Catching up and NEMBAFEST 2010!
After catching our collective breathe post Big River Fun Ride we found ourselves deluged with service work and some pretty good days here at the shop. Now that the weather is craptacular I find myself with some time to type and recap, as well as announce a few things of importance to local cyclists.
The 2nd annual Tour De Big River came and went, and all we heard was that this was one of the better rides most of the riders had participated in, ever. While there were a few casualties along the way the loops were fantastic and the volunteer army that is RI NEMBA pulled off a pretty damn amazing event. After two rides (one just to "ride", and the other to pull down arrows) we were pretty cooked. Speaking of cooked, the multitude of hot dogs consumed between outings proved to be just the ticket to keep the engine stoked, and the spirits high, through two flats and a ton of pine sap laden arrows. A couple of folks also test rode Rocky Mountain Altitudes and an Element or two and came back with some positive reviews which was nice to hear.
On the subject of Canadian bike companies we're really happy to announce that we are now a stocking Banshee bikes dealer! This is pretty sweet and we'll have bikes in as early as next week with local ripper Anthony K rockin' a Rune. Watch out for this BMX guy turned mountain biker...
Some other guy will be riding a nicely appointed Paradox as well, though he's getting old and slow so no need to watch out there.
Unfortunately the new bikes won't be here in time for NEMBAFEST but we'll be up there on Sunday with Kevin from Rocky helping to get the Rocky Mountains out in the woods, and hopefully partaking in another long ride at a great trail system NH. If you've never been to NEMBAFEST, or you've just never been to Bear Brook, get yourself up there for at least one of the days! The list of demos and supporters is huge and the loops are a blast with a great mix of classic flowy singletrack and technical riding.
In more local news, the NBX cyclocross training races have already started. What this means is you need to get down to Wakefield, RI on Wednesday nights for some CX racing, swag and a good excuse to ride your bike in the middle of the week. Matt's training races (and I use the term race loosely, this is a go at your own pace kind of thing) are the perfect venue for anyone interested in trying 'cross and a great workout for the seasoned racer. Expect to see us down there often, and hopefully my Redline will be sporting a new tubeless setup after this coming weekend. We're pretty interested to get some first hand experience with this setup. More traction sounds pretty awesome to me... On that note if you need some new kicks for your 'cross bike swing by and relieve us of our cyclocross tire collection! We've got some Small Block Eights, Crosswolfs, Speedkings, Excavaders and they're all on sale and looking for a good home. Our 2009 KHS CX200 also needs a good home. Come snag it for $900 and go race your face off, OK?
Speaking of racing bikes there's some big 'cross race thing happening in Providence this coming Saturday and Sunday. If you're up at the ass crack of dawn and find yourself at Roger Williams Park in Providence on Saturday morning (and you look real closely) you might, might see either Mike or myself flailing around like a cracked out monkey performing a piss poor rendition of cyclocrossing. That will be one us, proudly putting the amateur in amateur bike racing. But,then, like most normal humans, you likely have far better things to do than race, or attend said race, at 8:00 AM on a Saturday. At least I hope you do anyways. The chances of either of us actually racing are slim but who knows, maybe one of us will find the urge to suffer before breakfast.
I know this post is getting long but since we were talking tires earlier, I need to let it be known that my new favorite all 'rounder in the woods has to be the Maxxis Ardent. It could be that I've been fighting forward momentum all year on these classic standby aggressive NE tire and anything would feel great - including a set of bald Velociraptors. But I'm going with my gut on this and it says that the Ardents rule.
That about wraps this post up, on the horizon expect to see a schedule for our fall and winter free repair classes. News about the impending December 2010 Lincoln Woods Fun Ride and RI Food Bank Fundraiser (what's this, the third or fourth year? I've lost count...), and night rides. We'll be riding in the dark and scary woods and on the path all winter (snow cover permitting) and we'd like to have some company. We've got lights in the shop, and winter riding gear from Endura will be rolling in relatively shortly. Sure, you can hang out at the gym and ride a trainer all winter long, but we humans love a challenge and some real miles in the darkest days go a looong way come those first happy sunny weather days in the springtime. Just keep pedaling and repeat after me; "The night time is the right time, the night time is the right time"....
The 2nd annual Tour De Big River came and went, and all we heard was that this was one of the better rides most of the riders had participated in, ever. While there were a few casualties along the way the loops were fantastic and the volunteer army that is RI NEMBA pulled off a pretty damn amazing event. After two rides (one just to "ride", and the other to pull down arrows) we were pretty cooked. Speaking of cooked, the multitude of hot dogs consumed between outings proved to be just the ticket to keep the engine stoked, and the spirits high, through two flats and a ton of pine sap laden arrows. A couple of folks also test rode Rocky Mountain Altitudes and an Element or two and came back with some positive reviews which was nice to hear.
On the subject of Canadian bike companies we're really happy to announce that we are now a stocking Banshee bikes dealer! This is pretty sweet and we'll have bikes in as early as next week with local ripper Anthony K rockin' a Rune. Watch out for this BMX guy turned mountain biker...
Some other guy will be riding a nicely appointed Paradox as well, though he's getting old and slow so no need to watch out there.
Unfortunately the new bikes won't be here in time for NEMBAFEST but we'll be up there on Sunday with Kevin from Rocky helping to get the Rocky Mountains out in the woods, and hopefully partaking in another long ride at a great trail system NH. If you've never been to NEMBAFEST, or you've just never been to Bear Brook, get yourself up there for at least one of the days! The list of demos and supporters is huge and the loops are a blast with a great mix of classic flowy singletrack and technical riding.
In more local news, the NBX cyclocross training races have already started. What this means is you need to get down to Wakefield, RI on Wednesday nights for some CX racing, swag and a good excuse to ride your bike in the middle of the week. Matt's training races (and I use the term race loosely, this is a go at your own pace kind of thing) are the perfect venue for anyone interested in trying 'cross and a great workout for the seasoned racer. Expect to see us down there often, and hopefully my Redline will be sporting a new tubeless setup after this coming weekend. We're pretty interested to get some first hand experience with this setup. More traction sounds pretty awesome to me... On that note if you need some new kicks for your 'cross bike swing by and relieve us of our cyclocross tire collection! We've got some Small Block Eights, Crosswolfs, Speedkings, Excavaders and they're all on sale and looking for a good home. Our 2009 KHS CX200 also needs a good home. Come snag it for $900 and go race your face off, OK?
Speaking of racing bikes there's some big 'cross race thing happening in Providence this coming Saturday and Sunday. If you're up at the ass crack of dawn and find yourself at Roger Williams Park in Providence on Saturday morning (and you look real closely) you might, might see either Mike or myself flailing around like a cracked out monkey performing a piss poor rendition of cyclocrossing. That will be one us, proudly putting the amateur in amateur bike racing. But,then, like most normal humans, you likely have far better things to do than race, or attend said race, at 8:00 AM on a Saturday. At least I hope you do anyways. The chances of either of us actually racing are slim but who knows, maybe one of us will find the urge to suffer before breakfast.
I know this post is getting long but since we were talking tires earlier, I need to let it be known that my new favorite all 'rounder in the woods has to be the Maxxis Ardent. It could be that I've been fighting forward momentum all year on these classic standby aggressive NE tire and anything would feel great - including a set of bald Velociraptors. But I'm going with my gut on this and it says that the Ardents rule.
That about wraps this post up, on the horizon expect to see a schedule for our fall and winter free repair classes. News about the impending December 2010 Lincoln Woods Fun Ride and RI Food Bank Fundraiser (what's this, the third or fourth year? I've lost count...), and night rides. We'll be riding in the dark and scary woods and on the path all winter (snow cover permitting) and we'd like to have some company. We've got lights in the shop, and winter riding gear from Endura will be rolling in relatively shortly. Sure, you can hang out at the gym and ride a trainer all winter long, but we humans love a challenge and some real miles in the darkest days go a looong way come those first happy sunny weather days in the springtime. Just keep pedaling and repeat after me; "The night time is the right time, the night time is the right time"....
Great meeting you at NEMBAFest!
ReplyDelete