Jul
24
Pedro’s Fest 2007 Report - Now More Than Ever
By Rich Kelly, Filed Under Attendee News, Cycling, Industry News, Interbike, Rides
A little later than I expected, but here’s my Pedro’s Fest report. I’ve been back for a week now and have been plugging away at this as I find the time, but now with the news from the Tour, I have renewed motivation. Racing is just a small part of our industry and here’s my reminder to all my industry brothers and sisters by way of describing my experiences at the 2007 Pedro’s Fest. We should all show events like this more support!
As I mentioned in my last post, Lance and I headed out to the Berkshire Mountains of Western Massachusetts to meet New England retailers and show them a little appreciation for their hard work along with our friends at Pedro’s Total Bike Care. Interbike has been at the festival in the past, but it had been maybe 5 years since the last time we were there.
The festival really has a great vibe. I’ve been to a bunch of festivals and bike events over the years, but this one just had an awesome and fun energy to it that you don’t see at most of them. Everybody, from exhibitors to attendees, really seemed to enjoy being there. Maybe it’s the lack of racing - the attitude is very relaxed and it was all about a bunch of people who love bikes hanging out for a long weekend and getting some rides in. Most attendees seemed to be camping out at the fest so the energy flowed into the night - and so did the riding, with night rides beginning at 9pm every evening.
This photo is of one of the women’s skills
classes taught by pro Alison Sydor.
The festival does an impressive job of being very family friendly and that becomes obvious with the amount of kids we saw there. We spent most of of our time at the Pedro’s tent by the trail head, and there was a constant stream of group rides going off nto the woods. They had group rides for all types of riders and skill levels that were led by pro’s and other expert instructors, but to see a group of 20, or so, 7-10 year-olds riding off into the trails behind a ride leader with parents in tow was really inspiring. They even had a “Teach your kid to Ride” class for parents. I missed that class, but managed to spend a little time chatting with the instructor, Anna, one of IMBA’s trail team crew that was there to teach the class. Lots of great tips that I can’t wait to try when I get home.
Yes, we’re in New England. A Yo Eddy!, Indy Fab
(one of MANY) and a Cannondale in attendance.
Aside from the pro-led rides, there were many other fun ‘competitions’ in the Pedro’s style: bike limbo contests. tire throwing, Dirt Rag’s Skid Mark contest and the (in)famous mud bog races. Though, with the rain a rare no-show for this year’s event, I think they had to help out the mud with a hose. Jamis brought their trials/show rider, Mike Steidley (below), who put on some impressive shows throughout the weekend.
Jamis rider Mike Steidley.
After hemming and hawing about whether to bring my riding gear, I just ended up being too busy with work leading up to the trip to decide and ended up not going prepared to ride. My heart sank a bit when Lance and I met up at the Minneapolis airport for the ever-popular Minneapolis-to-Albany flight and he had his helmet hanging off the back of his backpack. That meant that there were actual plans in place to ride. I just resigned myself to not being able to ride for a week, but Chris Zigmont, our host and head of Pedro’s, insisted that I ride and that he and his team would help me piece together everything I would would need for a ride on Saturday with “this guy Mark” who knows the roads around here pretty well. Not holding out much hope, I half-heartedly went along with it.
It turns out that the bike industry is capable of showing alot of love to one of its own as I was able to put together a complete kit from shoes, socks, gloves and shorts from Mavic-adidas, jersey from Pedro’s and bike (the sweet new Madone) and helmet from Trek. I am truly grateful to the people involved at these companies for helping me go on an awesome 40 mile ride through the Berkshires with Mark who turned out to be long time pro (and New England legend and current territory manager for Fuji Bicycles), Mark McCormack. I’ll have to do a separate post about this ride and what went into getting all my gear together. I can’t believe that I was able to have such a great ride after just “eye-balling” my position on the bike and cleats on my shoes! Many thanks to all who helped me out. I hate asking for help, so I was more than a little embarrassed by all the love I was shown.
Mark McCormack and Lance Camisasca.
I have to wrap this up to get to a meeting, but I want to close by saying thanks to the great team at Pedro’s Total Bike Care. They are all great people that love bikes and work hard together to promote their brand and their brand’s commitment to the environment. Chris and his crew really are setting the standard for their pledge to make their products and practices as environmentally friendly as possible. As a quick example, all of the (very tasty) food served at the dealer reception we both hosted was harvested or produced within 50 miles of the festival site. All of the veggies and meats were from local farms and even the soda pop (as us New Englanders call it) was from a local manufacturer and made from all-natural ingredients. Bravo, Pedro’s!
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[...] My former New England ride guide at Pedro’s Fest, Mark McCormack (a former US PRO Champion) will be racing on his employer Fuji’s Team. Ready for some speed? [...]
[...] Lance and I met Scott Gibson of Eco-Pioneer back in July of this year at Pedro’s Fest in Massachusetts. He had his self-designed eco tent set up with solar and wind energy equipment that powered a large screen tv showing live Tour de France coverage out in the middle of a farm field in the Berkshire mountains. [...]