Please forgive the long hiatus from the blog. There’s been too much going on to keep track of, and I just haven’t had time to write. I’ve been going nuts lately, and since I use this blog to scribble out my thoughts and keep track of everything, I’ve been kind of discombobulated as of late. Hopefully, typing tonight will help me regain some semblance of sanity.
It’s been a few weeks since all the festivities with Team Kenda p/b GearGrinder, but I’ve finally got a chance to get to the laptop to jot down a few notes and highlights from those few days. Here’s a rundown of what happened:
- I went down to Macon, GA for two days to help Team Kenda’s ace mechanic, John Columbus, assemble some bikes for the team. It was a good couple of days. We had a lot of goodies from Masi, SRAM, Thomson, Jagwire, and Look to make the job a lot easier. We had to fashion a couple of homemade tools to get the job done, but it got done. We built around 12 team bikes in a day and a half, which also consisted of unloading and rearranging the team trailer and work area.
- I got to FINALLY meet the MasiGuy, Tim Jackson (brand manager for Masi Bicycles) in person. I have chatted
back and forth with him on Twitter/blogs for the past several years, interviewed him for the VeloReviews Podcast, and I’ve got one of his bikes at my house as a demo, but had never actually met him in person. Good times. - The following Sunday, as a favor to me for working on the team bikes, Tim and Team Kenda p/b GearGrinder’s Team Director, Frankie Andreu (former US Postal Service rider, Versus TdF Commentator), stopped by Out Spokin’ for a meet and greet with several customers who decided to stop by. They hung out for around an hour, and afterwards, we all rode over to LifeTime Fitness to join the rest of the team for…
- A great group ride with the team and a lot of LifeTime Fitness regulars. We rode around 20 miles or so through Roswell and Alpharetta’s most beautiful subdivisions… and some hilly ones. The guys from Team Kenda were really cool and I think that the team gained a few more fans over the course of the weekend. I also got the chance to meet several Twitter-buddies in person, like Team Kenda p/b GearGrinder PR man, @ricktillery, and Super-Fan/Diva @BGreene1. It was a great weekend for everyone involved.
It’s been a busy few weeks since then… don’t even want to catch up on a lot of it. Last night I did a presentation at theRAMBO (Roswell-Alpharetta Mountain Bike Organization) monthly club meeting. I spoke for 15-20 minutes about bike fit, and I think the group was at least slightly educated in the process. I finished up a pretty sweet bike build yesterday, too. It took a few weeks to get everything together, but I was happy with the end result, and so was my customer. Here it is:
Tomorrow’s the last ride on my (first) Eddy Merckx. I have enjoyed this bike thoroughly, but it’s time to move on to something different. I’m actually taking my rig down a notch in order to pull off a two-fer. I’m trading the Merckx in, fully loaded, for two bikes. Which bikes, you ask? I’ll let you know when I get them rolling. More on that later…
I’ve got more pictures from the Frankie Andreu shop visit and Team Kenda p/b GearGrinder Fan Ride. I’ll post them when I can, as they’re still loaded on my phone. You can also find Tim Jackson’s report about the team’s training camp and a few bits about the shop visit HERE.
PROBIKEWRENCH 