Mar
23
Hoos’gow Day in San Juan Capistrano
Filed Under Industry News, Interbike | 3 Comments
“What’s a Hoos’gow, you ask?” Well, Interbike’s hometown of San Juan Capistrano takes great pride in its place in California and American history. SJC is the site of the Mission San Juan Capistrano, founded in 1776, and is the home of California’s oldest residential neighborhood, Los Rios. Another neat fact that I just learned is that SJC was the site for the first Zorro novella, The Curse of Capistrano.
SJC is also known for its swallows. According to legend, each Spring, the swallows return from wintering in Argentina to the Mission. Parades, parties and celebrations ensue surrounding this annual event known as the Fiesta de las Golondrinas. Part of these festivities is Hoos’gow Day.
On this day in San Juan, if you aren’t wearing western attire or are clean-shaven as a man, you are liable to be “arrested” by the sheriffs and deputies of the Fiesta Association and placed into the town’s hoos’gow.
On our morning walk to buy coffee, Lance (IB’s show director) and I realized that we forgot that it was western day. To make matters worse, Lance even wore his New York Yankees shirt - about as un-western as you can get. Lauren, Interbike’s operations coordinator, brought in one of those big foam cowboy hats just in case someone forgot to dress right. I was the only one with enough nerve to wear it. I was 6′3″… 6′9″ with the hat (for the Fletch fans out there).
We walked past a diner on the way to coffee, and the whole posse of 40 or so lawmen and women-far-a-day was out front having breakfast. All wearing long black trenchcoats dusters (thanks Fritz) and black cowboy hats. A lot of the men had natural big bushy cowboy mustaches under their noses. Lance casually put his hand over the “NY” on his shirt and picked up his pace bit. With the actual hoos’gow (which is an old term for jail) right there on a trailer on its way to downtown, he tried to avoid making eye contact with any of them. I got a few approving tips of the hat for my 40 gallon chapeau. I can say with pride that I had the biggest hat today in San Juan. That’s right, pilgrim.
There is a bike industry related story here, by the way. Exactly one year ago today, Lance had a visit from an industry associate from Germany and his wife who were in the area. Lance took them to lunch at our favorite restaurant to bring clients to, The Ramos House, here in SJC. By all accounts, they had a very nice meal and good conversation. Both Lance and his guest are avid guitar players and share a love of Fender guitars. On the walk back to the office, though, they were stopped by one the aforementioned deputies. Seems like they had forgotten to wear their best western wear and would have to do their time in the hoos’gow. Lance felt a little embarrassed at the unexpected treatment with his guests in tow, but they took it in stride and chalked it up to a unique American experience. To get out of the hoos’gow, you have to pay bail. Actually, it’s a donation to the Swallow’s Day Parade to help offset the cost of the event. All three paid their bail and went on their way with a funny story to bring back home and to the office. I think there’s a photo around here somewhere of them behind bars.
What makes the story even funnier, is who the industry associate was. It’s even funnier now given what transpired six months later. The couple from Germany was none other than Erich Reiss from Eurobike and his delightful wife.
Now, you know the rest of the story…
Mar
16
“F L” at the National Bike Summit?
Filed Under Advocacy, Cycling, Industry News, Interbike, Racing | 2 Comments
Just a few quick comments and notes about this year’s National Bike Summit which is wrapping up in Washington, DC. By all accounts, it seems to have been another successful effort for the cycling community and a great experience for all in attendance. I know I’ve said this before, but the Summit really is an awesome event to attend on a personal level. You really feel like you’re on the front lines of the advocacy effort and helping to move things forward. Congratulations to the League of American Bicyclists and all of the other advocacy groups and individuals who work so hard on our behalf. I also want to send a shout out to all our bike industry brothers and sisters who made the trek to DC to lend their weight to the cause. For those that couldn’t make it, keep it in mind when you’re preparing your 2008 budgets!
I’ve been enjoying following the Summit proceedings from afar through the words and lens of Jonathan Maus of BikePortland.org. He’s had some great coverage and photos of his first trip to the Summit. Check it out to see what you’ve been missing (and to learn what a ‘Tikit’ is). Nice work, Jonathan!
While I couldn’t make it to DC this year, Interbike sent two able-bodied representatives in Lance, IB’s show director, and Andria, IB’s sales manager. Lance is an old pro (figuratively, of course) at the bike advocacy game and this was Andria’s first time. Unfortunately, all the great intentions they had were dashed as Lance’s flu that he’s been battling for a few weeks now came back with a vengeance. After valiantly trying to be present at the proceedings, it got more and more difficult and he had to take an early flight back and miss a good chunk of the Summit activities.
Earlier this week, while looking for Summit news, I checked out the attendee list at the League’s website. While looking through the names, I noticed two or three people from the “Floyd Fairness Fund”. While I have my own opinions about Floyd, I thought it curious that this group would be participating in one of the premier advocacy events. What were their motives and intentions? Then I noticed another interesting entry in the attendee list sandwiched between advocates from the East Coast Greenway Alliance and Williamsburg Area Bicyclists:
Now who do you suppose “F L” could be? Very stealth, with no group affiliation or hometown listed. My suspicions were confirmed when I heard that, yes indeed, Mr. Floyd Landis was in attendance in DC. I guess he gave a presentation and answered questions of the Summit participants. I don’t have any details yet of what he spoke about. I’ll have to get the scoop from Lance when he’s feeling better and back in the office. I’m sure Tim Jackson will have a thing or two to offer on this since he was in DC this week.
That’s all for now.
Mar
2
About 10pm here on a Thursday night. Just bouncing around the cycling corner of the net from one blog to another. Discovering some good new sites as well as a few wacky ones that I’ll refrain from mentioning. Truly just browsing the internet. Found a neat place that sells some great cycling tee shirts for the real racing fan with a knowledge of some of the sport’s history. Check out this one with the famous Tom Simpson quote:
Is that a great shirt or what? It’s real “insider’s” shirt in that it wouldn’t mean much to you if, say, you didn’t know the significance of the word “Koppenberg“. Click on the image to see the other designs the seller, Cyclista, offers with quotes from Merckx and Hinault. Cyclista sells some neat stuff for the serious bike racing fan. Not the typical stuff you see available in the US.
Their site’s selection reminded me of my first trip to Colorado a few years ago. When I first flew into Denver’s new airport, I was shocked to see the kiosk that was stocked with cycling memorabilia right there in the terminal. I don’t remember the store’s name, but they sold really hard-core racing fan-oriented stuff. Not just Lance and LeMond items that any non-cyclist would appreciate. The thought that occured to me was that Colorado’s reputation as a destination for cyclists must really be true if a merchant like that could exist.
I was back in Denver last August for our Health+Fitness Business Expo and didn’t see the kiosk. Does anyone else know if it’s still there? I’ll be back in Denver this August for HFB again and would love to visit it if I have time while waiting for my flight.