Fixin' Stuff In Kirkland

We spent our Memorial Day in Kirkland this year where we were proud to support the Annual 7 Hills of Kirkland benefiting the Kirkland Interfaith Transitions in Housing Organization. The KITH's mission is to provide temporary and longer term housing for individuals and families threatened by homelessness in the greater Kirkland region. Presently, KITH manages a twelve-unit apartment complex and owns two four-plexes. KITH also provides case-management for its constituents and an assortment of related charitable functions serving the local community. So, very early in the morning we showed up to lend mechanical support to the more than 1300 riders in this great event.

The 7 Hills of Kirkland boasts three great courses. From the traditional 7 Hills course (about 40 miles) to a Metric Century to a full blown Century ride. We were there every step of the way to make sure that people were able to finish the ride. This is the first year that we've participated in the 7 Hills ride and it was a great ride to be involved with. From the top notch courses to the outstanding strawberry shortcake at the end, this is a ride that should be at the top of your list of rides to do every year. While not for the faint of heart (this ride does have as much as 7,000 feet of climbing) this ride was well supported and a great challenge for all involved.

We'd like to thank Chris Fox and the rest of the 7 Hills staff and volunteers for providing a great ride and for allowing us to be part of it.






See a few more pictures that we took
See all the pictures from the event

Test The Best

Here comes another opportunity to "Try it before you buy it". We certainly understand that it's tough to throw down hundreds or even thousands of dollars for a bike that you've ridden around the block once or twice. Because of this we've done our best to work with our suppliers and get them to come out and give people a chance to test ride bikes in real world conditions. Earlier this season Trek came out with their "Ride the Best" tour and now Specialized is here with their "Test the Best" tour. Now, we won't get into any discussion about who's product is "the Best", all we know is that this is a great opportunity for people to really get out and ride the bikes.

The Test the Best program comes to your neighborhood to give you a
chance to test ride a wide array of mountain bikes, road bikes, and
equipment. You provide the desire to ride and we'll provide everything
else. Our highly educated Demo Team will be there to answer any
questions and better inform you about the Specialized product line.

Here are the details for the Specialized "Test the Best" event:

• May 10 and 11th: Dirt and Road demo at St. Edwards Park in Kenmore, WA
• May 17th: Women's Specific Product Demo at Gregg's Greenlake Cycle

Ultimate Ride III

The Ultimate Ride has come back to the Seattle area again. Later, this weekend, there will be a public demo but this one was for dealers only. Ten of us, including the store managers from all three stores and Stan Gregg went out to Fall City to ride the trails near there.
Dax, Kurt and the Demo van was all set up and after some quick adjustments and sizing we were ready to go. A three hour ride was the plan, just enough time to get a really good feel for the bikes. We had our choice of the '08 Trek Fuel EX 9.5, '08 69er 3x9, '08 69er Top Fuel, or the '08 Gary Fisher HiFi Pro Carbon. Not bad choices.

Kurt gave us some last minute instructions and we were off to ride the bikes.

The Trek line up for 2008 is really solid. It helps that we have all had a good chance to ride the bikes in situations other than a quick test ride. Make sure to check out the public demo at the Colonnade on Saturday the 8th and at St. Edwards on the 9th.

The BBTC Rocks!

A couple of friends and I went and did an "epic ride" this weekend. It had it all; mechanicals, long climbs, good lunch, tight switchbacks, epic views, a little bit of snow, outstanding single track, creek crossings, lung busting single track climbs and at least one cramp. It was a great ride on Sun Top this Saturday. But that's not what I want to talk about. Our ride was great but it was made great through the efforts of three unnamed members of the BBTC (Backcrountry Bicycle Trails Club). These nameless (nameless only because we forgot to ask their names) club members were not only great riders (tight switchbacks pulling a trailer with a chainsaw in it!) but great stewards of the trails. When we talked to them at the trail head they told us that there were a total of 26 blown down trees across the trail and that we should ride slow and maybe they'd get some of them out of the way before we got there.


Turns out we did ride slow and to slow us even more was John shifting his chain into his spokes and getting it nicely wedged between the cassette and the spokes. After we disconnected the chain, took the wheel out of the bike and pulled harder than we should have we managed to only loose two links and get the chain back on the bike. By the time we got on to the single track after our lunch the BBTC guys had been hard at work.

We had a great descent down some of the sweetest single track around and noticed as we rode by a good deal of sawdust and freshly cut logs. If not for the BBTC guys we would have been stopping and hopping quite a bit. Instead, due to their work, we got to flow down the trail and have a great time.

Eventually we caught up to them (it took us much longer than we thought it might) and saw that they had a pretty great system figured out. There were three guys, one was what I call the scout and then the cutter and the spotter. The scout would ride ahead to find a fallen tree and then call to his buddies who were cleaning up the last cut. They'd ride down to him with the chainsaw and as soon as they arrived he'd pull the saw off the Bob and and start cutting while the others made sure that people coming down the trail knew what was going on. When the cutter was done he'd put the saw down and ride ahead again while the others cleaned up. Great system. Very fast, very efficient and as safe as possible.

If it wasn't for organizations like the BBTC we would have far fewer trails to ride on and the trails that we did have wouldn't be half as fun. So thank you to the nameless stewards of the trails and thank you to the BBTC. You rock!