204: Spring is in the Air.

Is it possible to get too excited that Classics Season (something other folks like to call Springtime) is finally upon us? What is it that makes me want to pour over old photos and video looking for answers? Can VDB pull it off? The above piece was written by the esteemed (and nominee for Delaware Cycling Hall of Fame) writer Fat Marc Vanderbacon. Yes, and yes please.

Thanks Radio Freddy for giving us this brief — hands draped over the bars — lesson in Style.



But who can we speak to as this years equivalent? A punchy, flashy replacement for our recently downed hero? The younger Schleck? He needs a little bit of class yet...has too much of that scrubbed clean feel to him? Do you know what I am talking about here, or am I making this up?

Does anyone really care you are asking yourself? R. Freddy cares. I care. Which is also why there may be a reciept for some white overshoes and matching gloves sitting right next to me. (no I did not audition to play mickey mouse at a talent show.) Ok, sorry about this little tangent, I can hash these things out for myself up Otto Miller this Wednesday (12:30).

I know what is on everyone's mind these days: How can I get Tony Periera's autograph? I have a few ideas, but the one that I keep coming back to is to head over to Ampersand this coming Saturday and ask him yourself. And I will tell you this much, lets hush our voices for a minute lest someone overhear us. Ira was signing them at the NAHBS. You be the judge on this one.

Speaking of which. There are a lot of Portland representatives that made it into Volume 5. Tori Bortman runs Gracies Wrench out of the Vanilla Workshop these days and wrote a lovely piece about the building of some Edge Tubular wheels. Wheels that you could use for cross, but that you could also use for the Road if you so desired. Super Sexy Dan Sharp photos as well.

I on the other hand am going to be the judge on this one (I know, already too much italics). What if I said that you needed to WRITE to get me to hand over this SSCXWC bike?
It has Ultegra Tubeless Wheels on it. Twitter says so.

So, Myles, Kyle and I have officially talked about it, so I think that we can move forward with this manner. Submissions are now officially open for a the piece that will WIN this bike. The bike featured in the SSCXWC piece mentioned yesterday. I know you have yet to actually see the bike, but let me tell you - its awesome.

Now the question becomes this...What Do I Submit? And I can go ahead and walk you through it if you like, but that would probably defeat the purpose. What I can do is go ahead and give you a few of the early nommination ideas. Think outside the box here people, this is for you.

1. Photo Submission
Molly Cameron went ahead and nominated her mechanic Jake to do a piece (with photos) about what it is like to be a mechanic for her. I like his forrest photos, the ones of his van, and of course the Cyclocross Ones.

2. Sheer Stoke
Both Kyle (who is another judge, mind you and my main ideas man here) and Cory said something to the effect of "I would shred your face off for this bike."But we were listening to heavy metal and drinking heavily, so I am not entirely sure if that is how it actually went down.

3. Written Submission
Maybe you want to sit down and pen a memoir about how Cyclocross has changed your life? That is cool. I would be totally into that. As long as you can do it in less words than you think Hemmingway could, and get punched in the face twice while working on it. Then do that one. But, in all honesty. I do love me some written words.

4. Self Submission (easy tiger)
Molly nomminated herself as well. Not really sure how that is going to work out, but she said it would "be all about her." I guess the point here is if you can come to me and say "this is me, and this is why you should do a story about me AND give me an effing bike AND I am convinced by this (no physical violence please.) Then we will go with this one.

5. Visual Submission
Are you into the design arts? Maybe a Printmaker or Letterpress Agent (don't think that they are actually called that) and you think you have what it takes to help out with doing the Interstitials (Reflections, Distractions, Features) of the publication. That would be a pretty awesome barter.

So, there you go. A few ideas to get you moving. I am really open to anything at this point. The point of it is that I am hoping to print it in an upcoming volume of Embrocation Cycling Journal...so there is that as well.

203: Volume 5 Party - Celebration Funtimes.

Ampersand Vintage

---- 2916 NE Alberta Street, Suite B----
Saturday, March 20th
6 to 10PM
Raffle and Prizes.

Also mention, free beer & wine.

Pretty excited about this one. There have been a ton of people from the Portland area (and elsewhere too - DE, IL, MA, CA) that helped to make this issue possible, so I thought it might be a good time to pay tribute to them. Or at least the ones in the immediate area by buying everyone beer. That is ok right?

Raffle and Prizes:
This should be a good one. There will be raffle tickets available to everyone who purchases a copy of Embrocation from the shop. As well as raffle tickets give out to anyone who purchases anything at Ampersand (as long as it is over the price of an Embrocation). And then raffle tickets given out to anyone that can otherwise convince me that you should get some raffle tickets. I will tell you a little more about the prizes this week but I know that one of them will be a bottle of my favorite Whiskey. Plus I am hoping that I can just roam around my neighborhood and come up with some other cool prizes (a live chicken?).

I do know that one of the prizes is going to be pretty badass. Badass in a badass kind of way. I got one of the SSCXWC bikes to test out for a bit this past Cross Season and I thought that you should have it. Plus, Shimano chipped in with some really great Ultegra and PRO parts to help kit it out. Kyle Vonhoetzendorff did the interview with Matt and Dani and he and I have come up with a foolproof way of determining a clear winner for this bicycle. More on that later, but I will tell you that Kyle and I are going to be the judges on this one so start the wheels turning on how to solicite our attentions/votes.

Mark your calendar. It is going to be good.

Matthew Karre (who works at River City Bicycles) wrote this piece about James Selman. Both of these guys live in town here, so hopefully we can get them to come out and sign autographs. I bet that Matt and James would be autograph signing whirlwinds. To say the least.


Ira Ryan and Tony Periera's shops are featured in a little section titled Workshop. Dan Sharp shot the photos and there are a few essays included in this one by not only Ira and Tony, but also The Mix chef and writer Matthew Card. He does some writing about food here and there. The last little one that we did together was the Pasta selection over this way. In this one however he talks about knives. Fancy knives.

In any case. Keep an eye out here for the remainder of the week. I will give you a closer look into that of Ampersand which will hopefully reinforce your desire to check it out. Or make you really, really jealous that you will be unable to attend this coming weekend...

Also, there is something going on just down the street if you get bored here (you won't) it will involve the Veloforma/Corsa Concepts racing squad and a whole bunch of Carbon. Bikes, blades, boards, I am not even sure where the carbon begins and ends these days... (which makes me excited.)

129: Rapha Weekend, Oregon Manifest, and RGR

There is a lot going on this weekend. But take a look at Tony Pereira's Oregon Manifest bike above. That shit is crazy. Seriously. I want one now. I will be heading down to the show in a few short moments to check out what the other builders have in store, but luckily T stopped by to show it off a little earlier. Damn that shit is hot. See more of the photos over at the Rapha Blog.

So, there is that, but there is also the Oregon Manifest Constructors Challenge Race presented by Rapha that is going on this weekend. Oregon Manifest kicked off last night with the Artcrank show down at the Cleaners next to the Ace Hotel. As per usual I was trying to cover the show from my Twitter account.


Pal of Embrocation Mr. Steve Francisco is also in town. He is racing a Parlee Carbon Jammy-Jam that is rigged up with a custom HED rear wheel. As I am driving the SAG wagon I will be twitting away and trying to snap a few photos at the same time. This is going to be a good weekend. I am putting my money on either Steve or David Wilcox who came also came out from the East Coast to come in first in the 77 mile course that Slate Olson put together. Although Tony Pereira who descends like a MoFo (there is a nice little gravel descent.)

Igleheart will also be on hand to race his bike at the event and then cheer me on as I crush it (or get crushed?) at the first Cross Crusade race out at Alpenrose. He mentioned that if he wasn't too too drunk he might try and race the Igleheart that he brought for the show in the Cyclocross race.



When I say that there is too much going on to get it all out there I really mean it. Check out the Rapha Gentleman's Race Recap on the Rapha site. Carey and Dave Christenson stayed up until the wee hours of the morning last night getting this together. I like all the photos that were taken from the Teams Disposable Cameras. What a nice touch. Mr. Joe Staples and I alternated between taking photos and carry the little bugger around with us.

081: Eats

Tony Pereira put this up on his Flickr account today. Pretty awesome I have to say. Especially the card in the middle.

And now I'm starving, so thanks for that.