Breezer Zag8 Winner

Well folks the winner has presented herself! Today a very excited Jennifer Eberhardt of Frederick came in to pick up the Breezer Zag8 folding bike that we raffled off to promote Bike to Work Day. We are equally excited to see our little folder go to such a great home. Enjoy the bike Jennifer and thanks for participation in Bike to Work Day.

My Trip to Specialized

The first week of May I traveled to Morgan Hill, California. For the second year in a row I attended Specialized Bicycle Component University (SBCU). These are classes put on by Specialized to educate their dealers. It is an intense 3-day program that crams your brain full of Specialized Propaganda. It's great!

I went to bed the first night before my roommate showed up. Around midnight I was awoken to the sounds of someone dropping their bags on the floor and closing the door. Ahhh…my roommate…was a guy! I was half asleep with drool on my pillow. After an exchange of awkwardness we decided they must mixed my name up with the name Daniel and it would be best if he got another room. The situation was weirder than a dude walking into the girl's bathroom. I ended up getting my own room complete with cable TV…what a treat!

During the class we learned about the newest products like their soon-to-be released 29er mountain bikes. We also met several of the engineers behind some of the coolest bikes like the Roubaix and the Enduro Pro. Another cool part of the course was company tour. They walked us through their testing areas, and the museum of crazy bike ideas.

The test rides are a big part of theses seminars (well, that and the good food). Everyday we got to test ride different Specialized bikes. This year I rode the women's specific Ruby, a carbon Roubaix, a carbon Tri-Cross and a women's specific Epic mountain bike.

My two favorite test ride bikes were the Roubaix and the Epic. I was anxious to compare the Epic to that of my Stumpjumper Expert. The Epic was great on the climbs, some of which were wretched, but it definitely felt a little more XCish than my Stumpy. I like my mountain bikes to be on the beefy side.

I really enjoyed my time in Morgan Hill.

Frederick Bike to Work Day

Danielle, Roger and I had a lot of fun at this past Friday’s bike to work celebration. The event attracted riders both young and old atop all sorts of bicycles. We were offering free coffee and bagels to warm up the slightly chilly riders. The transit folks did a great job. This year’s event was the best attended in Frederick’s history. After the event we randomly select the winner of the Breezer Zag8 folding bike that we are giving away. We are still waiting to hear back from the lucky winner… Thanks to all of the participants, we hope to see you on the road the other 364 days of the year.

2008 Specialized Bicycle Sneak Peak

Ok, don’t get all excited just yet these bikes will not be available for some time but I wanted to share some pictures with you. In 2008 Specialized will be offering increased options for riders who prefer one gear. This includes a single speed cross bike as well as a whopping 6 versions of their fixed gear/single speed road bike, the Langster. They have modeled all but one of these bikes after various cities: London, New York, Seattle, Chicago, and Boston. The sixth is variety their general Langster. The bikes designed to reflect the different cities have colors, handle bars and accessories to reflect the style of each region.

Specialized is also releasing at least three 29er mountain bikes: Stumpjumper Comp 29, Rockhopper Comp Disc 29, and a Rockhopper Disc 29. These bikes have been much anticipated bike big wheel fans everywhere.

The “Big Red S” also has a supper slippery tri bike in the works. The bike, Specialized Transition Pro, offers very aggressive styling has an integrated brake system in both the front and the rear. If this bike is half as streamlined as it looks Specialized might just be onto something.

Bicycle Commuting

It is always fun for me to talk about bicycle commuting. The benefits are many and I would encourage everyone to use a bike as basic transportation at least once. We kicked off bike month with a commuter clinic. The clinic was lead by Single Speed Outlaw team member and area blogger John Gorham. He covered the basics of bicycle transportation and offered some valuable tips. An important point to remember is that any bike can be used as a transportation vehicle and it is not hard to do. Maybe it is impossible for you to cycle to work. If so try to pick something local that you can do by bicycle: go to the Post Office, the grocery store, etc. If you give it a try I firmly believe you will have fun in the process.

Greenbrier Challenge UCI Mountain Bike Race

This past Sunday was pretty exciting. Greenbrier State Park hosted the Greenbrier Challenge UCI mountain bike race. Much has been written about the racers and the final results have been posted. I will focus on the experience of attending a mountain bike race that attracted some of the best athletes in the sport.

Bike racing is great because the novice and Pro can compete on the same course in the same day. It is great because the superstars of the sport are so easily accessible. I was however, a little disappointed in the lack of spectators at the race. Mountain bike racing is not the greatest spectator sport but one would expect that there would be a decent sized crowd for such a high stakes race. On the flip side if there were tons of spectators the pros mentioned earlier would be sheltered behind barricades and bodyguards. My hope is that cycling popularity will end up somewhere in the middle.
Race Results: http://www.prologsoftware.com/proracingtiming/results/r04_29_07Final.htm