Training Log Archive: cedarcreek

Event: OCIN Seven Hills
 

Brown course at Seven Hills Park, near Milford, Ohio, set by Jim Benton.

Sloppy footing, lots of downfall, very cold feet. Kinda grueling. But a good day to be out. Wonderfully beautiful warm day. Spring-like. Ran in a t-shirt.

Time change is kicking my butt. Exhausted.

Went to Louisville Friday. Skipped the Mega-Cavern, and went straight to the North American Handmade Bike Show. I didn't know what to expect, but it was much different than I expected. You've probably seen the awesome photos of bikes from the show, but it's different when you see them in a boring, fluorescent-lit conference hall. They're at once much more mundane, but also more special. They're just bikes. But they're real, amazing, reachable bikes. You can see yourself on one.

You really have to get into it and pay attention to the bikes. There isn't a boring bike in the entire building. They're all special, but if you don't stop and look around, you could miss it.

I was most attracted to mountain bikes and fat bikes from Eriksen, Moots, and Moonmen. I saw that judges couldn't find a single weld defect on one bike from Eriksen. I saw a 4.8" tire fatbike by Moonmen made for riding in Michigan snow that struck me as a caricature of a fat bike. (Only because of the enormous tires.)

My biggest faux pas was when I got to an aisle without commercial logos and professional displays. It's an aisle for builders of single bikes and small framebuilders. The bikes here weren't always the most technically amazing or perfectly executed, but it was probably the most interesting aisle. My mistake was not understanding these weren't all established, professional frame builders. They were often pros, but had only build a few bikes. They were much more eccentric bicycles than the larger custom builders, and I loved that.

My favorite bike from the entire show was from the United Bicycle Institute (of Portland and Ashland Oregon). It was built for a 5-year old, and was so unexpected I really can't explain. Just perfectly executed with top-quality components all around. All the bikes here are partly ridiculous in a practical sense. You can get a usable bike pretty much anywhere for moderate cost. I can see someone spending way too much making a bike for themselves, or having a custom bike made, but this one is off the scale. It's so much a labor of love. The kid will outgrow this bike so fast. But I loved it. It's both a labor of love for a son, and for the love of bikes in general. I aspire to do something this wonderful for someone.

OCIN_Seven_Hills_Mar_2015_4 brown - Splits