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.)

164: USGP — Day 2 (in pictures)

Start

Bacon

With Fries


Speed

Jones

Ira

Paul


Spectacles


Yak


Rock


& Roll


Work


Tree


Tonk


Red


TJ


Odd


Finish

157: An Introduction, and Drilled out Parts.

I'll wait seven minutes. Go watch the video titled Laatste Ronde Wereldbeker Koksijde. The last lap of this cross race got me pumped this afternoon. I even thought about bike racing for a few minutes. It hurt both my brain and my legs, but it looks like fun. (The above was from Cyclocross Middlekere last December.) Sterling is this weekend and I miss it, I really do miss it. It always seemed like one of the tougher races of the year. Maybe it was because I double flatted on the line two years ago?

Have done a little bit of riding over the break. Lots of coffee, lots of food, lots of friends, little bit of riding. Feels good and makes it so that you can eat more leftovers. Which, I do not care what anyone says, is the point of making tons of food. I made Mashed Potato Pancakes this morning. And I will do it again. You just watch.

Saw quite a bit of the Embrocation Cycling Journal Kit in the past few days as well. Thanks to everyone who sends over photos when you see guys out rocking it. It makes me happy.

Photo Dave Roth

One example of this would have to be this photo of Abby Jenkins. She is the newest racer to the Embrocation family and I have to say, for her second season (I think that is right) she has been Killllling it. A handful of top-tens in the Women's A races at the Cross Crusade this year. With a strong finish in the mud at Barton Park taking 7th, which put her at 9th in the overall. The best part, she is also really awesome and really really nice. Those are both requirements for the Racing squad. Niceness and Awesomeness. Have yet to figure out a proper measurement scale for the Awesome.

This second one, also by Official HUP United Team Director/Photographer Extraordinare Dave Roth is also great. But what is even more remarkable about it is, well one, that I am hiding in the background and two, that at this exact moment two photographers pushed the buttons on their cameras. That is me dressed as a green Bibendum - the Michelin man's real name "Bib" for short. Next to me in the red is one Mike Davis - PDX Cross Photographer and all around great guy. He shot the Oregon Manifest Contstructors Challenge Race and besides that rumor has it that he worked for the White House...

This Krugers race was pretty fun. Despite the beer spray in the face. Lots and lots of mud is always a good thing. But the light was pretty awesome there as well. Had some fun photographing Ira Ryan's Cross bike before the race. Solar flares I love you. You make things look so nice and pretty, unless you are in a Michael Bay film (like Transformers2 - so bad - so wrong) then dear Solar flare, you are overused and make me tired.

Three highlights here are this.

1) His Font. Pretty amazing and looks great when this big. If I were to get an Ira Ryan (a boy can dream can't he?) the logo would be displayed in this way. This is also similar to the one that Bill Strickland got on his bike, and we know that if there is anyone to try and imitate these days, it would be him.

2) FSA SL-K Brakes. New new new goodness. Test pilot.

3) This is how to lighten up your Rival brake levers. Sure, sure, it voids the warranty on these bad boys, but you wanted light, right? Things to note here are the distance between them (apparently Ira did this without a guide) and that he used a smaller gauge bit as he descended the lever. That, my friends is PRO. Maybe Ira should also give people lessons on how to PRO up their bikes (#1 Ride at the Front, always.)

This week/weekend though has been a whirlwhind tour of whipped potatos and leisurely paced rides, which I cannot argue with at this moment. But that is only because I am planning peak number 23 of the year to happen right around the time of Cyclocross Nationals. Wait, that is something like one peak every two weeks...

We shall see about that.

121: Dispatches

I'm sorry for the quality of the photo. It was taken with a phone. It makes me think of one of those old Sasquatch photos. Grainy, yet you know exactly what is going on there (man in a furry suit). Kidding, we all know that is real.

The New Embrocation Cycling Journal is here. And shipping. And looking amazing! Any of the back-orders that people have been waiting on. Well, they're going out the door today and tomorrow. Rather, they went out today and more of them will be going out tomorrow. You get the idea.

Yesterdays News Today!
Ira and Graeme have been in France lately for the CCC, otherwise known as the Cent Col Challenge. Initially I thought to myself. Well that sounds pretty friggin hard. I do not know if I could do that. How would Ira be able to train for something like this? Would he up his mileage? Start sleeping on the cold hard floor of his new house? Smash his knees and elbows into oblivion in preparation for the shattering climbs? What indeed would he do?

I went on a ride with him once before he left. We got to mile 45 and were so loopy climbing up through the trees that he mentioned "maybe the tree's have got it all figured out, we (humans) just keep racing around trying to get away from everything and they just stay rooted (pun intended) to the ground. Looking, watching (judging-bastards)." We had a good laugh and then continued on our merry way.

Then I reminded him that in a few short weeks he would be doing ten climbs a day that were ten times harder than what we were doing currently. He got that stone-faced look on and started plugging away at the miles. Jeesus, sorry.

Then, today, I get this in my inbox with the attached message.

Hey Jeremy, Ira asked me to send these your way, here he's sporting Embro socks on the Col de Madeleine, and below are my legs all-'Belgique' if you will at the end of the ride. filth and waffles. We're having a whale of a time here, wish you were here -a bien tot mon amies, Graeme


This is what I get? I try to help you train for the big miles. The largest hills that you've ever faced, and I'm left to wonder "are they even riding anything at all?" They could be just puttering around for all I know, from Waffle stand to Waffle stand. Eating tasty Belgian treats and slatering goo all over their legs. Graeme! Ira! this is not what we trained for. Back to work.

Ira, I like your socks. But something tells me we might have something new coming along in the next couple of weeks.

Rapha's response to this has been equally astonishing. Here these gentlemen are pouring out their hearts (stomachs) and souls (again, stomachs) and all our counterparts can do is make a mockery of their trials and tribulations by making it into some kind of a joke. (Actually I'm rather liking the editing of the videos - and Joe - have you been losing weight?) Feel free to get back to me whenever you wish on that one, because I'm sure you haven't been sleeping after that little bout with espresso.





More after the jump...

092: Yakima

Now, I know what this looks like...that I claim something like "hey, Hott Sam, you're such a male model" and then the following post are about being a model. But damn if this life isn't hard.

I spent the day helping out some pals over at Yakima Racks get a few photos together for their new catalog, or website, or really whatever they're looking to use some great looking photos of great looking people...

This isn't easy though. Let me tell you. I'll break it down for you a little bit, but some of the highlights were this...

-getting up at 5am.
-the coffee shop where we were designated to meet not opening till 7. Not good.
-getting to hang out with Ira Ryan all day (this really was fun he has rhinestone sunglasses). Not only can this cat ride bikes really hard (on gravel, dirt or pavement) but he is also really fun to hang out with. We swapped some travel stories as well. Check out his photos on Flickr. There are even him rocking an embrocation kit on there...


-drooling on myself during the car ride to location.
-picking up a 47 pound mountain bike 48 times and pretending to put it on a rack.
-seeing Hood River, Oregon.
-making new friends.

-having coffee no less than 14 times in one day. Greg Johnson started this coffee shop by the way. Ground.
-spider bites and twitter responses.
-riding out of town with Greg Johnson. This is what I love about these trips. He didn't know that we were going to be in town, but all he needed was a 45 minute prep time and we were out riding on gravel roads around Hood River.
-driving down the road with bikes on the "rack" and hearing that its only a "prototype" and hopefully it still works well. that's cool. Ira made his, he can make another.


-male models.
-riding with Ira, Greg, and Jeff.
-GU Chompers. These things make Shot Blocks taste like Hay Bales.


-alpacas. I tried to get this one to spit on me. I asked it nicely. I got as close as I could. It didn't happen, but in the end I just had to be satisfied with this photo of Al and Mt. Hood in the background. I'm ok with it.

-when you're building a campfire and you see a nice little note that the good people at the hardware store put on their logs that they're selling.


I have to say. This stuff was extremely different from the Rapha Continental shooting that I've done in the last couple of years. But I did get to see a little bit of a town I've never seen before. I also got to see Mt. Hood a little closer than I have before. Which made me go "holy shit that is amazing" about thirty times...

So, I leave you with this...

027: Chop Chop, Open Shop

Ira's shop opening the other night was a pretty raucous event. His workshop, which is located below a bike shop in the prestigious area of Portland known as St. Johns, was the perfect place for such a gathering. People milled about seemingly comfortable in an environment filled with machines large and small. Into this quaint shop were jammed a veritable who's who of Portland, Oregon...such as:

18- Chris King Employees (seriously these people are everywhere). One of these informed me that she doesn't like going to the movies. A generalization I know, but I don't ask for these confessions, they just happen. I informed her that Conan the Barbarian is playing at the $3 Larelherst Cinema. That should change her mind.


1- 8 year old guy that not only informed me his pant pockets had been filled with 5lbs of sand earlier in the day, but also that if he starred in "Drunk Wars" which is the Drunk version of Star Wars, he would play Obi-Drunk Kenobi. Where did he come up with that? He must have some sort of twisted parent or something? (Notice I said Parent.)

12 - Bottle Caps that allow you to play Rock Paper Scissors, or "Roshambo" if you're into the whole brevity thing. Isn't Portland wacky?


1 - Henry James Jig.

0 - These guys were there too, and it was a straight up Midwestern love fest since they're originally from the Wisco as well.

23 - Amazing Cycling posters.
Tscmil, DeVlaeminck, Chippo, Merckx to name a few.


2- A Magazine Publisher.


46 - people wearing Free PVB t-shirts. I could only snap one though, the devilish D. Roth. Someone asked Dave what this "PVB" stood for and he rattled off a description of mythic proportions...I believe the phrases "at every race on the east coast," and "everyone know's The Pvb" were used. Epic.*
*Its at these moments, as a friend, that you get to kind of step back and smile. And no, I didn't tell anyone about the "crashing" incident.

1 - Of my favorite photographers. Dan Sharp Was spotted chatting with my new favorite businessman, the owner of Ampersand Vintage and the root of the ephemera craze. At least in my mind anyway.

The piles of bikes outside the shop warmed my heart as it sounds like the weather in good ol Boston hasn't made for the best cycling these days...that is unless you've got a Pink-Panda Equipped, Studded-Tire Snow Eating Fixed Gear Bicycle. Watch out for that shit will roll straight up and over you. Guaranteed.

Stay gold Boston. I still think of you often.