so i took off to...

columbus for the weekend to hang out at roll: for their be:spoke program. where they were promoting their custom bike program. they had carl from vicious there, along with matt and joe from i.f. there as well. they gave a talk on saturday night about their companies, and talked with a lot of the people there. the turn out was great. i got to talk to carl for quite a while, which was what i was looking forward to. got to talk to matt for a bit towards the end of the evening. it was a great freaking time. by the end of the evening i was ready to order my new project...more to come later on that.

sunday morning was the mtn bike ride at alum creek. we first did phase two, the 'most difficult' of the two phases, at least that was what the signs said. i can't tell you how great it was to see all the single speeds there. you don't find that up here in the cleveland area.

just before the ride...

(yes, i've gone rigid, and it felt great.)

carl had his groover...


the trail was a great trail for single speeds, hence why almost everybody down there was riding one. what a sight. the trail had a great feel to it. it had some technical sections to it, and some parts where the trail split to allow for some more challenging parts, but didn't hit those. i just followed the guy in front of me.

after that we hit phase one next. a little less technical, but still had that great groove to it. i left with the front eight, and thought 'what the hell am i doing?', but kept up well. at one point we came to a valley, and then right up a hill. i noticed one rider to the left, and one to the right that didn't make it up. i just yelled 'up the middle,' and kept smashing the pedals, and then looked up, and i was right behind carl. i didn't think i made it that far up to the front.

finished the ride, and had a great time. had some slips and falls, but no worries. i know that i'll be going back down to the shop, and i'll get in touch with the guys at roll if anyone wants to ride, and let them know that if they make it up this way to drop a line to ride with them, or meet in the middle. the people from roll are all great people. i believe that that has a lot to deal with the owner, stuart. a great shop needs a great owner, and that is what roll has. i have never spoke so highly about a shop before, and for good reason...i can't find a really good one up here. sorry, it's the truth. so i think i'll have to call roll my bike shop. here's to you.

closing shot of carl and i...


namaste...