This is the time of year that many of the poeple that work for this shit show we call Surly Bicycle Products are traveling. Some of us got to go to Alaska and ride our bikes, some of us got to go to Germany to ride bikes and still others of us went Utah for a trade show. Now, if you work in Capitalism like we do, you probably hear the word "trade show" and you feel like you've just gotten food poisoning but haven't yet vomitted... but you know it's coming. The good thing about the bike industry though is that trade shows aren't really like that for us most of the time. Are they the standard crap tons of work and talking to people? Indeed they are, but I also got to ride down a sweet mountain on my bicycle and drink a bunch of beer and it's pretty difficult to complain about that.
The beer vultures circled all day
Highlight of the trip was definitely the part where we got to actually ride. Being from the midwest, it's always pretty sweet when we get to go out west and ride some real mountains. Last year I bailed HARD on some rocky trail and that put a stop to all riding for me for the rest of the trip, but this year I manged to not fly off of my bicycle and that was good. The trails at Snowbasin are, by and large, pretty mellow. Not much in the way of crazy jumps or weird shit but they can get pretty steep and rocky in places. This year, since we had the luxury of riding with CS homeboys Gage and Tony, not only did we ride the nice trails, we had two guides who are both pretty great riders. Both fast as all get out and fearless to boot. They were a lot of fun to follow down the trails and probably kept me from dying on at least one occasion.... It was also nice to have our demo fleet out there so that you have many bikes chose from, however, anyone that knows me will know exactly which bike I rode. Instigator, stupid. I don't want to say that it's the best bike we've ever put out into the world but for the type of riding I've been doing lately, it has been the go to bike for me without doubt. Here's a picture of it now! I love this bike. It's a lot of fun to ride a hardtail that handles as well as this thing does. It eats stuff up and it's a lively ride. Tons of fun.
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Aside from that it was the usual goos times; talking to the people that sell our bikes and actually get what we're trying to accomplish. I'd be remiss if I didn't give Pat from Missoula Bike Works a big thanks. If you don't know Pat, I am truly sorry for you. That dude is about as solid as solid gets so if you want to buy a bike from a rad dude or just go talk about bikes with a rad dude, go to that bike shop and strike up a conversation. Pat made having a fun time nice and easy. Thanks, Pat.
But it's always nice to come home and ride too....