These updates are getting pathetic!

I have so much to write about and so little time or energy to put into it.

Really exciting changes coming up in the next few weeks.

Already scheduling the 09 cx season.

Below are my scattered thoughts from the last couple weeks:

– a fortnight ago:

Big week on the bike for me. I’ll be stoked if I fit in 20 hours. Windy, windy rides all week and finally a little sun today!

This one is for you Heidi. Flexing in the sun in Canby. I hope you were able to get out and do a big ride this weekend!

The sun makes me crazy! Felt great to ride with friends today.

- last week:

Sprayed by a skunk on my VTT ride in Forest Park yesterday. It fully got me!

Possibly the worst/funniest thing ever to happen while riding.

Found a new, legal and fun little single track section and I passed what I assumed was the biggest cat I had ever seen. What I thought was a hiss was in fact, the spray hitting my bike. Now, I have stunk up the Veloshop. My shoes are toast, my bike will not stop smelling after 4 thorough scrubbings and washes. My kit is still a little skunky after a few washes. i may have to throw it out.

Hilarious. Joel and I were on opposite ends of the critter while it was hissing and stressing out. Lunging towards us and in between us, it did not want to ditch the trail for the forest and Joel had to bushwhack out and around it. The whole time we are yelling and barking at it, tossing logs and sticks at it trying to get it to clear out.

I almost had to throw up by the time we got back home.

-

I’ve got good gossip and rumors but. It will have to wait.

There is so much momentum in my business right now!

Bring on the sunny weather!

The North American Handbuilt Bicycle Show starts next Friday.

The party begins this Thursday evening with the Teams of Portland show. The directions from the Veloshop are here.

Saturday the NAHBBS opens to the public and I know of 2 exciting after party events for those interested:

Want to see more?

Rapha is hosting roller races on Saturday evening after the NAHBBS, 8pm a few blocks away from the Veloshop. It is going to be hilarious. The Veloshop has a few 3 person teams attending.

There is also a BikePortland.org after party being thrown Saturday evening. AKA: Pints, prizes and a benefit!

Pretty much every bike industry person I know is going to be in Portland for this event. Or at least, all of the “good” bike industry people I know are going to be in town for this event.

I expect the NAHBBS show to blow interbike away. (at least, for me. Plenty of DBs in the world but, the bike folks that care and understand how special and important artisan and handbuilt cycling products are will be in attendance. And those are the people I am excited about.)

I think there are at least 5 new framebuilders in Portland that started up within the last year. I think 3 new bike shops too. There is a reason so much good shit comes out of Portland and the events surrounding the NAHBBS will allow you a glimpse why.

Hoping that it is pouring rain and sleet all next week. That will keep the delicate balance in check. You’ve got to be hard to ride in this shit everyday. We want to you to come to Portland but have no illusions:

10 months of the year. full fenders.

I’m sitting here at 5am on Thursday morning, tubular glue all over my clothes. The Veloshop was busy as hell all week and I did not get a chance to setup my race bikes until the night before my flight. Which, because you asked, is also the season premiere of LOST. (A TV show that Brian Ellin and I have become absurdly fascinated with. I tricked Pete into falling in love with the show by sticking a bunch of episodes on her new Ipod.)

The Vanilla team has some exciting new sponsors this year:

Stumptown coffee roasters
Zipp Speed Weaponry
Chris King precision componentry

And that means I had a new King/Zipp wheel set to get built and glued up this week! We got some new uniform stuff and Sacha got us some hot new helmets too. So, I am slammed all week, barely training and hardly getting anything accomplished at the Veloshop.

Chuck has been an amazing asset by the way, if anyone goes by the shop and I am not there, buy him a snack or coffee or lunch or a beer or something! Lots of people do not actually realize how small my shop really is. It is me. And Chuck. Mostly me. That’s it. There is no back up or service dept. I’ve got no bookkeepers or sales staff. I also have no cash either so, I apologize in advance for likely not having everything you want in stock.

I never found a second to get my race bikes built and packed before last night and I am literally running around last minute, de-building and rebuilding my pit bike, putting layers of glue onto the new Zipp wheels I just laced up, realizing that I forgot my valve extenders, stopping by Vanilla really late to pick up some gear, give Sacha a hug, swing by the Laughing Planet, grab a burrito, speed over to Pete’s (who is hosting an America’s next top model/LOST viewing party) haul all my gear into the house setup a truing stand, put more glue on my rims, deal with the sealant, eat dinner, realize everything I have forgotten, do last minute laundry and find some sleep before the alarm goes off.

Boston.

Adam Hodges Myerson is an hour late picking me up from the airport. I put my bikes together while I am waiting and realise I did a crap glue job on the front…

Dinner at the Buddist delight restaurant, race gossip. Smack talk. I’m sleepy and it is not even 9 o clock Portland time.

Just got the new Raleigh 2007 catalog in the mail and spotted this on the cyclocross page:

Photo courtesy Jonathan Maus or bikeportland.org!

Oh yeah, right now:

Justin Timberlake
Paris Hilton

And yes, the new Janet Jackson is solid.

…who rode my carbon tubulars to get a soy mocha. Thats right. At least I’m not in spandex.

I’ve been on a roll the last 2 months. A quick re cap would look something like:

Celebrated my 30th birthday on August 28th. My dad called and heckled me, my mom sent me a couple boxes of presents and old photos of me as a kid. Yep. Picture me in G.I. Joe pajamas holding up G.I. Joe figures, plastic machine guns, Star Wars posters on my wall. I was a military brat, did you know that? Lived on Air Force bases till I was 14.

Pete gave me the most excellent few days of birthday celebration. Took me out to get a spa/pedicure in Northwest. It was amazing. We each got a special rhinestone glued to our toenails. I want a pedicure every week. Pete kicked my ass with b day surprises, it floored me.

I took Tony, Brian, Steven, and Markwelder out to Sushi that day and they ended up paying. It ruled.

I had the most enjoyable birthday ever. I don’t really celebrate holidays and birthdays and stuff. So the fun factor caught me off guard.

I’ve been throwing myself into training and work. Been putting in consistent midnight work hours, getting lots of cross projects together and finished. The Veloshop has made a giant leap forward in the last year. I’ve got a solid mechanic and thinking about hiring another part time person for the fall when I’m travelling and racing.

We tore the shop apart Labor day weekend and I built another workbench and framed out part of a wall to put up some more pegboard. I’m going to move my Phil Wood spoke cutting machine up to the front of the shop so that when people walk in the shop they can say: “Wow! You’ve got a Phil Wood spoke cutting machine?!”

Damn straight I do.

I’ve been skipping lots of races and just training for cross, been doing lots of running and trying to work on my weak areas. I feel like a clown with my dismounting, I’m still losing too much momentum in the transfer and that is something huge I want to work out.

We have started doing a Tuesday morning Veloshop cross practice. It has a pretty huge run up in it and after the 3rd or 4th time up it, you are really hurting. The fall schedule is coming together, I have almost all of my flights booked and after the last Cross Crusade race and the USGP finals here in Portland there is nothing on my schedule until the 2nd week in December. There is a World Cup race on Thanksgiving weekend and I thought it could be a good chance to fly over and check out Belgium.

But wait: “Molly, you are not World Cup fast.”

But, Brian Ellin did point out that the best way to get World Cup fast is to ride a World Cup.

Oh, yeah. Well, there are some other factors to consider. You have to ask USAcycling to let you race a WC. We will see how the legs are going after the first few weekends before I make any moves towards that.

The Vanilla team has some really exciting sponsorship stuff coming through this month. I mean, really exciting.

I spent the night last night at the Veloshop polishing the A cross bike and putting on all the Dura Ace stuff I just got from Shimano. Shunter pointed me to some sweet cleaner-polish and the bike is glowing. It is hands down, the nicest bike I am ever going to ride.

It is practical yet, excessive.

I have to laugh at myself, racing on such a sweet whip. I really don’t think I have the talent to deserve all the bells and whistles I’ve got.

Ouch, late to work…

By the way, my main email and the Veloshop.org website is down right now.

It is damn annoying.

Dealing with an apparently slow to react domain name provider.

What the shit?!

This is the digital age, I should not have to wait a few days to get an email response right?

You can reach me, for now, at veloshop@gmail.com