Happy New Year!

I said I wasn't going to do a New Years post, but what the hell...

Thank you all for another great year here. The site traffic continues to be strong here, even though the posts haven't always been consistent or exactly "content rich". I am floored by how well the very simple Daily Drive posts have been received. It amazes me how you have all found a value in visiting this site and continue to keep coming back. I am thankful, so very thankful, for the faithful following this blog has generated- you all are what makes this endeavor so much more enjoyable.

2006 has been the year that I have made many great new friends- too many to list here- and have been able to do many things I never thought I would. I have traveled and enjoyed meeting many new people and riding in many new places. Yes, I'm a lucky guy and I know it. I've been lucky enough to be featured in the New York Times. I've become a contributor on a marketing website that I have a ton of respect for (though I haven't contributed much of anything for too long). I consider this one of the highlights of my year. I've gotten to know some fantastic bloggers who will hopefully be life-long friends... even if we ever stop blogging.

All in all, 2006 has been pretty good to me. It's pretty amazing to think that in just over a year and a half of blogging that I have been able to get to know so many fantastic people and experience so many great things.

Outside of blogging, the year has been pretty good to me too. Masi has grown in sales and overall scope. We've added new models to the line and sales continue to improve. In fact, the last fiscal year (ending in June) our sales had doubled over the previous fiscal year period. As awesome as that sounds, we're still a very small and modest company so I get to continue to be the little guy under dog. I wouldn't be surprised if Trek knows we exist, but I doubt they are losing any sleep worrying about what I'm cooking up now (which is some really cool sh@%). Though the market is beginning to soften now- road sales grew at the lowest rate in a long time- we still represent 1% of the US road bike market. That means I still have a lot of market share to steal from the other guys. That said, I am very happy with how things have been progressing.

I got to work with one of the best teams in the peloton this year- the A&F/ Inferno team. These guys didn't go the Tour de France and didn't win any of the NRC titles, but they are the best group of guys any sponsor could ever hope to work with. I consider the guys to be friends and not just sponsored athletes. (Look for rider bios and team announcements here very soon.) I am very happy to say that the guys will be racing on Masi frames again in 2007, so watch the podiums at the races. Thanks again guys for a great year- it was a pleasure working with you (except for Rich... you're a nut).

2007 promises to be another great year and the new products in devo' are pretty darned cool. I'm pretty darned happy. January sees my first trip to Taiwan, February is the team's training camp, March is the Taipei tradeshow, April is possibly Australia/ New Zealand again as well as the MS150 in Houston again and then May is something I can't remember... and then there is lots of small trips in the US planned as well. Who knows, I might even be conducting a wedding in Minnesota in July... maybe.

On top of all of this travel, I also really plan to finally get my act together and start podcasting here (as well as continuing to be a member of the Spokesmen/ Spokespeople podcast) and I am going to do my best to also start doing a lot more video- look for Conversations with Masiguy podcasts and vidcasts some time in 2007 (I hope).

So here's to a great new year. I wish a fantastic year to each and every one of you. May it be full of health, happiness and prosperity.

Thank you all,
Tim