mission accomplished

The MS150 weekend happened in a quick blur, Leigh had a good time and felt that she had helped a good cause and accomplished something meaningful. She wrote a few words to sum it up:

Just finished the MS150 Colorado Ride. It was a fabulous ride! Saturday’s route started in Westminster and took us through the scenery of Niwot and Hygiene with a challenging finish in Ft. Collins after the Masonville and Horsetooth Reservoir climbs. On Sunday, the 28^th we headed back through Horsetooth and Masonville enjoying the scenery of Buckhorn Canyon after a well earned descent. The route continued through Berthoud, Longmont, and Lafayette with a steady climb back to Front Range Community College in Westminster via Lowell Blvd. Excellent weather both days was an added bonus.

Our training paid off – the last several months I have been getting in a combination of short sprint rides, hill climbing rides, and longer weekend rides. Overall, I am feeling pretty good at the end of the event. Thanks to Rose, Arica, Mary, Mike and my husband Renold for the last several months of training rides – we were ready!

I am sure over the next few days many moments of the ride will enter my thoughts and stand out as memories. I rode on Team Intrepid – a big thank you to Ken Heisel (Arica’s dad) and all of the family in the Heisel clan as well as the associates of Intrepid Potash for their support of our team. Congratulations to all Team Intrepid riders! All of the volunteers who supported the ride were wonderful – rest stops were well organized with plenty of food, drinks, and bike shop support. The folks along the route who cheered us on were also awesome – a ringing cowbell, someone misting water and the shouts of encouragement helped me to keep on pedaling. Hearing the words “thanks for riding” from those individuals who have MS truly made the effort worthwhile. Finally, thank you to all who made a donation and supported me as a rider.

Most importantly, a huge thank you to Renold (my husband a.k.a. Yipsan) for all that you have done – the custom bike you built for me rocks! Thanks to the custom fit I have absolutely no aches or pains! (Just tired muscles……). The new component group (more in another blog at another time) was a dream – smooth, responsive and easy shifting all day long. Thank you!!

This is an awesome ride and I look forward to next year!

MS150

My wife, Leigh, is riding the MS150 in a little more than a week. She has been training religiously and I feel she will do fine and enjoy the event. I am reminded everyday of what people with MS feels like after my spinal cord injury. I hope there will be a cure for nerve damages, and events like MS150 will help make this a reality.

Here is a message from Leigh:

On June 27-28, 2009 I will be cycling in the 24th Annual Colorado Bike MS Ride. This event attracts over 3000 riders for a memorable and challenging weekend ride from the Denver area to Ft. Collins and back.

It's a 150 mile ride and at some point along the way I am sure my legs will ache and I will feel tired. However, I think that is nothing compared to what people with MS go through on a daily basis. Completing the ride will be a personal achievement as well as a means to help the National MS Society fund research, advocate for change, and help people with MS and their families lead powerful and productive lives.

Currently there is no cure for MS. The money that is raised at this event will be used to find the cause, treatment, and ultimately the cure of multiple sclerosis. Multiple sclerosis affects people in the prime of their lives, between the ages of 20 and 50. Every hour someone is newly diagnosed and more than 2.5 million people worldwide live with this unpredictable disease.

Please join me in the movement to do something about multiple sclerosis. I have set a goal of raising $500.00 for this cause. It is easy and convenient to make a donation. If you prefer to donate on-line, follow these links:

www.bikems.org
Select "sponsor a rider"

Select "search for a team" and enter team name INTREPID. Click on the blue button “Find A Participant”

Select Team Intrepid (make sure you select the first Team Intrepid that is listed – Team Leader is Ken Heisel)

Select Leigh Janko on the team roster and make your donation!! Thanks.

Black Lightning

Another recent build in cooperation with TBE was for Colm. He made my day by sending me this message:

I'm just in from my first 50mile ride on my new bike. I wanted to mail you and Tom and let you know its absolutely great! You did a fantastic job with the frame. I think its the best handling bike I've ridden - it goes around corners like its on rails.

I did not have time to picture the frame before shipping it out, but here is some pictures when the bike was finished at TBE.

Thank you Colm.

Catherine's All road

Being a framebuilder is interesting. I get to work with my customers to build something that they would enjoy for a long time in the future. While I try to incorporate their personal preferences and desires, I am also responsible to provide the technical details that will allow them to be at one with the bike.

The wait for a custom is never easy for the customer, but sometime it can be stressful for the builder too. Case in point, Catherine's bike. This bike was built for Catherine in cooperation with TBE and so I did not complete the build of the bike with components. Seeing the bike finished with paint gave me satisfaction that it will be wonderful, but not being able to see the bike fully built up can be a torture. However, I am confident to leave the final finishing work with TBE. Check the complete bike here.

I hope Catherine enjoys the bike.

Seat Binder

A recent repair on an old Raleigh really got me thinking of how many of these old frames have this same problem.

It was not difficult to repair and I am sure it would last a lot longer than the original pressed ears.

Here are some pictures of the sequence.

Dirt Rag

Just want to let you all know that one of my NAHBS bikes made it to the current issue of Dirt Rag. Get a copy to check it out.

Country of Origin

During the show, I get to meet a lot of people from many different backgrounds and it is interesting to see how we all only focus on the handmade theme of the show and the bikes. There was never any sentiment that I could feel that being a Chinese is any issue or disadvantage.

The reason I mention this is that a lot of times in various forums on the internet, people would mention "sh*t build in China" and it became a common phrase to mention or label something poorly made. However, not everything made in China is bad in quality. This kind of phrasing sometimes would get to me personally, feeling that everything made by a Chinese is poor in quality. Because of this, I had at one time thought of making a decal that says “ handmade by a Chinese”. But not wanting to alienate potential customers and making a combative intention, I had abandoned the idea.

With some of the consumer magazines that I collected during the show, I read an advertisement from Rivendell, a company that is well regarded by a lot of cyclists and people in the bike industry, the ad mentioned about a lot of the features of Rivendell's offering, and the last line says “nothing here's made in China”. It is amazing to see a company who sells products that are mostly made outside of the US to single out China. A country is made up of its people, does it mean Chinese made bad quality? Is it true that Japanese made product is always high in quality? Is it true that European made product is for sure perfect and of high value? How about Taiwan Chinese? Do they make quality products?

This truly befuddles me. China may not be up to the western standards in many front, but products made by China / Chinese are not inherently bad or low in quality. A lot of the companies in China which manufactures a lot of goods that is imported to the US are actually part owned by non-Chinese. What does it say about these business owners? If I were to move back to China, and keep on building frames, would it suddenly mean all my frames are rubbish?

I would really like to question Rivendell if their operation uses or consume anything made in China. I only hope that people can understand that broad stroke labeling can only hurt us. I am also disappointed that a company that so many respected can publicly advertise with such statements.

Well, enough of my rant, I better get back to my workshop and prove that Chinese / China made product can be of high quality. Rose's bike is just done and will be off to paint shortly.