Friday, October 10, 2008

Cross Crusade-Alpenrose

Cyclocross season is under way!  Alpenrose CX was last weekend.  Great turnout!  The course was good, but not so good for me.  I reckon staging started about an hour before the race.  I ended up somewhere in the middle.  First lap, someone dumped it right in front of me.  I went down on snapped my front derailleur.  This caused my front brake to seize up.  And off the course I went.  My day was over way too quickly.  I found my wife, intently watching to see me come around the course again.  Instead she looked up and saw me walking my bike. 

We hung out for a while and watched a friend of ours Allen Lucas.  He and his wife, Bev own Bend Bike and Sport.  Allen made the drive with a friend of his just for the day.  Hope they are able to make it next weekend.

One last shout to a new friend of our Josh, who owns and operates Cyclo-Sportif.  He set up a tent at the CX races and sells Belgian Waffles and casual clothing.  Hopefully he will be selling Belgium National Team Track jackets from BioRacer.  If you're out at the race, stop by and buy a waffle from him.  It totally hits the spot on a chilly rainy day.

INTERBIKE





Here we are, first Interbike for BioRacer.  We had a great looking booth.  Good amount of traffic, next year we'll shoot for a bit better location.  That was my fault.  Should have gotten on the ball alot sooner.  All in all a really good trip.  

People in the US who know BioRacer, pronounced Beeo-Racer,  were excited to find out that we are going to make the custom line for the US in the US.  I feel that we are trying to give some back to our economy as well as reduce our carbon foot print.  Every little bit helps. We also had the opportunity to debut our newest feature.  Custom Tailor.  This enables the rider to order a custom sized garment that is tailored to their measurements.  We're taking customization one step further.

It's always good to see old friends and find out wot's going on in the world outside custom clothing and races.  Since I've been out of the industry for 2 years, it was nice that the first person that I saw was an old friend of mine, Joe Parkin.  He has to be one of the most down to earth guys that has ever graced the cycling industry.  He's come out with a book, A Dog in a hat. http://www.velonews.com/article/83676/belgian-beer-and-book-joe-parkin-book-launch-thursday-at
I'm really happy for Joe and hope that more people buy this book.

Back in the office now and we'll start planning for next year.



Kruger's Farm Kermesse Crit Series




I've found that races in Portland aren't just a race.  They are an event.  On Sept 7th I went to Kruger's Farm for a crit.  I was happy that I contacted the race director Kris Schamp and read the race description.  This was a dirt crit on cross bikes.  What better way to get ready for cross season.  Kris is a great guy, who puts on damn fun event.  Being from Belgium, Kris really knows how to add excitement to the race.  Live band, food and best of all bier.  Preme laps for pounds of coffee and six packs of the local golden refreshment.  I hope that I can participate as a sponsor in the future.  I ended up in 9th.  That's ok with me.  good times...

Pre-Fall rides

Just writing from BioRacer USA hq in Portland OR.  Land of unbelievable riding.  My wife and I decided that we would start doing a few Friday rides before the rainy season hit.  Troutdale to Multnomah Falls was our first ride.Any locals can tell you, the Gorge rides are great scenery.   

Larch Mountain was the following week.  After a good hour fifteen of climbing we made it to the top.  Even though it was sunny, it was a bit chilly going down.  We vowed to bring our vests and armwarmers next time.