Back from Utah

Well, we are back from Park City. I think that I am still trying to recover. The last night for us in Utah was a doozy. We ended up being out until almost 3 in the morning with some of the Cannondale people. Claire and I had to get up the next morning at 6 to fly out. We went to downtown Park City to a night club named Harry O's. It was a pretty interesting experience. The picture on the left is of Claire and I and our Cannondale Rep, Engin. The picture on the right was taken by one of the "go-go" dancers who was standing on a big platform. Claire took her picture first, and then the dancer offered to take Claire's picture. I am probably out on the dance floor at this point trying to keep track of my sandals.

I went out on Monday and rode my favorite loop through Willow Creek State Park. I raced myself on my Garmin. I ended up being about 2 minutes slower than my fastest time which had been in late Feb. It was nice and hot outside, which I really enjoyed. I could tell that I was tired right from the start, and even thought about cutting the loop a little short, but I persevered. I did have a flat tire on Box Springs Road, which is inside the state park. That was my first flat going down that pretty bumpy fire trail. It was actually a welcome break to sit down and patch the tube and relax for a couple of minutes.

I went up to Annadel last night with the Cannondale carbon Rize 1. I had the premonition that I might run into Rich S., and I did. Rich is a former employee at The Hub Cyclery, and a friend of ours. He just got his masters degree in Botany or something like that, so he is a smart guy. I ran into him after climbing Rough Go and Cobblestone. I actually had a pretty ridiculous fall on Cobblestone and was saved by my Camelbak. I was threading my way through a little rock garden on the climb, and I fell over. It wouldn't have been bad at all, but I just kept tumbling, and finally ended up slamming my back up against a giant boulder. I felt the impact through my Camelbak, which acted as a cushion. I broke the buckle on my Camelbak, but otherwise it came out unscathed. I had a couple of bruises here and there, but nothing else. The worst bruise was on my elbow, so when I was having a couple of beers at Third Street, it hurt to rest my elbow on the bar. Anyway, after I ran into Rich, he turned around and we headed back up to Live Oak and then to the top of Burma. He was on his single speed with about 50 mm of travel in his worn out front fork. I had forgotten what a great bike handler Rich is and he made it seem very easy weaving his way through all of the rocks. I thought I would include a little quote from Rich that describes him a bit. I was chatting about business and the such as we climbed, and then I mentioned that I didn't want to monopolize the conversation, and Rich said, "Go ahead, you are doing a good job of it." I think it was funnier in context. Here is a link to the loop.

Cannondale One20 Demo Ride

Claire and I took out a couple of 2010 Cannondale One20's. It was not one of our best rides. We got a little lost trying to find the singletrack, and then, after climbing all of the way to the very top of the loop, We realized that we were running a little bit short on time so we turned around. It was a wonderful singletrack descent through the trees back down. We made it back, and now we are getting ready to head down for Cannondale's cocktail hour and dinner. Here is a map of our ride.

Today we checked out the 2010 Cannondale clothing line and then their accessory line. They had a fashion show for us. I was impressed with some of the new chamois for 2010. We also talked about their custom clothing options. Both Claire and I are excited about getting some Hub clothing made up in the near future. They ended the meetings by going over some of their marketing strategies for this coming year. It really got everyone in the audience fired up.

2010 CAAD 9's

Here are a couple of pictures of the 2010 CAAD 9 road bikes. I am still riding a CAAD 8 bike and loving it, so we are excited about these. Our former Cannondale rep is now in charge of designing the road bike line, and I know that he always felt like Cannondale's aluminum road bikes were misunderstood. I personally have ridden almost every material there is for bike frames, and I love the snappiness of my aluminum Cannondale. Anyone with a history in the bike industry knows that you can make an aluminum bike frame ride many different ways just by changing the diameter of the tubing and the shape. Remember the old Vitus road bikes that road like wet noodles if you weighed more than 140 pounds? Anyway, here are some pictures...

Cannondale 2010 Product Launch

Well, it is the second day of our Cannondale weekend here in Park City, Utah. Yesterday we were listening to presentations from 8 in the morning until 4 in the afternoon. They did give us 1 hour for lunch. Our butts were pretty sore by the end. The 2010 lineup looks pretty exciting. They showed us some top secret stuff that I can't talk about until after July 4th. They also showed us a 12 pound SuperSix road bike that they had floating around held up by balloons.

After the meetings, we had the opportunity to take some of the bikes out. I hopped on a brand new 2010 SuperSix and went out for a 36 mile ride with some other folks. There was some rain threatening, but it never materialized. It was a great loop with a couple of nice long, gradual climbs. Here is a link to my ride. Except for the bars being a little high for me, it felt incredible. It was very, very responsive when I stood up and threw it back and forth a bit. Claire took out a 2010 Carbon Synapse for a ride.

We will be heading back down for some more meetings to discuss some clothing and accessories and then some marketing stuff. Claire and I are planning on taking out a couple of the RZ One20's for a ride. We have picked out a 12 mile loop that should be challenging. For 2010 Cannondale is doing a RZ One20 and a RZ One40.

Before lunch we ran into Tinker Juarez. Claire had had her picture taken with him about 7 years ago and we joked with him about getting another picture in 7 more years. He is quite an amazing guy who has been racing forever. I did hear him mentioning that he was going to have to go out on a longer training ride that afternoon because of the pasta they were serving up for lunch.

2010 Cannondale Dealer Meeting

Well, Claire and I are here in Park City, Utah. Here is the route we took to get here. The elevation is off because of the pressurized cabin, but thank goodness for that. Anyway, we will be heading down for dinner pretty soon and meet some of the other dealers here. Tomorrow will be full of meetings in the morning and early afternoon, and then about 3 hours for some bike demoing. I already got to check out the 2010 SuperSix, and it is BEAUTIFUL. I will get some pictures and post them on the website. Saturday will be more of the same, and then we will be flying back on Sunday. I am going to wear a button down shirt tonight so I can get some respect.

We worked until 10 last night getting the shop ready for our departure. We had received 75 bikes from Giant that day which had to be inventoried before we could start building them. A2 is in charge while we are gone, and we really feel like we have nothing to worry about except for maybe the music selection at the shop. It has been super busy at the shop, so hopefully the guys won't get too overwhelmed while we are gone.

Not enough time

Well, Claire and I will be taking off for Utah tomorrow for the Cannondale 2010 bicycle launch. It will be a busy couple of days with plenty of meetings and plenty of demo riding. We have already set up some mountain biking for Friday and some road riding for Saturday. I am really excited about the 2010 line. It sounds like the 2010 SuperSix is going to be a hot bike. We have been putting in some extra time at the shop to try to prepare for our "business trip".

Summer is in full swing at the shop right now and I feel really bad whenever I have to tell people that our repair schedule is backed up. I remind customers that they wouldn't want to eat at a restaurant with no cars in the parking lot. Some people are scheduling appointments for tune-ups which works really great. That way they only have to leave their bikes for a day or two.

Thanks to Claire I have had the opportunity to commute into work and home a couple of times lately. I have made sure to take the scenic routes. I would have a connect to a ride link here, but my Garmin has decided not to download my last two rides. I am trying the switch over to the Crank Brothers pedals and I am happy with them so far. I had been riding some very old CODA SPD pedals, but they kept breaking in half on my rides.

We have 75 bikes coming in from Giant today. I'm glad I won't have to be stocking them. There will be a smattering of 2010 bikes in the order, but mainly Boulders and the such. I think we will be seeing an order of Cannondales in the next week or so. We are also busy building up as many Nirve cruisers as we can. They definitely have lots of character.

Very Long Time, No BLOG

Well, it has been quite a while. As is the story of almost any bike shop owner, as soon as the summer hits, there goes any free time. Things are in full swing at the shop, but Claire and I have been able to get out from time to time on some mountain bike rides and some shorter road bike rides around the West County. Next week we will be heading to Utah to check out the 2010 Cannondale bikes and after that we will be heading to Colorado to check out the 2010 Giant line-up. We have had the opportunity to spend some time on a couple of the Cannondale Rize 1's, which are amazing carbon fiber mountain bikes. Last Monday we explored Willow Creek State Park on the bikes. We found some great single track and plenty of tall grass. Here is a link to our ride. Yesterday evening we went up to Annadel with A2 and Jim for a nice short ride. A2 has been off the bike for a while, so he was quite excited, and Jim had the chance to ride the Rize 1 and was loving it.