Some things are just too good not to share.  A few riders in Slovenia managed to poach a hydroelectric facility that was under construction for a little shred session.  Not only does this thing look hella fun but also has some scary steep drop-ins as well.  If only the Slovenian tourism board was thinking ahead of time they might have managed to sell a few tickets to ride the worlds largest bowl, pool, velodrome and snake run, maybe even stage some races before flooding it.  Thanks Sam for passing this on. More pics can be found at www.muslauf.si.

P.S. Fixed gears in Slovenia.....how awesome is that?  I am amazed at how far reaching and global the culture has spread.  Hooray for simple machines.

With the passing of Solstice comes summer as well as bicycle busy season.  Things have been off the hook at Traitor, which is great and tiring but is not any reason to forgo a celebration of the coming of summer.   To welcome in summer and celebrate the shortest night of the year, the crew from Bike Bloc hosted an all night scavenger hunt which brought riders to the furthest reaches of Seattle and back again. 

With a three page manifest (insane) and no where but the streets to gather a boat load of stuff, riders were found begging for fireworks, pleading for undergarments, borrowing giant American flags and just doing their thing to collect a jillion other trinkets. 

Kellen, Ariel and myself, made the trip from Bellingham to take part in the festivities making it to Gas Works just in time for an overcast sunset and the start of the race.....I mean ride.  After tens of miles, a couple orders of fries, some alcoholic beverages for the adults and milkshakes for the kids, donuts, 8 hours of riding and a 3am jaunt along Lake Washington we met up at Louisa Boren Park to watch the sunrise and eat breakfast prepared by our hosts.  I think there were something like seventy riders at the start and fifty at the finish, not bad for a first time event, Bellingham finished with just about one hundred points and the winning team four hundred eighty, what?! We got it handed to us, but in the end it was all about the experiences had and the friends made.  I mean when else will you find an excuse to ride your bike all night.  I have a feeling 2010 will be seeing another all niter.  I highly recommend working it into your busy sleep schedule.

Not the picture we were hoping for but a picture of the flame throwing car none the less. 

A force to be reckoned with.

The booty!

 Happy Solstice!!

Some time ago, I came across an article written by Grant Petersen in a copy of Adventure Cycling Magazine enlightening me to the concept of the sub 24 hour overnighter or S24O for short.  This is pretty much bike camping, not a bike tour because it doesn't last quite long enough to be a tour unless you take the long way.  No this is one of those after work type dealies that you hop on your bike with food for dinner and breakfast, maybe a change of clothes and your bed roll. 

I have always thought how great it would be to do something like this but never really looked into the feasibility of taking on the endeavor, obviously I wasn't dreaming hard enough, until I saw the great Mr. Petersen write about it.  Not too long after I decided to give it a go with a friend after work leading into my Saturday.  It was a flawless trip to Bainbridge Island, after which I though I should definitely do that again.  About 8 months later I decide to give it another go only I up the ante a little, I will go it alone, easy enough, leaving from work and arriving back at work the next morning.  Great, sign me up! 

Not to make this too long of a story because I see it going that way, lets just say it was a trip full of surprises.  From that park ranger that woke me up in the middle of the night to kick me off the beach despite my best efforts telling him why it was okay that I stay there, to that raccoon that tried getting in my front pannier, I told the ranger there were no trees to hang my food from in the main camp ground, the bathroom had to do.  There was that crow that made off with my Lentil burger from the grill when I turned my back to enjoy the surroundings and lets not forget the broken seat binder bolt from the day before that left me standing and pedaling into a wicked head wind on my 8 mile ride back to work the next morning.

Would I do it again?  Most definately, should you try your hand at it? Of course you should. What better way to bring about a liitle adventure in an otherwise mundane week? 

The view from my cubby at Birch Bay State Park, WA.   

Yesterday, I received a call from Ryan of Bike Bloc, Emerald Sprints, and Go Means Go, yes he is a busy guy, to see if I wanted to join him, McKenzie and Kevin for some roller racing in the lovely city of Vancouver.  Being one not to turn down a trip to Vancouver, I met up with the group after making my way up from the job and having gone for a spin around the city.   

Super Champion is working with a group of dedictaed riders to put on what is now  the monthly Gastown Sprints at Pub 340, I think this may have been their first.  Early on there were some bugs that needed fixing, but nothing they couldn't handle. When all was up and running there were four racing side by side for the qualifier and then one on one for the brackets.  It was actually pretty rad to see it go down.  The night was a blast with lots of fast riders as well as a really strong turn out for the women’s sprints.  McKenzie and I represented for the out-of-towners, placing 2nd in girls and 3rd in boys.

Women's Final Sprint about to go down!

Men's Semi's. 

As always, a big thanks to everyone who put in the long hours to make the event happen. Check out the whole slideshow below.

First things first, I wanted to share with everyone that I just learned how to embed video onto the blog.  I'm only about three years behind the rest of the internet but that's my m.o. when it comes to technology.  Crazy, seeing as I majored in this stuff in college.  What this means for you?  Nothing really other than you won't be redirected to other sites to check out the sweet vids I post, when I post them.

To celebrate I have decided to go on a theme that my friend Rob brought up at gathering few weeks back.   What is the best bicycle chase scene?  I am open to peoples suggestions and will happily post the worthy ones.  It was argued that the BMX chase scene in E.T. was tops.  I am on another trip totally but figured this had broad appeal.  Let me know what you think. The fun starts about 50 seconds in!

Fast Folks in Austin, Texas is having their grand opening party this weekend and will be hosting the Texas premier for DEATH PEDAL.  This is the only shop in Texas to be representing the brand and despite not being officially open, they have been selling our bikes like mad.  Besides being rad and entusiastic they have the weird liquidy face mascot guy that is pretty sweet.  Go celebrate the day, ride some bikes, win some prizes and buy some stuff.  Congrats!

Probably not, but I thought I would share a little something I came across a few weeks ago while perusing the Bicycle Film Festival website.  I am impressed by all styles of riding, BMX flatland however, has always been something I could never comprehend, even back in 92' when I got my hands on "Ride On" and saw Chase Gouin's section.  The reference is probably lost on most of you, that's okay because this is some ill stuff, look-see here....

Bicycle Film Festival TOKYO '08 PART 1 from Eli Tokyo Jitensha-Jin on Vimeo.

The other day I was made privy to another video done over at Open Bicycle, this time of Josh and Zack building up a Luggernaut.  Cool thing is this build takes only a minute and a half as it is time lapsed.  The final build looks pretty slick with the black frame with the brown saddle and bar tape.

Open Bicycle: New Bike Day from Eric Tollar on Vimeo.

Alright, so I am like two days behind the times and it's not so much a video world premier as it is a video short highlighting the essence and fun times that keeps us riding.  Thanks to Open Bicycle and Quarter Productions for putting this together.

It Ain't That Serious. from open bicycle on Vimeo.

Marcello Libralato from Orme.tv contacted me the other day to let me know they posted a little something about Traitor on their website.  Great, except the only Italian I understand despite my high school studies and family background is some sort of swear or put down.  Fortunately, Marcello summarized the write up for me by saying "...you are a cool brand, mixing different influences with a nice range of products. Solid and Stylish."  Awesome! International recognition, sort of, right?          Take a peak!

I came across this on the ATX Fixed blog yesterday and had to share.  I think they even pulled it from Zlog, just giving credit where credit is due.   It's kind of ridiculous but pretty damn cool.  Check it here!

In other non on-the-road bicycle related news; this weekend my boy Ben came up from Seattle to do some mountain biking and check out my new home in Bellingham, WA.  I have been riding with Ben alot of years now and have watched him progress a bunch however, this weekend we hit the reset button, got rid of some bad habits and he is a new man on the trail.  Congrats Ben, I hope this totally embarrasses you.

It may not look like much but the lip is about 4 feet tall and Ben is in total control.  

I am putting it out to the world that Open Bicycle will have its official grand opening this Saturday, that's tomorrow!   They are located in Somerville, Massachusetts which is pretty much Boston for those who may be unfamiliar and they are the Traitor Cycles dealer in New England.  Open doesn't just deal in bikes; it is as much about art, expression and community.   Long hours have gone into getting the space ready and I think that you will agree it was well worth everyone's efforts.  Congrats to Josh and the rest of the crew who helped make the space happen. 

I have been anxiously awaiting the One Less Car review of our Ringleader for quite a while now.  I wasn't here when we sent the bike their way, all I knew when I came on board was they had one and I couldn't wait to hear what they had to say.  A week goes by, then three, then I see a post on their Blog that says how they have some rad bikes to review this season and that the Ringleader was one of them, still nothing.  I was going out of my mind, not really, but sure I was!  I mean, who am I to rush good work, which it is, it's great!  Besides I think it's still winter in the Mid West and I want to make sure everyone stays safe to say more good things about our bikes.  Thanks Cole and Brandon!   Check out the review here.

This past week Kevin and I made a trip into Canada to see about getting some shops on board.  Aside from some ridiculousness crossing the border and the midday traffic out of Vancouver, it was a super worth while and awesome trip.  Vancuover is one of the most amazing cities I have been to in North America.  Not only is it pretty damn diverse, have awesome Indian food, but it has a bunch of bicycle infrastructure and traffic calming all over the place, mountains that rise right out of the city and all the shop owners could easily be your best friends. 

When all was said and done we picked up 4 really cool shops, all lovers of the steel and all doing some cool work.  Welcome to the mix Jett Grrl Bike Studio, Dream Cycle, Mighty Riders and Super Champion.  Be sure to check them out if you live in the Vancouver area, or if you are passing through say hi and check out some cool spaces.

Tuesday we ate some Sri Lanken food.  I highly recomend getting a Dosa which is that giant crepe like thing stuffed with really anything you like.

Kevin comtemplating whether Tiger Beer will go better with the curry or on the next run of Ringleaders.

Just got a nice little interview about the birth of Traitor Cycles in the Review Webzine that is put out by our new friend Byron from Gin Optics. Check out the full story here  with some nice photos.

Got some amazing pictures of our recent alley cat here in Bellingham. The weather was a little unpredictable with a couple of hail storms but no torrential rain so it was all good. Special thanks to Brad Walton for shooting all the pics and racing with us.

Heading out to hit up our first stop.

Beer Hooping is a must.

Cameron shooting a jump shot free throw.

This stop was priceless.

The bartender at Casa explains to sam and I that we will have to dance with each other in order to get our stamp.

Sam using his balancing skills to get the ball through the obstacle course.

Bean bag race on the beach.

Finish Line!

Post cat party. Brad raffling off the grand prize, a Yellow Luggernaut frame.

Chris, one of the organizers said there was a striking similarity to myself and the clown on the poster.

Earlier this year Kevin had received an order for some components from the crew at Bilenky Cycle Works over in Philly.  Little did he know a set of our purple Journeyman cranks and Scapegoat seat post would be on a bike, being displayed at the North American Handmade Bicycle Show. Super Exciting!  I highly recommend checking out the bikes done by the Bilenky crew, they do some mighty fine work.  Also be sure to check out Urban Velo for their coverage of the NAHBS. 

The 4th annual FHR has come and gone. Kevin and I had an awesome time riding along side the cats from Point 83 on what turned out to be a great day. The riding was a bit more challenging than I had anticipated but great none the less. After shedding layers about 13 miles in my buddy Ian dropped Kevin and myself, a few minutes later Kevin dropped me on a climb at which point I decided to enjoy the ride and the people at non-race speed. At the finish line, gallons of chili, beer and prizes awaited, it was a super good time. Thanks to Derrick for organizing such a great event and all of those who the helped make it happen. We are looking forward to the FHR 2010!

About 125 people made it to the event.