Yes, here is the look back post that is so en vogue this time of year. It was a pretty event filled year, and thankfully, not as dark and bleak as 2011. While 2011 pretty much was the worst year ever, 2012 was one of transition, and had the occasional beam of light that helped me find my way.

January kicked off with the addition of a Pugsley to my quiver. I call him the Trundleraptor. He made the cold and snowy months so much more enjoyable. I had made the decision that i was going to take “training” a bit more seriously for 2012, as I had my sights set on the Breck Epic. Lots of indoor ride time was logged on the trainer.

"training"

February included my 4th (?) annual trip to the Sonoran Desert, where I successfully completed the SSAZ loop injury free, spent time in Sedona, and rode some fun stuff around Prescott. I also played my first game of bike polo. Upon my return to VT, more snowbiking was had.



March. What a weird month. In like a lion, out like a lamb I believe the saying is. We started in the thick of winter, Pugsley riding, rolled right into mud season, and ended riding dry singletrack. The first Winterbike was thrown at the beginning of the month, by MTBVT honcho, GG and SSUSAVT collaborator Ryan Thibault. A rocking good time.

ways to stay warm in the winter

April. A lot of yous fell for my April Fools prank this year. I pre rode the Gravel Grinder loop with temps in the mid 70s. I gave myself a terrible buzz cut. The Grinder was the best ever, with a keg of beer and 20 lbs of chocolate covered bacon. Lots of base miles. Singlespeed-apalooza, my first start in the men’s open category, no sport class for this chump.

bacon

May. Lots of riding, a little bit of filming, refining my bikes, and getting picky on breakfast sandwiches. My knee had started acting up again, and I made the decision to pull the plug on my bid for the Breck Epic. A bummer way to start the summer.

June. The wind was leaving the sails, but I still managed to get some quality rides in, tweak the bikes some more. What a lot of folks dont know, is that this is when the “end” started for the bike shop. No local business to speak of, little B29 business via the web, zero availability from my largest brand at the time. I saw the writing on the wall, but I was determined to give it my best effort.

July. Guests from the west. SSUSA. Change. From the outside, no one would ever know that the shop was dying. It was becoming harder and harder to stay positive about the whole thing. It was a heavy burden to carry by myself, yet I still managed to show up there and do what little business came in. However, it was becoming more and more apparent that what little business did come in wasnt even close to becoming enough to make it worth while. The downward spiral had begun.

momento of the BEST DAY EVER

August. I raced co-ed duo with Ginger at the DH40 in a dress. I was dead sexy. The business was in decline, but socially, my game was up. I found a new appreciation for sitting on my back deck, drinking tequila and trying to make tacos that were better than the last ones. Then I had a severe allergic reaction to some meds I was prescribed, which landed me in a world of hurt. I was out of commission for 2 weeks with chronic swelling in my joints and unspeakabe pain. I got a year older.

lunch time rides were the bright spots

September. I went to Vegas, made some connections, saw some old friends. When I returned, I pulled the rip cord. The shop was over. I just couldn’t keep going, and it was the only choice. You know that part in Top Gun when Goose dies? It felt a lot like that, only worse.

lost that loving feeling

October. I also didn’t drink this whole month. Probably saved me a small fortune…

November. Still feeling pretty low. Sitting on a bunch of stuff with no place to sell it, I did a huge liquidation sale, boxing stuff up and shipping it out of my storage unit. It helped keep a few of the buzzards away, but I was not in a good space. I started having some pretty acute panic attacks, which I can tell you are not fun. I know what they are, so I know how to deal with them. I don’t like taking the drugs, so I just curl up in a ball and  wait for them to pass, or the world to end. If I feel them coming on, I try and get outside and do something, but often they come with no warning.

therapy

I flew out to California, to take on a new role with an old employer. I spent Thanksgiving with friends, and had three long days of driving back east to think about things. I still dont have the answers, but at least it’s a something. I stopped waiting for the apocalypse.

December. The world didn’t end. I got my first paycheck in over 7 years. Christmas was weird, but not unpleasant. It was to be the first of the ongoing series of Dysfunctional Family Christmas. The Pugsley has been ridden.

stoked for snow... for a change

A whole new year awaits, and while 2012 was a year of transition, 2013 promises to be a year of change. I know of a few things on the horizon that I am very much looking forward to.

Not much to talk about in the days that followed, but it went something like this:
Monday, 850 miles
Tuesday, 950 miles
Wednesday, 750 miles, plus a stop in at Darkhorse Cycles to have a beer with the Mayor.

I was really glad to be home.
Here is my instagram photodump from my trip. Can’t wait for the next one.

Actually, I didnt.

"Look Ma! A Fwaggle!!"

I turned right and headed east, but not before I spent some time enjoying some of what New Mexico has to offer and visiting with my “big sister” who I rarely get to see. I spent 7 hours in the drivers seat of the Big Kitty on Thanksgiving day, my goal, to make dinner and football. I was welcomes with delicious local brews, a feast, and some maple Crown Royal – it’s awesome. We even caught a gorgeous ABQ sunset, although we missed the Sandias light up.

sundown

The next day, was spent learning some of my new tasks, the lessons taught by my big sis, who also works remotely for EHB. This was after an amazing breakfast burrito from Lotta Burger, smothered in red chile sauce. You gotta have a good meal to fuel you through a whole day of work.

I was going to hightail it out of town on Saturday and head up to Colorado, but I chose to stay and do some sight seeing. From my bike. I rode Otero Canyon, which links up to a massive network of trails. I only rode for about an hour or so, because we were to head up to Santa Fe and be tourists for a while later in the day. Somehow, I managed to leave my camera behind for the ride, which is too bad, because there is lots to see out there. The Moment was a much better choice of bike for this terrain, but I would have appreciated a little more top tube. The bike climbs amazingly well, Ellsworth’s ICT suspension design is a performer, and I was able to easily scramble up the ledgy techy spots on my way to the top of the trail. On the way down though… 160mm of travel and a dropped seat… giggity.

Santa Fe is gorgeous. I love the place, even if it is a tourist trap. We spent the afternoon checking out the old churches, milling about the town square, and most importantly, hitting the local breweries. Solid.

the Rio Grande

cottonwoods down by the river

I stayed on through Sunday, taking it easy, and making sure I had everything I needed for the crossing home. This included a run to the grocery and beer stores, there is just some stuff you cant get outside of the southwest. I also managed a visit to local Ellsworth dealer, Fat Tire Cycles. A great bunch of guys, and a very cool shop. We took a little time to goof off on the rec path down by the Rio Grande, snap some pics and enjoy the beautiful sunshine. The leaves on the Cottonwoods were the most amazing shade of brown, and contrast against that western blue sky in the most wonderful way. This place must be something else when the leaves are green, or even in the fall for that matter. Can’t wait to visit again. It was nice to just be outside, and not have too much of an agenda.

birdies

The days that followed were not going to quite as much fun.

Yeah, I know. I’ve been busy. For those that don’t know, I’m currently working 2 jobs right now. I’m still doing a little bit of Bike29, and doing a little bit of Ellsworth Handcrafted Bicycles. Yes, that is what my sudden trips to the west coast have been all about, although I wish I could say it was because I won the lottery and have been taking lavish mini vacations. I guess in a way, I have, because I did get to do a couple of cool things on this last trip besides learn a new operating system and drink lots of really awesome tequila.

I flew to San Diego (German for a…) just before Thanksgiving. My mission, to pick up a bunch of bikes and a big assed truck, and drive back east. It seems that every time I fly these days, there is some form of unplanned and unappreciated delay, and my last flight out was no different. Thanks to a certain airline, I missed my connecting flight and had to spent a bonus night in Philly. The plus side, the bar staff and patrons of the near airport hotel bar were extremely entertaining.

After finally getting to San Diego, I ended up getting delayed again due to the truck needing a couple of things fixed, and a cap installed. It wasnt as bad as I thought it was going to be, but hanging out in South Town for about 4 hours was not that much fun. Once I was finished up, it was time to load on up and head out. Driving. In this.

Kitty!

It’s awesome. His name is Moby (after the great white whale) but I call him Big Kitty. His diesel motor purrs, and like a kitty, if he decides to do his own thing, you gotta pay attention to get him back on track. I like him. Its fun peering down into the cabs of other full size trucks as you pass them…

my bike has those too!

So my first stop was Tucson. Damn. I hate that town. I took a little time out of my day to ride Fantasy Island after a dealer visit. I decided to ride a 26″ bike just for hahas. I took out the Moment, a 160mm travel all mountain sort of a bike. The bike was a medium, so I was sort of all over the place, but it was the only bike I had with me that was already built up. It felt weird to ride a small wheeled bike on terrain I was so used to riding a 29er singlespeed on, but I figured why not. It reminded me that I really like 29″ wheels for a reason. Its been super dry in Tucson, and the trails were very loose, I got bogged down by the sandy conditions where big wheels would normally carry me through (maybe…). Fantasy Island is the sort of place where you dont need all that suspension, it’s kinda flat and not technical at all. But it is super fun, and it requires ninja like maneuvers to ride quickly lest you have a run in with the cholla. The Moment was fun in that it was very agreeable to sudden direction changes. Actually, the bike is very playful despite the huge amount of travel on both ends of the bike. One day I’ll ride one my size on more appropriate terrain. I spent almost 2 hours tooling about the place, avoiding cows and learning where all the sweet spots were on setting up the suspension. I also managed to avoid any run ins with the local vegetation.

a peaceful Moment in Tucson

The next day was Thanksgiving, and I spent 7 hrs driving east to Albuquerque, but I’ll tell you more about that next time.

Yes, all my friend’s blogs are doing it. I thought it would throw my hat in the ring too. The THANKSGIVING post.

Right now, I am out in Tucson, and will spend a good portion of the day on actual Thanksgiving driving east. As some of my face friends might know already, I flew out to sunny California, and will be driving back. Still unwilling to share the finer details of this excursion, but lets just say that there are many components to it that remind one to be thankful.

I’m really thankful for my friends. I have a good bunch of people around me that are practically family. I’m relying on many of these folks on my voyage, and it’s awesome to know they are there for me.

Obviously my family, as weird as things are right now. While this will be my second turkey day “in the wild”, I know that the boy will be enjoying the warmth and comfort of his grandparents in PA. While I’ll be on the road for a good long time, I will be arriving at some more of my very good friends to have dinner in Albuquerque. The insane road trip to have a huge meal is part of the whole Thanksgiving experience.

Then there are the things that I’m not going to share just yet, but I am pretty darn thankful for those things too.

And lastly, I’d like to thank all the folks that come and visit my blog from time to time, I really enjoy writing it, and boy do I have some fodder. Anyone remember my airplane story from Vegas in ’08?

 

… at the Cirlce K

woah

The last couple of days have been filled with all sorts of goings on. I can tell you that there are some big things cooking behind the scenes at B29, some rather important things. I’ll be able to talk about them soon.

I did manage to squeeze in a ride on Kermit on the record breakingly warm day we had on Monday. 71° was such a pleasant temperature to go bombing around w/ T-Vo at Saxon Hill in Essex. No arm warmers or bulky jackets necessary. I’m always amazed at how fun this network of trails is, and baffled that I only ever seem to ride them once a year – right at the end of the season. Probably because my local Stowe trails are so much easier to access.

With hunting season upon us, there are only a few areas that are “safe” to ride. Although, this is VT, I’ve seen flannel and guns on these safe areas more than once. Generally, they are just passing through, but it’s still unnerving. I tend to avoid the woods all together this time of year. Hunting season is relatively short, and since I’ve been riding my bike in the woods since March, I’m totally OK with sharing.

Sometimes, there is December dirt, but I’m prepared if there isn’t. I have the Trundleraptor ready to go…

It seems as if it were only yesterday that I was hovering over my computer, furiously trying to come up with a submission for the Green Mountain Showdown. I had run into MTBVT head honcho Ryan at Interbike, where he gently twisted my arm into participating. It wasnt that hard, as this was after 5, and I was on my way back from the tequila hour at one of the booths.

Of course, I put it off until the very last minute.

Which is sort of funny, cinsidering. Anyway, one of the hardest things about it was coming up with the right “tone”. I had no idea what I was getting myself into, and I tend to be a bit overly self conscious in these situations. I had an idea, but no point of reference. I agonized for days on how I was going to execute it, what content was going to be in it, was it going to be mixed media, what music to use etc to the point where I almost went batshit. Oh, and I had to make it run in a time format that wouldn’t send people towards the door. Had I not procrastinated so hard, it might have been better.

So what we have here, is my submission. I ended up just going with a photo slideshow set to music. You’ve seen some of these images on this blog before. I wanted to come up with a little something that not only showcased  my pictures, but was also a sort of photo diary of the last 18 months of my life.

As we all know, my last 18 months have been rife with change, some of it not so good. These are images from my escape. I never stopped riding my bike, for a long time it was the only place where I felt like things were OK. It took me places I can only partially tell you about with pictures. The music I selected tells another part of the story. No one creates soundscapes like Ennio. Plus I’m a big sucker for Spaghetti Westerns. It’s a story of the big open spaces I’ve navigated through on my bike, both mentally and physically.

Unfortunately, the night the Showdown was to take place, it decided to rain cats, dogs, geese and chickens sideways. This pushed back the start of the event, and I was ultimately bumped from the line up. I was a little bit miffed, but stuff like this happens, sometimes you just have to roll with it. There were some really good submissions, and it was good to see so many people turn out in spite of the deluge. The best part about it, was that I got a little bit of validation in my efforts. My submission was different, but at least as good as some of the others.

This has me thinking about the next Showdown…

It’s amazing how little effort it takes to fuel the stoke.

I’ve spent the last couple of days in my storage unit, after spending entirely way too long trying to print out shipping labels at my kitchen table. What was I doing? Putting labels on boxes. Being busy never felt so good. Even if my efforts took 5 times as long due to an “IT” issue.

the first carload

I also made a bit more room in ye old “warehouse” by passing on a couple of items that I had built for the shop: my old workbench and my craptable. I call it a craptable, but really it’s where the bench vise, bench grinder and several hundred steerer tube ends used to live. It’s a sturdy little sucker. I was able to bequeath these items to my good buddy Joe (of Joe’s Trail), who also helped me stuff boxes. Without his help, I would still probably be there shipping orders in the snow.

hazy shade of winter

Oh, yeah, it has snowed. Several inches fell up high, and we’ve had a dusting to 1″ on the valley floors which means that winter will very soon be upon us. That didn’t stop me from getting in a ride in the Loops. While many of the locals were out hiking the snow capped mountains in search of their first ski turns of the season, Seamy and I had the woods to ourselves.

snowy singletrack

keepin it METAL

Now I don’t know if the ambient air temperature had anything to do with it (28°!) but I had a real hard time getting my bike to move. I felt weak like kitten, a far cry from the strong like bull I felt on my last ride. It probably had more to do with the fact that my last ride was well over a week ago. Or maybe I need a lighter bike…

I am touched by the overwhelming amount of support via orders I received Friday and Saturday. Until my recent slash and burn tactics, all this stuff had been sitting in storage getting dusty. I’ve been feeling a lot like a haggard survivor in the Walking Dead lately, and getting rid of this inventory has given me some more bullets so I can live to fight another day. For that, I am extremely grateful. Thanks to everyone.

staying one step ahead...

I’m gonna level with y’all. I was dead certain that I was rapidly approaching the end. I have a hard time not doing things. It makes me crazy. Unless otherwise focusing on things like spokelengths, various hub/rim combos, tire pressure, sag, blah blah blah blah blah, my mind becomes a centrifuge that will keep spinning until it accelerates to the point where it breaks and flies off into an unpredicted direction. It could put someone’s eye out.

It’s not like I haven’t been looking for work. Nothing awesome has turned up yet, but the feelers are out there. I’ve had some interviews, some rejections, and lots of no replies. And you know what? I’ve been here before. In fact, it was about 7 years ago I was in the very same predicament: jobless, broke, and no options looking good. The landscape has changed, but the game is the same. Maybe some of the parameters might be better, or worse, depending on how you look at them, but I’ve been here before. And I lived to tell the tale.

Bike29 was just a simple idea that became so much more than I knew what to do with sometimes. Occasionally it got out of hand. It’s run me into the ground more than once, that’s for sure. But every time it’s done that, I’ve been able to walk out of the smoking crater. This last time was very hard, because everything was a stake.  Guess it still is. But dammit, I feel myself getting up. Maybe not as quickly, and definitely a lot more banged up than I have ever been, I’m getting up just the same.

To be continued…

 

It has been a month since I handed the keys to the retail shop back to my landlords. Sadly, not much has happened, with the one exception of a quick trip out to my old stomping grounds in San Diego. That was a nice break.

The weather here of course made my threat of riding bikes almost impossible, and my quick trip has reduced the number of rides to a mere handful. Normally, I have Off-tober, but seeing as I wasn’t bound to occupy the shop, I thought I’d enjoy some of that freedom before the next thing presents itself. Oh well… The online store has managed to do a pretty decent business, despite me not really playing with it. And I still have a pretty decent inventory of stuff left over, and now it is time for some deals to be made.

If you head on over to the Bike29 Sale page, you will see some rather crazy deals. So take a look, tell a friend, get a bargain, so I don’t have to resort to doing something like this: