It's taken awhile to do the recap of the week leading up to Father's Day, but I finally made it. Friday I had to return to work for the day. It was a little difficult to stay focused in the midst of a mini-vacation, but I managed to make it through.
That night, Amy and I hit Granite City for dinner courtesy of a gift card that I had received for helping with the SD Outdoor Expo in Huron a few weeks before. We then headed to C.J. Callaway's for a send-off party for Nich, our lead guitar player. Nich got an offer to move to California to record and tour with someone that he's been playing with for the last year or so and it was too good an opportunity to pass up. We'll definitely miss him at church, but how often do you get a legit chance to chase after a dream like that? We hung out until they closed the place down at midnight and then headed home to get some rest.
Saturday I decided to head out to Beaver Creek with the Rig for some mountain biking. The corporation is doing a contest between all of the stores much like last year and I was selected as an alternate for the team. When Eric dropped out, I inherited his spot and had to make up some miles and time that he missed while he was on a missions trip. This year instead of doing strictly road bike miles, we alternate road weeks with mountain bike weeks where we need to ride for four hours off road (no bike path or street riding). I had four hours to make up for Eric, plus four for myself for this week which I wrapped up this morning. There's also a sales requirement for high end bikes for team members that I managed to wrap up early on.
After getting home and cleaning up, Amy and I had lunch and then went for a bike ride to the church where Amy had a vocal coaching session with someone from the first service. When we got home, we got ready for Josiah's wedding (a co-worker and brother in Christ) in Watertown. The wedding was a great time of worship and I was really happy for Josiah. He's a great guy who I respect a lot and who makes the work environment much more enjoyable.
Sunday was Father's Day (finally) and we started off with services at the church where we did several songs Nich had requested since it was his last service before moving. After church, we headed to Mom and Dad's where a ton of family had gathered. My grandpa, step-grandma, sister's family, aunts, uncles and several cousins had gathered. We hung out in the art gallery where we had lunch and conversation and pretty much just hung out for the day. It was fun conversing on the new patio off the front of the gallery and enjoying a gorgeous day.
Monday finally brought a return to reality and I'm still trying to reacclimate to a regular work schedule again. I get to work today and tomorrow and hope to hit a groove again soon.
Saturday, June 21, 2008
Tuesday, June 17, 2008
The week that was (part 2)
After a disappointing Tour de Kota, we had Maia's fourth birthday party to look forward to. The buildup had been great as her excitement began to grow in the weeks ahead. It wound up being a family only affair which was probably a good thing because we had 18 people at our house for the party from Sioux Falls, Mitchell, Yankton and Hartley, IA.
Maia is nothing if not a grateful recipient of gifts and everything she opened brought a positive reaction, including some of the boxes. She made out pretty well with clothes (everyday and dressup) and toys and got a Little Tykes playhouse that our friends Chip and Kim gave us that will hopefully entice some outdoor playtime for the remainder of the summer. After the party, the kids went with my folks back to the farm in NW Iowa for the rest of the week along with cousins Cassie and Lexi.
Wednesday dawned cool, windy and threatening rain, perfect conditions for a nice six hour drive. We left for Brainerd, MN and the annual Scheels Awards Dinner where I was a fortunate recipient because the youth cold weather shop that I inherited when I moved into sales is the strongest in the corporation out of 22 stores. I couldn't help but think about how much Pam, Deb, Heather and Jill did to help me stumble through my first season running the shop and how undeserving I was to receive anything in recognition for it.
I still gladly accepted the invite to Madden's on Gull Lake, a resort outside of Brainerd, since it meant a good meal, a chance to dress up and a mini-vacation for me and Amy. We rolled in at about 4:30 to temperatures of about 45 degrees and a little rain, got checked in and started getting ready. The events kicked off with a social hour from 6 to 7, dinner from 7 to 8 and then the awards. We had a good showing from Sioux Falls and had a chance to hang out with some of the folks from the store who I don't usually get to spend as much time with.
The next morning dawned clear, still, peaceful and warmer. We headed down to breakfast at about 8:30 and missed just about everyone from Sioux Falls, but enjoyed a great buffet that tided us over until we stopped for lunch at about 3:00. We decided since it was about 60 degrees and sunny, we'd check out and take a little time to hang out on the grounds of the resort before we headed back. We checked out the gift shop, and spent a little time in a little marshy area in the middle of the grounds to watch a turtle flirt with the water's edge and enjoyed the birds singing.
The drive home was entirely uneventful and we got home at about 4:30 with time enough to nap before we had to take off for worship team rehearsal.
All in all, it was a good, if too brief, trip that we might take more time for if I get to go again. I think if I do get to go again, I will feel like a much more deserving award recipient since I have a much more active role in the direction of my shops this year. If the year ended now, I would actually get to go for both my youth cold weather and bike shops. I'm hoping I can hold my leads in the shops, but only time will tell.
Still to come: farewell to a rock star, a worshipful wedding and a Father's Day extravaganza.
Maia is nothing if not a grateful recipient of gifts and everything she opened brought a positive reaction, including some of the boxes. She made out pretty well with clothes (everyday and dressup) and toys and got a Little Tykes playhouse that our friends Chip and Kim gave us that will hopefully entice some outdoor playtime for the remainder of the summer. After the party, the kids went with my folks back to the farm in NW Iowa for the rest of the week along with cousins Cassie and Lexi.
Wednesday dawned cool, windy and threatening rain, perfect conditions for a nice six hour drive. We left for Brainerd, MN and the annual Scheels Awards Dinner where I was a fortunate recipient because the youth cold weather shop that I inherited when I moved into sales is the strongest in the corporation out of 22 stores. I couldn't help but think about how much Pam, Deb, Heather and Jill did to help me stumble through my first season running the shop and how undeserving I was to receive anything in recognition for it.
I still gladly accepted the invite to Madden's on Gull Lake, a resort outside of Brainerd, since it meant a good meal, a chance to dress up and a mini-vacation for me and Amy. We rolled in at about 4:30 to temperatures of about 45 degrees and a little rain, got checked in and started getting ready. The events kicked off with a social hour from 6 to 7, dinner from 7 to 8 and then the awards. We had a good showing from Sioux Falls and had a chance to hang out with some of the folks from the store who I don't usually get to spend as much time with.
The next morning dawned clear, still, peaceful and warmer. We headed down to breakfast at about 8:30 and missed just about everyone from Sioux Falls, but enjoyed a great buffet that tided us over until we stopped for lunch at about 3:00. We decided since it was about 60 degrees and sunny, we'd check out and take a little time to hang out on the grounds of the resort before we headed back. We checked out the gift shop, and spent a little time in a little marshy area in the middle of the grounds to watch a turtle flirt with the water's edge and enjoyed the birds singing.
The drive home was entirely uneventful and we got home at about 4:30 with time enough to nap before we had to take off for worship team rehearsal.
All in all, it was a good, if too brief, trip that we might take more time for if I get to go again. I think if I do get to go again, I will feel like a much more deserving award recipient since I have a much more active role in the direction of my shops this year. If the year ended now, I would actually get to go for both my youth cold weather and bike shops. I'm hoping I can hold my leads in the shops, but only time will tell.
Still to come: farewell to a rock star, a worshipful wedding and a Father's Day extravaganza.
Monday, June 16, 2008
The week that was (part 1)
Rarely do we find ourselves with a week of recreational and social engagements that keep us running for an entire week, but last week was a perfect storm that had us bike touring, birthday partying, awards dinnering, goodbye partying, wedding attending and family gathering until we're just about worn out.
Sunday and Monday last week were the only two days that I was available to do the 4th Annual Argus Leader Tour de Kota. I've done at least two days each year and was looking forward to this year's ride, although with a little trepidation. Sunday dawned idyllic with slight sprinkles, little wind and a good, first day of a bike tour buzz as riders left Sioux Falls for Mitchell. Unfortunately, I only got to experience the atmosphere at the check in since I wasn't going to be able to leave until after leading worship for church.
By the time I left, it was 1:30, the wind had come up just a little and shifted so that it would be in my face the entire way. I felt pretty good getting started though and plugged through the towns of Hartford and Humboldt with little trouble. The next stretch was a little windier and I started to regret not having anybody else around. I mean, is it really a bike tour if you are the only one riding? Not only were there no riders, but all of the food stands and communities had packed everything up and there were few signs remaining to indicate what kind of activity had taken place earlier. I met up with Amy to grab some food and top off the drinks and was already pretty knackered from the wind.
I knew that leaving so late I was running the risk of higher winds with no one to share the work with through drafting and that I very well could be the last person into the campground that day. That nearly proved true, but I caught my first "riders" about six miles before Mitchell. They were walking at the time and told me they had left Sioux Falls at 7:30 in the morning. One of the guys was having leg problems and they were plodding along as best they could. I'd ridden the last stretch of the ride late last summer when we were in Mitchell for Amy's grandma's birthday celebration, so I anticipated the valley and final uphill into town and was surprised as I came down the hill on the east side of the valley to see that there were two more riders struggling up the hill on the west side. With a couple of rabbits to chase, I put in a little more effort and managed to pass the two riders about a quarter of a mile before the campground. The last day that I rode on last year's Tour, I wound up being the first rider in by a good hour. This time, I was nearly the last after a late start and 70 miles of riding by myself into a headwind.
I rolled into camp and caught up with a few friends from Sioux Falls and from previous Tours before calling Amy to have her pick me up. We went over to her dad's for dinner in the back yard and then over to Leigh Anne's where we were spending the night. The kids got to sleep on a hide-a-bed which Maia thought was the coolest thing she'd ever seen (she talked about it every 15 minutes that she was awake) and we crashed pretty hard.
The next day was another 70 mile day to Chamberlain with an optional loop to make it 100 miles, but talk of a west wind had made most riders consider bagging the century ride long before they set out. I was more fearful of how my body was going to react after only being off the bike for 12 hours. Leigh Anne got me started with a good breakfast at 6:00 and I left from her house at about 6:30.
The wind was already strong out of the west leaving most riders struggling along at 9-10 mph which was a little slower than I wanted to go. I was plugging along at 12-13 mph and looking for a group going slightly faster that I could join up with to share the load and pound out the miles. 20 miles into the ride, that group had not yet materialized and it was all I could do to hold 12 mph with my heart rate consistently in the 150's. I had the realization that I ride because it's fun and I wasn't having fun anymore. I had already done one full day into the wind and I would be out there for another four hours at my current rate of speed suffering like a dog. I decided that I'd turn around at Plankinton and head back since Amy and the kids were still in Mitchell. I made the turn around and passed about a million riders that I'd already passed from the opposite direction and made them all wonder what glory it would be to ride with the wind instead of against it. I looked down at one point and was riding effortlessly at 26 mph with my heart rate at 129 and for the first time on this year's Tour de Kota, had some fun.
I know, there are those that will deride me for being a quitter, but I've done communal suffering before and have my own war stories to tell and decided that this just wasn't a ride worth finishing. Had I been doing the next day's ride I would have absolutely plugged on and ridden to Chamberlain, but since I was heading back to Sioux Falls that night, it just wasn't worth the struggle.
I arrived back at Leigh Anne's about an hour after I had turned around and hit the shower and hung out for conversation for a bit. We decided to get together with Casey and Heidi and their family for lunch and had a good time hanging out with them for awhile. We then headed back to Sioux Falls. I had the realization that we probably saved about 8 gallons of gas by not going to Chamberlain, so I suggested that we take the kids to "Kung Fu Panda" when we got back to town. The kids were excited and we actually managed to salvage a pretty decent family day out of a pretty crappy bike tour day.
Still to come: Maia's birthday party, the Scheels Awards Dinner, Nich's farewell party, Josiah's wedding and a trip to the farm for Father's Day
Sunday and Monday last week were the only two days that I was available to do the 4th Annual Argus Leader Tour de Kota. I've done at least two days each year and was looking forward to this year's ride, although with a little trepidation. Sunday dawned idyllic with slight sprinkles, little wind and a good, first day of a bike tour buzz as riders left Sioux Falls for Mitchell. Unfortunately, I only got to experience the atmosphere at the check in since I wasn't going to be able to leave until after leading worship for church.
By the time I left, it was 1:30, the wind had come up just a little and shifted so that it would be in my face the entire way. I felt pretty good getting started though and plugged through the towns of Hartford and Humboldt with little trouble. The next stretch was a little windier and I started to regret not having anybody else around. I mean, is it really a bike tour if you are the only one riding? Not only were there no riders, but all of the food stands and communities had packed everything up and there were few signs remaining to indicate what kind of activity had taken place earlier. I met up with Amy to grab some food and top off the drinks and was already pretty knackered from the wind.
I knew that leaving so late I was running the risk of higher winds with no one to share the work with through drafting and that I very well could be the last person into the campground that day. That nearly proved true, but I caught my first "riders" about six miles before Mitchell. They were walking at the time and told me they had left Sioux Falls at 7:30 in the morning. One of the guys was having leg problems and they were plodding along as best they could. I'd ridden the last stretch of the ride late last summer when we were in Mitchell for Amy's grandma's birthday celebration, so I anticipated the valley and final uphill into town and was surprised as I came down the hill on the east side of the valley to see that there were two more riders struggling up the hill on the west side. With a couple of rabbits to chase, I put in a little more effort and managed to pass the two riders about a quarter of a mile before the campground. The last day that I rode on last year's Tour, I wound up being the first rider in by a good hour. This time, I was nearly the last after a late start and 70 miles of riding by myself into a headwind.
I rolled into camp and caught up with a few friends from Sioux Falls and from previous Tours before calling Amy to have her pick me up. We went over to her dad's for dinner in the back yard and then over to Leigh Anne's where we were spending the night. The kids got to sleep on a hide-a-bed which Maia thought was the coolest thing she'd ever seen (she talked about it every 15 minutes that she was awake) and we crashed pretty hard.
The next day was another 70 mile day to Chamberlain with an optional loop to make it 100 miles, but talk of a west wind had made most riders consider bagging the century ride long before they set out. I was more fearful of how my body was going to react after only being off the bike for 12 hours. Leigh Anne got me started with a good breakfast at 6:00 and I left from her house at about 6:30.
The wind was already strong out of the west leaving most riders struggling along at 9-10 mph which was a little slower than I wanted to go. I was plugging along at 12-13 mph and looking for a group going slightly faster that I could join up with to share the load and pound out the miles. 20 miles into the ride, that group had not yet materialized and it was all I could do to hold 12 mph with my heart rate consistently in the 150's. I had the realization that I ride because it's fun and I wasn't having fun anymore. I had already done one full day into the wind and I would be out there for another four hours at my current rate of speed suffering like a dog. I decided that I'd turn around at Plankinton and head back since Amy and the kids were still in Mitchell. I made the turn around and passed about a million riders that I'd already passed from the opposite direction and made them all wonder what glory it would be to ride with the wind instead of against it. I looked down at one point and was riding effortlessly at 26 mph with my heart rate at 129 and for the first time on this year's Tour de Kota, had some fun.
I know, there are those that will deride me for being a quitter, but I've done communal suffering before and have my own war stories to tell and decided that this just wasn't a ride worth finishing. Had I been doing the next day's ride I would have absolutely plugged on and ridden to Chamberlain, but since I was heading back to Sioux Falls that night, it just wasn't worth the struggle.
I arrived back at Leigh Anne's about an hour after I had turned around and hit the shower and hung out for conversation for a bit. We decided to get together with Casey and Heidi and their family for lunch and had a good time hanging out with them for awhile. We then headed back to Sioux Falls. I had the realization that we probably saved about 8 gallons of gas by not going to Chamberlain, so I suggested that we take the kids to "Kung Fu Panda" when we got back to town. The kids were excited and we actually managed to salvage a pretty decent family day out of a pretty crappy bike tour day.
Still to come: Maia's birthday party, the Scheels Awards Dinner, Nich's farewell party, Josiah's wedding and a trip to the farm for Father's Day
Saturday, May 31, 2008
Reliving my sporting youth
The Lakers vs. the Celtics in the NBA finals! The Giro d'Italia (Tour of Italy) goes over the Gavia Pass! I'm having '80's flashbacks all over the place.
Growing up, I was all about Magic, Kareem, Worthy (pictured), Cooper, Rambis, Byron Scott and the rest of my beloved Lakers. Scott Jacobson and I would go back and forth between my Lakers and his Celtics and for most of the '80's the debate raged on. Of course, I've enjoyed fairly recent success as a Lakers fan, but this is sooooo much better. The gold vs. the green will look so sweet (assuming that I'm actually able to watch any of it).
Needless to say though, I am a bigger cycling fan than basketball, so I can't help but be nostalgic when the Giro d'Italia included the Gavia Pass on today's stage, 20 years after my favorite cyclist, Andy Hampsten, somehow willed himself over the snow covered, gravel road on his way to claiming the only American victory in the history of Italy's grand tour. It's been fun reading interviews and retrospectives from the '88 race over the last month. It's been a great reminder of the early days of American cycling's introduction to the European stage and why I fell in love with this sport in the first place.
This year's Giro will end tomorrow and has been a fun one to follow online (I don't have cable or Direct TV, so no access to any televised coverage). The riders will start tomorrow's time trial stage with only four seconds separating first and second place. The current leader is Alberto Contador who won last year's Tour de France while a part of the Discovery Channel Team and he should fair pretty well since he is a better time trialer than Riccardo Riccò and the next best guy is two minutes back. Even though Contador is Spanish and the team is registered in a European nation and sponsored by the government of Kazakhstan there is still a US connection. The team rides Trek bikes designed and built in Waterloo, Wisconsin!
Growing up, I was all about Magic, Kareem, Worthy (pictured), Cooper, Rambis, Byron Scott and the rest of my beloved Lakers. Scott Jacobson and I would go back and forth between my Lakers and his Celtics and for most of the '80's the debate raged on. Of course, I've enjoyed fairly recent success as a Lakers fan, but this is sooooo much better. The gold vs. the green will look so sweet (assuming that I'm actually able to watch any of it).
Needless to say though, I am a bigger cycling fan than basketball, so I can't help but be nostalgic when the Giro d'Italia included the Gavia Pass on today's stage, 20 years after my favorite cyclist, Andy Hampsten, somehow willed himself over the snow covered, gravel road on his way to claiming the only American victory in the history of Italy's grand tour. It's been fun reading interviews and retrospectives from the '88 race over the last month. It's been a great reminder of the early days of American cycling's introduction to the European stage and why I fell in love with this sport in the first place.
This year's Giro will end tomorrow and has been a fun one to follow online (I don't have cable or Direct TV, so no access to any televised coverage). The riders will start tomorrow's time trial stage with only four seconds separating first and second place. The current leader is Alberto Contador who won last year's Tour de France while a part of the Discovery Channel Team and he should fair pretty well since he is a better time trialer than Riccardo Riccò and the next best guy is two minutes back. Even though Contador is Spanish and the team is registered in a European nation and sponsored by the government of Kazakhstan there is still a US connection. The team rides Trek bikes designed and built in Waterloo, Wisconsin!
Wednesday, May 28, 2008
A bike tip from your old uncle Matt and demo pics
If you have it in mind to buy a bike this summer, you may want to do so sooner rather than later. Many manufacturers run on a September to August production schedule where you would see 2009 models begin to arrive at summer's end, so in terms of bike retail season, we are already nearing the end of 2008 even though summer is just starting. With the new model year, comes new pricing and we are already seeing 2008 bikes becoming unavailable.
I got a peek at some of the 2009 pricing and costs are going up. Quite a bit in some cases. So, if you are interested in a sub $500 bike you may want to buy very soon before the new pricing comes into effect. This is almost in direct contradiction to my usual "buy late season closeout or right after the first of the year" philosophy (which I think still holds true for high end bikes), but I am seeing such a shortage of bikes for that budget minded, recreational rider that I think you're better off buying now if you can afford to.
Doomsdaying aside, I was finally able to get a few pics from the demo that I was able to do a few weeks ago in Huron with the Trek Demo Fleet.
Me setting a couple of guys up for test rides on a Trek Remedy 9 and Trek Fuel EX9. The trailer had about 35-40 bikes in it retailing from about $1700 to $5400. We set up probably two dozen of the bikes for demos while I was there.
Me riding a Trek 69'er single speed. This was one of my favorite bikes of the day primarily because I ride a lot of single speed at home with my Gary Fisher Rig. The nice thing with a single speed is that it's all about picking the best lines, measuring your effort and doing whatever it takes to cover the obstacles in front of you. If you aren't successful, it's your fault for not riding smart.
Me riding a Trek 69'er 3x9 geared hardtail. You can tell that they gave us the absolute best location on the entire fairgrounds with all of the garbage and heavy machinery.
I got a peek at some of the 2009 pricing and costs are going up. Quite a bit in some cases. So, if you are interested in a sub $500 bike you may want to buy very soon before the new pricing comes into effect. This is almost in direct contradiction to my usual "buy late season closeout or right after the first of the year" philosophy (which I think still holds true for high end bikes), but I am seeing such a shortage of bikes for that budget minded, recreational rider that I think you're better off buying now if you can afford to.
Doomsdaying aside, I was finally able to get a few pics from the demo that I was able to do a few weeks ago in Huron with the Trek Demo Fleet.
Me setting a couple of guys up for test rides on a Trek Remedy 9 and Trek Fuel EX9. The trailer had about 35-40 bikes in it retailing from about $1700 to $5400. We set up probably two dozen of the bikes for demos while I was there.
Me riding a Trek 69'er single speed. This was one of my favorite bikes of the day primarily because I ride a lot of single speed at home with my Gary Fisher Rig. The nice thing with a single speed is that it's all about picking the best lines, measuring your effort and doing whatever it takes to cover the obstacles in front of you. If you aren't successful, it's your fault for not riding smart.
Me riding a Trek 69'er 3x9 geared hardtail. You can tell that they gave us the absolute best location on the entire fairgrounds with all of the garbage and heavy machinery.
Tuesday, May 27, 2008
Improvisitory dining and other Memorial Day events
Memorial Day found me at work (again) where we had high hopes with good weather and were running from open to close. The only downside of the day was that I had four customers who I needed to special order bikes for. This on a day when if I would have been able to sell them something that I had in stock I would have received commission and a half (3%) instead of the normal 2%. Oh well. I had a really good day anyway and enjoyed the pace more than I have over the last 10 days.
I did have to build a bike myself for a customer during my lunch break because we didn't have the size that we needed. I had tried to push it off until later in the day, but the customer needed to be on the road before when I thought we could finish it, so I told them two hours and planned to build it myself. I grabbed my lunch (yogurt and granola) and headed to the shop to build. I reached the shop before realizing that I didn't have a spoon. I really didn't want to run back up to my desk, so I improvised and used a Pedro's Tools tire lever instead. I think the shop guys found great humor in the utensil selection.
Meanwhile, back at the homestead Amy, Jim and Marilyn put a coat of paint on the inside of the garage and hung peg racks and some peg board to get the garage put together a bit more. By the time I got home, Jim was putting on the finishing touches and everything was looking great. The only casualty of the day was the beer that I knocked over while putting my bike back on the Thule car that spilled all over the floor and camping chairs. The floor was easy to clean, the camping chairs may smell like beer for the rest of their existence. That should be fun the next time we take them to a church function!
I did have to build a bike myself for a customer during my lunch break because we didn't have the size that we needed. I had tried to push it off until later in the day, but the customer needed to be on the road before when I thought we could finish it, so I told them two hours and planned to build it myself. I grabbed my lunch (yogurt and granola) and headed to the shop to build. I reached the shop before realizing that I didn't have a spoon. I really didn't want to run back up to my desk, so I improvised and used a Pedro's Tools tire lever instead. I think the shop guys found great humor in the utensil selection.
Meanwhile, back at the homestead Amy, Jim and Marilyn put a coat of paint on the inside of the garage and hung peg racks and some peg board to get the garage put together a bit more. By the time I got home, Jim was putting on the finishing touches and everything was looking great. The only casualty of the day was the beer that I knocked over while putting my bike back on the Thule car that spilled all over the floor and camping chairs. The floor was easy to clean, the camping chairs may smell like beer for the rest of their existence. That should be fun the next time we take them to a church function!
Sunday, May 18, 2008
A Day with the Trek Demo Fleet
I had a great time hanging out yesterday at the State Fairgrounds in Huron with Ken from the Trek demo program and Mike our Trek rep. We were there as part of the first South Dakota Outdoor Expo. The store was involved in kayak, bow hunting, air rifle and bike demos throughout the grounds and Josiah and I spent most of our day helping set people up for test rides on high end Trek and Gary Fisher bikes.
We arrived Friday night and took a look at where we were set up. They had built a demo track for the mountain bike stuff that needed some serious modifying. Think of a motocross track on a smaller scale with a simple out and back design. It was way too aggressive with some obstacles being completely unrideable for all but expert riders. We managed to track down a bobcat and tamed it down a bit. Unfortunately, the demo truck was closed up by that time and we had to wait for the next morning to give it a test run.
We arrived at about 7:30 Saturday morning and helped set up the tents and bikes. The demo fleet consists of 30-40 bikes hauled in a trailer by a beautifully decked out VW Toureg and Ken who handles bike demos from Toronto to Manitoba to Arkansas. He had been in Detroit the week before and goes to Winnipeg next. Ken's got a full assortment of tools, his service stand and everything else that you need for a successful demo.
Armed with bikes, Josiah and I headed out to give the course a go. Neither of us was horribly successful as Josiah got hung up between a couple of rises that didn't have enough space between them and wound up on his back and I came off of a table top obstacle and had to bail out when I lost control. Thankfully, I stayed upright and held onto the bike, but I didn't manage to actually stay on the bike. More course modification ensued and we finally had a course that we felt gave riders a chance to really try the bikes out without fear of death.
One of the fears that I had for the event was that it was advertised almost exclusively to the hunter/fisherman crowd and that we would go almost completely unnoticed. This fear was compounded when we saw that we were on the outskirts of the event behind several buildings. You were either going to have to really look for us or stumble onto us to know we were even there.
For the first two hours, we saw nobody and were getting pretty frustrated. Josiah and I had a chance to really work the course on some really great bikes, so it wasn't a complete loss for us. I started with the Gary Fisher Hi-Fi Carbon Pro and Superfly (both about $5000 retail bikes) and rode the Fisher Hi-Fi Pro 29 and Paragon and Trek Remedy 9, Fuel EX 9, geared 69'er and 69'er single speed and was the only one to do a road demo all day with a Trek Madone 5.2 with a beautiful Bontrager Race X Lite wheelset (an upgrade over the regular Madone 5.2).
I enjoyed pretty much everything that I rode, but kept coming back to the Hi-Fi Carbon Pro and 69'er single speed. I've never really had a chance to ride much full suspension, so the Hi-Fi was a whole new experience for me. I own a Fisher single speed, so the 69'er single was a natural fit for me. I did really enjoy the 69'er geared bike as well and know that was probably Josiah's favorite of the day. I don't know how many laps we rode, but I rode everything that came out of the truck and spent most of the day from 8:00 am to probably 5:30 pm on a bike.
We finally started seeing some action late in the morning and wound up doing 53 demo rides through the day where we would set up the rider, give them some instruction and then head out on the course with them. The course was still a bit aggressive for most of the riders that we saw and we had about an 80% crash rate, no injuries (other than pride) and lots of smiles. We had a lot of teenage riders and probably about 20 adults through the course of the day. Most of the riders learned how to navigate the course and wiped out less as they became more familiar with the speed they needed to carry.
We packed up at 6:00 and they are back at it again today, but I had to head home after grabbing some prime rib with the guys so that I could be home for church this morning. I rolled in about 10:00 last night and wanted to watch the news because KSFY had a cameraman at the event that shot some at the mountain bike course, but of course when the story aired, it was all about hunting and fishing. Go figure.
We arrived Friday night and took a look at where we were set up. They had built a demo track for the mountain bike stuff that needed some serious modifying. Think of a motocross track on a smaller scale with a simple out and back design. It was way too aggressive with some obstacles being completely unrideable for all but expert riders. We managed to track down a bobcat and tamed it down a bit. Unfortunately, the demo truck was closed up by that time and we had to wait for the next morning to give it a test run.
We arrived at about 7:30 Saturday morning and helped set up the tents and bikes. The demo fleet consists of 30-40 bikes hauled in a trailer by a beautifully decked out VW Toureg and Ken who handles bike demos from Toronto to Manitoba to Arkansas. He had been in Detroit the week before and goes to Winnipeg next. Ken's got a full assortment of tools, his service stand and everything else that you need for a successful demo.
Armed with bikes, Josiah and I headed out to give the course a go. Neither of us was horribly successful as Josiah got hung up between a couple of rises that didn't have enough space between them and wound up on his back and I came off of a table top obstacle and had to bail out when I lost control. Thankfully, I stayed upright and held onto the bike, but I didn't manage to actually stay on the bike. More course modification ensued and we finally had a course that we felt gave riders a chance to really try the bikes out without fear of death.
One of the fears that I had for the event was that it was advertised almost exclusively to the hunter/fisherman crowd and that we would go almost completely unnoticed. This fear was compounded when we saw that we were on the outskirts of the event behind several buildings. You were either going to have to really look for us or stumble onto us to know we were even there.
For the first two hours, we saw nobody and were getting pretty frustrated. Josiah and I had a chance to really work the course on some really great bikes, so it wasn't a complete loss for us. I started with the Gary Fisher Hi-Fi Carbon Pro and Superfly (both about $5000 retail bikes) and rode the Fisher Hi-Fi Pro 29 and Paragon and Trek Remedy 9, Fuel EX 9, geared 69'er and 69'er single speed and was the only one to do a road demo all day with a Trek Madone 5.2 with a beautiful Bontrager Race X Lite wheelset (an upgrade over the regular Madone 5.2).
I enjoyed pretty much everything that I rode, but kept coming back to the Hi-Fi Carbon Pro and 69'er single speed. I've never really had a chance to ride much full suspension, so the Hi-Fi was a whole new experience for me. I own a Fisher single speed, so the 69'er single was a natural fit for me. I did really enjoy the 69'er geared bike as well and know that was probably Josiah's favorite of the day. I don't know how many laps we rode, but I rode everything that came out of the truck and spent most of the day from 8:00 am to probably 5:30 pm on a bike.
We finally started seeing some action late in the morning and wound up doing 53 demo rides through the day where we would set up the rider, give them some instruction and then head out on the course with them. The course was still a bit aggressive for most of the riders that we saw and we had about an 80% crash rate, no injuries (other than pride) and lots of smiles. We had a lot of teenage riders and probably about 20 adults through the course of the day. Most of the riders learned how to navigate the course and wiped out less as they became more familiar with the speed they needed to carry.
We packed up at 6:00 and they are back at it again today, but I had to head home after grabbing some prime rib with the guys so that I could be home for church this morning. I rolled in about 10:00 last night and wanted to watch the news because KSFY had a cameraman at the event that shot some at the mountain bike course, but of course when the story aired, it was all about hunting and fishing. Go figure.
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