The guys at Campagnolo North America have hosted an annual holiday ride and gift drive here in Southern California for the last 3 years now. It’s a great cause and a nice chance to meet up and ride with fellow bike industry members and cyclists. Campy’s headquarters in the USA are in Carlsbad, California – about 35 miles up the coast from San Diego. You can tell the location when walking through the office and seeing the stash of employee surfboards in the back room. They’re literally about a few minute ride from some prime SoCal surf spots.

The ride took place two weekends ago, and I had the rare pleasure of also being able to ride with my wife Julie. I’m really lucky to have married a passionate cyclist, but with two small kids at home, the chances to ride together are very infrequent. With the kids settled at their Sunday morning play date, off we went.

There were about 60 people on the ride this year. MUCH better weather than last year’s un-San Diego like cold rain contributed to the the good showing. Riders from a bunch of the region’s bike companies showed up like Focus Bikes, SockGuy, Canari Cyclewear, Road Bike Action Magazine, RedKitePrayer.com, Peloton Magazine, Campagnolo (obviously) and a good showing from local bike shops. I wish I could have met everyone.

The ride rolled down the Pacific Coast Highway from Carlsbad. We first stopped at Swami’s Beach in Encinitas to regroup. This is one of the great surf spots in SoCal. Don’t let all the long sleeves and tights fool you. It wasn’t that cold. We’re just soft in this part of the country.

The ride turnaround for most of us at the top of the Torrey Pines climb near the famous golf course. Anywherebicyclerepair.com was kind to provide support and snacks at the turn around. With all the industry types and bike experts, it didn’t seem like anyone needed much help, though. Thanks, guys!

This is Julie (my lovely bride) and Mark from Canari Cyclewear. mark handles the custom apparel division for Canari. If you order your team or club stuff from them, Mark makes sure that it gets done right.

That’s Tom Kattus, the general manager of Campagnolo USA in the blue Campy jersey and our ride’s host and MC. Campy has a good man in charge of the brand here in the US. Thanks for putting the ride on, Tom!

This journalist and blogger Patrick Brady of RedKitePrayer.com. You might also know him as Padraig, formerly of BelgiumKneeWarmers fame. He came down from the LA area for the ride. Nice RKP kit, Patrick! No sign of Radio Freddy, though.

Bicycle John’s made it down to the ride. BJ’s is a great shop with a bunch of locations in the LA area. I visited their Burbank location about 8 years ago and remember being impressed that they were located right in the middle of all the Hollywood film and TV studios.

Me and the missus at Torrey Pines. She’s been riding more and even talking about getting back into racing after an 8 year sabbatical raising two kids (one of whom asked for a “road bike like mommy and daddy’s” for Christmas this year. Don’t tell her, but she’s getting a cool 24″ Schwinn Midi Fastback…). Julie retired as a Cat 2, so I’m sure she won’t have any problems.

This is what it’s really all about. The guys at Campy were able to collect two huge boxes of toys to donate to kids who will need some extra love this holiday season. Personally, I’m jealous of the kid who’s getting that Campy gift in the picture. I’m still a kid in spirit, Tom…

Thanks again to Tom Kattus and the team at Campy USA for getting us all out for a ride together for a great cause. Looking forward to next year’s ride!

I’ve always had good luck with Sun’s rims, so I can’t wait to throw a cassette and some tires on them this weekend and take them out for a spin. SR’s website describes the intended use of this model as “cyclocross or performance commuter riding conditions.” From the tough looking design and build and the kind of riding I do, I’d put them in the “spring classics riding conditions” category. I don’t race any more, but I still like to ride like I do. I also don’t plan on running with a bike over my shoulder anytime soon, so the cross use is out the picture. And having a tougher set of wheels on the bike for when I commute will be very welcome, too.

I can’t say I’m familiar with their hubs, but they look solid and feel smooth.

While I don’t consider their just over 1,800-and-change gram weight unreasonable, I think most reviewers today would fall into the trap of calling them heavy because of the seeming abundance of sub 1,500 gram aluminum rimmed wheels on the market. The X2.0′s look like they’ll be able to take anything you throw their way without complaint: wide rim, eyelets, 32 14gauge db Wheelsmith spokes in a classic reliable lacing pattern. And while I can’t confirm this at the moment, from the hand-written sign included in the box, it looks like the wheels were built by one “Russell the Nippletwister.” A wheelbuilder with a name like that guarantees a quality build, right? Anyways, I like the personal touch, Sun-Ringle.

And that’s the kind of component I like on my bike: reliable, reasonably light, attractive and tough. I also like having some insight into the people behind the brand and design (like Russell here). I drool over the cool high end stuff as much as the most passionate bike geek (I still have to post my review of Shimano’s Di2 that I rode at the OutDoor Demo), but I’ve been pretty good at reigning myself back in to what I should be riding. Oh, and it shouldn’t cost an arm and a leg (I have two kids and a mortgage, you know?). Come to think of it, before I get a bruise from patting myself on the back too much for my practicality, maybe economics play the biggest role in the selection of parts that I ride.

On a fun note, you can see in the photo that Sun-Ringle include a bunch of stickers with the wheels. This is a nice unexpected touch that I’d recommend to all manufacturers. It’s a small gesture, but adds to the overall experience of buying something in a not too expensive way. They’ll be going right up on my tool chest at home.

Much to my surprise, I was the lucky winner of one of the many raffles that the BikeHugger crew held at their tent at the USA Crits Finals, part of their Mobile Social ride down the Strip from the Sands Expo Center to Mandalay bay. By the time I realized I was free to do the ride, it was too late to secure a bike. I ended up just watching and photographing the start of the ride and then meeting up with them at the crit. Someone handed me a raffle ticket, and lo-and-behold, they called out my number. Can’t rememebr the last time I won anything – much less something as nice as a set of wheels!

Byron and his team at BikeHugger had some great schwag to give away and I came back home with a Breezer Bikes t-shirt and cool mini Swiss Army Knife/USB flash drive along with the promise that they would ship me the wheels I had won. I felt a little funny as the “Interbike Guy” winning a prize, but everyone good naturedly insisted that I accept. As the host of the event, I don’t ask for or get much schwag (everyone there is my customer, essentially, and it’s best reserved for the retailers in attendance), so to actually come away with something like this was a real treat and definitely appreciated. I also remember seeing a set of Hed wheels and a Novara bike raffled off that night to happy attendees.

Despite the somewhat bewildering summary of Interbike 2009 in theirwrap-up story, I like what BikeHugger.com is trying to do and had a lot of fun the crew at the Mobile Social this year. You should visit their site and read up about their M.S. MoSo events that they piggyback off of various trade shows and conferences around the country like Interbike and South-By-Southwest. As the intersection of social media and riding, they’re a blast and a great way to bring passionate cyclists together.

I’ll end by saying thanks to Byron and the BikeHugger team once more for a great event and a big thanks to Sun-Ringle for supporting the Mobile Social with these wheels – I’m really looking forward to enjoying the fruits of Russell’s handiwork!

So this is great news for the ATOC that the business community in at least this host city was happy with the course of events and wish to have the race back again. I’m sure that this demand will cause some competition from other regional municipalities and – no knock on Escondido here since they stepped up to the plate – am I wrong in thinking that such a significant race as the ATOC should have a grander finishing locale? 

On a casual level, a friend of mine from New England who stays with us for some some warm weather training each Spring, rode up to the top of Palomar on Monday and chatted with some people from the general store and restaurant up there that hosted ATOC festivities about their thoughts. After joking about those “crazy people who race their bikes up the side of a mountain like this,” they sincerely commented that they were very impressed with the race and the fans. While they had some great (stellar?) business as a result of all the fans lining the climb, they also were surprised how little litter was left behind.  Nice job leaving no trace besides good memories, fellow fans!

I’ll leave you with a photo of me climbing up Palomar the day before the race on a group ride organized by the team at the San Diego Trek Superstores. I’d guess about 200 people participated including the mayor of Escondido. (I’m in the Interbike jersey with the red shoulders). Have to say, though, that while reaching the top was satisfying, the screaming descent with all 21 switchbacks was awesome – after the first few switchbacks where I kept silently repeating to myself “I have faith in my Campy brakes and my ability to set them up properly… I have faith in my Campy brakes and my…”
 

This has been a great concept and all of us basked in the neutral BRAIN glow as dealers opened up to us and expressed their hopes, expectations, results and experiences of the past and future of the bike business. And it was a good excuse to get out of the office and ride a really nice bike for a week…

At Interbike in 2007, I was walking around with a camera crew from Cycling.TV looking for footage of interesting sites and events to capture. I led them over to the MirraCo booth where bmx legend Dave Mirra was supposed to be wrapping up an autograph session. Since the booth looked quiet, I walked up to the guy standing near the entrance to the booth and ended up asking Dave Mirra himself if “Dave was coming back to sign more autographs” later that day. Mr. Foot, meet Mr. Mouth. Without saying a word, Dave pointed to his head with both hands and smiled. Now, I don’t think I can be faulted for not recognizing fellow-bmx kegend, Perry Kramer, he of PK Ripper fame, last Tuesday on our tour, but I was darn happy to see him in the BRAIN office again on Friday so that I could properly introduce myself and express my excitement in meeting the Man. Turns out we’re almost neighbors and he offered to show me some trails near my house. The fact that he is PK would explain why he was jumping every curb and bunny-hopping sewer greats the whole ride on his flat-bar road bike.

Another very familiar face (and new ex-coworker) getting ready for the day’s ride was Robert Roman, now in the employs of Bicycle Retailer. After 9 years serving Interbike exhibitors, Robert decided to make a change and move a few exits north on the 5 freeway to our industry’s trade mag. We’ll miss his wit and sense of humor here, but will hopefully still get to experience his powerful turn of the pedals on a regular basis as BRAIN’s lunch rides frequently go past Interbike’s HQ.

Nice to see Fred Clements, executive director of the NBDA, working from the saddle of a bike. This is why we all work in this industry, right?

Mr. Tony Lo, CEO of Giant Bicycles. Guest of honor on today’s ride and inspiration for the whole tour itself. Tony’s industry tour of Taiwan last year planted the seed for this Stateside version. Tony is an avid cyclist and rides with style and class.

Scene from an Orange County bike path as we wind our way from BRAIN’s offices to our first stop in Dana Point. I believe that’s Kip Mikler of Bike Magazine, Megan Tompkins and Nicole Formosa of BRAIN (L to R).

Robert and Tony enjoying the typically sunny, but unusually hot November OC day during the ride.

First stop of the day: Revo Cycles in Dana Point, CA: Bicycles & Espresso.

Darrin Duhamel – ex corporate suit and current Revo owner, explaining his bike retailing philosophy to the group. Darrin woke up one day unhappy with his life as a globe-trotting executive and decided to go into business in one of his passions: cycling or scuba. Guess which one won?

Kip Mikler with Andrew Juskaitis of Giant listening in at Revo.

Chris Zigmont of Pedro’s doing his job (actually Tyler’s) of spreading the love with bike shop mechanics – the people that use their products the most and the ones most likely to recommend it to their customers.

Revo Cycles’ colors:

Some of the other brands that Revo carries besides BMC, Bianchi and Specialized. I think you can infer the typical Revo customer by these brands.

The tour group stoppong for a photo opp overlooking Dana Point Harbor.

Marc Sani, publisher of Bicycle Retailer on the roads of Dana Point.

Our lunch time rides here from the Interbike offices typically include a swing by Doheny Beach. Below, Lance Camisasca of Lifeboat Solutions and Interbike consultant and Zig from Pedro’s ride by some volleyball players at Doheny.

What am I supposed to do at South Coast Cyclery again? SCC believe in making what they do obvious – no ifs, ands or buts.

Andrew from Giant (center) began his bike industry career in high school here at South Coast in San Juan Capistrano. SCC is Interbike’s LBS, by the way, a short walk from our office.

Passionate owner, Jim Curwood, espousing some of his many ideas for growing the bike industry. Megan doesn’t seems convinced… If you live in Orange County and watch (very) late night television, you’ve certainly seen some of Jim’s homegrown “Buy My Bikes!” ads. He says that the ads that he runs around the holidays have a big impact on sales. A perk of working for Jim? He believes in saying “thank you” to his employees at the end of each day and buys lunch for them daily.

Call me immature, but I love bike industry stickers. My tool chest back home in my garage is plastered with them. When I see a display in a shop like the door below at SSC, I’ll pause for a few minutes admiring all the classic and retro company logos. When a shop’s been in the same place for close to 30 years, there’s bopund to be a great collection.

SCC also have an awesome collection of Rosarito-Ensenada posters. R-E is an anual ride in Baja California, Mexico, with thouands of riders. Tons of So Cal bikers head down for the party on wheels just south of Tijuana.

Karl and Kenny have tended the wrenches at SCC for many years and are a friendly and knowledgeable team. And yes, they speak Campagnolo.

Jim has a poster in the window for the First Annual High School Mountain Bike Series.

In the courtyard in front of SCC saying our goodbyes.

Merry, my trusty Giant Advance 2 treated me well this week of the tour. Too bad I need to give her back.

Waiting for the invite for the next dealer tour…

One constant at all but one shop we’ve visited so far is that fixed gear bikes are firmly entrenched in their shops. Most had a special section devoted to fixie gear, but even traditionally mountain bike focused shops like The Path in Tustin have seen fixie cultire become an important catgory and visible presence on the show floor as evidenced by the MKS and Nitto caps for sale.

Here’s part of The Path’s fixie parts and accessories section that was typical of most shops on out tour. And remember, this is Orange County – not New York, San Francisco or even LA. The fixed gear phenomenon has hit suburbia pretty hard.

Another common sight in our shops was colored Velocity wheels – a big seller.

The Path\ had a pretty awesome invengtory of Chris King componentry on display:

Marc Sani of Bicycle Retailer talking to The Path’s Tani Walling:

Santiago Cycling, just a few hundred yards away from The Path. Another true roadie oriented shop. He’s solely a Trek dealer and sought them out back in the 80′s since they were a USA made brand and still makes their high end bikes here.

Owner Robert Kahler, owner of Santiago Cycling. He’s in fatigues to commemorate Veteren’s Day. Thanks for your service, Robert! Robert is a former California state road race champ and national team member and his wife, Jill Koval, raced for the 7-11 women’s team.

A big part of Robert’s business is training. He has a huge fleet of Monark ergometers and wind trainers and rollers to lead classes of up to 50 riders in indoor training sessions that he calls “Torture Clinics”.

Lunch in downtown Orange at Watson’s Drug and Soda shop with the tour gang and John Pavlisin Jr., owner of Orange Cycle.

Arriving at Orange Cycle:

I have never seen more beach cruisers in one place than I saw today at Orange Cycle. Needless to say, an important category for this family-oriented shop.

Al from Orange Cycle educating us on the influences that are bringing suburban kids into the fixie scene. He pointed to music videos with the bikes, dj’s, Complex Magazine among other influences. He is amazed that kids will pay $100 for NJS-certified toe straps. Hate to sound like an old fart here, but seeing high school kids on fixies in my suburban San Diego neighborhood just floors me and I’m really curious where they are getting the vibe from.

In the back of Orange Cycle, there’s a semi-hidden room/lounge/office that is just unreal. These photos don’t do it justice. John P. Sr. served up some awesome espressos and some wine to our group in a the uber-posh room. Fully stocked kitchen, bar and lounge area made with fine wood and granite counters. You just wouldn’t expect something like this in a bike shop. Sort of remids me of the hidden kitchen in the Italian Pavilion at Interbike – if you know about it, they’ll serve you a fine pasta lunch.

Tyler James, tech guru with Pedro’s and Elysa from Giant enjoying Orange’s hospitality.

Throught the magic of  Twitter and updates of our tour throughout the day, Steve Boehmke found out we had seen him in his truck while we were eating lunch. He called me and met up with us at Orange with his bike and gear to join us on the rest of our ride. In the photo below riding next to Steve is none other than Perry Kramer, former BMX pro and Hall of Famer. If you’ve ever heard of the classic PK Ripper model from SE Racing, Perry’s the “PK” in the name. I didn’t realize who he was until later in the day – just thought he was a really cool guy named Perry. He’s a sales rep for Giant here in SoCal and led us around Orange County today.

Here’s Chris Zigmont of Pedro’s, 2003 ABA Grand Nationals Champion next to his trophy at Fullerton Bicycles. You don’t see enough trophy’s like this anymore. Growing up it seemed like every pizza joint had a few on a shelf. All joking aside, Fullerton takes their BMX racing heritage and business very seriously and had more than one of these trophys on display at the shop.

Mike Franze, owner of Fullerton and Buena Park Bicycles. Great guy with a passion for the industry. He’s working with Giant on re-merchandising the store – obviously a big Giant dealer.

Just some quick comments from today since it’s late. Unfortunately, I’m back in the office for some meetings Wednesday and Thursday. I’ll be making a return to the tour on Friday. This has been a really insightful trip so far getting to know so many great dealers and learn about their businesses and where they see bike retail heading. More on some of what we’ve learned once I’m back and settled.

Here’s the gang at the Bicycle Retailer & Industry News world headquarters before we set off. We’re all on very nice Giants and are sporting Giant and Pedro’s jerseys courtesy of the ride sponsors. Thanks! Left to right: Chris Zigmont of Pedro’s, Jason Norman, Megan Tompkins and Marc Sani of BRAIN, An Le of Giant, Lynette Carpiet of BRAIN, myself, and Nicole Formosa of BRAIN.

First stop was Ladera Cyclery in Ladera Ranch. Nice higher end shop with a range of family to high end road and tri gear. Jeff is the owner and is passionate about cycling.

Very different and up next is the classic shop Bicic Sports owned by Marcel Calborn. BS is in the vein of classic road shops. They definitely speak Campy here. I remember first seeing him almost 10 years ago at the ol LA Bike Expo selling Mapei team bikes since he was friends with someoneo on the team. Very cool. Still has tons of classic bikes and gear in the shop. Endless trove of stories to go along with them.

Marcel has made his own brand of frames for over 20 years including this old school time trial bike with the Silva aluminum disc wheels. I love this stuff. The counter displays are full of old cranks and Delta Brakes.

How many shops have Colnago and Pogliaghi tandems in stock?

Any shop can have a shop-brnaded water bottle, but how many have shop pantographed cranksets?

If you’re ever in the shop, ask Marcel about his Jacques Villeneuve Vespa. If you don’t know who Villeneuve was, don’t bother.

Edge Cyclesports in Laguna Woods is a contrast to Bici Sports: high end boutique road and tri shop. Only the latest bikes and gear, all super high end. Most striking, though, is how nice and welcoming co-owner Mary Ann is. Maybe it’s because she’s from Ohio. One of the niceset and most fiercely knowledgeable people in the bike industry I’ve met. I’ve been to many high end shops in my life, and unfortunately, many of them come with a high dose of arrogance. Not so at Edge.

Mary Anne made sure to point out the (hard to miss) Ridely Dean – one of the only that have made their way into a shop in the US so far. This was one of THE hot bikes at Interbike this year.

They love Made in USA (and Canada) brands like IF, Calfee and Guru. This IF fixie is beautiful.

On our way to the next shop, we came upon this group of OC fixie hipsters. There’s even a Bianchi Pista in there to complete the look. It’s amazing to me how much fixies have infiltrated suburbia. Where are suburban kids seeing them to get the influence?

When we got to Jax Bicycles in Irvine, we were welcomed by this nice display of balloons, snacks and cool drinks (hope the rest of our tour stops are reading this…).

Dave Hansen, the owner, is passionate about his business and gave us a great presentation on his business philosophy. Jax is a Trek concept store and is very nicely laid out and designed. He’s really focused into the numbers of his business and should be an inspiration to all retailers in that regard. “What gets measured gets done.” He’s very open about his business with both employees and his suppliers. He’s also very willing to help out his fellow retailers as it will elevate the bike retail business for all if all are stronger and doing better. amen.

We’ve got four more shops on the schedule for today. Weather looks good again this morning. Ride on!

Camelbak was serving up their Elixir hydration drinks to attendees in a fun loungy tent with great music all day.

One of the big stars of this year’s show will definitely be the new electronic Dura-Ace. While we were setting up to film a video presentation of the new group by Shimano’s Wayne Stetina, Zap and the guys from Road Bike Action stopped by for a demo. Prediction: the (very) cool sound that the front derailleur makes when shifting to the big ring will be one of the reasons people will buy it. It sounds like a high tech Star Wars  sound effect and just screams “I’m riding electronic Dura Ace” to your riding buddies(for you geeks out there, think AT-AT leg moving sound in Empire Strikes Back). Big crowds in the booth at the Demo for eDura-Ace.

You’ll see tons of photos of the new DA group all over, but I had never seen one of the control panel under the bars. Monitors battery life and allows you to trim the derailleur ala normal barrel adjusters.

The DA group is great, but the SRAM Hammer schmidt was awesome. Really wasn’t expecting to be be floored by it but was convinced after a test ride. The planetary drive system (don’t ask) allows for 2 “virtual” chainrings with just one small cog. What you get is near instant shifting even under pressure. Shift speed and eases felt like shifting to a smaller cog in back. The small cog allows for much better ground clearance. You have to check this out if you haven’t seen it yet.

Michael Zellman of SRAM showing off the new SRAM wheels for our camera crew. Look for our videos soon on the site.

Wandered the show floor at the Sands for a while doing final setup at the Media Center. Saw all the exhibitors doing their final building and decorating of booths. Noticed that Campagnolo have a totally new (and huge ) booth this year. Met with Cervelo guys and they said they will be having a big product launch ceremony in their booth today at 9:30.

Good Morning Interbike show kicks things off this miorning at 8:30. If all goes well with our systems, it should be live on interbike.com’s Media Center Live page for all to see around the world.

Gotta go to the Sands now. I’ll leave you with the Michelin man (did you know his name is Bib?) welcoming all to the show. Hope you enjoy following along back home if you’re not here!

That’s Marc Sani, the publisher of Bicycle Retailer & Industry News out for a ride at lunch on a Friday. He said he was feverishly trying to catch back up to Jason of BR&IN who had dropped him a little earlier. (Note: you’re not supposed to drop the boss, guys).

Always nice to see an industry insider on a bike. Also like the uber-insider “A-Team” jersey he’s wearing.

A side effect of BTWD is the crowded trains. I guess it’s a positive sign for cycling, but the 2 racks per car on Metrolink here don’t cut it. There were 5 bikers on my train home last night. Can’t wait for tonight’s crowds.

On a positive note, there happened to be a “market research” person from Metrolink on my car. I commented to her about the need for more racks. She smiled and handed me a survey to fill out and suggested that I use the comment area to mention the problem. Also was able to put down that the bike is my mode of transport pre- and post-train ride. Bonus.

Along with the four other bikes there were four other bikers on the train. Had a nice conversation with one who was on a really nice carbon road bike. He’s definitely one of the industry’s “VIP Customers.” So much so, that after he found out that I worked for Interbike (did the jersey and socks plastered with the logo give it away?), he mentioned that he loves Interbike and goes every year. When I asked him how he gets in, he said that he’s a very good customer of his shop and they get him into the show. Now this volatile topic is worthy of a whole other post, but suffice it to say that if any type consumer should be let into the show, this is it. He doesn’t ask for price lists or deals or sponsorship, knows that the show is for the dealers and manufacturers to conduct their business and he buys everything he sees there from his local shop.

I’m not advocating at all that it’s ok for retailers to do this. They still need to respect the exhibitors and those other retailers who are uncomfortable with this and have expressed a desire to keep the show for the trade only. I do have to admit that this guy’s passion and love of bikes and cycling is strong enough to get him to drive 5 hours each way to Vegas and pay for his own hotel and expenses just to ogle cool new bike gear.

Continuing the trend of interesting conversations that happen when you bike and train to work instead of driving, I met the publisher of Skateboarder magazine this morning (they’re also based in San Juan Capistrano and are the sister mag to Bike magazine). He bikes to work most days of the week. Great talk about the future of traditional media and the web and also nuances of the various core “tribes” within the skate world. Good stuff. Would never happen in a car by yourself.

Finally, here’s one more pic for Carlton Reid (congrats on your award, btw!) who enjoys seeing where people live, work and ride. I was bit early this morning to the train and rode a couple of blocks over from the station to the beach. Another beautiful day to ride.