Riders (and fans) UNITE!

If you are a fan of bicycle racing, you simply have to read this; the best editorial I have seen yet on the situation in cycling.

The author, Charles Manantan, does an incredible job with this editorial and I give him a huge "bravo".

The current drama surrounding Astana, and other teams, because of Giro organizers RCS and Tour organizers ASO is nothing short of theater of the absurd. Our beloved sport of cycling is under attack... by the very folks who organize and run the sport! These idiots-in-charge are destroying the sport's credibility at a time when it needs to be propped up and resurrected... not beaten while it's down. It is due to these jackasses that I have personally been far less interested in things related to professional racing. Sure, on the domestic level I am totally pumped up because "my boys" are going to simply crush some people this year (you can quote on that one). But the whole European/ Pro Tour scene is sadly less important to me than ever. Why? Because the drama disheartens me far too much and I can't bare to watch the sport be humiliated any further. Other professional sports have much more to be concerned about, but they also have professional organizations propping them up and handling the "spin management", etc. Cycling, on the other hand, continues to look pathetic and weak- largely because of a lack of leadership... real leadership. Maybe I'm screwing myself out of ever getting to have a team participate in the "big" races because of my comments (though I doubt anybody related to this issue would ever read this- if they can read), but simply sitting here and nodding my head in agreement to what I read is tantamount to enabling things to continue they way they are now.

It should be no secret to anybody that I love the sport of cycling and have for the past 26 years of my life, but the 3-ring circus of fools running the sport and the major events is making fools of us all for our love and devotion. Frankly, that sh@# pisses me off! I hope it pisses you of too.

So, Charles, thank you for helping to fire me up further and thanks for writing down the comments and thoughts that have been in my own head. You beat me to writing a great piece and I don't know if I could have done it as well as you (I doubt I could). Thanks to Pez for publishing the editorial as well. Good job by both of you!

Now- what do we do? Sincerely, I'm not sure, but something needs to be done. Boycotting events is one way to be heard, but that hurts the teams and riders more than those who need to be hurt. Letter writing campaigns only ever go so far. Maybe a petition, showing support of the teams and riders is appropriate? I honestly don't know, but the comment section here is open to ideas. I'm fed up and I hope that you are too and are willing to be heard- somehow.

Join me, please.

Tim

Update-o-rama...

Big News: In an amazing blend of luck and the generosity of a friend, I am going to be a speaker next Friday, 2/22, at an AMA seminar- Beyond Marketing 2.0: Harnessing the Power of Social Media for Marketing Campaign Results. My very good friend, who is also one of the people I look up to and respect most in the marketing world, Toby Bloomberg, was instrumental in getting me involved with the seminar series. The other two stops are Miami and Chicago, but I am just speaking at the San Diego stop. I am not a member of the AMA, just because I have never studied marketing or been trained in marketing and have felt a little "out of place" because of that, but I have an immense amount of respect for the AMA and many of the people involved with the organization. So this opportunity to speak at an AMA seminar is more than a little bit of an honor to me... needless to say I am very excited and mildly terrified.

My topic of discussion? If you even need to ask, it's about blogging (and other social media) for business. So if you are considering attending the seminar, I look forward to speaking to you in just over a week... and I apologize in advance.

In other news...
The Princess remains under the weather still. Saw the pediatrician again today and got the same story; her lungs are clear, her breathing is great and there are no other signs of either the flu or pneumonia. It's just a strong virus causing her to feel crappy and have a fever.


In other, other news...
It's been a topic of discussion all over the place- ASO excluding Astana from all of their events. I had a couple conversations about it today, but I'm going to share my response to a good friend of mine over in Europe-

Astana doesn't surprise me at all. ASO and UCI are both so stupid, it drives me nuts. ASO is being their usual selves- stupid. They have a chip on their shoulders because of last year, so no matter how different the team and program is, they are going to crucify the team to make themselves feel better and try to wage a publicity/ PR war. It's so lame and shortsighted, but is classic ASO. UCI is lame for not stepping in and defending the new program, but they also have a pissing match going with ASO and the other Grand Tours, so it really doesn't surprise me at all. Cycling is a laughable sport sometimes. At least some good racing is already underway and the ToC starts in a couple days.

I mean... seriously... UCI and ASO are the two brattiest, most petulant children in the sandbox, threatening to take their toys and go home. It'll be a great day when both of them grow up and start acting like adults.

It's a very cold night here tonight, combined with rain, so I am trapped inside and not riding my trainer tonight. With all that's been going on lately and the Princess being sick, I haven't exactly been sleeping all that well- which explains why I am going cross-eyed at 9:00PM... so I'm packing it in and heading to bed.

Tim

Still sick...

The Princess is still sick. Fortunately, the pediatrician is convinced that it isn't either pneumonia or the flu. Just a bad cold with a fever... but the fever is sticking around. Looks like another day working from home tomorrow and another trip to the doctor's office.

The good news is that her appetite is coming back... which is also part of the bad news, since it means that the ever-evolving-menu will be back in full force. Chef Daddy, reporting for duty!

I know I owe you some podcasts and some video stuff as well and it will be coming in the near future... promise.

Ok, back to being Doctor Dad- the patient is beckoning for my assistance.

Tim

Awesome!

Just got this from Remi McManus of Inferno Pro Cycling;


His 6 hour training ride today was full of Gerolsteiner and Astana riders- for some reason he says "today was a hard day".

Go figure.

Tim

Poor little thing...

The Princess was home sick today, with her mother, and is now with me. She began to feel a little less than perfect over the weekend and is now fighting off a fever. As is the custom this time of year, it seems as though all the kids in her school are sick as well. T'is the season...



So I'll be working from home tomorrow... the poor little thing.

Tim

Weekend wrap-up...

No racing, but I did get to ride this weekend. And on Sunday (today), I even got to ride with one of the newest members of the Inferno Pro Cycling team; Remi McManus. Remi is the 2001 Elite National champion, so Inferno is adding another set of red/white/blue bands to the team's arsenal.

(I know- you aren't supposed to shoot a picture into the sun... but he wanted to be in front of the ocean to make all his cold weather friends back home in Boise jealous.)

We went for a "leisurely" spin up the coast for a little less than 2 hours. Neither of us ever got into the big ring, but we still covered the 40-ish miles pretty quickly.

I can honestly say that the other teams competing in NRC events this year, especially the crit series, better keep a closer eye on the team than they did last year. The team has some serious horsepower and is going to rip some legs off and beat some people silly. Needless to say, I'm really bummed that I will be missing this year's training camp again (like last year). Our Spring sales meeting is during the camp, so I can't be there. There is a bunch of open debate between team director/ rider Chad Thompson and myself over who is the better sprinter. I was looking forward to settling the argument once and for all... but I guess we'll have to wait a bit longer to answer that one.

I had a great time with Remi, having only spent a little time speaking to him during the show at Interbike previously. He's a good guy and I'm happy as heck that Chad was able to snag him up for the season. Along with all the other talent on the team (more to come on that later), it's going to be a great year. Keep an eye out for the boys in pinstripes to go flying by and look for their sexy bikes too... they'll both be a blur!

Tim

Back. Tired. Buried.

Back from Boulder City, Nevada now. Our trip went very well- our customer was very happy with each of our product presentations, as well as the nice fleet of demo bikes we brought (between all the Haro MTB and Masi road bikes). All in all, reports are that things went well.

The first day there, as mentioned before, was freezing! For a SoCal boy (even though originally from Alabama), 26 degrees is danged cold... especially when you only packed for 50 degree weather! The second and third days were warmer, though still quite cool. But, the good news is that the wind died down a bit as well and made the riding much more enjoyable.

Wednesday provided two different rides- one with our fantastic customer/ host and the other with my fantastic coworkers! And then Thursday served up one more group ride with the fine folks from Sun & Ski.


James Ayres (our Eastern Regional Sales Manager), me (duh) and our good friend and customer TJ (after all these years, I still can't remember if TJ even has a last name or what his official title is- he's just always been TJ to me) standing on the Hoover Dam.


My fat head/ helmet, Jill Hamilton (Haro MTB/ Lifestyle Brand Manager) and the peeking-around-my-shoulder head of Bryan Hayman (our Western Regional Sales Manager) down near Lake Mead.


I didn't really get any good group pictures on Thursday, but I did get this great shot of a chipmunk hanging around at our scenic stop. He looked hungry and not at all bashful.


Here's Bryan getting bikes out and ready to be ridden by some happy guys. Between the Masi bikes and all the Haro MTB bikes, we had around 30 bikes being ridden... and we saw lots and lots of smiles!

Though it was "work", it was also a lot of fun. Getting to ride and talk bikes for a few days is not a bad job... I admit I dig this gig (as if I really need to repeat that). The riding in Boulder City really is quite good. There's hardly a flat spot anywhere- it seems like you are either climbing or descending nearly the entire time- and even though the shoulder is very narrow and roads are heavily trafficked in places (mostly in the construction areas), the riding is still great. The views are incredible as well- the Lake Mead and Hoover Dam areas are really quite beautiful. BUT... Boulder City, and to some degree Henderson, have also really embraced cycling. In fact, there is now a fully separated bike/ pedestrian path that goes 31 miles along the lake and then into and around Boulder City/ Henderson. It is smooth, fast and fun to ride. It's a beautiful place to ride a bike. So much so, I can easily see myself going back for a cycling vacation... and you should too. If I were to organize a team training camp of my own, it would likely be in Boulder City... if you're reading this, Squirrel...

Now the work restarts though... now I have to get our catalog finished for Spring. The copy is all done, but now I have to work with my Product Manager (Wayne Doran) to make sure all the bikes have been photographed by our Photo-God (Pete Demos). Then I have to work with our Catalog-Dog (Rick- the Hispanic Panic- Ortiz) to finish layout and work with Pete some more for some nice action/ lifestyle/ image pics for the catalog as well. All of this has to be done so that we can turn in our catalog layout to the printer by February 19th. Yeah, the February 19th that is only 11 days away... that one. AND our Spring sales Meeting is the first week of March. AND then I head to Taiwan on March 10th. At least all the stress has helped me lose weight and keep it off. That's cool... right?


Yeah, the happy me... the one riding his bike... he'll be back in a while...
(Sorry for the spotty posting as of late... again. I'll be back with more posts, more podcasts and hopefully more video as well.)

Tim

Hello from Boulder City Nevada

So the drive out yesterday was pretty easy and we are now in Boulder City, home of the Bootleg Canyon site of Interbike's Outdoor Demo. We're staying in the same hotel we usually book for Outdoor Demo, so it's like a pseudo homecoming of sorts.


This morning, the day started cold. With the 25-30mph winds, the windchill brought the temps down to around 26 degrees. The wind was sustained in the high 20's with gusts into the 40's.

The day began for us with our brand presentations; Jill Hamilton with the Haro MTB/Adult (lifestyle) bikes and myself with Masi.


After a few hours of talking... it was time for some riding! However, due to the high winds and the very narrow roads, the large road ride was canceled and the group rode MTB in Bootleg Canyon. Since I didn't come prepared for a dirt ride and didn't want to risk wiping out in my carbon soled road shoes, connected to my road pedals, I ended up riding solo today.


I left from the hotel and rode the few miles to the Bootleg Canyon area to see everybody off on their rides... but they drove the rig up the hill pretty far for me to be riding skinny road tires on rough gravel... seemed like a good way to ruin a good bike. So I rolled off on my own from Bootleg Canyon and down the hill past Lake Mead and down to the Hoover Dam again. I've done this ride many times over the few years I've been coming here and the dam still remains a source of incredible fascination for me- the sheer size and scope of the dam is truly amazing.


From the dam, I rode further up a long a steady 7 mile long climb that took me out of Nevada and in to Arizona for several miles into the desert. It was a great ride, though with a lot of wind... enough so that I got clipped by the mirror of a passing RV- but I believe it was because the wind blew them hard enough to move them to my lane... but still scary.

All told, I rode for about 3 hours and between 50 and 60 miles... with LOTS of climbing along the way. Speaking of riding and climbing... the new bike rides SO well.

Man, I love the ride of this new frame. One ride doesn't surmise the entire experience of a bike, so I'm trying to remain objective... but it sure impressed on a first ride. I still need to get the shifting totally adjusted, but it is a great ride... great ride. I opted to not ride the carbon deep section wheels because it was just too darned windy to risk riding on them today, but maybe tomorrow instead.

Tomorrow is another day of riding, but the winds are supposed to be mostly gone. Maybe I'll whip out the carbon wheel sew-ups for the rides tomorrow. Hopefully, because I really want to see how they ride.

Ok kids, tomorrow will be here faster than I want, so I'm going to bed. I'll see you tomorrow... with more pics and stories to tell...



Tim

Dad-gum rain equals No-Race-For-Masiguy

SoCal needs all the rain it can get, but it means that I will not be racing today and I was really looking forward to putting the new bike through it's paces in the heat of competition. However, since I leave tomorrow AM for a 4-day dealer training event, it would be very unwise of me to risk crashing (and destroying a super gorgeous bike). I will be taking people on demo rides the next four days, so being covered with scabs from ankle to shoulder would be a bad thing. I love the course of this race, but in the rain, it is near suicide- especially as the first crit of the year in this area. That usually spells disaster, as most people have forgotten how to ride in a pack at speed and don't really start to get the flow of things until around mid March or early April. I'm less scared of my own riding in the rain, having grown up riding in LOTS of rain in Alabama, but the rest of the riders scare the poop outta me. Let me just put it this way; there are tons of really strong, really fit, really fast riders in SoCal, but many of them can't ride a straight line, don't know how to corner at speed and typically freak out when it rains. Needless to say, I'm just not willing to risk the injury and damage to a new and really beautiful bike (or even an old and ugly one).

So, instead, it looks like I will put my Marketer's hat on and watch the Super Bowl (Stupid Bore) and evaluate and critique this year's crop of incredibly over priced TV ads. As a "new media" marketer, I am always repulsed by the cost and ineffectiveness of the ads that are purchased during the game. One 30 second ad could easily fund an entire year's worth of social media marketing efforts. It boggles the mind. I fight for each and every penny I get for my marketing efforts and I still dig into my own "funds" (my time and effort) to move the brand forward. The sheer size of the waste of money on these ad campaigns makes my head spin. Sure, the commercials get talked about, but do they "sell" or improve brand image among consumers? I would argue that they don't... but I'm just a small time marketing wonk who likes to ride bikes... so what could I possibly know?

Well, maybe The Princess and I will go to the YMCA and I can get a good workout in before letting my brain get bombarded by over priced and ineffectual advertising.

Hope your weekend is full of fun and fantasticness!

Tim

Saturday Edition of Friday Bike Porn!

I was going to do this last night, but didn't have any good lighting... since it was night time... so I shot a few pic's of my most recent Dream Bike project.

1st- I have to say thank you to the very generous folks who contributed to this project bike- knowingly or unknowingly to them; Ritchey (stem), SRAM (Red group), Velo (saddle and bar tape), Caribou (frame), Matrix (wheels) and Challenge (sew-up tires). Without the knowing and unknowing help of these folks, this bike would not have happened.

2nd- Background; this frame is painted and decaled like our new Gran Criterium. But... the frame is built using a new and under-development Scandium tubeset that I am testing for the manufacturer. It is a new and proprietary alloy that I am very excited to be testing. Sadly, the tubing developer only had enough of the alloy remaining to produce the front triangle out of the tubes, so I won't have a 100% accurate test platform, but once more tubing is produced, a full alloy frame will be built for me to test the characteristics of the tubeset. I'm a big guy and tend to break stuff, so I'm ideally suited for tubing testing. That said, I am really delighted to have this bike built because I really wanted one of the new Gran Criterium frames anyway- this frame uses the standard Gran Crit geometry, which is my favorite.

3rd- The SRAM Red group has been on my slobber-worthy list since it was leaked to me last year at the Taipei Cycle show last March. I love my Shimano bikes and my Campagnolo bike, but I've been freaking out to try the new Red group in real world, Average Joe conditions. As a product tester at heart, I love to put products through their paces and see what happens. So I'm delighted to be riding this new and ultra performance product and will be reporting back on my experiences.

4th- The saddle is a custom version of our new saddles being used on our lower priced bikes. The shape is so comfortable it has quickly become one of my all-time favorite saddles. Our saddle maker is Velo and they produce more high-end and OEM saddles than probably anybody in the industry. This saddle uses a lighter weight racing foam and titanium rails to be lighter than the standard version. Stella, the owner and genius behind Velo saddles was kind enough to produce this race version of the saddle for me and I am very thankful- it's an amazing saddle.

5th- The wheels are by a small Taiwan vendor who makes a little bit of everything and was kind enough to provide me with the wheels to give them some feedback. So far, having not actually ridden them other than to get the shifting adjusted and saddle height correct, I have nothing but praise for them. There's nothing like the sound of tall carbon wheels with sew-ups inflated to 180psi! (NOTE; fellow team sponsor Spinergy is currently in the process of providing me with a custom set of wheels that should be simply stunning... so stay tuned for more)

6th- Speaking of sew-ups... I haven't ridden sew-ups on the road in more than a decade... yes, I've been riding and racing on the road since about 1990 on clinchers only. I race sew-ups on the track, but these wheels are the first road wheels with sew-ups in many years for me. Needless to say, I'm really excited to have this set of Challenge Criterium tires mounted to the wheels. I took the easy way out and used the Tufo glue tape to mount the tires too. Sadly, it's been so long since I've glued a set of tires that I did a fairly crappy job- even with the tape. I have a ton of tread squirm going on, so I may rip them off the rims and re-glue them with a little glue to bolster the grip of the tape. Plus, I need to put a layer of glue on my spare tire that I'll need to start carrying under my seat... just like I did so many years ago.

7th- Totally out of order here, based on my excitement, is the white Ritchey 4 -Axis WCS stem. This thing is so amazingly sexy and beautiful! I simply fell in love with it the second I saw it. I am super excited to possess this stem, thanks to the awesome generosity of Steve Parke at Ritchey. I urge you to send Ritchey an email or contact them through the website and beg them to produce this stem as a regular option and ask them for other colors as well. It is my sincere hope that more people will feel like me and want to see more of these stems around. If enough people ask for such a product, the more likely it will exist... please don't hate me Steve...

8th- The remaining parts are all parts that I've had on other bikes over the past few years. The Easton bars I've had at least 4 years. I should probably replace them, just because of their age and because they are carbon, but they were the nicest bars I had at the time of this build. The Reynolds fork is an "antique" by today's standards, but is rock solid and reliable after all these years. It, too, has been on multiple bikes of mine and should maybe be replaced, but it sure is a great fork- especially for its age. The bottle cages have been on multiple bikes of mine and are the VERY BEST carbon cages I've ever used- Arundel makes awesome cages. These things grip no matter what- wet conditions, bumpy roads, full bottles... it just doesn't matter. You put the bottle in the cage, it stays in the cage... period. Plus, they are light and beautiful. On top of it all, the owners of Arundel are people I know well and are some of my favorite folks in the bid-nits! The seatpost is just one of our OE posts that we use on many of our bikes. It isn't the lightest carbon post out there, but it is the one I had that wasn't already in another bike (I hate taking one bike apart to build another).

All together, the bike weighs in at an even 16 lbs (without pedals)- and that's for a 60cm bike with a heavy-ish build with the fork, saddle and post. That's darned good!

So that's it for the spec... let's look at the bike already!

The graphics were painstakingly reproduced from the 70-80's era Gran Criteriums. The color is copied from the Team 3V bikes of the late 80's- early 90's- it was called "the Purple People Eater" by many folks.

A little fun with color- white brake housing, red shift housing and yellow bar tape. I might put on a set of red hoods and white tape when we get more of the tape.

Look at the shapes of those beautiful stays... yummy!

Nice, clean lines.

The business end- with the shape of these stays, I'm pretty optimistic I can get good power to the rear wheel and hopefully make this view the most common one folks will see at the races!

This stem is beyond sexy! The folks at Ritchey have a homerun on their hands.

Challenge makes some of the nicest sew-up tires around and these are among my favorites. The tread pattern is awesome- lots-o-grip in the corners. The Matrix wheels are pretty nice and I'm looking forward to giving them a good punishment. They sure sound pretty when they roll!

Ok, go get your napkins and wipe the drool off.

Tim