It isn’t hot outside right now, but it doesn’t mean you can’t prepare for those hotter times.

HERE IS THE DEAL
A spa day for your special partner – (a mighty seven tune)
A bottle of love lotion – (Rock N Roll Lube)
2 keep riding it Honey! enhancers – (Honey stinger waffles)
And a rag to clean up the sweat – (A Salvagetti t-shirt).
A $95 value. Yours for the next 5 days, (until close on 2/19/2012) if you ask nicely, for only $69 plus tax.

DIRECTIONS
Bring in your bike.
Tell the service writer you want the Valentine’s Special.
Leave.
Come back after you are called that your bike is “ready” for you.
Wear your shirt, ride your bike, tell your friends awesome stories about riding.

You: “Well, maybe. Wanna ride into work on your bike?”

Come to Salvagetti on Saturday, December 17th at 4pm to find out more about joining our 2012 Bicycle Commuter Team.

THE BEST STUFF TO RIDE ON EARTH

Pro level $hit (Think Kona, Brooks, Surly, Mission Workshop, Chrome, Swrve). You want to get suited up like a high level athlete? Nah, but you want to be comfortable and happy, right? We are going to do our best to make it easy to ride through the winter. Bikes, gear, lights and advice will be on the deal list for signing up.

And then there is the AGREEMENT

Gotta work for this.
By agreeing to be on this 2012 You Are Crazy to Commute Through Winter Team, you are promising to get someone to ride with you at least 3 times before our “season” is over. That means, you are going to move someone so much with words and actions that they will commute by bike 3 total times before the end of March. Sounds easy, but it ain’t. It ain’t easy at all, you will see. Oh yeah, you (since you are crazy) will commute at least 50% of trips through the end of March. It isn’t that many days. And Denver isn’t that bad to ride in, even when it isn’t.

IS IT FOR YOU?

It might be. Try something new. Talk your friends into it.

Hey guys, I’m happy to report that the bike finally arrived yesterday. Our mail system has been incredibly slow this year and I just got packages I’d sent to myself in September. I put the bike together and took it out for a test ride for a few miles, I have a few pictures, but since I was out by myself there are no action shots. I’ll get a friend to snap some more. The bike works really well in the snow up here and so far I’m pretty impressed with how easy it is to get around, especially on the lightly packed snow. It sinks in a bit in the really loose stuff, but is managable.

Thanks for all you guys went through in getting this bike down here, this is turning out to be a great alternative to cross coutnry skis, really fun to ride, and everyone here wants to give it a spin. More later.

AND A FEW DAYS LATER
We had the annual “race around the world” here at south pole. A friend and avid cyclist was really jonesing to ride the pugsley and I was content running, but we got some good pictures of the bike in action. It was a pretty crappy day, the bike paced the top runners through some terrible conditions and after the race several people took turns on it. I think the conditions made for some pretty cool pictures, figured it was time you guys got some action shots.

Wheels are hand built by us. Nice hubs, nice spokes, nice rims and built right.
SRAM Rival group means familiar and friendly shifting, stopping and gawking.
The Whisky Fork adds a questionable style and look. You won’t question it.

Price, if that is important to you, is $1850. Yup.

by Scott T.

Two of my friends got hit by a car and were killed in Colorado Springs on August 6th, 2008. The woman is more than likely going to be released with a slap on the wrist. She wasn’t supposed to be driving. She was on some assortment of drugs and she apparently did not have her vision corrected properly for driving.

To combat the car vs. bicycle war that many people aren’t aware of, we wanted to remind you of some of the rules that both cyclists and drivers forget:

1. Bicycles and cars are both NOT allowed on the sidewalk, unless otherwise posted.
- if you are on the sidewalk and hit a car or pedestrian (or mailbox), you will be treated as if you were in a car and did the same. It sounds crazy, but thems the facts. We have seen situations where the cyclist has had to pay for the damage to the car they slammed into on the sidewalk.

2. Bicycles and cars are both NOT allowed to run red lights.
- if you run a red light, you get a ticket. We know it happens, but be careful.

3. Bicycles and cars have to have running lights at night (blinking white and red for the bicycle).
- if you don’t have them on, other cyclists and cars cannot see you. In addition, you will be ticketed as if you were a car that forgot to turn on their lights and was driving around.

4. If a road rage altercation starts, it will get attention and follow up from our Police force. But, it has to be reported quickly. Get a license plate and description.
To report a case of road rage, call *CSP (*277)
This includes:
- Driver vs. Driver
- Driver vs. Cyclist
- Cyclist vs. Driver
- Cyclist vs. Cyclist

Everyone knows the best Rocky is Rocky III. And Back to the Future III is easily the best one, right? Well, we are following in the footsteps of the greats and having our own Bike Party III. The first one was insane. The second was so big it was dumb. And for this year, well… we shall see.

WHEN IS IT?
September 22nd from 5pm to about 8pm. That means beer flows at 5pm and may run out at any time after that.

WHO IS THIS PARTY FOR?
It is for you. You ride your bike in Denver. You make it awesome. We are celebrating you riding your bike in Denver. It can also be for your friends, but we know you are only friends with people who ride bikes.

HOW MUCH DOES IT COST?
Not enough to be included in your budget. And by that, we mean it is free.

However, we will be asking for donations for Bike Denver and Denver’s first High School Mountain Bike Team (which Salvagetti is sponsoring). When you buy a beer, you will need to reach in your pocket and donate as much as you can to these two (game changing) organizations.

And Basic Kneads Pizza will be out there,too. No need to pack a dinner.

WHEN IS IT?
September 22nd from 5pm to about 8pm. (We may say it again)

WHAT ELSE CAN WE EXPECT?
Music, a great raffle and some other surprises.

CAN I BRING ANYTHING?
Bring your friends and your friends’ friends. Hell, bring your friends’ friends’ friends. This will be more fun that way.

Several weeks ago, during a meeting between Salvagetti and Mavic, the race was discussed:
Mavic: “Are you interested in riding in a Mavic car during one of the stages?”
Salvagetti: “What does that mean? Like jumping out and helping the racers?”
Mavic: “Nope, just sit there and look pretty.”
Salvagetti: “Which stage would you recommend?”
Mavic: “Stage 2 should be incredible!”
Salvagetti: “Yeah, I’m in.”

Then came the bragging. Scott went on nonstop to people about how he was going to get to ride in the Mavic #1 car and how he was going to get to see these racers go over these huge passes.

Fast forward to 18 hours before the start of stage 2…
Scott finally found a ride to Gunnison and a place to stay (in exchange for some delicious whiskey). That left him sprinting to the Greyhound station for a 5 hour bus ride. Once there, things settled down for a long and crazy day.

Suzy Wargin of 9 News got the sweet seat in Mavic #1, so Scott got the spot in Mavic #2. As it turns out this is how the cars work for neutral support.
Mavic #1: Sits in the back of the peloton and helps out if needed.
Mavic #2: Sits at the front of the race but will drop back to cover the gap once the breakaway group is further than 1 minute ahead
Mavic #3: Covers #1 in the event that they stop to help or are called ahead for a second breakaway group

So, Scott actually scored the better spot… sorry Suzy.

If you didn’t follow the race it went like this:
Group leaves. Big nasty wreck on cattle guard. Small breakaway group (Mavic dropped in to offer support). Cottonwood Pass (SUPER INTENSE). Descend. Peloton sucks back in the riders. Crest Independence Pass (UNBELIEVABLE TURNOUT). Crazy descent into Aspen. Hincapie wins!

By this storyline you can see all the places where the Mavic #2 car could see some cool stuff. This will explain to you why the pictures and video are limited to what they are limited to. Interestingly, as everyone crested the final climb, the Mavic car was the first to come through and the first to get to Aspen, which meant we went very fast (easily close to 70mph). If you haven’t driven that fast down a twitchy mountain road, please don’t.

I traveled to Alaska this August to visit some (brand new) family. Specifically, we flew into Fairbanks. What a crazy place. First of all, 19 hours of daylight immediately messes with you. Then, as you start to get used to the 1992 cars everywhere, you look up to the hills and think… “I’ll bet the mountain bike trails here are INSANE!”

MAYBE?
First thing I did when I found out I was going to Fairbanks was figure out how I would get at least one ride in. I found a small place there that rents Kona Mountain Bikes, so I felt pretty good about it. I looked at MTBR to see if there were indeed trails to be had… yup, they have trails there.

AND?
I picked up my bike (a green Kona Blast) on the second to last day of my trip, determined to find a sweet trail. The next morning, I woke up, geared up and headed out for what several websites said would be pretty sweet singletrack. I headed through downtown on truly bike friendly paths, roads and yes, sidewalks (I was allowed to be there). The trail was about 10 miles away. I ended up accidentally finding some singletrack by the University and enjoying that as I pedaled my way to Ester Dome.

THE MAP
I had 2 maps to go on. Neither were very helpful. One was the iPhone map I could zoom in on. The other was this piece of garbage from a local rider. (I mean no offense about your map, by the way, except that I had no idea where I was at all at any point of riding on the trails.)

I was lazy in my research because I live in Colorado. I didn’t know I was being lazy. As I entered the small (neat) town of Ester, there was not a single sign pointing poor little old me to the trail. I did what anyone from Colorado would do and picked the steepest road up to see if I could find the trail.

I FOUND IT!
Sort of.
I saw a sign that said “Trail Entrance”. I took that to mean that I would go into the woods and from there would ride singletrack for a 6ish mile loop and come back down the hill and out of the entrance. Nope. I rode up this section of trail and ran into a skinny fire road. It was beautiful, captivating and different. I was genuinely excited because I knew I had found this trail. About 2 hours later, I was still riding on Dog Mushing Trails and Fire Roads. I had seen cars rusting trailside, wild cranberries and heard (but never felt) heavy rain. And I was very lost. And, truthfully, I was scared that a moose may find me and stomp me.

I FOUND IT, AGAIN!!
Then I found that same section of nice singletrack. I FLEW DOWN IT, EXCITEDLY. Then, I turned around and rode back up it. Then, I downed it again. Then I left. All in, I think it was about 40 total miles; not a bad haul.

THE POINT
The point is that had this trail been in Colorado, it would’ve been really well marked. It would’ve been really well ridden and really easy to access. We, ladies and gentlemen of Colorado, have no idea how lucky we are. But, nonetheless, we are very lucky.

So, go ride a trail you haven’t ridden before. You’ll find it, ride it and get back home safely with little to no effort. All because someone years ago took the time to make it fantastic.

Enjoy.

Enjoy; You are on your way.

DIRECTIONS TO PARK
From Federal Blvd. turn West on 8th ave and stay left. Park is on the south side between 6th and 8th.