New Moots Pics and Thanks for the Memories!

After rolling through our last few Moots bikes, we brought in some freshies. 2008 MootoX-YBB and YBB plus a 56cm Compact VaMoots. The VaMoots is still just a frame. We have a SRAM Force group sitting around waiting to tacked on.

Here's Philly-Boy holding the 29r MootoX-YBB. Smart build with pink headset, Juicys, Reba 80-100, Thomson, WTB... Pretty bike with SUPERHOT test-ride pedals! That Devo saddle is sexy. The 26r has one, too! I should have weighed the bike but I didn't.

We also have the 26r YBB. This is our best-seller. Such a fun bike. Even though 1/2 of Moots mountain bike business is 29rs, we still sell plenty of 26rs. See? Look how happy Phil is, just TOUCHING the Moots. Imagine what it feels like when you sit on it! How's that for graphic!?

We have some Easton EA90sl wheels coming in for the Compact VaMoots road bike. I think it's getting a Ouzo Pro fork, carbon bar and the new Cinch post from Moots when it comes out next month.

When Jon from Moots was here, he promised me a demo of the 4" travel 29r, the MootoXZ. Also on the way will be a Cinco. I'll let you know.

All of our bikes are available for test-rides. Ya gotta ride it to love it! There's no other way around it!

In other news, we got the Dakar XCR Pro bikes in for the demo fleet. 4" travel of carbon xc love. We are waiting on the 21" (so is Welp!) but our demo fleet is almost complete! We are picking up the trailer for the vinyl decal application on it and the van next week. It should be sweet. We'll be driving that sucker around to the local races (and some not-so-local) so just let us know if you need a ride!

In sad but not-a-bid-deal news, the Suby is gone. We traded her in. After years of solid service and no breakdowns, we traded her in for a new car (new to us). Here's Emma the day we traded her in. 182k miles. Races, Emma and Jeremy both came home from the hospital in that car. Susan and I went on our honeymoon in that car. Now, what to do with the roof racks...

In double-secret news, there's a chance that Ned will be available for a bike ride on Friday morning next week. He'll be in town for the National Bike Summit. If you care, let me know and I'll let you know what's up. He's calling me back to let me know if he can get his permission slip signed but it's looking good.

And I just can't seem to convince him that riding the SM100 is a good idea. I asked him AGAIN about it and he said 'the only way you'll get me to do that is if it's 50 miles.' DAMN!

I said 'Ned, it'll probably take you around 8 and a half hours, if you relax.' He said, 'That's how much riding I do in a week!' DAMN!

I told him that I'd keep bugging him and he said that was ok.

Moots Shout-Out

If you are coming to the MD area, or if you need a reminder of why living here is actually pretty rad, check out the report from supposed mtn bike heaven, Colorado.

Of course, I kid. Colorado has rad riding, but only a few months of the year in some areas. As I have mentioned before, Jon's a rad guy, Moots is a rad company.

I stole this shot from Moots. No apologies...

Jon's Klasmeier Immersion

So Jon from Moots says 'Hey I'm coming out your way for a few days.'

I says 'You should stay with us! We have a spare room and we are pretty centrally located!'

He says 'Ok, sounds great!'

We subjected Jon to beers in Chevy Chase, dinner at my parent's house for Susan's birthday, DC traffic, road riding around Annapolis, Ann's Dairy Cream foot-long hotdogs, Gambrill riding and Tsunami sushi. He's a great guy and it was great having him around. I think the kids had the most fun...

Thanks again Jon. I hope you made it back to Steamboat ok...

Rides and New Ride

I went riding with the Fight Club. I didn't realize there was such a group. I brought brass knuckles but ended up not needing them. Pics from Mr Frenchie (with the killer ale) if you are interested.

Jon and I went to Gambrill with Punga and the boys. It was really fun. It was tacky but not wet out there. Gambrill is rocky. Jon doesn't ride a lot of rocks out in Steamboat but that boy has skills from years and years of riding. He was fast and happy. We rode pretty hard on Saturday on the road cuz Patapsco was not rideable. Goofy weather. Jon's on his way back to Moots as I type. He's a great guy and they make great bikes. It was nice to have him around.

In other news, Matt picked up his new Niner from the Bike Lane. He's stoked. Big guys love those bikes and Matt isn't a hair under 6'2". It's pretty, eh? Enjoy, Matt! And congrats!

Will Work For Bike Parts...

Your friend and mine, the aforementioned Shawn Punga has started (officially) his own wedding photo site.

Having worked with Punga on photo-related stuff since I was 14 or so (and going to bars to shoot events as his 'assistant'), I can tell you he's easy to deal with. If you want pro-quality stuff, digital, film-based, wedding website, whatever. I'm sure he can handle it for you. Having looked for wedding photographers in Montgomery County a few years ago, I bet he's one of the less expensive ones. And I'm sure he can shoot whatever event you want...

And if you have some spare bike parts laying around, you can probably make a deal! Check him out and ignore the guy in the air making funny faces in the 'people' gallery. It isn't me...

Good luck Punga!

Music: Oh No.

Plenty of people will be upset with me for this post. I was in a few bands in my life. Two actually made a little (beer) money while we were in college. Boondoggle was the first, born out of the freshman dorm at Salisbury (State) University. Lee (band name credit), Damon and I all lived on the same floor. I think Colin lived in the other all-male dorm and Barb was in a co-ed dorm. Punga introduced us to Barb and we used to practice (quite loudly) in the basement of Pocomoke dorm.

We had a lot of fun. The music was good enough that people (in college) paid money to see us. That's about all I can say. I've always loved music and it is humbly that I offer this music free to all who want it. I haven't checked in with the rest of the band members but I have the DATs so what am I supposed to do? The link to the LastFM site is on the right.

The other band is Grain. Lee remained the drummer and I on bass. Glenn lived next to me sophmore year and Brian 'Stinky' Synowiec was a high-school acquaintance. We had a lot of fun.

We played out a little. We got paid to play almost all the time (which I personally consider huge). A lot of us wrote the songs but I'll personally cop to writing Division, JumpKillRun, Standing There from Grain and... Crap. I didn't write any of the Boondoggle songs. Hmm. I remember doing a lot of arranging and composing but I guess that's it. It's all collaborative so I may be wrong and we ALL deserve the credit, I'm just being selfish.

I have some pics from Mr Punga that I need to get scanned. He deserves credit for the album art on both tapes (yes, cassette tapes, remember those?). Les at LSP did all of the final production and Cliff Hillis recorded us on his 8-track in the basement of his parent's house in frikken Delaware somewhere. Poor college kids like $10/hr for recording. Cliff was patient with us and it turned out pretty well. Nowadays, we would have done it all on a Mac but whatever...

I have A TON of great memories from that time. Playing in Palmyra, NJ, Baltimore and Salisbury. 'Band practice' as it were. Dan, Jack, Benny, Punga, Beetle, Dooley, Bronwyn... We had so many friends that supported us and just loved music (or whatever you want to call it). It was a great time and only recently have some of us starting talking again after a long break. We've all gone our separate ways and only Glenn has kept the dream alive (see post below).

So, have at it. I'm sure you'll listen and laugh. I do. If you want to download the .mp3s, have at that, too. If you enjoy it, great, listen away, it's all yours now. It's all ours again. I'll work on the pics...

Anne Arundel County Trails

Ok, so the quality sucks. Sorry. Here is about 13m of proposed trails around the Crownsville Hospital site in AACo. Everything on the East side of I97 is unlikely but there's plenty of fun to be had on the West side. That's where the elevation is anyway...

No update from the County yet. We have a meeting coming up in the coming weeks. I'll let everyone know when it's time to get in there.

The blue dots at the top of the map are the Bacon Ridge property.

Cannondale Bought!

Dear Cannondale Retailer,

We have some excellent news regarding our future with you! Cannondale Bicycles has been purchased by Dorel Industries and will be the crown jewel in a newly formed IBD division "The Cannondale Sports Group."

Dorel recognizes Cannondale's brand strength, product superiority and potential for growth in your stores. This Cannondale Sports Group is being created to focus exclusively on this category with premium-oriented brands and provides Cannondale with long term stability to excel at what we do best. Backed by Dorel's extensive resources, this division will build on Cannondale's strengths to grow exclusively within the IBD channel. Our intention is to continue to build the world-class company you want to grow your business with.

Dorel's purchase of Cannondale is the first step to become the world's number one IBD player and Cannondale as the brand of choice. Pacific Cycle will become a stand-alone division with an exclusive focus on mass merchant customers.

We've come along way in the past five years and wouldn't be at this exciting point without your dedication and support. Dorel is investing in the success that you helped us build and we're looking forward to them investing in the tools that 'will help us help you' grow your business in the future.

Leadership and employees aren't changing at Cannondale. Our Cannondale passion to support the Independent Bicycle Dealers remains as strong as ever! What this means for you is a continued focus on ground breaking product and greater service to go along with it. It's business as usual at Cannondale-supplying you with the best damn product in the industry.

Regards,
Matt Mannelly

Turn the Page, Right?

I was typing a friend's email address into an email and I realized that he was geeky enough to have an email address that was '@(hisname).com. I thought hmmmmmm... Maybe there's an actual site that he has.

And, lo and behold, it's real. Check it out. Not much so you won't waste your entire day there which is just how I likes my internets. Brief. I was in a band with this guy in college and we cut a record together, when there were such things (ok, a tape actually; almost as irrelevant). Glenn (yup, two n's, he's that guy) lived next to me in college and I heard him playing guitar one day. I had the remnants of a band from the year before and he jumped in. We had a lot of fun. I was at the 8x10 the other night and I think I mentioned that the last time I was there was when the band Glenn and I were in played there. I'm taking the DAT master tapes to Les tomorrow to get them converted to .mp3. Should be pretty cool. Don't worry, there won't be a 'We're gettin' the band back together!' post. I'm NOT that guy.

Punga took tons of shots of the bands from back in the day when we were in college together. I should try to get them converted (I don't have a scanner). Maybe I'll have HIM do it! There we go.

Give Glenn a listen. If you live in NYC or LI, check him out. He's pretty cool. I haven't talked to him or seen him in years but I heard that he was living in Finland for a while, hunting caribou. Seriously. Then in Berlin with some girl. I guess he's back stateside. If you catch him, send me a pic. Mention that you used to be a huge fan of Grain. Then duck his punch (or accept the drink he buys you, not sure). He sounds pretty Death Cab for Cutie these days. He always was Mr Emo (before we knew what Emo was). Big surprise that his songs are about girls. He like the ladies, eh?

I miss those music days. Now I have bike riding and there is WAY less drama but I do miss the music. I still play my guitar but doing it by yourself isn't the same. It never is, right? Heh.