Today was a sad day for the town of Jackson. Amidst overpriced McMansions and old west themed hotels that are squeezing the soul out of Jackson, there was an iconic mural that gave some of us a little hope. I really never cared if it drew more customers to my shop, but everytime someone said, “wow, that mural really makes me happy”, or, “wow, I just came back to town and couldn’t believe there was something that cool in Jackson” and, “I was up on Saddle Butte and the most prominate thing I could see was that awesome mural” I felt like we had given something back to the community. Maybe I’m wrong. Maybe “it’s just paint” like someone said. Maybe more people hated the murals (that’s right, they are both gone now) than appreciated them. Maybe it’s the fact that no one complained, no one asked for it to be painted over, no one asked Tuttle who painted it, and no one asked us. How bout the time and material it took to paint it over? What’s sustainable about that? If the pub needed a project I bet I could find one for them. Yes, it was the Brew Pubs decision. So if you care that it is gone, let them know about it brewpub@snakeriverbrewing.com , or leave a post here and I’ll be sure to send it along. All I know is that there was some sort of symbolism in the art that is now another blank wall.
It was another close count of the votes but this April goes to Brandon! Whether it’s selling a bike or helping with the remodel projects Brandon is always ready to go. Thanks for all the help B!
Brandon’s Bike:
Turner Sultan 29er
For those of you who have been with me since the beginning, I have
some fun news to share. After several years of hard work, I finally
got to cross the finish line with my arms in the air! On Sunday, I won
Boulder’s famed Spring classic - The Koppenberg circuit race.
The course consisted of 5 laps on a 5.5 mile loop, including 2 miles
of dirt and a very short but very steep 17% climb. The race was
postponed a week because of snow, rain and too much mud. Sunday’s
weather was mild with some wicked wind.
At the gun, we charged into the wind on the dirt. A rider attacked
the first time up the climb and dangled off the front for a lap. I
lead into the second climb with the same old voice resounding in my
head the whole time - get off the front, you do this every time and
wind up working way too hard. I was a single rider and there were
teams present, so I should have just sat back. But, I felt too good.
Up the climb the second time, I found myself near the front, so
charged ahead steadily to catch the rider off the front. When I
reached her, I rested, pulled again and finally looked back to assess
the field. Damage! There were only 4 of us left. Yes! “Drafting
off of Chellie when she made that bridge was like being towed by a
motorbike,” was one of the comments that made its way back to me a day
later.
We worked steadily, hammering away the rest of the race. 2 women from
the same team -Vitamin Cottage, a Tokyo Joe’s rider, and myself. It
was comfortable work. When we were on the 5th lap, the first thought
popped into my head - I could win this thing! I got excited for 2
seconds and then reigned the thoughts in. I needed to make it up the
climb for the last time, first. The climb was a bear and I came out
of it in 3rd with a VC rider and Tokyo Joes’s rider 50 feet ahead of
me. That voice started talking to me again. This time it was
screaming - Bridge! This doesn’t hurt! Don’t lose the race here,
Turbo! Push!! Head down and GGGGOoOOOoo! I was mesmerized by the
dirt and ruts of the road as I pushed with eyes down until the world
started getting fuzzy around me. I knew they were going all out - why
would they want me around at the end!? I made it and looked back to
see if the other VC rider had been on my wheel. No - down to just 3.
Yes!
I was 3rd wheel coming into the 1/4 mile uphill finish. I was patient
- it was a long way to the finish line to try to sprint early. One
after the other, the 2 riders tried to make a go of it and tired. I
picked my moment and went. It was a long way and the legs were
rubber, but I ticked out the meters and made it happen. I looked back
2 times for fear that someone had grabbed my wheel to have another go,
but the others had no response. Crazy.
Later, I asked Tim what the announcer, Dave Towle, said after I
crossed the line. (Dave has a huge heart and has been involved in the
national circuit for a long time.) “Clearly Chellie Terry has been
making deposits at the Pain Bank this winter!” His one-liners are
comical and very well known.
I am excited. I am ready to partake in the suffering this year. The
season is here. As Dave would say - it’s on like Donkey Kong!
Hawks tireless intensity level kept the shop in good spirits through the month of March. Thanks for coming in after school and putting in some hard work, Hawk. Don’t forget to keep the grades as high as the intensity level!
It seemed only fitting that this year’s PPP was held in a driving snowstorm. As the snow study plots crested 600″, Jannine and I drove to Teton Village in near silence. Coming from Victor, the first thing we saw was the “Chain Law” sign flashing on Teton Pass. “Don’t worry, it won’t be this snowy on the Jackson side”, I assured her as her eyes grew wider with every road shoulder she saw covered in ice and snow. Jannine was slated to hammer out the bike leg for the women’s Fitzy Team while I was sitting pretty getting mentally prepared for the Alpine ski leg for the Men’s Fitzy team. Sure, the Alpine ski was certain to be a more pleasant experience than the bike leg, but I had my own anxiety to deal with. All week I had been talking smack with Rob at the Brew Pub about how I was going to smoke him on our ski leg as a precursor to the overall pummeling the Fitzy team was going to deliver to the Brewers team. The only problem was I haven’t ski raced since high school and I rarely ski groomers at all. In fact I had to borrow some alpine skis the night before so I had something that was even possible to win on. My first turns on them would be racing side by side with 6 other skiers bombing down Amphitheater. Rob on the other hand skied fast on groomers all the time, and had raced the PPP ski leg for years. Of course that didn’t keep me from talking a big game! Although our bet only consisted of lunch and beers, I was determined to not lose.
By the time we got to the Village the road conditions did not improve. Snow had drifted over most of the road shoulder and icy slush was on top of the travel lanes. Jannine was, well, a bit panicky! “maybe I should go get a mountain bike from the shop, or cross tires for my road bike. Should I not do it? Will they cancel?” Of course my response was, “you’ll be fine, don’t worry.” Anyway, there was no time left for a gear change. We were heading to the race.
OK, let’s skip over the next hour and get to the good stuff. There I was, lined up with my business class competitors, skis 20′ in front of us, ready for the count down to begin (Lemans start - run and jump into your skis). 3 - 2 - 1 GO! I’m never considered a strong runner and I was borrowing skis I’d never skied before, so I was completely shocked when I pulled away from the stating line in the lead! Like a mad man I skated as fast as I could before falling into my tuck. At first I was psyched, but I quickly realized my lack of course inspection made it a little tough to be leading the charge. Not to mention the 6 other skiers that I knew were breathing down my neck right behind me. One guy slipped around me half way down and I was thankful to have someone to follow through through the lower gates. Besides, my race was with Rob and I was winning! Turn after turn we got closer to the bottom while I barely held on through the icy turns at full speed. We dropped into the last steep pitch and all I had to do was hold back the burning in my thighs for a little bit longer and “- BAM -” something slammed into me from behind and I was off my skis in a flat spin towards the next gate. I demolished the gate and came to a stop just up hill of my attacker. “You all right” we asked each other. Amazingly we were both fine after our 40 mph collision! Then I heard that question once again… from Rob as he skied by slowly… on his way to the finish line… and to victory! I limped into the finish line and handed off to Hawk for the cross country ski leg.
Meanwhile Jannine was pacing nervously waiting for her bike leg to begin. Reports from further up the course were worse than we saw on our drive in. Apparently a good deal of ice had covered the course as you neared the river leg. I had to scramble to the car and start driving to the river to help with the transition there so my nervousness escalated as I saw the conditions first hand. “She’ll be fine” I thought, “she’s a solid bike handler”. As I waited by the river for her to arrive I started to get reports from other riders coming in. “man, it’s so icy every pedal stroke my back wheel slipped out” and “Oh someone is going down for sure!”. Then she appeared, breathing heavy, and searching for Trisha to hand off the bib too… she was all business, safe and sound, and smoking fast!
In classic J9 fashion she shrugged off the conditions and said, “I felt great and the roads were no big deal at all!” She ended up 15th out of 131 riders both male and female! Unfortunately she missed fastest female bike time by 1.8 seconds! Kris Lunning did capture the fastest bike leg for the Men’s Fitzy team!
The Fitzy Men’s team captured second place after losing the lead to a somewhat questionable racing skull on the boat leg even though Hawk had an amazing skate ski and Tim dug deep for a brutal river leg. The Fitzy women held on for a sixth place finish after great performances by Kirsten on the downhill ski, Rebecca on the xc ski, Jannine on the bike, and Trisha on the boat.
Day 3 of the Bike Summit was one of the most interesting days I’ve had in a long time. We all put on our monkey suits and headed up to Capital Hill to sell our bike needs directly to our elected officials. The morning started with another opening address from Congressman Earl Blumenauer. He got the 500 person crowd of bike advocates fired up to make our voices heard. Following Earl was Dan Beard, Chief Admin Officer of the House of Representatives, who is in charge of implementing Speaker of the House Nancy Pelosi’s Greening the Capital Initiative. Mr. Beard spoke of the need for our Nation’s leaders to be setting an example of energy conservation and overall sustainability. With that in mind he made a huge announcement to us. Starting on Earth Day 2008, Capital Hill will have its very own bike share program! 30 bikes will be stationed around Capital Hill and be available for Members and Staffers to use for commuting, lunch break rides, or pleasure rides down the Pennsylvania Avenue. This is not some “green bike” or “yellow bike” program that reclaims old beater bikes and randomly disperses them around town. These will be brand new bikes locked up at an official bike share terminal. Wow! It’s one thing for us cyclists to come to town once a year and plead our case, but for Members of Congress to be faced with the benefits of cycling day in and day out is AMAZING!
After our morning pep rally, we split up into our state delegations and flooded the halls of Congress. Well, the halls of the Senate and House office buildings that is. The Senate and House members occupy buildings on either side of the Capital where they conduct their day to day business. Our mission? To get support for the 4 Policy Issues given to us at the Bike Summit:
1. Support the Complete Streets Bill being intrduced.
2. Support the National Parks Centennial Initiative and make sure cycling is a part of it.
3. Join the National Bike Caucus
4. Sign the Congressional Resolution that says cycling is important and we should have a National Bike Policy and an Inter agency Cycling Task Force.
We traveled back and forth between the House and Senate buildings on free pedicabs thanks to Planet Bike. By the end of the day, we met with the staff of Wyoming Congress persons Barbra Cubin, John Barasso, and Mike Enzi. We also had face to face meetings with Idaho Senators Larry Craig and Mike Crapo. The best part was they actually listened to what we had to say and seemed interested. Sure, sure that’s why they’re politicians right? Maybe. We’ll see who takes action and who doesn’t.
At the end of the day we gathered for a Congressional Reception in the Senate office building. Standard shoomze a palooza but the free food and beer was a nice touch. Big points to the Legislative Aids from Barasso and Cubin’s offices who showed up to mingle! Finally the event came to a close with an amazing speech by Rep Oberstar. If you dig bikes and hope that there’s someone out there fighting for them you should watch this video. Good to know this day in age there are still some politicians standing up for the right things.
We had a great day at the bike summit today! Started off with a keynote address from Congressman Earl Blumenauer (d) from Oregon. This guy rocks! He was impassioned about cycling issues like I never thought I’d see from a national leader. Take the time and check out these videos from his speech and I think you’ll see what I mean. I’ll tell you what. It’s time to stop taking the bulls&*t lying down. We have elected leaders who are bending over for the oil and gas industry without any concern for those of us who are trying to improve our Country’s state of well being. Do you ride a bike? Do you feel like a second rate citizens on our roads? Cars should not get the upper hand when it comes to funding and road construction. They pollute the air, eat up valuable resources, create chronic obesity, and divide our communities. If you believe in the bicycle - SAY SOMETHING ABOUT IT! Earl does!
Earl Part 2
Ok, after Earl got us fired up, we went into breakout workshops. Pretty good stuff overall. A lot of it was geared to larger communities and I also heard a lot of it two weeks ago at the Smart Growth Conference. I’m really most psyched about going to Capital Hill tomorrow and lobbying our Congress members. I think I’ll get to work on Crapo, Simpson, and Craig from Idaho and Cubin from Wyoming. We had an Idaho strategy session at the end of the day today to prep up for our meetings with the members and Scott Montgomery (GM of Scott Bicycles USA, formerly from Cannondale) joined Tim Adams, myself, and a few others. I think we’ve got a powerful crew!
