i can't believe we actually came home. it was incredibly nice down in cali. we ended up going to calistoga to waste some time, and look for a place to ride. upper 70's and sunny. boggs mountain is where we ended up riding. great place. state forest with lots of single track. it's the north end of the napa valley. very beautiful. then our last stop of the trip, ashland, or. sweet single track, great brewery, and an awesome skatepark. here's a list of stuff from the trip.

three fave rides:
1. tamarancho
2. boggs mountain
3. ashland watershed

three fave stops:
1. ashland, or
2. chico, ca
3. fairfax, ca

three fave brews:
1. sierra nevada chico ipa
2. standing stone double ipa
3. rogue barley wine

three not so cool things:
1. northwest traffic(worse than cali)
2. hailstorm at mt shasta
3. redding, ca

three very cool things:
1. riding almost everyday we were gone
2. chillin with james in monterey
3. no one getting hurt(especially raz)

so that's it. back to work. frames to pick up from the painter, bikes to assemble, and get ready for the ronde van whatcom this coming saturday. see you at mt bakery. g

we're now in the bay area. lots of traffic. but lots of beautiful scenery. very good mountain biking as well. we went up to tamarancho boy scout camp to ride. the signs say " bikes must stay on single track". sweet! raz was with so we only were out for a couple of hours. but one could link these trails up with some Marin County Open Space trails for a longer ride. views of the bay and all. good stuff. there's also a pic of a local at fort ord close to salinas. the salinas valley is very good for farming. so monterey and the area are into the "buy local" attitude. so it's nice to go out to eat, and get some fresh, local produce.

made it to the salt water. left chico and headed south to monterey. a little note: if you want to look like a local in chico, wear a sierra nevada hoody, and ride a balloon tire cruiser. anyway, monterey is nice. beautiful coast, moderate temps, fresh fish, and some decent riding. nothing too technical, but when it's 70 and sunny, i'm not gonna complain! there has been more interest in donkelope frames, so i might be damn busy when we get back. that's a good thing!

me, jill, & raz are on the road to sunny california. trying to escape the rain, see some friends, and do some riding. we stopped into rainy peak cyclery, in cottage grove, or. just to say hello, and say hi to gus, but he wasn't at the shop that day. maybe next time. it took three days into our road trip to find some nice weather. and after a crazy hail storm coming into lake shasta, we found some sunshine in chico, home of sierra nevada! we rode the bidwell park trails today. kind of a city park. a huge city park. pretty damn rocky double track, but the single track was great. we rewarded ourselves with dinner at the brewery. yummy! chico is a great town. very bike friendly. most of the people ride beach cruisers around town. it's totally flat, in town. so that makes for some easy commuting by bike.

i did some surfing, and got some emails about the seattle show. it will be completely indoors next year. which is a relief. it will probably be super nice out next year, we can only hope. donkelope bikes has been well represented so far. check out dirt rag's gallery, and road bike action did a nice piece on the show. sweet pics. leave for cali day after tomorrow, can't wait.

well, another bike show in the books. the seattle bike expo was a good time. a very diverse group of people showed up to check stuff out. we had good feedback at our booth. the weather was absolutely horrible. wet, snow, and high wind speeds. which might not seem like a big deal for a show that's inside. but half of the exhibitors were in tents. so it kind of sucked that way. we had tent supports running through the middle of the booth space. there also were garbage cans at our booth to collect water running off the tent. but you can't control the weather. and after a beautiful friday, who would've expected the weather to change so much. saw some bike friends, and made some new ones. dirt rag and road bike action stopped by and shot some pics of the bikes! that would be sweet to see a donkelope in a magazine like those. keep your fingers crossed. all in all it was a pretty good weekend. we also have a new tee.

seattle bike expo today at magnuson park. yesterday was awesome, but i guess that couldn't last. oh well, we shall see how many people brave the weather to check out some bike stuff. stop by and say hi. and grab some chocolate! if not, get out and ride to be ready for the Ronde van Whatcom.

what unbelievable weather we had today. i am not down with it. oh well. it does make me think of being in belgium last spring for some of the classics. we're in the early stages of planning a fun ride on april 4th. the same weekend as the tour of flanders. the most awesome one day race! so this ride will be in that style. climbs,in and out of town, and maybe some bad weather to make it authentic. so mark your calendars. should be a good time. flyer will be posted in the next couple of days. feel free to email or what have you for more info. in other bike happenings, this coming weekend is the seattle bike expo. donkelope bikes will be there to spread the word. so stop on by and say "what up?"