We're Floored!

Thanks to a few key people (Doug, Chris, Dale, Bobby, & Josh) we finally got everything moved out of the showroom for Tommy to start working on the floor. Moving the stuff wasn't near as bad as we thought, but removing the trim from the wall was worse!!! I guess that's what happens when things are done right, they're hard to undo. It wasn't pretty but after alot of scraping we finally got it all off. We then enjoyed some well deserved cold beverages and pizza at mellow. Here's a pic after Tommy's first day of floor grinding.

Empire Trailer

This is going to be ridiculous. Dave Parrick does not play around when it comes to making films.

empire trailer 1 from trashfilm on Vimeo.

Sunday Sesh at FATS

The weather was perfect on Sunday. If you didn't ride, you had better be dead or in jail (that line was courtesy of an old Beavis and Butthead episode). Kim J did the SORBA Women's MTB Ride so Ross, Dustin, Lee, Taylor, Eli, and I met up for a sesh of our own. It involved calories being burned and good times being had. We also had kids (Eli & Taylor) learning what they should bring on their next MTB ride (I say next as they were ill-prepared for this one), how to properly hydrate, and how to fix a flat on the trail. It felt like "Take a Kid MTB'ing Day", but only it wasn't "Take a Kid MTB'ing Day". It was an adventure for sure, but that's what keeps riding fun!

My really home-made stencil artwork.

Eli + Taylor = no tube and no idea.

CrossBoss

Dustin

Lee

Giant Demo, Off the Chain!

The Ride Giant Demo was 3 years in the making. Due to scheduling conflicts it seemed that it was never going to happen. Finally the date was nailed down and the word started to spread. Everything was coming together perfect, tons of folks RSVP'd, so it was on! And then we started checking weather.com. Outlook not good...rain, rain, and more rain. We kept saying well maybe it will miss us. No such luck (in the voice of the dude from South Park with the voice box thing,"mmm, it's coming right for us!). It was cold, rainy, cloudy, and just plain gross outside. But that didn't stop a huge crowd from forming. I have never seen so many people in the shop at one time. My dad was heard saying, "I'm feeling a little overwhelmed!" We probably had 100 people come through the store on Sunday and over 40 seized the moment despite the weather. Folks were waiting up to an hour for a chance to demo one of Giant's Maestro dual suspension MTB's! And the wait for a carbon road bike wasn't any shorter. To keep the crowd from revolting Kim and I stayed up late Saturday night cooking up some grub. 35lbs of chili was made and 4 of Kim's famous "green cakes" were baked. Surprisingly enough only half a green cake was left and about 4 bowls of chili! I seriously thought we were going to end up eating chili for a month, so thank you to everyone for getting their eat on! It seemed that everyone had a really good time hanging out and talking shop. Hopefully we'll be able to do it again next year.

I would like to take a second to thank Evan and James from Giant, Kim for coming through with some delicious food, and everyone for toughing it out and stopping by the shop on Sunday, despite the less than desirable weather! I would have snapped more pics, but I was way too busy to grab the camera. Here are a few I took before the mob showed up...

New Tool

Stainless Steel, dishwasher safe, and only 4 oz. What more could you ask for? Best of all these are currently in stock at AJBW! Perfect for opening that post-ride pale ale!

Spy images of Giant's 29er!

Due to the fact I don't have a facebook page, I had to steal these images from twentynineinches.com. What you're looking at is drawings of Giant Bicycles' XTC 29er. Yep, you read that correctly. Here's what the guys had twentynineinches.com had to say:

"Indeed, Giant is introducing a 29″er hardtail, at the least. The Giant produced sketches, which first appeared on their Facebook page, show a rendering of a hardtail frame with what appears would end up being all hydroformed tubing. The seat stay bridge appears to be a forged type piece. It appears that the seat tube may be slightly bent, ala Specialized’s 29″ers, as well. We can also see that the frame will have an integrated or semi-integrated head set and the 1 1/8″th to 1 1/2″ steer tube. We fully expect that the fork will be the new Marzocchi 44 model with the tapered steer tube, which is already in production. Also noteworthy is that Giant’s Facebook page indicates that there will be a single speed option as well. Giant typically doesn’t introduce new models until later in the summer, but we will keep our eyes peeled for anymore news on this or any other 29″er model being worked on by Giant."

So why did it take Giant so long to start working on a 29er? Giant Bicycles does everything on a global basis. They pool resources, design, and intelligence from 13 different countries (G13) to come up with the best bikes on Earth. When all the G13 members get together to discuss the bicycle lines, the US is the only country that has the demand for a 29er. The other 12 countries say there's no need for the 29er and 26" wheels are the trailboss choice.

What do you think is the best option? Leave your comments below.