The Angry Owner Blog

We’re back from the cruise. It was fun. A big thanks to the Grandma and the family and to Kim for putting up with my shit. Here’s how it went down.
You know, I could bitch about flights, but I won’t. I still believe travel is a privilege and people need to be courteous and respectful when they travel. So we hop on our rescheduled non-nonstop flight and got right down to it when they said that they had Wisconsin’s finest.

Miami is a great town for cycling especially around the beach because everybody is looking for beach cruisers so when you break out your road bike or hybrid, you have plenty of room. I recommend staying in South Beach, at one of the art deco hotels. We stayed at the Majestic. It was great and they had a wonderful area for us to assemble/disassemble the bikes at since our room was very small. Hey, I”ll do a blog tomorrow on tips for travel bikes by the way.
The weather was nice and its always nice to drink beer in the sun.

So, we board the ship on Sunday, where they tell us no bikes and no booze - yeah right.
So, we pack up the bikes and put a 1/2 gallon of Clan McGregor, the cheapest of the cheap whiskey in the reserve bladder of the hydration pack. You bet it makes it in no sweat. And good thing too - they nickel and dime you to death on the cruise. Beers = $8, they even make a killing on the soda pop cards for the kids. But, that is how the staff there makes their money. America needs to wise up and treat hospitality staff more professionally - make it a real job like in Europe. This coming from a bicycle mechanic who even this week was asked, so do you do this for fun?
So on a cruise, you have a day or two where you are at sea, and unless you get out there at 7am, you aren’t going to get a chair to sunbathe, a spot in a hot tub or an treadmill in the gym. So, we sat in our room and drank our cheap swill and smoked cigars.
Tuesday put us in Haiti…or rather a private beach owned by the cruise line. I’ll be honest, I didn’t like being 1/4 mile from starving people. I wanted to steal milk from the ship, hop the fence and fucking feed those people. The dumb, fat americans who had to bring snacks from the ship to hold themselves over until the next mass feeding made me ill…then it was great seeing people haggle the street vendors down for knick nacks. I wanted to smack people and say, hey, if the price is $5, give em $10, they fucking starving you morons!
Jamaica is neat but you pretty much NEED to be on a bike or just hop in the first cab you see because the street people work a very intense hustle. They will walk with you and try and convince you to go visit Bob Marley’s museum or buy weed off of them.
Grand Cayman is really neat. We had the nicest weather there. Little weird riding on the left side of the road, but hey. Here is Kim next to our built up bikes. We stopped at a supermarket because my watch band broke.

Hey, I finally made it to Mexico. And let me tell you, Mexican food and margaritas do taste better in Mexico. We got to snorkel. Its funny, I’m so a ‘green circle’ snorkeler it cracked me up. two 1/2 hour sessions and I was done. The pros were out there all day. Even the 12 year olds. Oh well, it was fun.
Then another day at sea. By this time, kids are in their 3rd day of meltdowns, and all the free lemonade a kid can drink doesn’t help. Quarters by this time are getting tight and we’re starting to see adult meltdowns. This cruise was complete with a divorce at the bar on one of the nights.
Interesting comments on the cruise… The bars on the ship were never full, and the last night was the most full I saw them. Duty free rules as we brought back 2 1L bottles of Crown Royal for $35…which I’m enjoying very much right now. If I had more money I would have brought back 100 cigars. I don’t like how you have to tip everybody out on the cruise…from the stateroom attendant to the waiters. Its awkward - but thats how their world goes round -what can you do?
So, back in Miami and another day of riding and relaxation. We stumbled onto a Bubba Gump shrimp place (as in the Forest Gump movie theme). It was actually perfect. Outdoor seating, and my favorite thing is that the wait staff won’t bug you until you have the ‘run forest run’ sign on your table signaling that you need something. And the $5 beer and shot special was great.
Then, dear friends, back on the bird, ‘Line’s’ in hand, and a return to Utah, where there was not a lot of snow. Tomorrow, how to travel with your bike…after 15 years in the business, even I learned a ton.

Just in time to keep me from firing everybody and burning down the office/shop…its time for a vacation. Why else would I beup at 4 in the morning writing my blog?
We’ll be taking the travellers checks to the virgin islands. Not planning any double centuries.
Mostly shit like this…

and just in case that isn’t enough, here is the best halloween costume I”ve seen in my life…from our shop, Dave…

See you guys in December.

This is great. This is just super fucking great. I got this heads up from my man big jonny in AZ.
He sent me a link to CNN that explains how the CEO’s of the big 3 auto makers flew into Washington on their company private jets to ask the government for a bailout. Kiss my ass is all I can say. For years, I’ve been saying how dangerous and top heavy the entire state of Michigan is - and jesus, the auto industry put me through college and part of dental school. Auto workers make $75/hour, my mother, a teacher makes over $100,000 a year. Me, the rich dentist in Park City, make $24,000 a year…less than I made as a first year resident at the U hospital in Salt Lake. My bicycle service department roughly charges $1 a minute for service and my markup on parts is between 30 and 50%. How do you like that? Bailout you cockholsters? Fuck you. I hope you and your death machines burn in hell. I rode to work today with an ear to ear grin you fucking clowns.

I won’t bore you with the great ride today. Even warmer than yesterday.
Stevil sent this one in.

Yeah, thats what you get when you win a SSWC event….bitches.
Someone who will never win but that I love in a super gay way is Brian Rose, who sent this in from Homie Fall Fest 2008.

You can find BRose, and the Mpls Mafia doing shit like the Slick 50.

And on a ride like that you’ll find bicycles like this…

Had one of the best road rides in months. Cycling is fun and interesting because there is so much variety in cyclists. For example, after slugging around on my Travelers Check all summer and not really riding the road THAT much, I took out the shops Moots VaMoots with the recently installed Salsa Steel fork. Let me tell you friends, steel is real. Tipping the scale at 19 lbs (with campy record and a flite saddle) I could care less. a 50mm rake and I was bombing down descents with the most confidence I’ve had in years. 40mph felt like 15. So stable. Is this right for everybody…no…but that’s part of cycling…figuring it out. And guess what, maybe tomorrow it’ll change and I’ll want a 12 lb carbon bike.
Hey, people have been emailing and asking what I wear when I ride. Today, sunny and 45-50ish, base layer sock guy sleeveless, Surly wool short sleeve, Pearl Izumi bib tights, PI tights over (since I’m a pussy) the bib tights for extra wind protection. Sock guy wool socks, my normal road shoes, PI booties, Long sleeve jersey, Fox mid weight jacket. 661 cold weather gloves, headband with ear protection, helmet and last but not least, tons of style. All of these items can be purchased at the shop and we are just the kind of people to help you stay warm and look cool. Pic from today.

Well, the Surly Travellers Check is ready for the trip. I’m trying to avoid large shipping fees. How large? Let me tell you about the last bike I shipped. Its a racers bike going to HI for the Xterra race. So, I pack it up, accurately weigh and measure it and plug it into our shops UPS account. $160. Sounds fair I guess….gas is up, etc, so thats fine. Then, about 2 days later, I get a shipping adjustment. ANOTHER $180 is added to the cost. You bet the customer was less that excited by that additional charge. So, there you have it. Nothing against UPS - I actually love their service AND they have NEVER lost any shipment from my shop so we’ll just keep right on paying through the nose.
Just to piss you all off, I rode today and it was grand. Had to give the Surly a shakedown before it goes on vacation with me. MMMM, it was nice.
Hey, Single Speed Cyclocross World Champioships happened in Portland…a place I’ve never been - but have thought about going. The Mlps mafia and Team Evil were there. Thank God.
My favorite part of the report was seeing the bubble machine at the race. An excellent idea. It makes me just want to put one in the shop because it looks so fun.

We brought it home today. Well Kim rode it home today. The Surly Big Dummy. One of her very own. Then we took it to the liquor store and bought beer. mmmm. Pretty nice day for an urban ride. Trails are muddy, snow on the ground, but nice on the road. Might sneak out tomorrow morning if the snow holds off.

Not having a car is easy in the summer around here. But when you’ve got to make it to the shop in a blizzard, nothing but a bitchin’ On One with studded tires will do. You may think a rich bicycle shop owner like myself has 15 Moots’ and such. Nope, I ride a cheap ass bike and love every minute of it. I think the wheels are worth more than the frame…Do you like the nordic ski holder…bitches?

Bring on the winter, I’m ready.

That ‘new bicycle joy’ is back. We built up the Knolly Endorphin on Friday. Its a big trail bike.
Here it is in the storage unit waiting for the Saturday Crest Ride.

Big thanks to Dar and Leslie, my neighbors, who set up Spook Alley - the greatest neighborhood haunted house in the land…and thanks to those who stopped by there and here to say hi! It was fun, and made up for a day that was suppose to be easy, but ended up pretty hard.
So, it felt like Saturday would be the last crest day. And I think it was. Its raining right now.
Here is a picture from yesterday.

So, an excellent ride yesterday, and the Knolly was great. 69 deg headtube angle works for me. Pike up front was the bomb. Joplin seatpost was yummy. Everybody in the world should have a bike like this.

Big thanks to ChrisP and Tim for helping me do a ‘one day remodel of the shop/studio”. Its basically done. My office is now in the closet…which sounds funny. But really, I never used it.
We got the retail portion of the shop moved upstairs so now you have the whole studio on the same floor. Service/Repair is still ‘in the rear’ as it should be. Hey, thanks again Chris and Tim…You made a 3 day project into a single one. And I had time for a ride.
If you are in MN or anywhere near this weekend you should check out Homie Fest. Check out Hurl’s page here. Bookmark it.
And if you are in Park City on Friday, drink beer with me on Friday at 5…then do an easy night ride at 6:30…then drink beer at the No Name Saloon…then go to my neighbors “spook alley”. Yeah.