Host Our Coast Contest: Blog Submission

Host Our Coast is looking for both a video and a sample blog. So, here's the blog to tell the rest of the story of the 3rd Annual North American Handmade Bike Show:

Bikes on the roof, wheels in the backseat, and another I-64 traffic jam in front of us. We're usually impatiently waiting to ride when stuck on the highway, but today we had hit the road to look at bikes. From Ontario to Delmarva, almost 7,000 cyclists headed to Richmond, Virginia for the 3rd Annual North American Handmade Bike Show, held February 25-28. When the show started in Portland, Oregon two years ago there were just 700 tickets sold.

Like music, bicycles have become both a commodity and an art form. Taiwanese mountain bikes are churned out almost as fast as teeny-bop MP3s, and have just as brief a lifespan. “Real” bikes, like real music, are a labor of love, crafted with patience and attention to detail by artists, treasured and shared by often-fanatic followers. With a punk rock, D.I.Y. ethos, bike builders start tinkering in garages. Many labor on in obscurity, a few make a living at it, and only rarely do any gain fame. For every Gary Fisher or Alex Moulton (near-household names on their respective sides of the Atlantic), there are dozens of lesser-known, but equally gifted, master builders.

The hallway outside echoed with the tick-tick-tick of freewheel hubs as cyclists pushed their bikes to the indoor valet parking. Inside, a humdrum convention hall had been invaded by a caravan of callused hippies and their temporary emerald city of chrome and pedals. A minimalist bike of mercury and silver glowed under tracklighting—two wheels, two pedals, a handlebar and a seat on the sleakest of metal frames. No brakes, no gears, no handlebar tape, no bells, no whistles. A track-inspired "fixie," or fixed-gear bicycle: without a freewheel, the pedals and rear wheel are chained together, and the cyclist's legs become the brakes.

Bilenky Cycle Works out of Philadelphia was awarded “Best road frame” in the show. Owner Stephen Bilenky brought his staff along with nearly all the tools, fixtures and dust from their shop- a dozen unfinished frames lined the back wall of their “display booth” above a workbench, invoices hung on clipboards beneath a decades-old clock. Potential patrons lingered around single and tandem bikes, pointing to details, talking and dreaming of riding.
Just down the aisle was the legendary Craig Calfee, a bike messenger turned bike builder. In the Nineties he was on the forefront of carbon fiber bikes, and now in the 21st Century he is a pioneer and prophet of bamboo bikes. A three-seater road bike with bamboo tubes as thick as oil cans stood next a “traditional” carbon fiber road bike.

In years to come, the third annual North American Handmade Bike Show may become our generation's cycling Woodstock: many who were never there will nonetheless say they were for the significance of it: Rock 'n' roll is here to stay, and so are handmade bikes. All you need is three gears and the truth, the rest is up to you.

Host Our Coast Contest!

I need your vote to Host Our Coast! I'm one of 34 journalists vying to get a 3 month gig covering ecotourism on the Delmarva Peninsula...Vote and video views drive the selection process. Check me out, and the competition, too.

Big thanks go out to the Hebners for being such great hosts and keeping an eye on Abby while Liz & I chased after a story.

Forward, the Light Broom Brigade!

Alley Cat Bike Ride, this Sunday afternoon, 3pm.
Pass it on!

Half a league, half a league,
Half a league onward,
All across the bridge of Death
Rode the street sweepers.
'Forward, the Light Broom Brigade!
Charge for the glass!’ he said:
Across the bridge of Death
Rode the street sweepers.
(with apologies to Alfred Lord Tennyson)

This Just In: Condos at Ipswich...

I've got a big old can of I-told-you-so to open up...The City of Chesapeake is reviewing plans for "Southern Ridge," a 216-unit condominium development on 18 acres of land that abuts Indian River Park.

For the better part of two decades local citizens have developed bike trails and dirt jumps on this parcel of land. It's a shame that it wasn't incorporated into Indian River Park from the start.

So here's the $64,000 question: what's that land worth, and what's it gonna take for cyclists in Southside Hampton Roads to preserve the only singletrack park left?

First Blog of the New Year

I've been struggling to blog efficiently with my new Palm Pre- thumb-typing through a mobile-unfriendly website isn't the most productive or rewarding use of my time. (Hyperlinks are a horror.) And I haven't carved out a new time to sit with a laptop or desktop to type & blog.

I have, however, become a satisfied user of FaceBook Mobile: I can shoot a picture on my Palm Pre smartphone, email it to FaceBook, and it's automatically posted to my mobile upload album. I no longer have to download pix from a camera, process them through Lightroom, export, upload & publish them. My FaceBook Mobile Upload album has become a photo journal.

I've been subscribing to the Photojojo for at least a year now, inspired by new techniques & equipment. In no small measure, Photojojo has fueled my love affair with the LensBaby. So I was stoked when I received the latest email newsletter with a link to my favorite philosopher of photographer, Roland Barthes:

" A photograph is always invisible, it is not it that we see."


You're not looking at the pixels or silver crystals or toner dots.
You contemplate the message, not the messenger.
We watch what's on TV, not the television set itself.

Solstice Sunride: Come On Down!

If at first you don't succeed...try something different...

I want to submit an entry to the 2010 Bicycle Film Festival (my 2008 entry wasn't selected...c'est la vie). I've wanted to "observe" the Winter Solstice for some time now. And, I'm fascinated with Norfolk's emerging bike culture. So I mashed up all three and present...

Solstice Sunride:
A Cycling Community Documentary & Happening

On Winter Solstice, next Monday, December 21st, I will be shooting a film at Norfolk's Plum Point Park, on the Elizabeth River Trail in West Ghent, overlooking the riverscape. I will be setting up at least one timelapse camera to record the sunrise, transit & sunset on the shortest day of the year. And, I will also be making portraits and recording interviews with Norfolk cyclists during daylight at Plum Point Park.

So ride out before work, after school, or during your lunch hour. Pose for a picture, sip a warm cup of freshly mulled cider, watch the sun slip across the sky, and answer the question,

"Why do you ride?"

If you'd like to reserve a time between 7:15am and 4:45pm, drop me a note: friendwes_at_mac.com.

Now here's the really fun part...at 5:20pm we'll get on our bikes & ride from Plum Point Park: I'll be leading a mystery ride on a spontaneous route to an undisclosed location. Riders will be invited to participate in traditional solstice celebrations, including a yule log & warm grog.

Ipswich after the Nor'Easter: It Could be Worse...

As soon as the power came on & I was able to start up the sump pump, I headed out to Ipswich on Saturday to see what kind of storm damage there was...truth be told, it could've been a lot worse! There are more pix in my photobucket album.

I didn't ride every single trail- in fact I never made it across the power lines to the south side: I mostly stayed in the older-growth section on the north side. But after Hurricane Isabel Ipswich was much more torn up. There were a fair number of downed trees, but nothing too bad: I only found one large (12"+ trunk diameter) Swamp Maple that was blocking a significant length of the "Orange X" trail east of the Rokeby/Main trail head, and I was able to get that out of the way with about an hour of work. I added a couple of logs to the trail for a little variety.

There's also a fairly tall pine tree that's fallen across "Blunt Corner" (the clearing at the Rokeby/Main trailhead that's often littered with Philly blunt wrappers). I only brought hand tools, so I just left it where it was.

I also got some "traffic direction" work done. If I did my job right, the main trails will flow more smoothly, and no one will notice what's missing...

And for the record, the plywood shack southeast of Blunt Corner was built by stoners, not a homeless guy...

EVMA is moving forward on becomes an official sponsor of Indian River Park (the official name of "Ipswich"), and we're looking to have a park clean up on Saturday, January 9. More details will be forthcoming. The City is receptive to EVMA taking on more of the maintenance at Ipswich, and has even offered to provide supplies- who knows? maybe we'll get a ton of gravel!

On the way out to the car this afternoon, I met up with Tristan & Greg, who were about to take a ride and see what needed to be done. Thanks, guys, for coming out! I think I also saw Kev's Audiwagon, too...

While I was out there, I laid out some pink survey tape to mark where the bermed turns could use some attention: I'd love to see some 2 or 3 foot berms on the "Orange X" trail south of the Rokeby/Main trailhead. There's the potential for some really nice S curves!