Meet the Family

We're all in the business of bikes.  Designing them, building them, selling them, racing them...

On any given day, it's 5AM and Brent Van Eps is up and ready for another day of making things happen at the Montrose Bike Shop in Montrose, CA.

On any given Fall weekend, Dorothy Wong is also (probably) up at 5AM getting ready to put on another round of the SoCalCross Prestige Series.

And at any given bike race, Barry Wicks is the Icon and I'm the Other Guy.

This last weekend in particular, the Icon and the Other Guy went on an ambassadorial race trip to experience the people and events behind this particular piece of the cycling scene in Southern California.

In three well-spent days, we got to know the people behind a great bike shop and better understand what it is that gives a Kona bicycle its value.  It's the people along the way, from start to finish, from concept to design to testing to showroom floor to trail.  From the people who make them AND the people who sell them.  At Montrose Bike Shop (MBS), it's Brent Van Eps (manager), J.L. (owner), and mechanics and operators Lisa Mycroft, Will Katzman, and Dillen Maurer.  They opened up their doors to us, shared good food and beer, and took us on a bike ride along the roads and trails in their back yard.  Brent even lent us his spare couch  for the weekend, and after getting to know the crew, we headed out to the race course on Sunday to meet the community and try to deliver a good show in the MBS installment of the SoCalCross Prestige Series - Turkey Trot Cross!    

Located off Honolulu Ave., MBS has become a strong outpost for Kona Bicycles

Brent (far right) and the crew invited Barry and I on the weekly Saturday morning group ride, a real "Kona-style" road/dirt medley - everyone welcome, road bikes, 'cross bikes, mountain bikes...

A punchy little route through the hills around Montrose and Glendale

Some of the SoCal riders might be afraid of temps dipping below 70 deg, but they aren't afraid to take the skinny tires on less-beaten paths

Montrose shop master Will Katzman let it all hang out on the rock garden section at the bottom of the unorthodox road bike descent...

He'd have definitely cleaned it if he were on a Kona...

MBS is a proud Kona dealer and specs a full line-up from touring and road to mountain and 'cross

They're pretty good at ping pong, too.  Barry Wicks v. MBS and Dave

Kids make us feel like heroes, and it's cool to think that we might be able to impart the same feeling in them, even just for a little bit, at things like "Kiddie 'Cross".  Here, Barry accepting a high-five after being schooled by this kid on his 20".

at the clinic we taught dismounts, remounts, and wheelies...

even the dogs race 'cross in SoCal

time to deliver...

Thanks to everyone who we met along the way who made this trip such a fun reminder of what it means to be a part of the cycling world, and the Kona family in particular.

Tool

After reading the article in Dirt Magazine about Chris Mandell and the new Process line-up from Kona Bikes, I came across the following quote from David Attenborough, and found it quite poignant.  The context is Mr. Attenborough's discussion about the Olduvai stone chipping tool, and the relationship between between Homo sapiens and the tools they create.

"This object sits at the base of a process which has become almost obsessive among human beings.  It is something created from a natural substance for a particular purpose, and in a particular way, with a notion in the maker's mind of what he needed it for.  Is it more complex than was needed to actually serve the function which he used it for?  I think you could almost say it is.  Did he really need to do one, two, three, four, five chips on one side and three on the other?  Could he have got away with two? I think he might have done so.  I think the man or woman who held this made it just for that particular job and perhaps got some satisfaction from knowing that it was going to do it very effectively, very economically and very neatly.  In time, you would say he'd done it beautifully, but maybe not yet.  It was the start of a journey." - David Attenborough, A History of the World

It's cool to think about the bicycle this way - not simply as tool comprised of metal and carbon tubes and rubber, but a greater-than-the-sum-of-its parts combination of function, creativity, and artistry.

The Harvest

Autumn is a time of work. In the Old World (or parts of today's world that operate with greater dependency on rain and sun than on iPhones and internet), Autumn is synonymous with the harvest.

I spend far too much time with iPhones and internet to do any harvesting in the classical sense, but in the spirit of the season, I've reflected on the regular work I put in to gather my bounty.  So, there's the local organic fruit and vegetable stand down the street...

A week during the harvest season involves:

The home office(s):

 
Fueling and researching for Office A:

Analyzing and preparing for Office B:

Traveling to Office B:

 Sitting around in Office B:

Chair for Office B:

...meanwhile, Chair(s) for Office A:

...meanwhile, working hard in Office B:

 ...later, cleaning up and checking back in to Office A (this time away from home):

 ...the next few days...performing diligently in Office A:

...Temporarily enjoying the view from Office A:

Checking up on my performance back in Office B:

...then finally...go home and take a break from both Offices, play in back yard with Sarah to ensure happiness and ability to maintain focus and enjoyment when back at Offices:

...and the harvest continues...

Next time, a review of the season's bounty.

The Big Day - US National Championships, 2013

The tip of the iceberg...it's just a medal, but there's a lot that goes into earning one of these things in the Elite category! 

It’s been awhile since I've earned one of these!  After three consecutive years taking the 7^th place spot at the Elite National Championships, I finally achieved the coveted Top-5 finish on “the Big Day” for American cross country mountain biking.  This year I set a new career-best - two top-5 finishes - 4th in the Elite Men's Cross Country, and 5th in the Elite Men's Short Track.  I've been striving for this accomplishment for a long time, like nurturing and aging a fine wine, and finally cracking it open tastes soooooo good!   

This year the National Championships moved back to the East Coast for the first time since Mt. Snow in 2008.  I made the trip to Pennsylvania with friend and fellow racer Carl Decker (Team Giant Off Road), and as we both got settled into the hot & humid Pennsylvania climate, we recounted our years of racing the “Big Day”.  Carl’s been at it longer than me (he raced the first World Championships in 1990!), but even I have racked up quite the history.  Fourteen consecutive years of attending the “championship” event, from the old days of the NORBA Series Finals at Mammoth Mountain in 2000, to the more recent stand-alone National Championships.  Compared to fourteen years ago, there is a different atmosphere at today’s Nationals, and not because of a decade-and-a-half of desensitization.  At first impression, something about today’s Nationals feels isolated and small, attributable in part to the rapid diversification of competitive mountain biking in recent years.  There are only cross-country riders pedaling around, no downhillers, no huge expo areas – faces have changed, some moved on to other specialties, or hung up the bike.  But once race-day arrives, the crowds still show up, and the feelings of determination and latent glory are as palpable as ever.  It's still a big deal.    

The new venue at Bear Creek Resort (www.bcmountainresort.com) held in store a punchy 3.1-mile track that twisted through the rocky, wooded trails around the resort.  The elite men would race 6 laps in the heat of the day.  

  

Elite-men at just after the start whistle blows

Flying the Kona flag high, taking the holeshot at the start of the Short Track (Photo: Dave McElwaine)

My Kona Hei Hei Supreme was the perfect tool for the rough, rocky course at Bear Creek

Surging through the crowd of fans and hecklers on the main rock-garden - there must have been a few hundred people up in the woods, screaming at all the racers as we came through.  Awesome! (Photo: www.cyclingdirt.org)

90+ degrees and high humidity required special cooling techniques to trick the brain into thinking the body was not overheating - ice packs on the neck, cold water on the legs and arms.  Over time your brain will automatically protect your body from the heat by incrementally shutting down recruitment of muscle, like a governor system in a car.  A combination of will power, cooling, and pacing is what it takes to manage the conditions.  (Photo: www.cxmagazine.com)

Attempting to float through the rocks (Photo: www.cyclingdirt.org) 

Happy to be lining up as a front-row contender these days (Photo: www.cyclingdirt.org)

and even happier (and less photogenic), to be getting up on the big stage [FINALLY!!]

An honor to share the podium with these guys (an JB's kid, too) - 4th in the Cross Country, and 5th in the Short Track (Photo: www.cyclingdirt.org)

I'm grateful to all of my sponsors, friends and family who have been an instrumental part of all these years of bike racing.  Here's to many more to come!