Crossification

some events transcend convention and are something much bigger than a gathering. Critical Dirt is one such event. It turned out to be so much more than a bike race, and it was such an honor just to be able to meet so many great souls and share in something so much larger. My whole time in Leipzig was special, it always is. The people their are genuine, creative, inspiring and...and...and... Tie that in with a weekend of racing, well not just racing but racing cross... in an uncoventional way, it leaves memories that last.

Full of pictures & sequences that replay over and over in my mind, it is inspiring yet a little overwhelming. There is so much I would like to keep fresh in my mind.

Gerolf, Basti, David and so many others need to be very proud of what they accomplished. This group of people put on a top notch weekend of racing not in just one location, but many. Think of old school rally racing where it was part navigation, part trying to get from A - B fast as possible. And they had us do this on 'cross' bikes over roads in the former eastern part of Germany. People, these roads have not seen maintenance in years. Gnarly. At the end of the stages the CD team provided us with awesome support and some unforgettable meals. On Saturday eve they threw a sweet evening dinner/ party complete with a grass track race. Sunday were two prelim cyclocross heats topped off with a final on what was one of the more difficult cross courses I have ridden, complete with the world's longest sand/ gravel pit. Sick. It was an impressive effort on their behalf, hats off.

The people I had the pleasure of riding with was mix of cyclo-fanatics on everything from pure bread cross racers to mtb w/ skinny tires to road bikes (some w/ profile tires, others not), fixed geared, trekking bikes and the list goes on... What was impressive, was the speed and effort and skills on display. These people were f-ing hauling the mail. We clipped along at 40kmh+ on some of the worst roads, paths and trails I have seen. Wow. Best part, we all worked & rode together. Nice.

Exhausted, sore and wanting more, I sit here and dream about the weekend past. And as everyday life creeps back into my existence, I grasp all the memories I can to take me forward and fuel me for the next adventure that will come my way.

Thanks to all of the CD team, helpers, people who took pictures, shot video, cheered, heckled, and Dresden/ Leipzig for the best event I have ever been to!

 Martin & Matthias @ a super little lunch spot in Leipzig

yummy

our train to the start in Dresden

the culprits

Felix's gorgeous Sycip crosser

trying to find the way

a killer mid-day lunch spread

our stage

Two times round the clock in Munich

We were off to Munich for the weekend for the 24hours in Munich. Sandi was playing guest heavy-hitter on the Team Zyprus squad, while some IF family members, Henri Lesewitz & Michael Vieth, were waving the green-team colors high. My own ti 29 went to one of their team riders Toby for the race.

The venue in the Munich Olympic Park was pretty sweet with a cozy atmosphere with all of the team around the edge of the course on the stadium. The course was less a mountainbike course and more cyclocross, so much so there was even a 'run-up'. Probably a good reason why there so many 29er rolling around the course - but too bad not a cross bike. Seeds of holding a crss race there were sewn in my head and will have to be pursued...

It was great to see Basti & Kay out there at the venue. Kay shot some great pics from our rides at EHBE. They were on hand doing some work for Fahrstil shooting pics and checking out the scene.

Our Buddy Michael who lives in Munich swung by to hang out and afterwards took me for a quick ride through the city. Thomas & Burkhard form Waridi were on hand to illuminate things

It was great see everyone out there, catch up on things and to see all of the racing action. 

IF

IF's hanging in the pits

Henri's Deluxe

Michi's Deluxe


The Man, Henri Lesewitz sporting our team kit.

Henri rolling around the Olympic park in Munich

Sandi railing the singletrack

Sandi's team took second in the mixed 4er teams

Next stop, Critical Dirt.

'cross & coffee

we have started representing embrocation cycling journal over here, which has been an instant fovorite among the euro cycling crowd. who doesn't like it big beautiful pages of cycling goodness. it is the perfect cycling scratching post for the mind. we made it onto their news pages, sporting their cranberry mokka pot tee while appropriately pulling shots at the EHBE show back in May. we have some very cool projects coming up with embro, to include next week's Critical Dirt cyclocross love festival.

we just delivered Flo's escape from the city Ti Planet X 29er, which was awesome to put together with him. This do it all ride will be seeing a lot of action in and around the mountains surrounding Innsbruck. He's as stoked as we. Enjoy the ride Flo!

Keeping it real

The new UCI rule allowing disc-brakes will surely be a polarizing one, it was before it even came into effect. Those wanting to keep the sport pure were already screaming to keep 'technology' out in favor of traditional rides while others were cheering for discs to aid in riding/ braking performance.

From a traditionalists perspective, I see the need to keep the bikes pure and the riding in the hands of the racers. For me, one of the draws to cyclocross was & is the renaissance of cycling lives in breathes in the sport, where beautiful steel and ti bikes can be seen in droves on any given race weekend. Not too mention that some of the most re-known handmade builders flagship frames are cross steeds. The cross bike still looks much the same as it has since its inception complete with drop bars and skinny tires. Tubulars have seen a resurgence in popularity due to the sport, a market segment that was on the verge of disappearing, with the exception of road teams who could afford to service tubulars. I myself love tubulars as the evidence would point out on some of my favorite t-shirts with additional glue-graffiti on them from fixing or re-gluing my Dugasts. Discbrakes will not change any of this.

Personally I think beer-can and plastic bikes have done more damage to the sport that disc brakes will ever do. Downright ugly, cheap looking frames have amateurs clamoring to throw money out the window merely so that they can mimic  top pros with their light-weight disposable bikes. I would rather be on a sweet steel crosser with discs that will last me a lifetime of mud-loving fun than the latest carbon bike out of China with its integrated headset, bb & seatpost. It is not carbon bikes that have done this, there are some actually stunning handmade carbon cross bikes out there, it is the paper companies and their business practices. Besides, I love my EDGE carbon wheels and other trick carbon parts on my trusty SSX.

What the lifting of the ban for cross bikes does do is open the door for both bike and component manufactures to produce disc brake compatible frames, forks and parts.  While there was a small selection before, we will now see the options filling out with both mechanical and hydraulic versions in all price and performance segments. The one issue I see though is unlike its fat tire cousin mountainbiking, crossers use largely STI dedicated shifters and levers, which means more than likely this will leave most disc brake manufactures on the outside like Formula, Magura, Hayes and so on. Their will be a Shimano or Sram only systems available unless the brake guys figure some things out. Having ridden the Avid mechanical discs on a crosser, I am excited at what lies ahead. I am sure Avid will have a bitchin new mechanical black-ops/ Ultimate disc brake caliper, and you can bet your bottom dollar Tim Johnson and Co. will be on them at a cross race near you later this season.

Funny thing about the new UCI rules are that at the same time disc brakes are allowed, they also bring down the allowable tire width from 35 to 33c, which plays even more in favor of the disc brake rule. Take away handling performance from the tires by reducing the contact patch and volume, disc brakes compensate for this loss with added stopping power making handling somewhat easier.

Ultimately the disc brake rule is good for the sport on many levels. It opens the door for much better braking with little weight penalty, and when viewed with the tire regulations keeps cross, cross. It will breed a whole new segment of bikes that are actually ideal for a large portion of the cycling population out there, while pushing component manufactures to produce real road/ cross compatible disc brake options.

To keep cyclocross pure, it is up to the promoters and course designers from either making grass crits or too technical courses where mtbs/ suspension come into questions. Courses should be an excellent balance of speed, riding skills and obstacles that tip their hat to a cyclocross bicycle. It will be interesting to see how the companies answer the call to the new regulations, and I myself am looking forward to see what will be on display from some of the finest handbuilt bikes next spring in Austin.

UCI to allow disc brakes in cyclo-cross competition

Other 'cross rules changed by Management Committee

The UCI will allow disc brakes on in cyclo-cross races effective at the beginning of the 2010-2011 'cross season. The organization's management committee approved the change upon the recommendation of its Cyclo-cross Commission.
At the same time, other changes to 'cross rules were approved. The maximum tire width has been reduced from 35mm to 33mm.
The six-obstacle limit on courses has been changed to refer to man-made obstacles. The plank-type obstacles can be up to 40cm tall instead of having to be 40cm tall, and they must be four to six meters apart.
Man-made sand pits are also now allowed and feeding will also be permitted if temperatures exceed 20 degrees Celsius; however, the feeding is limited to pits and can happen only after the first two laps but before the last two laps.
Similarly to mountain biking, commissaires may now invoke the "80 percent rule" and remove a rider who is behind the leader by 80 percent of the leader's lap time. Thus, riders can be pulled before they are lapped.

photo pdxcross.com

3, 2, 1 and we are live...

The CremaCycles site is up, finally. we still have some tweaking to do, but it is live. Come on over and check it out, we have Independent Fabrication, embrocation journal, soft goodness, coffee, Mule Bars and much more. Give it a spin and let us know what you think.

On the road

Here are some digital images from the weekend. Still on the road this week, scouting and doing some work on the XC course for our mountain bike race on the 01.08. Should be a great race and a sweet course. Adding some switchback to the climb on the backside of the course that forced most to walk - but hey it's mountain biking right? The Singletrail Parcours is shaping up very nicely, even saw a number of kids taking their bike up and down the trails while out for a ride yesterday with Sandi. Great to see the positive impact on young people and getting them out there riding, we need more of this in the world! Which BTW - we offer free entries to all of our youth riders! Get 'em hooked young.

Next stop, Willingen & the BIKE Festival. Hope to go have dinner with a friend from Gunni, Joe Staub one evening. Sandi will be lining up for the Marathon on Saturday.

IFBRT

Just tossed a post up over on the IFBRT site. Kudos to Sandi & Wolfgang for doing well representing the CremaCycles/ Independent Fabrication banner out there in Niederlinxweiler 2day!

Rock on.

cross

Style

Ultimately, we are all passengers on this crazy ride called life. But we are not helpless, we can influence outcomes and change directions if we try hard enough. But when we band together, that is when it really has an impact.

Starting off on my adventure as an entrepreneur and doing so in a foreign land, I was full of ambition and the desire to make an impact on the world around me. After hitting some bumps in the road, I took my foot off the gas and slowed down to evaluate the situation better. Since then we have not only seen the handmade scene steadily growing, but the passion and culture around it. At the 2010 edition of the EHBE I witnessed this first hand in many ways from the release of Fahrstil to the exchanging of ideas for future projects and the very direction of the showcasing of handbuilt bikes.

It was so great to exchange ideas, share in stories and dream about the future with such an inspired group of people. Stoked. I feel stoked. The best part is I do not feel alone, we are in this together. Doesn't matter if we are speaking about our businesses or collaboration on some projects, together we will push this movement forward.

The world around will change, whether we like or not. Why not try to make a positive impact in the process?


We have a voice, and it shall be heard.

New Team Kit

The new CremaCycles kit is pretty sweet (even sweeter if you have David's custom Pink version), and it saw a bit of action over the weekend at EHBE and 24 Finale.

Check out race reports over at the IFBRT blog...

EHBE Video - CremaCycles

Yes, we have rebranded ourselves, no longer ifbikes.de, rather CremaCycles. The name says much more about us and who we are, plus we have some tasty coffee...


European Handmade Bicycle Exhibition - Day 3 from e r t z u i ° film on Vimeo.

Year of the Otter

OK, I know it is not a video of Critical Dirt, but it does well to serve as motivation for many km's of gravel, dirt and other surprises that the Slow Motion Riders will be serving at CD2010.

Gardasee

Funny how a long weekend and land you quickly in the middle of he next week scrambling for a gasp of air all the while trying to catch up with things that have piled up in your absence. Gardasee is the official opening of the bike season over here and felt great to tank up some sun and warmth down in Italy. What was nicer was having a sweet setup down there, sharing a booth with Biciclista and having the Italian Single Speed Mafia around.

Stefano brought up his beautiful VW bus and displayed his wears. We had a true Italian street cafe going with our LaMarzocco pumping out the best cup of joe on the show while onlookers got a closer look at our nearly dedicated display of 29er bikes and frames if weren't for Sandi's Ti Deluxe bearing 26" wheels...

David, Jochen, Sandi, Stefano and honorary team member Joachim made for a strong team presence, even only if Sandi, David & Joachim were the only ones to actually race. Joachim took our ti 29er not only for a test ride around the block, but did the marathon on it, and did quite well. You can read more over on his blog.

Despite having 3 days of exhibition, this year I actually managed to get a little riding in, and even hit some long searched for single track thanks to Mario who pointed the way. It had been a while since I have had the pleasure of blasting down trails like that, and I had some serious perma-grin going on!

We have more pics from the weekend here and here. Now for a quick gasp of air and it is EHBE in a couple of weeks!

Bella

Pink is such a tough color to get right. Too bright and it is obnoxious, too light and it goes unnoticed... IF is doing pink right, Pink Pearl. Need proof? How about all the Italians at this past weekend's BIKE Festival in Lago di Garda who were drooling over my new single speed 29er adorning Pink Pearl w/ Silver/ Black stickers, Sotto Voce KING headset and matching Niner fork.


Here is Mario modeling the Biciclista Argyle Man Jersey, Rolla Cap accented with my IF Steel Deluxe Rosa 29er.

More to come from Gardasee...

IF does BB30

I am amazed at the following of Lefty's and other Cannondale products. We get requests on a regular basis from customers for Lefty's and SI cranks, which I myself have lusted after the cranks for some time and have looked at options of mounting some to my Ti Deluxe 29er. Fortunately for new customers there is no longer a need for adapters as IF has recently showed off a stellar Ti Deluxe 29er at Sea Otter in the Cannondale booth.

The 29er featured a sweet Lefty Carbon DLR fork and a set of Si cranks mated to the SRAM XX group.

Sandi loved her Lefty & Cannondale when she was on the MTB Chick team. We have toyed w/ the idea of building her a 29er, having seen this ride I think I now know what Sandi's next bike will be...

Pretty in Pink

Soft pedaling

It has been a quiet couple fo weeks since my trip to Leipzig, well sort of. We are dropping some really nice customer bikes into the pipeline, couple of them are cyclcross bikes - more details on these later. Speaking of cross, my SSX has been seeing a lot of action as of late with my Ti Deluxe 29er off at Mountain Bike Magazin for a review.



The riding around our area is awesome for cross bikes, a fine mixture of terrain and surface types make for scenic rides with some great exploring. I have been hitting the Landwirtschaft road between hofs and villages, diving off the pave for some gravel/ fire road or even singletrack excursions. Actually found a new section today that linked two villages together.

One cyclocross event you do not want to miss out on is Critical Dirt. registrations starts at 10pm on Sunday and will have limited number of spots open. This will be sold out in no time. We are looking forward to taking part and have a few surprises for the event of our own... Be sure to visit us at EHBE for details!

This weekend we are off to Muessingen for the first German national series race. Sandi will be racing the Elite women with a  lot of the top European World Cup riders. It will be awesome to support her for this race and be so much fun to share this with Colin. There will be postings from the event over on the IFBRT blog, so check it.

Enjoy the ride!