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Wednesday, June 29, 2005
The first ever Lumberjack 100 took place this past weekend in Manistee National Forest, Michigan. 100 miles of dirt taken only in solo doses. While Scott Quiring took the overall victory, Dan Jansen won the singlespeed class aboard his Juan Solo.   Dan's win makes him the official Michigan Singlespeed champ for the year...with a bitching trophy to boot! -Kid Posted by Salsa Kid : 8:00 PM 0 comments 
U.K. Amigo Mark Bayley sent us these photos from his recent trip to Alora in Spain. Mark was riding a Salsa Caballero and said that "bike worked flawlessly - unlike the rider". Ha! His words not mine.   What I do know by looking at those shots is that I'd like to be there right now. No joke. Epic descents are good for the soul and I'm going to have to get a fix soon! You are a lucky man Mr. Bayley! -Kid Posted by Salsa Kid : 12:00 PM 0 comments
Tuesday, June 28, 2005
We want to send out some props to Emma Johansson who won the Elite Time Trial at the Swedish National Championships earlier this month. Emma took the victory riding nothing less than a Salsa Campeon. So for that we say, 'Thank you Emma!"   Props also go out to Eva Nyström who took 4th, also on a Campeon. -Kid Posted by Salsa Kid : 7:15 PM 0 comments
Monday, June 27, 2005
ALL GOOD THINGS MUST COME TO AN END We grab a bite to eat at our favorite coffee shop and then quickly rush to finish our packing. I definitely have aquired a more than I came with but fit it all in without problem. It is the last view look from my hotel window that I'll have of the Shinjuku area. At least the last one for this trip.  We then head down to pack our bikes which turns into a nice sweat-fest as the day is a hot one with the humidity turned on. Narita is a good ways away from Tokyo and with the international flight and all, it means leaving our hotel a good 4-1/2 hours before our flight. Peter goes and begs the hotel to let us borrow a push cart so that we can move our bike boxes to the bus station, but they say know. His whining and pleading eventually push them over the edge however and one of the employees says he will walk with us with the cart! But, he also says that we should never tell anyone else we did this because they don't want all the guests asking for it! So mums the word everybody!  We haul or bags and help push the cart through the busy streets that we first walked upon nine days ago. It has been a whirlwind tour to say the least. We arrive at the bus location in plenty of time, nice and sweaty, and try not to stress to much when the luggage there says we'll never be able to fit our bike boxes onto the bus. I tell him that we brought them out here on the bus so they should fit just fine. The bus comes and sure enough there is plenty of room for all and we depart for Narita. It is nice to travel out there in daylight this time so we can get our last glimpses of Tokyo and then the countryside. Check in goes smoothly and we grab a quick lunch so that we're not entirely dependent on what the airline serves us on the flight! I pick up some horse blinders for people to see if that'll help me get more rest on the way back. We are all ready to get back home to our loved ones.  10-1/2 hours later, we land in Minneapolis and wait in the lines at Immigration. There's nothing to see here though folks and we all pass through. I get the "I suppose that's a bike in that box too?" remark from the last official. We come out the arrival doors and Jason is met by twin cheers of "Daddy's home! Daddy's home!".  Peter heads off to meet his wife and son and I grab a taxi and head home. My lady and Jordan are over at my folks house working on her wedding dress...which pretty much brings this trip to an end right where it started. Thanks for reading. -Kid Posted by Salsa Kid : 1:35 PM 0 comments
Friday, June 24, 2005
LAST MINUTE SHOPPING The morning begins early as we've been able to secure an additional magazine interview, in addition to the one that will take place later in the day. We meet with Bicycle 21 for an hour and a half or so. It is a nice bonus on this trip as the magazine is an industry publication which dealers read. We've met quite a few dealers during this trip but it will be nice to have some our thoughts about Salsa put forth to an even wider dealer audience. The iced coffee adds a nice sense of calm to the interview and it ends with a few photos of us in the streets of Shinjuku. There are a few down hours now so I seize the opportunity to do some last minute gift shopping. I walk the streets looking for things and then also head into a large Japanese department store. If you've never been in a Japanese department store you should know this. They are incredibly clean and well displayed with a very curteous staff. I pick up some Japanese perfume for my lady and some cool toys for Jordan...and me! I also grab a few Japanese action figure type things that I hope to incorporate into the Salsa catalog next year to celebrate this trip. It is a Saturday and the crowds are out shopping. Every now and then I see small groups of Japanese woman in their traditional dress for the occaision. The embroidery, color and quality of the garments they wear are truly beautiful.   The time shopping goes quickly and then I must head back to the hotel to get ready for our interview with Bicycle Club magazine. They pick us up and we head further into an old district of Tokyo to a very large temple there. I like the way this photographer works as he has really done some preliminary thinking about the shots he can get at this setting. The first shot he takes is of Peter and I standing in front of an enormous paper lantern marking the entrance to the temple. A crowd gathers while the photographer shoots wondering who the heck we are that we're getting this special photo shoot treatment. After our few days of being 'models' I can't say as either of us is any more comfortable with it!  We walk down the very busy alley to the temple trying not to shin people with our pedals! There are a few close calls but everyone escapes unharmed. They take a few pictures of us wafting incense over our heads to purify ourselves and then we find a spot to take detail shots and also solo shots of the bikes. They take a really nice one of my Juan Solo set against a backdrop of tall skinny red flags. I'm not sure what the flags say though.  When all the photos are done we walk back through the alleyways and I of course have to stop to grab a couple more souveniers of this experience. We drive back to Shinjuku because Jason should be landing in Narita soon and hopes to join us for at least part of the interview.  Back in Shinjuku we search for a resteraunt to eat. It is saturday night and most places are very busy, but eventually we pick a Korean all-you-can-eat place. Now, I grew up in Korea and love the food, but I've never had Korean all-you-can-eat, but this is the real deal. We enjoy a great meal with rice, kimchi, kalbi, pulkogi, and more. Actually, if you take the all-you-can-eat deal, you've got 90 minutes to eat! But any worries we have about this being a scam that will leave us still hungry go unfounded! Though they did kind of cheat us on the beer a bit ! We talk about Salsa while we eat and when we are close to finished eating Jason arrives after having Peter meet him and walk him over the resteraunt. We talk some more and have a great time explaining the whole singlespeed thing (which has yet to take off in Japan with nice bikes) and getting the writer pumped up for his first trip to Whistler which he'll take this summer. I have to tell him at one point that I'm not actually paid to do marketing for Whistler! It's just so good though that I can't help it! We end the night with a photo of all of us in a busy plaza area where young folks are playing live music and milling about. Then it is back to the hotel to lock up the bikes, a quick meeting with Rie about future business, a celebratory beer in Jason's room, and then time to get to packing. -Kid Posted by Salsa Kid : 12:00 PM 0 comments
Thursday, June 23, 2005
RAINY SEASON BEGINS Fun Ride magazine picks us up at 10:30am just as the rainy season begins in Japan. Actually it turns out to be an isolated day of rain based on the activity of a typhoon that is in the area. Regardless, a steady drizzle begins which continues all day.  We drive to their magazine HQ to do the interview and to take some studio shots. They've hired a big gun photographer for this occaision because he is good at capturing expressions, especially foreigners expressions they tell us. Lord only knows what these shots are going to look like because they get Peter and I acting pretty ridiculous. My fingers are crossed that we don't wind up looking like the dork brothers.  The interview continues while they shoot the detail shots of our bikes and then we head out for one rainy riding shot. They had hoped to have us poach some singletrack in Tokyo's biggest park but the rain has messed that up unfortunately. We get to ride back the short ways to their office one-handed holding umbrellas over our heads as we ride Japanese style. Actually I can vouch that some of the sidewalk bike commuters in Japan have tremenous bike handling abilities. We saw one guy riding doing the umbrella and soda can in one hand, while holding a cigarette in the other. He had to make the sudden move to the brake lever and pulled it off without dropping anything. Impressive! When the interview is complete they drive us back to Shinjuku to drop us off. One note about the Japanese bike mags. They seem very high quality, print on extremely nice paper, have some really clean photography, and a lot of content. They aren't cheap to buy of course, but it is nice seeing the great work they put out. Very refreshing compared to some of the U.S. mags. We grab a quick bite to eat and then go to two more large Tokyo bike shops via some train connections. It's funny because we get seperated from Rie in one of them when we think we'll be more efficient and cross through the gate while she goes to get her ticket. Turns out she went through a different gate though, so Peter has to use his cell phone to reunite us. Our first stop is Galaxy bike shop which is a two floor store, you guessed it, filled with the an incredible inventory of product. We talk about the brand a bit and enjoy an ice coffee. When we're finished I go to pay for the rasta anodized spacers I want to buy but they tell me that it is now a gift. Totally unneccessary, but very nice of them all the same. We raise our 100 yen umbrellas once more as we head back to the train that will take us to OD Annex, an outdoor retailer that does everything from camping and climbing stuff to bikes. They have three buildings all within a block or two of each other. In the bike shop, we see the most incredible collection of Campy stuff. It is in a glass case with labels telling the model and year. The owner of the collection is the shops mechanic who is quite famous in Japan. He shows us pictures of some of his bike collection that he keeps at home. Incredible.  On the wall of the shop hangs the #6 Colnago ever produced complete with original parts. It turns out both Colgango and Campy have been trying to buy this guys collection as he has stuff that they don't! But, the stuff is not for sale. It is just for his enjoyment and the viewing pleasure of those that come to the shop. Nice. In his headbadge collection is a really cool diamond shaped badge with the world champion stripe borders and a photo of Eddy Merckx in the center. Man was that thing cool! He also has his newest hobby on display, building robots from bike parts. A whole shelf of them made up from shock bodies, brake arms...you name it. It's pretty fun stuff.  After leaving OD Annex we wander through an outdoor market and then stop at a little sushi resteraunt to eat. The prepared dishes ride past us on a moving conveyor and we just grab dishes as they come by. The sushi chef is making the stuff fresh constantly so you can grab it as fresh as can be as he puts it out. I try a few different dishes and they are all very tasty. You know how much something costs based on the color or patter of the plate that it is on. A pretty ingenious system I must say. When we are finished the wait staff comes and tallies our plates to calculate our bill. We lift the umbrellas again and take the train back to Shinjuku. It's 9pm and the electronics store is open till 10pm so I wander through the maze of digital goodies. They have tons of cool things, especially some really nice Nikon lenses that get me jazzed up. 17mm F2.8...oh that would be nice indeed! -Kid Posted by Salsa Kid : 2:30 PM 0 comments
Wednesday, June 22, 2005
KARAOKE TIME! Following our usual breakfast at the coffee shop around the corner, we head down the street to Joker Bicycle Shop. We look around and talk for a bit. They have a crazy assortment of anodized parts in this shop. Definitely a place to do a little personalization. We hit another shop and then have a few hours to ourselves so Peter and I hit the bootleg music shops in the afternoon. It is unbelievable the amount of bootleg music that is available. Shelf after shelf of Springsteen has me wishing my wallet was thicker than it is. After shopping we grab a quick lunch at a Korean resteraunt, and then I take a brief rest to prepare for the dealer dinner that night. We've invited a bunch of dealers to dinner at a Mexican resteraunt. The price of admission is that they have to be prepared to listen to me talk for an hour or so. I know, I know...that's a steep admission price! With Rie translating, I give them my speech about Salsa, its history, direction, and philosophy. It was a fun speech, especially since it didn't involve answering questions the way the past days had. It was nice to have a chance to just talk to them, cyclist to cyclists. With dinner finished, two dealers agree to take Peter and I out to karaoke. We wander down some streets until we come upon a karaoke place. It isn't like here in the U.S. where you're in a bar standing up in front of everybody. In Japan, you rent what they call a 'karaoke box' which means a private little room, with a machine and a couple mic's. You then order your drinks as needed.  So we tear it up for a while. "M" (whose name I don't want to screw up here) is an top level woman Japanese DH rider is a really good singer. She definitely takes first prize on the night. She was choosing songs with all kinds of crazy tempo changes and stuff. Pretty fun.  At 2am, Peter and I say that we need to call it quits because we've got another magazine interview the next day. We wander back to the hotel, brushing off pimps along the way. It was a fun, and I hope, successfull night. -Kid Posted by Salsa Kid : 3:12 PM 0 comments
Monday, June 20, 2005
CYCLESPORT We get an early start for some breakfast and then ride our bikes to Sophia University to meet up with Cyclesport magazine, which is the Japanese equivalent of the U.S. magazine Bicycling. We get there early but the school guards go into panic mode. We must look like rabble rousers or something. We ride down the road and circle back to wait out of sight. Soon enough the contact meets us. Jason has to be on the way to the airport in two hours so they want to shoot him first on his Dos Niner. They have him ride a set of stairs for a while and then do a little drop off a log. Then we head to a Mexican resteraunt down the street for some more photos and the interview. This time our modelling includes closeups of us smiling and also portraits as we eat. We grin and bear it...no pun intended. After an hour or so, Jason takes of for the airport to head to Taipei. Peter and I finish off the interview and then head out for our photoshoots. They take us across town to Makuhari which coincidentally is where Peter's bro-in-law lives. My photo is taken at a litle off-road play spot with bermed trails, some jumps, and rhythm sectinons. I'm told to rail through a berm a dozen times or so. It was fun to let her loose a bit. I wished we could have played around there longer. They say they want to shoot Peter at the beach of Tokyo harbor but once we get over there the photographer says the water will look black so he won't shoot there. Peter suggests the business district and they buy it. He's shot doing the commuting thing on his Las Cruces surrounded by glass office towers and lush greenery. Peter's bro-in-law wants us to join him and his co-workers for beer and food that night while watching Japan play North Korea in its World Cup Soccer qualifier. We kill some time in a video game arcade. There I see what might be the coolest game ever. It's is a super rad game that combines electronic arcade game with a card game. The catch is that the cards have magnetic coding so that the machine knows what you are doing. The game is a fantasy version of old time Japanese military battles. The player moves his cards to move his troops, position them, tell them to retreat or attack, or to someone some special card powers. A player can bring his whole deck and choose which army and strategy to use before the game begins. I think video games probably do a bit more harm than good, but I have to admit this is pretty dang slick! At 6pm we meet Peter's bro-in-law at the Canon sales office. Japan beats N. Korea 2-0 to advance into the World Cup while we eat and drink. Then we hit a bar until Peter and I call it quits at 1am. We've still got a one hour train ride back to Shinjuku, before work begins again in the morning. -Kid Posted by Salsa Kid : 8:30 PM 0 comments
BACK TO TOKYO Rie lets us sleep in a bit this morning so Peter, Jason, and I hit breakfast before being picked up by the Motocross Intl van. We make a visit to Zunow Tube bike shop and see Yoshi-san, the owner. Zunow Tube is also very amazing. It has a very boutique feel and exudes class. Many of the fixtures are custom made from bicycle parts an the like. Yoshi-san prepares expresso for us as he does for his customers. He is another stellar example of passion for bicycles and their inherent beauty. Following some interesting discussion we hurry for the train. We make it just in time to buy our tickets and run to the platform. We have a scheduled interview and photoshoot with Bicycle Navi magazine in Tokyo and will just make it on time! We hope! BICYCLE NAVI Bicycle Navi meets us at the station to transport us to the photoshoot in Shinjuku Central Park. We assemble our bikes and play model for a while. It's kind of funny because it isn't exactly something we are used to. Heck, I'm more comfortable on the other side of the lens really. After a few different shots we grab our stuff and head to the Denny's around the corner for the interview. On the way we meet Japan's top flatlander. He is practicing in the park's large courtyard as he does everyday. We talk for a while. He is leaving for a competition in Germany this week so we wish him well. At Denny's we order food and start the interview which will go on for well over two hours. Rie translates for us. It goes well as it is very conversational with long exhanges back and forth. The Japanese are into learning the philosophy of the brand, which I really like. Here in the states, it's hard to get a magazine to even consider that a brand might have a philosophy. Here it's just "what is the new model?". Post interview we say our goodbyes and ride back to our hotel where I crash out for an hour to try to shake a nasty headache I've been nursing all day. Jetlag and six hours of sleep a night start catching up and the ground feels like it is moving up and down quite a bit...but it really isn't. -Kid Posted by Salsa Kid : 2:15 PM 0 comments
Friday, June 17, 2005
KURASHIKI SINGLETRACK Oda-san met us in the morning to take us to Farm, but first a stop at his new shop location which he will move to soon. The new space is very nice. Big windows and a prime main street Kurashiki location, plus a five car parking lot which is very valuable real estate in Japan.  Rie has told us that Farm is a high-end enthusiast bike shop, and when we get there we see that she isn't kidding. Three mint condition Mantis frames including a Pro-Floater, a Mountain Goat Whiskeytown Racer, and an original WTB Phoenix are just some of the exotic historic masterpieces waiting for sale. Jason and my eyes are bugging out at the goodies in this shop. Peter says that it will only get better as we continue to visit shops. We unpack our bikes and hit the road. Oda-san takes us into the countryside along a river to a Buddhist temple.  After looking around we ride on. The breeze feels good on the hot summer day. We stop at a large bronze statue of a samurai crossing a river on horseback. I think they were some very tough men. Heading back into town we hit some Kurashiki riverside singletrack from time to time. It is a very nice luxury getting to spend tis time on a bike in a small town in a distant land.  Back at the shop we pack our bikes in the hot sun and then get a lunch of sushi before heading to the train. We have two trains tonight to take us to Nagoya.  NAGOYA CHICKEN WINGS Arriving in Nagoya there is no rest for the wicked. We immediately set out for two shop visits with our driver Fukaya-san. He is a top level elite racer in Japan. We hope he will be a Salsa sponsored rider soon. He gives us open and honest feedback which is fantastic. Our first stop is Kato Cycles, a historic third generation shop that is a veritable cycling museum. The inventory in this shop is mind boggling. Jason and I have never seen anything like it. It is all here...old and new. I could spend hours here just looking. It is incredible. As we leave I ask the owner if I can take a picture with him and he graciously obliges, and then goes back to fixing a flat on an electric bike. I believe he is probably as passionate a cyclist as I will ever meet.  Fukay-san drives like a racer so I'm pretty sure he is fast on a bike! He speeds, bobs, and weaves us to our next shop, Quest. There we walk in on a Salsa Moto Rapido purchase! They swear it was not set up in advance and it makes us feel really good to meet the new owner. Yokoi-san is the shop owner. He is a friendly and charismatic man who keeps a messy shop but is very successful with his small two person operation. Rie tells us that he sets aside his Sunday mornings to take his new bike customers on a one on one ride as a way of saying thanks and introducing them to riding routes. I think it is a very smart simple strategy. Following our time at Quest we go to meet the staff of our Japanese distributor at a resteraunt downtown. The speciality of this place is chicken wings. I was skeptical but once I dig in and taste that chicken wing goodness I can't stop eating. Mmmm, mmmmm, good! The staff are waiting for us and we walk in to an evening full of eating, drinking, and conversation. They are all very nice and also cycling enthusiasts. It is a priviledge to meet them and renew our relationship. I think Rie has developed a very good staff.    The night goes very late and after too many drinks we finally go to bed. -Kid Posted by Salsa Kid : 1:00 AM 0 comments
I crashed out at 11pm and didn't do too bad for sleep. Woke up at 2am, 3am, 4am, back to sleep at 4:20, awake at 5am...you get the picture. The hotel is storing our bike boxes and extra luggage which is pretty cool of them. We catch a train to downtown Tokyo where we pick up our rail passes that we will use for getting around for the week. We can take our bikes on the trains here but we have to play fair and shrink them down as much as possible, and then wrap them in a giant plastic bag. In my case that means removing both wheels and pedals, then toe-strapping my wheels to the frame, putting it all into a giant sandwich bag, and tying it down with rope. I expect we will be pro at packing/unpacking withing a day or two! KYOTO Our Japanese distributor Rie meets us on the train in Nagoya. She brings along a red bean paste and rice treat that the area is famous for. I'm used to the taste of red bean stuff as Koreans love it too, but the texture leaves something to be desired for Jason. When we arrive in Kyoto, it is only a short walk to KCTP - Kyoto Cycling Transporation Project, a local dealer. KCTP is a really cool shop space located above a bike rental shop. The rental business booms here because of its proximity to the train station. At the shop we meet up with Takeya-san, an ex-messenger, all-around good guy, and promoter of the Kyoto Loco messenger jamboree. Takeya has volunteered to be our guide for a whirlwind half day tour of Kyoto. We also meet Muga, the mechanic at KCTP. He is acclaimed as the best wrench in Kyoto.  Both of these guys are super fun genuine people. It always amazes me the quality of the people that share the love of bicycles. It is a truly uniting and unifying spirit at times. After hanging at the shop for a bit we hit the town. It's mine and Jason's first time riding in Japan. Here they drive on the "wrong" side of the road which only adds to the adventure. Takeya-san keeps a nice steady pace and we follow behind him, occaisionally getting pinched by a bus or car. The drivers here are very courteous though. I'm amazed that horns aren't blaring at us and that they hold back before accelerating when times are tight. Eventually we slip off the main streets and ride back alleys on a long gradual rise.  We arrive at Ryoanji Temple, perhaps the most famous Zen garden in the world. It is a beautiful place, but very crowded. Tourism and the spirit of Zen are not always reconcileable I fear. The temple's most recognizeable feature is a rock garden of stone and white sand. Within the garden are 15 rocks, but from any one vantage point you cannot see them all. Rie tells us, "You can only see them all if you look within yourself". It would be a nice place to sit, relax, and contemplate but the crowds drive us on.  Takeya-san takes us to a smaller lesser known garden. It is truly beautiful. A bamboo forest slowly waves and makes knocking noises in the breeze. The mossy ground shows no footprint. We remove our shoes and walk through the tatami floored rooms in the old home that graces this land. Donning slippers we walk the stone foot steps lying in the garden. Then we sit and relax for a few precious moments in this lovely place.   We have a train to catch and can't enjoy this place long enough, so we pedal back to the shop stopping on the way for some beer and snacks. At the shop we toast the Kyoto messenger toast "Fortuna!", the god of risk takers and gamblers. We then repack our bikes and bags and walk to catch the train to Kurashiki. TO KURASHIKI! Two trains later we arrive in Kurashiki. There we are met by Oda-san, owner of Farm Bicycle Shop. Oda-san is kind enough to pick us up at the train depot with his shop vehicle. His wife and he take us to the Japanese style inn we will stay at and after dropping off our baggage we head to dinner with them, down a maze of alleyways. It is a traditional style Japanese barbeque. For lack of a better description, it is a feast of assorted shishkabobs. Oh so tasty, especially considering our lunch of beer in Kyoto. Everything at the meal is fantastic, except I am not entirely excited about the cartiledge kabob. No lie...cartiledge. It wasn't that the flavor was bad, just that the texture was...let's say crunchy. Crunchy like a somewhat maleable bone. I've had enough knee cartiledge taken out of me that I thought I could put a little back in, so I ate one of my four cartilege pieces. Just one though.  A nice evening walk through Kurashiki took us back to our hotel at 11am. JASON, PETER, AND MIKE HIT THE BATH HOUSE Thankfully, there are no photos to go with this section of the story, but we did head downstairs to make use of the inn's traditional Japanese bath. Wash well in a seperate room and then soak in a large, very hot, stone tub. All jokes aside, it was a great way to end our first, very long day in Japan. Back in the room our futons had been laid out by the staff and we all hit the sack. -Kid Posted by Salsa Kid : 12:22 AM 0 comments
Thursday, June 16, 2005
Hola. Konichiwa. Greetings. Jason, Peter, and I made it back from Japan on Sunday and after a day taking care of some yardwork, going for a short ride, and hanging with the family, it is time to get back to business. What follows is a blow by blow account of the trip to Japan and all that happened there. But first, a round of thank you's is in order. First and foremost, thank you to Rie for her hardwork setting up meetings, interviews, and dinners for us. While we did do a lot of work while we were there, it was great traveling with her because she taught us so very much about the Japanese people and culture. When we weren't working, we were learning and that is a fantastic combination! Also, thanks are in order for all the people we met, from shop owners, wrenches, writers, and photographers. You were all very kind to spend your time with us and we had a great time talking and visiting with you. Day 1 - June 3rd and 4th - MINNEAPOLIS TO TOKYO We left Minneapolis at 3pm on Friday. No problems on the flight unless you consider bumping elbows and shoulders with strangers confined to tiny airplane seats a problem. The guy next to me was going back to China for the first time in many, many years to see his parents, friends, and family. He was a very nice guy who is going to be shocked by the massive change that his homeland has seen during the years he has been away. We arrive at Narita International Airport at 5pm on Saturday the 4th and the pass through customs goes smoothly. I remember as a kid that custom's would always be opening up luggage but I think so much stuff is available throughout the world now that they are looking for drugs and so forth, and not so much for items destined for the black market. We exchange dollars for yen at the airport and then hop a bus bound for Shinjuku, a section of Tokyo. The bus trip is slow as a thundershower and bad traffic bring the bus to a crawl. It would be a bummer except that we are all no crashed out as the jet lag is hitting us. As a bonus, the bus alternated between being too cold and too hot adding to that "really fresh" feeling we are all sporting. At 8pm we arrive at the Shinjuku Prince Hotel after carrying our luggage and bike boxes a few blocks through the crowded streets. I'm sure we made quite a sight! After checking in and splashing a little water on our faces we headed out to grab some supper. The Shinjuku area is bustling with nightlife. Young people flock the streets. Peter says a lot of them will be out partying till 5am and then catch the first train home in the morning. Peter picks an undergound dive for dinner and we order three different dishes, one of which is cooked at our table...a sort of seafood, rice glutin, and vegetable mix that thickens up as it is cooked. We also have a thick vegetable pancake type thing and a sobe noodle omelet. All are quite tasty and combined with the beer get us ready to crash out for the night. Jet lag is creeping up on us once again so we head back to our rooms to prep for tomorrow. We've got bikes to build and clothes to pack for a two-day side trip to Kyoto and then Kurashiki, where we'll visit Salsa dealers and do some bike-mounted sightseeing...the best kind of sightseeing there is!  -Kid Posted by Salsa Kid : 1:49 AM 0 comments
Tuesday, June 14, 2005
After the race Chuck, his lovely fiance Stacia, myself, Salsa/Superteam rider Banning and junior racer Eli along with an assorted pack of Velo Bella girls rode the 40 miles home from Stillwater. Aside from a little sunburn and getting mixed up with the MS150 riders it was a great day. Well, a great ride for us but not for that poor Josh character who tucked into our draft. He didn't notice the MS150 riders had turned and we didn't notice he was with the ride until 7 miles later. At least we got him sorted out before we hit downtown St. Paul and he was hopelessly lost. Miker and Butcher got back from Japan yesterday and as soon as their bodies figure out what timezone they're in we'll put up a report and pictures for you. Get out and ride if it isn't raining where you are! -Pierce Posted by Pierce : 11:43 AM 0 comments
Thursday, June 09, 2005
It's always fun having the girls in town and getting the chance to watch the best riders in the country compete in our frontyard. Tomorrow is the downtown Minneapolis Criterium and Chuck, Bobby, myself, and a crew of miscreants will be cheering 'em on from the corners. If you're in Minneapolis, come on down to Brit's Pub on Nicollet Mall for a prime seat to watch the race. Fish and Chips, Newcastle on tap, lawn bowling on the roof, and an 8-corner crit. Can't be beat. -Pierce Posted by Pierce : 1:12 PM 0 comments
Thursday, June 02, 2005
Jason, Peter, and myself head to Japan tomorrow to visit our fine distributor there, do some shop visits, and meet with some Japanese bicycle magazines. I will be a lot of fun and I'm looking forward to riding bikes in another land, eating sushi and sashimi, and sipping on a little saki when opportunity presents! And yes, there will be karaoke! I'm looking forward to that too! A little Springsteen and Mellencamp in the Land of the Rising Sun perhaps? I am unsure if I will be able to blog while on the trip but I'm hoping that it is possible. Tuxedo Shopping One last fun bit before I take off. Last night was tuxedo decision and measurement night. Jordan had been pretty amped up for it.  Gentlemen, watch yourselves now because I believe he is destined to be a bruiser! Hopefully a gentle giant of sorts.  Ladies, he's only 8-1/2 years-old so you probably can't afford to wait that long unfortunately. He apologizes for any hearts he is currently breaking. So long folks for the time being. Anyonhikaesayoh. Adios. Sayonara. And all that good stuff. -Kid Posted by Salsa Kid : 12:36 PM 0 comments
Got a nice email and photo from Amigo Rick Studley the other day. The photo shows his Campeon at the Hogback Overlook, on Skyline Drive, in the Blue Ridge Mountains, Virginia. Rick says there is approximately 4,200 feet of total climbing to this point.  You definitely don't live in Minnesota Rick. Keep us informed of your season's century count. Cheers, Kid Posted by Salsa Kid : 9:20 AM 0 comments
Wednesday, June 01, 2005
If you happen to live in the Omaha area, stop by the Bike Rack if you want to see some our Salsa frames in the flesh. Apparently Bike Rack folks Brent, Kelly, and Troy are all on our frames currently so they can give you some straight talk about how they ride. They've been kind enough to start a Salsa shrine on their sales floor.  Thanks Omaha Crew. Rubber side down. -Kid Posted by Salsa Kid : 6:00 PM 0 comments |
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