell by years of good old fashioned labour, Tom was obviously still as excited as ever about what might be next around the corner.

In a couple of hours we had brainstormed and started about 3 years worth of new projects between us. Good stuff!

Tom will have a booth at NAHBS and will be giving a talk on Saturday morning I believe. Should be good!

We plummeted down off the ridge towards the coast and a few more miles to Jenner. The temperature dropped with the sun and we found ourselves scrambling to don most of the clothing we had. Luckily we have a lot of Ibex woollies to keep us cozy.

The Jenner Inn awaited us. The Inn is made up of a beautiful collection of cabins right on the coast in this sleepy little town. I’m sure it is booming in the summer, but in the deep off-season we feel like we have the whole town to ourselves.

A bit of work to do tonight and then we are off to meet up with hall of famer, trials rider (Aran is very excited about this) and mountain bike legend, Scott Nicol of Ibis tomorrow.

With all the rough gravel roads, heavy loads, steep climbs and twisty descents, it looks like it may have taken a toll on the experimental bar/stem combo on the long bike. Might try to find a standard bar and stem to get through the next few days. This is the risk we take building unusual items sometimes. A lot of the bits on the long bike are prototype and so stuff is bound to happen.

As we discussed with Tom today: you have to be a rider to be a builder, just before he set off for a 2 hour ride before dinner. How else will you know if, and how things work?

We couldn’t agree more.

]]> http://roadtonahbs.timetogetnaked.com/2012/02/26/coasting-all-the-way/ http://roadtonahbs.timetogetnaked.com/2012/02/26/coasting-all-the-way/ Sun, 26 Feb 2012 06:44:37 +0000 Something about careening out onto the coast, yesterday afternoon, into a blast of sunshine and surfer breeze, really made me feel like I needed to do some spring cleaning. I had an overwhelming urge for a haircut. After a glorious sleep at the Living Light Inn we were packed and ready to set off at the crack of 10. Aran on the heavier of the two machines went on ahead with Gillian Welch strapped to his handlebars (at least here music was on an mp3 player he found on the side of the road, run over but still working). I promptly set off to find a barber.

I cruised both downtown blocks of Fort Bragg before finding a little barbershop on the other side of the tracks. The one man show was run by a great guy who had worked his whole life in the local mill until it shut down. Now in his late sixties, he had been cutting hair for the last 10 years. When I poked my head in and asked if he took credit card he simply grinned and said: “What do you think?” I ran off to get some cash.

After removing six months of hair I sped off in chase of Aran down the coast through beautiful Mendocino feeling like a new man. I was quickly halted many times by amazing photo stops and amazing vistas.

Just by chance I stopped to shed some clothing to find myself five feet from a memorial to a fallen cyclist. This woke me up to the risk we all take as riding alongside multi ton monsters. Note to self: Keep yer head up.

I found Aran several hours later passed out at the top of the hardest climb of the day surrounded by assorted empty packages that once contained calories. We flew off in search of Gualala.

We arrived after a few more stops to adjust Captain crunch. This is the name we have given the Alfine 11spd internal hub on the longer bike as he seems to get cranky from time to time and need a little rest and a cuddle. Not sure what is causing the captain to not work from time to time but it seems that spinning around 3 times, singing Johny Cash backwards in harmony and spitting over our left shoulder is the right fix. At least this time.

Linda greeted us at he front desk of the Gualala Country Inn. What a host! She promptly set about explaining exactly what was available in town, including closing times, food recommendations, suggested riding routes. All this was backed up immediately with maps, menus of all the local restaurants and a couple of keys to a super clean and comfy room complete with fireplace.

We got a nice ride plan sent from Scott Nicol of Ibis for tomorrow as we set off for lunch at Tom Ritchey’s.

]]> http://roadtonahbs.timetogetnaked.com/2012/02/25/a-swervy-curvy-day/ http://roadtonahbs.timetogetnaked.com/2012/02/25/a-swervy-curvy-day/ Sat, 25 Feb 2012 07:32:43 +0000 I let Aran loose on the keyboard this evening:

This morning was a little colder than yesterday, so I piled on the thin woolen Ibex layers, including a hat, thinking I would remove my jacket in an hour or two. About one and a half minutes later I was trying to remove a jacket, a jersey and my hat while still riding. We did a steady 5 miles on the 101 before turning onto ‘Shoreline Highway’, better known as the beginning of Highway One.

This road was a dream come true. We started by climbing 5 or 6 miles of smooth, swooping bends in the shade, followed by a decent that was fast and never straight. Me and Sam flew along beside each other giggling the whole way down. The second climb was a little shorter but my legs were starting to adopt that ‘day two’ feeling and my speed shifted slowly from gliding into grinding.

After some more descending and a few more shorter climbs I suddenly left the cover of the forest and and found Sam waiting for me in the sun with the ocean a few hundred feet below him. My legs didn’t feel too bad from the previous 50 miles but I really needed some sugar! About 20 minutes later I found myself uncontrollably veering across the road towards a gas station, where I spent 2 dollars on a second wind in the form of chocolate. Over the next 15 miles I gained more and more energy as we got closer to Fort Bragg. After sprinting up a few hills we ended today’s ride cruising along a clifftop trail as the sun set.

We have some truly unique lodging this evening! We are at the famous Living Light Inn, a beautiful old arts and crafts house that was converted into an Inn back in the forties. We are staying in the “Well Being” room. This place has a great feel and can’t wait to tuck into bed.

Another big day down the coast to Gualala tomorrow.

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