Time off!

Man, it's great to take a few days off from work. Don't get me wrong, you all know how much I love my job, but I NEED a few days off. All work, no play, yadda, yadda, yadda...

Woke up this morning with a sore throat and a runny nose... and it was raining still, but not dumping the high speed, sideways stuff like last night. Still, it was not the best start to a four day weekend. I mean, just because I'm not doing that 3-day stage race I was talking about, it didn't mean I wanted to get sick and stay in bed for 4 days.

Eventually the rain stopped long enough for the roads to dry off and the temperature to get a bit warmer, so I slipped into my Super Suit and went out for a nice 2hr 45min ride along the coast. It was cold and windier than heck- sustained winds of 20+mph and gusts well over that. I was getting blown around pretty good at times, but the ride North was super fast with the tailwind. Sadly, that meant that the ride South back to home was dreadful. The wind was really tough, especially with legs that were fading. But I soldiered on and even went out of my way to find a couple extra hills to climb on the way. All in all, it was a great ride. My legs felt far better than I figured they would, since I've ridden so little in the past few weeks. I rode my cross bike at work yesterday for about 45 minutes and was tired after that, so I had little expectation for my legs.

Best news of the day though; after my ride I weighed myself and I'm down to a scant 199lbs. People, I haven't been under 200+ lbs in about 10 years. That's amazing to me. Sure, it isn't like it's all muscle, but it's less fat than it used to be! I'd be happy to weigh 215 if I could keep it under 10% body fat, but for now I'm gonna stay happy with 199... even though now that I've had dinner and have been replacing my fluids I'm probably back to 201. Small details. Made myself a nice turkey sandwich and a salad for dinner though... just in case.

Going to try to get to bed earlier tonight so I can get some good rest to fight off this cold. Slamming lots of multi vitamins and drinking lots of water. I ran out of Wellness Formula and Airborne, so I'm just taking my multi vitamin for now. Hopefully a good diet, some rest and lots of water will do the job.

Ok... bye for now.

Tim

Back to work...

Back in the office today. Back to working and trying to get a new catalog written. Fortunately, I get to recycle most of the Fall catalog in this new Spring catalog. But with all the new models I'm adding, I have to write a bunch of new copy anyway. I'm rewriting or tweaking a few other things as well. I think I have the pagination worked out, so the "flow" of the catalog is largely ready and done... I just have to finish writing the darned thing and then work with our Creative Director, Pete Demos, to get photos taken. Lots of work ahead... for sure.

I admit that I had a hard time focusing after being out for the past 5 days. It was hard to concentrate and the day seemed to go by very slowly. I think the ride yesterday- my first century in a couple years- just left me feeling a little loopy too. I was ready for a nap by noon! My legs were dead and heavy and getting up or sitting down was frequently accompanied by a grunt or groan. However, I went for my hour lunch ride today and the legs did loosen up a bit and actually feel much better now than they did this morning. That's a good thing. Hoping/ planning to ride this weekend and then there is a big ride on New Year's day that climbs a local mountain that I hope to do as well. But I think I'll be on my SRAM bike since it has an 11x26 cogset instead of my 11x23 on my Campy or Shimano bikes (I know, I know... I'm spoiled.)

Speaking of spoiled, I have been meaning to send a special thanks to my good friend Daniel at Shimano. My older Shimano carbon sole shoes were damaged by my Thanksgiving crash- I wore a nice big hole through the carbon sole. Daniel helped me into a new pair of the new SH-R220 shoes. These are the second tier pro shoes with heat moldable insole and upper. Not only do they look pimped-out hot, but they are incredibly comfortable. I LOVE THEM and highly recommend them. In fact, the Shimano shoes and pedals both get the Masiguy Two Thumbs Up Seal of Approval. All of my road and track bikes use the Shimano SPD-SL pedals and all of my road shoes are Shimano as well... even on my SRAM and Campy bikes. Come to think of it, my mountain bike uses Shimano SPD, my cross bike uses Shimano SPD and my new concept flat bar bike has a new set of XTR pedals. I even have Shimano mountain shoes and a bithin' new pair of Shimano "commuter" shoes (thank you Chad for those). Yes, I'm spoiled... I know it.

Further speaking of spoiled (as in you folks)... I'm working on a Masiguy podcast that I hope to have set up and the first episode posted by the end of this week or early next week. Ideally I will be able to post a few episodes while in Taiwan the 5th -12th. Keep your eyes peeled for details here. I am working on creating a new blog to support the podcast, but the podcast itself is supposed to be called The Masiguy Podcast... for lack of a more creative title. I thought of using the title I've been planning to use for a book I have been intending to write for the past 17 years- The Bald Man Speaks... but that would just be confusing. More details will follow in the coming days, so stay tuned. It'll be a very low budget production for a while, as I work out the kinks, but it will hopefully launch soon!

Ok, time to shut down and relax.

Tim

One step down...

So this week I finished my color selections for the Fall 2008 range of bikes (including some new bikes you're gonna love). Now I am in the midst of writing new copy for the Spring 2008 catalog- mostly a revamp of the existing Fall 2007/Winter 08 catalog. The new Fall '07 website is almost ready to unveil as well. Soon you'll be able to see all the lovely images of the Fall '07 bikes and then we'll be getting ready to plug in the new Spring '08 bikes in just a few more months. Oy... I'm getting dizzy now.

Lots of good development has been going on and I am really excited about the bikes that are coming in Spring and those coming on their heels in Fall. It's a pretty exciting time to be a bike nerd... I promise. If you are one of the many folks who like the steel bikes we're doing at the moment, then you'll be pretty happy with what is coming.

Christmas is just a few days away and I'm looking forward to some quality time with my kids. I'll get a chance to ride a little as well, which is good because I hop back on a plane and head back over to Taiwan in the first week of January... so building a little base fitness before losing another week of training will be good. But this time, I swear, I'm gonna try to fight my jetlag and actually go to the "fitness center" at the hotel. No really... I mean it this time.

So much going on and so many things to update you on and post about. I'll get caught up soon and will get back on schedule... I hope. Thanks for your patience- in advance.

Tim

What a week...

I'm glad tomorrow is Friday. It's been a long week- on lots of levels. I'm glad to get this one into the "done" pile, for sure.

Almost done picking the new colors for the Fall '08 bikes. Just a few more to go and I am done! All I'm gonna say is that if you like what the line looks like now, you're gonna love where it is headed... you can take that to the bank.

Heading to Los Angeles for the weekend. Gonna go spend the weekend with my best friend, the dreaded Blue Squirrel, riding and riding and riding and riding... and then riding. It's our super double secret training camp. It's only two days, but it's intense... I could tell you more, but then I'd have to track you down and kill you. No bags of blood and no syringes, just lots of riding (and lots of me whining about not being a climber) and "dude time". There might be a beer in there somewhere- after all, one of our team sponsors is Peroni.

I took the night off from going to the gym, but the previous two nights I put in very hard work with the weights and nearly hobbled myself, but managed to avoid injury. Today, though they felt a lot like the steel plates I was lifting the night before, my legs felt really good on the bike. They felt heavy, and stiff, and lacking any kind of "snap", but the power felt great. As much as I hate weightlifting, my legs have always responded well to weights. Hopefully this means that I can fight the negative effects of all the travel and loss of training time and still manage to find racing fitness for next season. I want to get some podium time this next season, so I'm trying my best to actually "train" this winter. Hopefully that means that I can get my former racing fitness back and get back to the front of the field.

So, since I'll be away from home for the weekend, there may not be any posting here for a few days... but don't worry, I'll be back... and I'll be thinking of you while I'm gone. I promise.

Tim

Random is me...

Warning; Whine about to begin...

So, yes, I've been "hella" busy for as long as I can remember. I was trying to do more posting with substance and whatnot, but it's been damned hard. Things in the office are so busy that posting from work has become totally impossible. For about a year now, it seems, I've been saying "things are really busy"... well, I guess "busy" now has a new definition.

The good news to all of this, is that there are a lot of really cool things happening. The future of Masi and the product is really exciting. I won't give everything away right now, but there are cool products coming that I am more than a little confident you will dig... a lot... and some stuff that you wouldn't exactly expect from Masi (in a good way). Suffice it to say, I'm damned weary, but also damned excited.

Here are a couple things I can share with you right now... the Speciale Fixed;

Now there will be two colors of the bike that has been a runaway hit this year- Orange (like the current model, but with the decal colors reversed) and the all-new Shamrock green (a gorgeous green that has a gold metal flake base coat). Both bikes will now come with a new steel fork that uses a lugged flat crown and lugged dropouts. It's a really beautiful fork. Please keep in mind that images are just for color and decal approval, so this isn't the exact bike you'll see on the floor... but it's darned close. For example, the Shamrock Green has a beige/ creme colored fill in the large panels and the bar tape is a really cool marbled brown that looks like a cross between wood grain and cork... it's really nice looking. The actual bikes, like the current version, will not have a sloping top tube like these images. Other than that... man are they gonna be pretty...

Since I'm in a giving mood, I'll share one more with you, to keep you salivating...

Here's the next version of the Coltello track racing frameset. This sideview does NO justice to the actual paint- trust me, I got the tube sample today... this is going to be another truly beautiful frame (yes, Squirrel, I know you want one when they come in). On the framset front... the CXR cross bike will actually be available as a frameset and the 3VC carbon frame will be available in a super cool Team Issue version with special graphics... so sexy it'll make you cry. I promise.

Speaking of the team... I've been a terrible cheerleader. On May 25th, Rich Harper of the A&F team rode a stellar race at the Raleigh Downtown Crit.

Stolen from CyclingNews.com- photo by Robert Harvey (the team bought the rights to this... I hope...)

This was another NRC event packed with all-star US pro riders. Rich worked his ass off and got into the winning break that lapped the field and held on for third place (his first podium appearance in an NRC event) in front of his friends and family in his hometown. "Harpoon" is a certifiable nut... I mean, he's got papers to prove it, I'm sure. That said, he's one of my favorite riders on the team, even if he is a time trialist trying to pass himself off as a real sprinter (HA!).

Much to my disappointment, he got rid of the hair...

Not only did Rich rock the team kit, but at the podium interview, he even gave a big thanks to Masi. He also managed to lay down the law; the interviewer made a comment roughly to the effect that the team was the dominant amateur team of the year and he quickly corrected him with, "who you callin' amateur?" I love this wacko.

On top of that, Mark Hekman, winner of Athens Twilight and the Southeast Crit Series overall, has continued to ride strongly and still occupies the #1 bib number in the NRC series. Mark is riding strong with the excellent support of the team and they are truly proving their worth in the races along with all of the "pro" teams. These guys are riding with such amazing heart, it makes me proud to be associated with racing again. With all the dope in the peloton, it's great to see these guys racing clean and winning with heart, passion and straight up determination. Keep an eye on these guys as they keep racking up the wins and continue to be dominant.

Nice work guys!

Ok, now I have to get back to staring at spreadsheets and writing a new catalog. Joy of joys...

Tim

Brand Camp- The final chapter...

Here's the last of my witty banter on Brand Camp- it was three days, so three posts should be enough... I think.

A little more raditude; one for the ladies.

This is Wayne- he's my product manager. He's the guy who takes my zany BS ideas and tries to turn them into actual product... or says, "um, Tim, you can't do that without charging about $100,000.00 for each of the three bikes you're going to sell." Ying to my Yang... Stimpy to my Ren... Butthead to my Beavis... Ethel to my Lucy... you get the idea.

Pat Crosby... the other half of the Adult Product Management group. He's into knobby tires, suspension and walks on the beach at sunset, pina coladas, holding hands and walks in the rain.


This is Jill Hamilton- the other half of the Adult Brand Manager team. She's the Queen Bee of Haro MTB and is also the Bike Biz Babe (go check her out). Did I also mention she was once the top ranked female amateur downhhill racer in the US and then also raced professional downhill? Yeah, I never did that.

MEAT! Flame plus meat equals yum! (Unless you don't like meat and you're a vegetarian...)


The guy in brown is Rick Ortiz. Rick is the fella who does the graphics for Masi- which as we all know are the greatest graphics ever. (Notice how I'm getting the Double Bird from Rick and Jim... wise asses.)

I like hats. I even worked in a hat shop for about 3 years, many, many, many years ago. I coulda been a haberdasher.

The presentations were many faceted and deeply enthralling. No... really.

The head in the upper left is Tony D- our BMX brand manager. Notice that he, too, is giving me the one finger salute. Can you feel the love in the room? Also notice the vegetable platter. We are a healthy group (also, also notice the Corona next to the platter).

We ate...

... and then we bowled... well, sorta.

And there you have Brand Camp 2007... or at least all that I can tell you about. It was a great time and also very productive. Good things came from the meetings and good things will be happening with the products. Trust me on that one...

Tim

Thank you Anonymous!

Yesterday I received a package from Cafe Press, from an anonymous sender, that contained what is clearly the coolest t-shirt ever made. I mean... seriously... have YOU seen a better t-shirt in recent years?


At first I thought it was from this guy, since he created the template for this blog. He has denied any involvement though.

Then I thought maybe it was this guy, since he is the Masibestfriend. But he's been totally hopped up on goofballs since his surgery. So he's not too likely.

So now I have no idea who took the time to design, purchase and send me this really cool shirt. Needless to say, I am extremely thankful for this incredibly kind gift. Thank you, thank you, thank you!

Tim

Daily Drive

Since my picture yesterday has caused a lot of fear about my current frame of mind (did I really look that stressed out?), I tried to smile this morning.

The flash on the new camera is really potent, so I got totally whited out. Still learning how to use this thing... it's way smarter than me. And yes, I know she's far too adorable for words.


The socks are an old favorite of mine... and we have cool socks in stock so go get your local Masi retailer to order you some... RIGHT NOW!

Posting will be light for awhile as I jump on another series of flights and head off to Taipei, Taiwan tomorrow before sunrise. The Taipei show is exciting to me because I have never been before and going now is really cool. Taipei is the launch pad for many of the cool new products we'll see in coming months, as well as a showcase for all things bike. I will try to do a bit of posting from the show- I'll certainly be taking tons of pictures as usual.

Tim

Daily Drive

Another day in paradise...


Another classic sock for today...

You can not go wrong with the Lion of Flanders... trust me on this one.

Tim

Hot!

Go here...

See this...

Awesome!

Tim