Three different week long events in the past month... I am totally fried! The good news is that this last trip to Moab was really great. The Outerbike event- more of a recap to follow- was great, but very slow. However, it allowed for some great bike riding in the Utah canyonlands, which is something I'd never had the chance to do before.
Here are a few pics from the trip... I'll have more to share later...
Sunset at Arches National Park... amazing...
Morning ride before the day's work at Outerbike began...
One happy bike nerd riding Moab's world famous Slickrock Trail... way, WAY cool!
After 15-16 miles of nearly non-stop climbing, I felt a bit like a dead horse myself!
So I was in Taiwan again... with almost no internet for the entire 10 days. Sorry for the delayed posting and lack of overall posting... "it's been really busy"... blah, blah, blah... even I am getting tired of hearing that. Honestly.
But yes, it's been busy and remains busy and will stay busy for as long as I can see into the future. In a little more than a week (or less), my second daughter- Masidaughter 2.0- will be arriving in the world. My tiny little Taiwanese wife is growing to be as big as a house... on little stilt legs. It's simply amazing to me that she's still swimming between 1000-1500M every single day. She looks so cumbersome and awkward now, yet she is still as strong as ever and just blows my mind with how tough she is... even though she is beginning to hate me. Sorta.
Taiwan was amazing- as always- and very successful as well. Over the years, and especially since meeting my wife, I have grown to become more and more comfortable in Taiwan and it is now literally my second home- we still own my wife's condo in Taichung. As much as any "foreigner" can be, I really feel that I have become a part of Taiwan and not just the Taiwan bike industry. I still only speak about 5 words of Mandarin, but that doesn't stop the Taiwanese people from truly making me feel welcome and a part of their world. Many people I know have something of a love/hate relationship with Taiwan... but mine is all love.
I returned from Taiwan to having my mother in law here staying with us for the next month or so- she's here to help take care of my wife, in the very traditional Taiwanese way- as well as be here for the birth. Our daughter's name will be Lily Annchi. Annchi means "angel" in Mandarin. And since she is being born in the Spring, she is our Lily- our little flower and angel. We wanted to give her a name that would be both "American" and Taiwanese, to respect the two cultures that have created her. Annchi- pronounced kinda like "awn-chee"- is a name we felt would be less difficult for the usual English tongue to figure out and will hopefully not be one that never gets pronounced correctly. I am very happy to have my mother in law here, even though she doesn't speak English and I speak no Taiwanese (a different dialect than Mandarin). I am very proud to be taken in and accepted by my wife's family- they are wonderful people and clearly played a role in creating the woman I married.
As for the actual trip...
The show itself was very good. I heard some folks saying they felt the actual attendance numbers were down, though I did not really feel that- but I was in lots of meetings and in previous years was in even more meetings and saw very little of the show. So, truthfully, I'm a pretty poor gauge. However, the meetings I had with international distributors were all very good and I am super happy by how the new 2011 products were received. If the ID customers are any kind of an accurate barometer of things to come, the next year is going to be a really good one for Masi. Really, really good. In between meetings, I scoured the floor for "the next big thing" and I can honestly say I saw a lot of really cool things, but nothing really jumped out at me. The biggest thing I noticed was that nearly every supplier offers far more color customization than ever before. Whether it's drivetrain components or just cable housings, color is king. Frankly, that makes me super happy because that means the costs for special colors and color highlights will be coming down. If not this year (2011 product), then certainly next year. All in all, I got a good feeling about 2011. We're not out of the economic slump and there are lots of challenges ahead- like many suppliers saying there will cost increases coming on nearly all products by as much as 20%. Remember 2 years ago when there were materials shortages and high fuel costs driving pricing through the roof? Well, brace yourself for round two... due to changes in labor laws in China (which is actually a good thing globally), many manufacturers expect costs to climb significantly. Add a major labor shortage in the bike manufacturing industry and you have another "perfect storm" to create rising prices. Many experts expect the pricing to fall somewhere in the middle of the 10-20% increases being talked about, but one thing is certain- by the time 2011 and 2012 products begin to show up, costs will be going up too. You have no idea how much I wish that wasn't true... but...
While in Taiwan, our Kenda Pro Cycling p/b Gear Grinder team was racing in the Tour of Taiwan. Most of the other teams in the event had been racing for many weeks during the early Asian race season calendar in events in Langkawi, Malaysia and the Philippines so there were a lot of race-honed legs already in the event. KPC did an awesome job to place Phil Gaimon in 2nd on GC! This was their very first race together and they proved to the racing world that they can compete in UCI events and do well. Phil Gaimon, Johnny Sundt, Chad Hartley, Jake Rytlewski and Chad Birdzilauskas were all badasses! Frankie Andreu lead the team well and team owner Chad Thompson took care of the details as well as helping with the tactical side of things. Mechanic John Columbus and soigneur Janis Burns made things run from behind the scenes and countless other folks like Jackie Shao (who works for our distributor partner) and Eric Yang of Kenda Tires put in the extra efforts that made the team successful. No rider ever does anything alone and this race and this team proved that a collective effort can make big things happen. To understate the obvious- I'm beyond proud of these guys.
After the show and the race, I headed down to Taichung and spent a few nights in my wife's condo while I got some work done at our assembly factory. Bits and pieces of our 2011 sample bikes are beginning to show up for our catalog/ show bikes, so there was a bit of work to be done- as well as fun with friends. Good food, good friends, good times... I love Taichung. After a few days in Taichung though, it was time to head back to the US... and a very long day of traveling. The day began with a cab ride to the High Speed Rail station, HSR to Taoyuan and a very short shuttle bus ride to the airport, a 14hr flight to LAX, a short car ride and dinner with my best friend in LA, a train ride from Union Station to San Diego and then a short car ride home with my wife and mother in law. All told, it came to well over 20hrs of travel. But I got home!
I can hardly remember what happened Thursday in the office as I was in a total fog after getting home at midnight and getting about 4 hours of sleep. I took Friday off and have this Monday off as well, for a little 4 day break. It's been great spending time with my daughter, wife and MIL. I've even ridden my bike the past 3 days... even though it has hurt like hell. I got sick with a cold the day after arriving in Taiwan and I still can't breathe very well. Riding, my legs feel weak but ok... but I feel like I'm breathing through a snot-filled straw. It's been great to ride again- after 2 weeks off the bike again- but it sure feels like I keep starting back up from farther behind than the last time I got back on the bike. That said, I'm happy to be pedaling again. Period. I'll try to keep the whimpering to a minimum... most likely.
And now- a bunch of random pictures!!
The koi pond inside the courtyard area of our condo. It's just a nice little space to relax in... I really like it.
One night while walking around after dinner, I found this really cool little fixie-only shop in Taichung. RH+O... check'em out. I'll be hanging out with them the next time I'm in Taichung, but this time with a bike to ride with them too!
The outdoor plaza a few blocks away from our condo in "little Europe".
The front of my wife's condo building- it's a very nice courtyard setting off the main street, so it is quiet and comfortable.
Gorgeous lugged forks for Speciale Fixed Ultimate frames... too, too purdy.
I don't even need to say anything about how beautiful that is...
Beautiful AlareBellissima frames getting ready for assembly... they sure are pretty!
The host shop for the Q&A with the riders is actually a great Masi dealer as well. This display of Mini-Velo bikes was pretty impressive.
It looks to me like Johnny is wondering why the hell he has to share a "stage" with me. I would probably wonder the same thing Johnny...
After the ride, the team did some Q&A with the riders who came out to get a chance to ride with the team. It was a very enthusiastic group.
On Sunday, as Johnny was nursing a post-birthday hangover, the team did a nice little group ride. It was really cool!
Johnny Sundt- his birthday was on Saturday, the final stage of the race... and after flogging himself to protect Phil's GC position, he still managed to get 5th on the stage! At the post race party, he and I shared a birthday cake... and a "thumbs up"!
Frankie Andreu, after the final stage of the Tour of Taiwan- looking pretty happy to have clinched that 2nd place on GC with Phil Gaimon.
My birthday was in Taiwan again this year- 3rd or 4th year now- and this year we went to Modern Toilet for dinner. We'd heard about the place last year and were just dieing to try it out. It's all toilet themed... and they do a great job of it! It's pretty funny for sure. I liked my ice cream though...
This is called "foot drumming" and she uses her foot to change the sound of the drum. It's very cool. There were 4 drummers in the performance at the Velo/ Wellgo dinner party before the Taipei Show started. This was only 1 of the 3-4 performances during the dinner... one of the major highlights of my trip to the Taipei Show each year.
Until the next time (which I hope won't be long from now)...
I know I've been a terrible blogger as of late. Heck, I've been pretty bad about Twitter and Facebook too... and don't even get me started on the marketing blog or the podcast. Needless to say, my Social skills in the whole Social Media realm have been getting rusty lately. Chalk it up to being super-stressed with work and life. Wish I could say I've just been riding too much to blog... but I haven't even been on my bike in about a month. All that weight I lost is being found... dammit.
Well, anyway, I owe you all many thanks for sticking around this silly little stopping point in the blogosphere. I hope to eventually get back into the swing of things and get some content flowing around here again. For now, let's finish the whole Korea /Taiwan/ Japan adventure... shall we?
The Korean show was really awesome. Sanghoon Yoon, who owns/operates our distributor there Kisong International is a fantastic guy and his partner Jay is also very cool. I really enjoyed being in Seoul and really do hope to visit there again... especially when it isn't so cold! It began to snow as I was leaving- the wind was blowing the snow sideways and about 30mph. I'm looking forward to seeing nice things happen in the Korean market! It was pretty exciting to give 3 magazine and 1 television interview during the one day I was at the show- felt like a really good introduction of the brand to the market.
The booth; nothing other than Masi and Brev M parts! No way I can complain about that.
Sanghoon and I sitting for one of the magazine interviews- under the watchful eye of Faliero Masi. No pressure... no, not at all.
Could this stack of tubes be your next Masi? If you're lucky, they just might be...
In the jig to test mitering of tubes to make sure the stay is mitered properly for the seat tube to be welded to it.
A couple old dropouts used for checking tolerances. They never get ugly to me.
If you're in Korea and looking for a Speciale Premio frameset... be patient, they're on the way!
A rooftop view of Taichung- my home away from home and where I met my wife. Needless to say, I like Taichung a lot. This "graffiti" was on a wall near my in-law's home in Taipei. Such a cool, random thing.
Once in Tokyo- actually Asakusa- I headed to the temple, like I always do. This year though, the main temple was being restored. Still, it didn't stop me from walking up and saying prayers.
I love this temple. I'm not a Buddhist, I'm more of a religious omnivore- I take and hold onto all the tidbits of religions that feel right to me. Visiting churches and temples of all kinds fills me with great peace and happiness.
The "other" reason for my visit to Tokyo was the annual CyleMode consumer show and the booth was jumping all three days of the show.
The new Brev M parts line was making a nice intro as well in Japan- lots of very savvy riders in Tokyo, arguably the savviest- so it was good to see the consumers hanging around the parts and checking them out. One of the very sexiest bike parts I've seen in a very long time- high flange Suzue 10spd road hub. I must've slobbered over that hub for a good 10 minutes. I kept walking back to it too... I'm a nerd.
Vittoria has reproduced some of their classic road shoes and these red ones with hard racing soles were so sexy I nearly walked away with them... but they were far too small for my size 12 feet... dammit!
Rin Project makes some of the very coolest stuff you can possibly imagine! Oh man... I've been slobbering over their product since the show last year. This year I got to meet one of the coolest cats around, Koichiro Nakamura, whose business card calls him the company Communicator... I love that title. Koichiro is a super cool dude and I thoroughly dug hanging out in his booth for a bit slobbering over the cool stuff they make. The hairnet helmet with snap on visor is on my Must Have list... in case anybody is shopping for me. The knickers are sweet too... too many cool things. Check out their stuff- no US distribution yet, as they are taking their growth slowly and cautiously, but they make some incredible products. Trust me...
We all know how much I love Keirin racing, but I still haven't had the pleasure of getting to a race while in Japan. But I walked up on this display and what I thought was going to be a Keirin discussion of some kind, but all I got to watch was some excellent race footage of the 2009 season. I was on edge watching the racing and really itched to be on my bike in the thick of the action!
Many a Keirin rider in Japan and around the world owes this man a huge thank you- this is Toshiyuki Ogino. Ogino-san is the President of MKS- the son of the company founder- and runs the company with immense pride. It was an honor to meet the man behind the brand- a brand we are SUPER proud to be able to spec on our bikes, even if only on a few bikes. MKS pedals are some of the finest around and there are only a few companies who have the ability to use the famous NJS stamp on their products.
Dessert one night after an incredible dinner- my fantastic hosts never miss a detail- ever! The great people at Kozaki are fantastic to work with and I am extremely proud to have them as our distributor for Japan.
Dinner the last night in Tokyo was at a very prestigious teppanyaki grill... and I think my taste buds died and went to heaven. The Kobe beef was so incredibly succulent and tasty... surreal. The company was also fantastic, making the meal that much more enjoyable.
The train ride to the airport was quiet and smooth- as all train rides in Japan are. If Japan does not have the best subway/ train system in the world, then it has to be among the finest.
I spend a ton of time traveling with this job. The travel has taken me around the world to countries I only ever dreamed I'd see and experience. Korea was all new for me and it is now a country I hope I am lucky enough to return to. Japan is a country I have now visited for the past three years and I am in love with the country and the people. I hope to be lucky enough to return for a bit longer and get out of Tokyo to see more of the land and people... and I would LOVE to have a bike with me! Taiwan is truly my second home now and is the place where I met my wife and now have family and a home. I am very proud of the fact that our bikes are made in Taiwan and I always enjoy my time in Taiwan, no matter where I go. Sometimes I get whiny about the travel, especially when it is during the periods of the year where I am traveling nearly every other week. But, truth be told, aside from the whacked out sleep patterns, the lack of riding, the time away from loved ones at home, I do really enjoy traveling for a living. I dreamed of being a paid cyclist traveling the world because of a bicycle... the dream has turned out a bit differently than I originally thought, but it is no less rewarding.
Here are few random pics from my first day and half in Seoul;
Speciale Fixed LTD on the streets of Seoul! I spotted this kid and his friend riding and doing trackstands and wheelies on this pedestrian island in front of the hotel my first night. I was in such shock that I barely got the camera out in time to snap this terrible picture.
I told them I am Timothy- they didn't seem to care.
One of the amazingly beautifl greenways in the city- tons of great open space in such a huge city. This little river trail was amazing. There was a carp in the river that had to be as long as my arm. I was itching for my fly rod!
Seoul played host to the '88 Summer Olympics and I walked by the Olympic Stadium- this cycling sculpture was really cool. The whole road was decorated with sculptures from the variousl events. Really awesome artworks too- I was really impressed.
This building was awesome! I couldn't stop taking pictures of it. I probably took 20 pictures of it. It was so much more impressive in person... trust me.
These 3 young women were playing music in the hotel lounge. It went from traditional Korean music to Beatles covers and was amazing. Each of them looked like they were about 16 years old, but they were amazingly talented. The picture is dark because I didn't want to blind them with my flash, but trust me that they were exceptionally talented.
The Olympic rings at the Olympic Stadium- always an impressive sight.
Typical bike rack on the streets of Seoul- the main market here is simple sity bikes used for transportation. There weren't many on the street because it was pretty chilly- 40 degrees- and drizzly. But nearly all the racks had a few bikes locked into them.
Speaking of bikes... this was one of the two shops I visited. This one was geared more towards the lower price spectrum of family bikes- lots of kids bikes and very inexpensive city bikes. The store was tiny and I didn't see a door to a repair area, but I'm sure it was there somewhere.
This shop actually had some more expensive bikes- Specialized, Scott, Orbea, Gios among a few others. The fixed gear bikes were prominently in the window. The only non-commuter/ city bikes I saw on the street were fixies. They are a big part of the market here.
I'll post more later when I have more time. Heading to the tradeshow in just a little bit, but wanted to leave you with a little sumthin' to stare at until I get some pics from the show floor.
Sunset at Arches National Park... amazing...
Morning ride before the day's work at Outerbike began...
One happy bike nerd riding Moab's world famous Slickrock Trail... way, WAY cool!
After 15-16 miles of nearly non-stop climbing, I felt a bit like a dead horse myself!
Johnny Sundt- his birthday was on Saturday, the final stage of the race... and after flogging himself to protect Phil's GC position, he still managed to get 5th on the stage! At the post race party, he and I shared a birthday cake... and a "thumbs up"! 
My birthday was in Taiwan again this year- 3rd or 4th year now- and this year we went to Modern Toilet for dinner. We'd heard about the place last year and were just dieing to try it out. It's all toilet themed... and they do a great job of it! It's pretty funny for sure. I liked my ice cream though...
This is called "foot drumming" and she uses her foot to change the sound of the drum. It's very cool. There were 4 drummers in the performance at the Velo/ Wellgo dinner party before the Taipei Show started. This was only 1 of the 3-4 performances during the dinner... one of the major highlights of my trip to the Taipei Show each year. 
The booth; nothing other than Masi and Brev M parts! No way I can complain about that.
Could this stack of tubes be your next Masi? If you're lucky, they just might be...
A rooftop view of Taichung- my home away from home and where I met my wife. Needless to say, I like Taichung a lot.
Once in Tokyo- actually Asakusa- I headed to the temple, like I always do. This year though, the main temple was being restored. Still, it didn't stop me from walking up and saying prayers.
I love this temple. I'm not a Buddhist, I'm more of a religious omnivore- I take and hold onto all the tidbits of religions that feel right to me. Visiting churches and temples of all kinds fills me with great peace and happiness.
One of the very sexiest bike parts I've seen in a very long time- high flange Suzue 10spd road hub. I must've slobbered over that hub for a good 10 minutes. I kept walking back to it too... I'm a nerd.
Vittoria has reproduced some of their classic road shoes and these red ones with hard racing soles were so sexy I nearly walked away with them... but they were far too small for my size 12 feet... dammit!
The train ride to the airport was quiet and smooth- as all train rides in Japan are. If Japan does not have the best subway/ train system in the world, then it has to be among the finest.
This building was awesome! I couldn't stop taking pictures of it. I probably took 20 pictures of it. It was so much more impressive in person... trust me.
These 3 young women were playing music in the hotel lounge. It went from traditional Korean music to Beatles covers and was amazing. Each of them looked like they were about 16 years old, but they were amazingly talented. The picture is dark because I didn't want to blind them with my flash, but trust me that they were exceptionally talented.
The Olympic rings at the Olympic Stadium- always an impressive sight.
Typical bike rack on the streets of Seoul- the main market here is simple sity bikes used for transportation. There weren't many on the street because it was pretty chilly- 40 degrees- and drizzly. But nearly all the racks had a few bikes locked into them.
Speaking of bikes... this was one of the two shops I visited. This one was geared more towards the lower price spectrum of family bikes- lots of kids bikes and very inexpensive city bikes. The store was tiny and I didn't see a door to a repair area, but I'm sure it was there somewhere.
