There's nothing I love more than riding bikes in the sunshine.
That's not necessarily a true statement, except for the sake of this story it is.
There's nothing I love more than riding bikes, and sunshine.
If you don't like the weather, wait five minutes.
That's a saying that we have in the Pacific Northwest.
If you don't like riding in the rain, move somewhere else, like Boulder, Colorado.
They have a saying there too, it goes;
if you don't like riding in the sunshine you shouldn't have moved to Boulder.
Sorry, I've been reading Mark Leidner's Beauty Was The Case That They Gave Us. I'm not the worlds biggest fan of poetry, per se, but that is some damn good stuff.
On the brightest, sunniest day that the world has ever known, we met up just outside of Boulder in a magical place called Red Rocks to shoot the Alchemy Bicycles Catalog. Myself and Simon Robins, had finished up with the USA Pro Cycling Challenge not a day before and were readying ourselves to head back to Portland when we answered the casting call for two male models. Ok, it might not have gone that way.
Milliman was in town shooting and he needed some pretty faces. All the pretty faces were gone to yoga class or helping with a granola non-profit or waylaid in some way climbing rocks or fixing bikes (except for Kristen Peterson - she was available). But, the point of this exercise was for the exercise, but also to test out a few of the new Alchemy Bicycle Co. bikes that Pete and Matt had readied for the occasion.
In any case we got to try out a few of their awesome bicycles and ride them up and down the hills around Red Rocks.
In any case, Alchemy are now up and running in their new Denver location. Perfectly suited to their nature and perfectly locating them for the upcoming NAMBLA (that's the North American Man BIKE Love Association - AKA - NAHBS) show at the end of next month. Is it next month already? Damn, if February isn't going to be exciting. They have won "best carbon bike" a few times at this show, and if this road bike (Arion) makes it onto the show floor it there will be no stopping them this year (although Argonaut is going to give them a run for their money). There have been mixed reactions to the "aero-ness" and big tubes associated with this bike. But, I will tell you this. Simon and I were absolutely drooling over this bike when given the chance to ride it.
However, with that being said, just my mention of these two awesome bike companies means that they'll probably get left out of the judging (sorry guys.)
Matt Simpson and Pete Smith are now running the show over at Alchemy in a surprising move, but only surprising for those who do not know these two. They are movers! They are shakers! They're both awesome and it reminds me of the same sentiment I had for my best friend in high school when, in another surprising move, he married my ex-girlfriend. Was I mad? Hell no! I was psyched that now I could see them both in one visit!
I, for one, cannot wait to see what these guys have cooked up.
Props to Kristen and Simon for being awesome models and Milliman for great shooting. These photos here are ones that I took with my little point and shoot Olympus. To see Chris Milliman's works of art check out the Alchemy Bicycle Co. site and keep an eye out for their catalog.
SIDE NOTE: if you ever have the chance to go see a band at this venue, make sure that you do this. If the band happens to be something like The Shins, make sure you do this but know that it would be better if it were someone with an...er....bigger sound.
