Gone fishing, or riding, or...

I'm taking off blogging for the rest of the year. Reading, and writing. I need a break from the masses of information that I attempt to soak up everyday.

Have a good, safe and fantastic holiday. See you in 2007.

There is more to life than increasing its speed

Has anyone else noticed the proliferation of Amsterdam-styled (and other Euro-styled) bicycles coming to the US market lately?

There's the smugly overpriced Jorg & Olif which seems to be aimed at the Enviro-Yuppies. Rather than 'Stay Curious', their tagline could easily be "Ride our bike, look really unique, and save the world while you're at it. Just leave your Audi/BMW/Mercedes at home."


Then there's the Electra 'Amsterdam':

And who can forget the Kronan from Sweden?



Overall, I think it's great to see this fad/movement taking place. We could use more transportation/utility bikes in this country. It will be interesting to see which of these companies and bike models can stick it out for the long haul, and which ones will dry up. When someone brings over the Swiss Militärvelo, I might join the coup.

By the way, the title of this post was originally spoken by Gandhi. :-)

Team JuG and the Bobke

Last night Jeff and I had the pleasure of hanging out at Sierra Nevada Brewery, drink a few cold ones, and listen to Bob Roll tell story after hilarious story. I wouldn't know where to begin, but I'd suggest if you ever get the chance, go see him speak.

A couple of quick notes:
+ He is 100% convinced that Floyd Landis is innocent. After listening to his explanations of why, I'm starting to agree.

+ He purposely mispronounces Tour De France. His story about what led up to his conscious decision to do so had me in stitches. Let's just say he's "fond" of the French.

In other news, the 2007 KGSN cycling team was there as well; a lot of youngsters, and I hope that they kick some arse this year. Nearly all the KGSN elder statesmen have moved on to other, hopefully bigger and better teams. All of this year's sponsors had reps at the event, and I have to say, the Kuota bikes that the team will ride this year look beautiful... even if they are carbon. I didn't bother telling the Kodak Gallery folks that I worked at Flickr, but I'm sure they would've been cool with it. I'm thinking there needs to be a Flickr cycling team! :-)

We also ran into what seemed to be 70% of the Chico cycling community at the event. All the Chico cycling bloggers were there except for Tony Rocha. Chico Velo had big representation, as did Chico Corsa.

The other Chico Geno (with an E) was there. Here we are! What a blast!