Bike Hugger 

This decal was on the cab that brought me from the airport to the hotel. How apt that message was…

Cab decal with an important reminder

Today I’m talking about making things, being creative, and hosting day one of Built.

Just learned from Martin, one of our speakers, that those decals were project by Derek Chadbourne when he was working for the Hoof and Cycle Toronto Messenger coalition.

A simple thing that surely has saved injuries and maybe lives.

Back on the road today to Toronto for NXNEi, Built, and a talk. Will ride urban with a Tern P9. Then to Park City for PressCamp and riding road, mtb, and cross at elevation.

Until the riding in Toronto starts, please enjoy these photos of the Colnago C-59 taken at Sea Otter.

Italian for disc brakes

We unwind from the bike by watching Downtown Abbey on Sunday nights. Occasionally a bike makes an appearance and dismounting one like a gentlemen.

Screenshot from last night’s episode

Father and son on the log

Said in my post yesterday that the Duthie boardwalk is such a grand entrance, it’s like riding up to a mountain bike cathedral. Once inside the park, I immersed myself in the scene. It’s one I hadn’t been a part of for decades. The wheels are bigger, bikes better, suspensions taller, but what I noticed the most was more families, women, and girls. The vibe was like Cross races are now, but without all the NC-17 party racing.

In Nikes

The Duthie boardwalk is such a grand entrance, like riding up to a mountain bike cathedral

Being introduced to Step it Up at Duthie by Steve Bourke was cool, a bit terrifying at times and meant focusing on not f’ing up and ending the ride with the smallest time gap possible. Most of it came back to me on the MTB and noted that the scene was the same, just the bikes are better, wheels bigger, suspension taller. Could make the argument that Shimano Deore XT with thumb shifters worked better or at least as good. Brakes are drastically better – I know this because I was pulling the rear one the entire time.

If you don’t know Bourke, he’s a former nationally ranked BMX racer – 5th – and mountain biker. We may have raced WIMs (Washington, Idaho MTB Series) as Elites together, back in the day, but couldn’t remember. Best thing was the dude didn’t give a shit about the blog I publish or that I was media. He was just gonna show me the trail and how they throw down these days. Each trail we rode, I only saw him and Scott Matual from Raleigh for about 12 seconds. I focused on keeping the gaps close, so they didn’t start Marco Polo’ing my name during the Evergreen MTB Festival.

As mentioned on Twitter, Raleigh set me up with their new Talus hardtail. A bike that performs like all high-end bikes do these days: very well. I’ll race short track on it in a few weeks and want to spend more time at max effort before a longer post. It did attract much attention from other mountain bikers who wanted to know what I thought of this or that part.

Handles like a high-end bike should: very well