My Area 106

Moonlighting and a poser...

I'm envious of  cities that have great cycling cultures, so I couldn't help myself by throwing on my messenger bag while I skirted off for the downtown city lights of my hometown of Massillon, Ohio. I was riding solo this night as my neighbor Scott was off with his family at their church camp.

So, my plan would be to show my fellow Massillonians what urban cycling and commuting is like (leading by example, right?). Yeah, I realize that running around with an empty messenger bag slung to my back seems rather extreme (it sure was hot and humid) but my goal is to help educate my fellow citizens of this fair city.

I'm fairly certain that our city has no official bike messenger (I'm pretty sure this guy isn't) so maybe there would be a chance that I could catch the eye of the local biz and demonstrate my quick acceleration and reflexes as I dart in and out of traffic. I'm sure I can get court documents delivered around town in a much faster time than just walking them, hey?

Stayin upright on the bike

This time last year I was having some fun on the new 2008 Trek and Fisher mountain bikes but had an unfortunate accident that really banged me up (click here for recap). This year, I'm trying to keep the rubber to the road and staying away from the off road trials till I get to the annual sales meeting and subsequent "Trek World" dealer show in Madison.

I've been getting most of my daily rides in, sharing most with my neighbor and riding companion Scott as we've been putting in many miles in and around our hometown(Massillon).

I'm really looking forward to Trek World this year and for the chance to view the new Top Fuel's, Ex's, Roscoe and all the other new products up close and to share a pint or two with some good friends. I'm sure I'll have some great stories to share as we get towards the end of August.

In the meantime, if you would like to read some early reviews on some of the new Trek and Fisher products check out: Dirt Rag Blog on Trek Fuel; mtbr review of Fuel EX; Bicycling blog of Fisher Roscoe; others are sure to come.

Bob

Could this be the new Top Fuel SSL...

Go ahead. It's okay to drool and slur your speech.

Go to this site to get some info: http://reviews.mtbr.com/blog/2009-trek-top-fuel/

North Park Demo - Sunday, July 20th

Out of bed at 6am as I prepped for the days demo event at North Park (NW Pittsburgh). I was still feeling the effects from yesterdays demo at Mohican (feeling a bit tired) even though I had a great nights sleep. That alarm came much to earlier but I was excited to get on the road for Pittsburgh.

We set a record. Our demo at North Park in the fall last year was a huge success as we had over 100+ riders register to ride that day (the Steelers were even playing a home game that day) and I would say each rider rode an average of 2 bikes. We were busy to say the least. Matter of fact I believe Demo Dave stated that this may have been a record.

Our site that Jessie chose was great and permitted us to use a pavilion to give us some relief from the hot sun but provided us some great exposure from the traffic entering this portion of the park. The crew from the Trek Store of Pittsburgh helped co-sponsor and promote the event which was a huge help. A big THANK YOU to the crew at TOP. Once again having all the volunteers really helps plus really gives all demo participants more opportunities to get on more bikes.

Mohican Demo

Dave O'Connell is this area's (area 106 and all of of the east coast for that matter) Factory Demo Rep and made it to my home last night around 9:30pm. He had been on the road driving straight through from his home in Exeter, NH. Wow, what a long hauler, hey? The saving grace is that Dave get's to drive in one mean set of wheels (VW Toureg).

Pete Digacamo met up with us at the house and three of us sat outside on my back patio relaxing, enjoying a great beer (several) and watching the glow of the pit fire I had going for the evening. I figured it would be a nice way to help Dave wind down from such a long day on the road.

This morning we were up early, packed up and headed for the Mohican State Park for today's Trek Factory Demo Event (scheduled from 10am till 4pm). As we pulled into the parking lot at 9am, there were several cars already in the lot just getting ready to head out for a ride (members of Spoke Junkies). We got set up and by 9:30am just as demo participants were walking up, ready to sign the release forms and begin riding their preferred Trek or Gary Fisher demo bike.

A wounded quail...one and done for this rider

Its been awhile since I've been on a mountain bike trail. The rain and local trail conditions have been a real mess. Getting a few runs at the recent Seven Springs Mountain Resort left me wanting to spend some time on the Gary Fisher HiFi 29er.

I looked up the local trail conditions report which read that on July 12th Quail Hollow's trails where "wet with standing water holes and a major tree was down at the end of the trail". Since this was the 15th of July I figured the trail would have dried out some and maybe, just maybe the tree had been disposed of.

No chance. Since my Element was the only vehicle in the parking lot I decided to ride the trail in reserve in which I came upon this tree immediately. In the couple seconds it took to maneuver myself (and bike) through the tree I was engulfed by mosquitoes. They were "thick" to say the least (and I didn't have any bug repellent on) and once I remounted I quickly ran into overgrown brush and briar's hanging out into the trails. Riders have been staying away from this trail.

Poor Quail Hollow, it is feeling neglected. As I rode through each water (mud) hole; I decided to navigate them slowly with my crash history and all, since I really wasn't sure how deep they would be. I could tell no one had been riding through the puddles, but rather riding around them. The trails are in really bad shape.

ROSCOE... it's alive

ROSCOE. That's all I got to say about that.

In the meantime, check out the Gary Fisher web site and the new G2 hardtails for 2009.

Heck, do you think I would spill all the beans on the new 2009 stuff here; on this blog?

Bob

So happy together...

Shake and Bake....

It's great to see the participants at this years OMBC "S & S" Trails race enjoying themselves with the LeMans style start to the race this past Sunday, hey? Well, due to rain early in the morning Chris Skinner (Team Trek - Ohio Valley and honorary race chairman) opted to use a LeMans style start to the race in order to help thin out the riders as they headed onto a slick course.

The rain held off during the race though, and about mid way through the sun came out and began to dry out the course, making the terrain feel more like a sponge rather than a hard pack trail.

The afternoon belonged to flies; well, the Gary Fisher HiFi's and Superfly's that is as the top spots in the Expert Men, Expert Vet Men and Expert Womens were all won on either a Gary Fisher HiFi Procaliber or Superfly.

So, all the home cookin' from our hosts (Chris and Colleen Skinner) provided a great day of results for the home team,and a chance to send back top results to the mother ship (Waterloo, Wisconsin).

Seven Springs Downhill Event a Major Success!!

Over 450 riders took advantage of Seven Springs hospitality of a "free" lift ticket this past Saturday (July 12) along with an opportunity to ride for "free" a slew of industry demo bikes at the Seven Springs Mountain Resort in Seven Springs, Pennsylvania.

Along with the Seven Springs Resort's Park brand of bikes "Kona", the Trek Factory and WSD Fit Demo Trailers and Speedgoat Bicycles (Santa Cruz) joined together in providing weekend riders "free" demo bikes as they ripped on the many downhill runs that have been added to the resort this season. Also joining in the fun was Dirt Rag and Ray's MTB (Ray was busy talking about the changes that are being done currently at Ray's Indoor Park in anticipation for this winter's season).

This is a park you'll want to check out this summer! They have a couple beginner/intermediate level runs as well as a couple more challenging ones for the more "schooled" of downhillers. I believe the park charges $15 for a lift ticket during the weekdays and $30 for the weekends, but check with the park to make sure.

The weather was outstanding and trails were fast and dry for the riding on Saturday making it even more enjoyable. The local bar offered $2 Rolling Rock draught beers along with plenty of swag being handed out as the evening came to a close.

I'm thankful for... (in regards to bike essentials)

When it comes to cycling and enjoying the "ride", I can't help but think of today's equipment and just how far our industry has come in a short amount of time.

Heck, this August will mark my twentieth year anniversary working at Trek Bicycle and being part of this wonderful industry (and bike company)! Honestly, it seems as it was yesterday as my wife Elizabeth and I drove out to Waterloo, Wisconsin for my initial job interview with the company. I vividly recall my first encounter and meeting with John Burke (President of Trek Bicycle) which at that time in 1988 was the National Sales Manager at Trek Bicycle. I still laugh when I think about it, but I thought he look familiar to me and thought he was a former basketball player from Indiana University. Oh well, I miss took him for someone else but I'm fairly certain that the basketball player I remember probably wishes he's had the same success in the NBA that John has had with Trek (the player washed out of the NBA in a couple seasons).

Enough reflection and now on with today's post topic. What am I thankful for? What has influenced our industry like no others? Carbon fiber? This has really taken frame weights to all time record low weights; wheels continue to get stronger, stiffer and lighter; clothing fabrics are more technical and offering less wind resistance, greater breath-ability and lighter weights. In my book though, nothing compares to:

• introduction of the clipless pedals and
• SIS indexed shifting (have to throw STI into the equation)
•