Rainy Days...

With all the rain we've had lately, I thought I'd throw up the post about leaving the trails to dry for at 24hrs after a good rain.

And if you just have to head out for a ride, Pocahontas State Park (while they close the MTBike trails) offers about 30 miles of fire road that you can take your energy out on and still get in a lot of nature!

BoyScouts of Brady Sanders Camp need your help!

Hi all,

I'm looking to recrute several riders that would be interested in sharing some of their time and expertice with some Boy Scoots out on the trails on Sept 20th. These are kids that are looking for advanced riding skills, but there are some basic riding needs as well.

Here's the official request below - if interested please contact me via pm or email ASAP. I can't attend as I'm out of town but still would like to help. How's about some of you, Thanks!!
email is cycle ed @ earthlink . net.
Follow this topic on the forums...

One of our troop goals is to create some higher adventure activities for the older scouts whenever possible - and for this trip the boys were interested in seeing if they could get some guidance on advanced trail riding skills. We haven't determined yet what exactly that means, so any suggestions you have would be welcome....

Most have basic to intermediate mountain biking skills - so I believe they would be happy to have any instruction or tips that someone could provide to help them with more advanced skills and a guided ride or on-course type instruction would be ideal if something could be arranged.

Again any suggestions are welcome and we appreciate any involvement your group could provide. (Although our initial thought is the higher adventure focus - if there are individuals willing and available to do more basic instruction for the younger boys, they would be very welcome as well.)

We don't have final counts yet - but I can give some guesses;

For the advanced/venture type stuff - approx 5 - 8 (and maybe a few leaders)
For the younger ones, if that's an option - approx 12 - 20 - which can we easily break into smaller groups as needed.

For timeframes - we are completely flexible to work around whatever schedules you/your folks can provide (weather may also come into play, but of course we probably won't have line of sight to that until last minute).....And FYI - we are happy to provide meals if that helps with scheduling/planning, just let us know....

Thanks
Greg M

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Cycling Trivia

So I'm thinking of starting up a section on the blog called "Cycling Trivia" and the intent is to more or less share some incite to cycling as I learn more facts about the business side, laws, tips, tricks, etc.

So, now for some Cycling Triva:
Today I'm writing to give some information about the Giant Bicycle Company.

Why Giant you ask? This one is simple. There's not a day that goes by that I don't get from a customer, "Who is Giant?, I've never heard of them before."

And while I profess to not know about all brands, Giant is such a major brand that I thought to share some of my knowledge about Giant with eveyone.

First, Giant Bike Company is and always has been a Taiwanese based company and to them they are similar to what Cannondale is to the US.

In fact, they started out about 35 years ago (read 1972)and the company actually took about 5 years to get up and running. Unlike many other companies, Giant wanted to be different, they wanted to be in control of their company in every aspect.

So King Liu, founder of Giant bikes wasn't going to settle on anything less than making their own tubing and welding their own frames. Than the major hurtle was finding a way to get someone to place orders, in walks Schwinn bicycles.

After a few years, Schwinn was 75% of Giants main business before Schwinn decided to head to China for cheaper manufactured bikes leaving Giant holding the bag of a lot of frames/bikes and all while loosing a 3/4's of their business.

Determined not to fail, Giant simply renamed the frames/bikes and marketed them under the name Giant. Going door-to-door in the US, they found shops willing to sell Giants to compete with Schwinn and it's been retail for Giant since!

That said, Giant actually makes many of the major brands frames/bikes and it's this simple economic advantage which is why a similarly spec'd bike offered from Giant can and usually is 5-15+% cheaper than their competitors.

In fact Giant actually even makes all their own Hydroformed tubes and carbon fiber bikes while many others use still a 3rd party.

What brands can be linked to Giant?
Source for below quote: Allanti

Giant, a Taiwanese company started in 1972, manufacturers their own bikes - including the carbon bikes, which is unique in the industry (i.e., most other brands utilize other manufacturers such as Advanced or Martec).

In addition to making their own bikes, Giant also makes, or has made, bikes for many other prominent brands, including Trek, Specialized, Schwinn, and Bianchi. Giant's claim to fame is that they have the most sophisticated and efficient manufacturing facilities in the bicycle industry.

A bit of trivia is that Giant owns 30% of Hodaka, a key Taiwanese supplier for many brands such as Bianchi.

Anyhow, I just thought I'd share some trivia and

Twisted Tire Race postponed until Nov. 9th.

Due to potential severe weather conditions for the Richmond area Friday & Saturday, the trails at Poor Farm may be too wet to race on, potentially causing unnecessary damage and injury to riders and the trails.

So Richmond-MultiSports is postponing the Twisted Tire until Nov. 9th, 08.

Any comments or feedback can come to me directly by phone.

Laurie Mehler
Richmond Multisports Race Director
cellular 804.389.0588

Link: RainOptions Thread.
Link: Twisted Tire Roll Call Thread