Don Walker Interview on South Florida Fixed

There's a pretty solid Q&A with local frame builder and NAHBS founder, Don Walker, over on South Florida Fixed. He has some interesting stuff to say about custom frame building and the cycling industry today.

indycog launched about 2 weeks before NAHBS opened here in Indy last February, and Don was hugely supportive of us, which I'll forever be grateful for. To be honest, it was NAHBS and some beers with Don before and after that kind of opened my eyes to how the world of cycling is at once huge and small. I had been riding for 3 years by then, but had never really dealt much with the "industry" before I walked in to his shop to interview him for NUVO. Throughout the event, he introduced me to some awesome, supportive people who were nothing less than stoked to see what indycog could become.

NAHBS launches new site

Well, it looks like NAHBS 2010 is already lining up exhibitors, and with all of the preparations, they've launched a slick new Web site over at http://www.handmadebicycleshow.com/. The site contains some articles and profiles on some of the builders, major players, and long-time supporters of the show, along with info about the 2010 show, and highlights of past shows. And, I can't help but note the "Midwest NAHBS Best Yet" article on the splash page.

Looks good, Don. Keep up the good work, and I'm looking forward to/hoping I can get to Virginia for 2010. Dawson's on Main again soon?

We Are Awoken - My Article in Momentum Magazine

I was asked to write a small clip on what Indy and the Indy cycling community has been like since NAHBS left town. The piece appeared in the recent issue of Momentum Magazine:

Over the last few years, Indianapolis has been moving towards cycling with a new bike lanes initiative, legislation in the works to enact a three-foot passing law, a Mayor's Bike Ride, and growing media coverage. Still, the winter interrupts our cadence. When the North American Handmade Bicycle Show (NAHBS) rolled into town in the middle of February, it came with more than just pretty bikes. It came with a reason to wake up, stand taller, and suck in our guts.

"The city was alive with energy," says Nancy Tibbett, Executive Director of the Indiana Bicycle Coalition. "The number of people who rode to the show, in spite of the colder temperatures, was astounding. Our parking corral was full to capacity on Saturday afternoon."

Full story here.

Extra! Extra! NAHBS '10 in Richmond, VA.

Just got a call from Don Walker to let me know that next year's North American Handmade Bicycle Show is going to be held in Richmond, Virginia next year from February 26th-28th.

Sucks that it's not going to be in Indy again, but it's smart on their part to keep the show moving along, and some builders have been clamoring for an east coast show for awhile now. It'll likely pass back through our Circle again in a few years, but for now, just plan on a winter trip to ol' VA. It's only 10 hours by car. Congrats to the city of Richmond for winning the bid, and I'll hope to see you in February.

Thanks for the scoop, Don. Looking forward to the show!

NAHBS 2010

From the NAHB Facebook:

After a long week of driving to the last of the cities that needed to be inspected for hotel and CC needs for NAHBS, I am pleased to report that a formal announcement will take place next Wednesday, April 29th.

Better late than never?

Three weeks later, the Indy Star sounds off on NAHBS.

As glad I am that they gave some column space to NAHBS, it's something of a sad trombone moment to me that they are a few weeks late to the game. I'll grant that they did some preview articles for ArtBike! on Indy.com and had some ad space attributed to NAHBS, but as Indy's largest newspaper media outlet, I find it a little sad that a good portion of the comments on this article quip that they hadn't heard about NAHBS or had heard about it from another source.

And, despite what previewing they did for the event, 3 weeks later for a wrap-up of the event is a little shoddy. Not to mention, it seems the only reason this wrap-up even happened was because the columnist who wrote the piece, Daniel Lee, is an avid cyclist himself. So, thank you, Daniel. It really is a great piece on the event; just wish IndyStar would have gotten it in when it would have been a little more pertinent.

Lastly, you IndyCog readers should go and let the commenter who goes by Purdue know 6400 was a damn good number, and how great Indy really is to ride. Sure, we're not Portland, but we have momentum, and we have heart. Attitudes like his simply perpetuate the idea of Indy as a place not for bikes, and that is becoming more and more a lie every day.

More Gold Sprints Action

Shawn "The Shawn Wolf" Wolf chasing after Garret "Puppy" Chow:


Some people I don't recognize:

Go Figure.

Our buddy, Jeremy, snapped some great shots around NAHBS last Saturday. Just just up'ed them on his Tumblr.

Follow the link at the end of his highlights post for more shots from his Flickr that include some new pals--Don Walker, the Urban Velo crew, Alexis from Villin Cycle Works, and others.

A Healthy Mix

To anyone who has ridden in Indianapolis before NAHBS rolled into town, it's obvious that thousands of people who love bikes have converged on the city. They are everywhere, small packs of cyclists passing through the Indy traffic. And, they are from everywhere.

Indianapolis has long been known as the crossroads of the United States, and if evidence is needed, a cross-section of this year's NAHBS attendees should do the trick. Cyclists have come in from cities all across the United States, even all across the globe. There are people in town from Lansing, Nashville, Chicago, Philadelphia, Pittsburgh, Cleveland, Detroit, San Francisco, and the list stretches beyond to Toronto, Vancouver, and even Tokyo.

"It was a simple drive," says one show-goer. "Indy is simple to access by car, and those who would have flown to Portland have still flown to Indy."

With two-thirds of the United States within one day's drive, attendance has been record-setting, and positively eclectic. There are cyclists from across the spectrums, from urban single-speeders to pannier-laden commuters to carbon-gazing roadies. And Indy has presented something for all of them, whether the shenanigans of the ArtBike! party, or the simple nightlife and restaurants of downtown. NAHBS this year has truly been all things to all people, and Indy hasn't just simply welcomed NAHBS, but facilitated it to the point of embracing it.

(This was written for the NAHBS blog. Check it out for updates throughout the rest of the show.)

ArtBike!, Gold Sprints, and DuckPin Bowling

Some pride is building in Indy among the tired eyes of the builders, show-goers, and ArtBike! revelers. With the record setting 1700 first-day attendees, there was optimism in the streets as people made their way to their evenings. We were running into small packs of cyclists wherever we went, mostly new faces and mostly smiling. The only complaints we've heard so far about Indy are the weather.

Critical Mass was a welcome mass of the standard Indy crowd and a good mix of out-of-towners. The ride was fast lacked solid corking, something that the Indy CritMass seems to always struggle with, but overall a decent time, with about 100 people showing up to ride.

There was a lapse as people split up to get food and drink before converging on the ArtBike! party at Big Car Gallery in Fountain Square. For those who didn't go, you missed out, and for those who did go, I hope you can remember it. Momentum Magazine was in attendance with photo booth in hand--be sure to check their websites for the documented regrets of people making an ass of themselves (IndyCog crew included).

The highlight of the event was the Gold Sprints, with Indy Boosh crew cyclist "Masi Mark" Alford squaring off against Garret Chow of Mash SF in the finals. In the first run, Masi Mark was leading by 1.3 seconds, but a gliche in the gold sprints program threw the race before the 1k was over. Chow's experience and endurance paid off, taking first by .4 seconds in the second run. Chow ended up with a set of Rasta Velocities, and Indy ended up with some pride in being able to hang with the best.

Way to kick ass, all of the riders who pushed it in the gold sprints, and to ArtBike! and Momentum Magazine who made the evening as boosh as it could be.

NAHBS got the cover!

If you find yourself near a NUVO stand this week, check it out. You will see a cover that looks a lot like the cover in this picture:

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After some hard work, we managed to get NAHBS on the cover of this week's issue of NUVO. As I mentioned before, Don is a really great guy, with a real heart for bikes and recently, Indianapolis. He and NAHBS deserved this cover, and a lot of people are happy that he got it, to say the least.

The cover photo, along with the photos featured with the article, are compliments of that one guy we keep talking about on here, Jeremy Albert.

For those of you who don't know much about the journalism world (including myself), whether or not a story gets the cover is about 30% dependent on the quality of the story/writing, and 70% the quality of the photographs taken to run alongside the story. Let's face it: good writing isn't the first thing that captures a person's attention when looking at a newspaper cover.

So, in short, I got the byline, but the real credit goes to Jer. Next time you see him out and about, offer to buy him Yats or a new tube (that Dano will likely need in the near future anyway).

Click here for the full, online article in NUVO.

Click here to see Jeremy's photogallery of Don Walker.

NAHBS Weekend Weather Report

Looks like a chilly, but decent weekend for NAHBS coming up. For those coming from out-of-town, I'd pack your tights and wool jerseys, but unless you're coming early (Thursday set-up, or Friday opening morning), it looks like you can leave your fenders at home.

Ben, Jer, and I rode last night in weather pretty much the same as what's expected for the weekend. I wore thermal bibs under jeans, a baselayer, armwarmers, a wool jersey, a good pair of windproof gloves, a wool beanie, and a bandana around my face/neck; I added a wind-resistant jacket later in the evening after the sun had been down a few hours.

I was a little chilly for the first 5 minutes, but once I warmed up, it was the perfect layering scheme. I was told once by my friend Debra that if you're warm before you start a ride, you're wearing too much. This is up there on the best-advice-I've-ever-gotten list.

Indianapolis Hardcourt Bicycle Polo

After a good while of talk, a group has finally managed to find enough poloists (Poloeurs? Poloids? Um. People who play polo on bikes) together to get some bike polo going in Indy. If you've never heard of or seen bike polo, is a lot like real polo, only on bikes instead of horses.

So, it looks like this:


Instead of like this:


It seems that this has happened at the perfect time, as players from at least 4 other cities have confirmed that they will be in attendance at NAHBS this weekend, mallets in hand and looking for a pick-up game. They are planning to gather at the Waterford booth around 1:30 p.m. on Saturday.

The only detail they're a little sketchy on is a solid place to play. If anyone reading this knows of a good parking lot, basketball court, or tennis court that would be open through the weekend (the closer to the Convention Center the better), feel free to contribute in the comments section here. Poloids everywhere will be thankful.

For more information, check out the Indianapolis Hardcourt Bicycle Polo club page, and also this thread on the League of Bike Polo website.

NAHBS next week in Indy

Sitting here today, I realized that we've posted about a lot of things surrounding the North American Handmade Bicycle Show (NAHBS), but nothing specifically about NAHBS. If you're sitting an Indy, and you like bikes, and you haven't heard about this show, then you're already missing out on getting to rub it in to thousands of cyclists around the nation/world who would give a left nut to make it to this show. Um. Women, and Lance, you can give...something else. Your left arm? I got nothing.

Anyway. NAHBS. It's going to be in Indy this year for the first time. Ever. For the past 4 years, it's been on the west coast, and cyclists all over the Midwest and east coast have said, "Damn. I'd give my left nut/arm/whatever to go to that; I wish lived closer." Well, you can this year. It's happening next weekend, February 27th-March 1st at the Indianapolis Convention Center downtown.

It's going to be ridiculous. Some of the prettiest bikes you've ever seen are going to be at this thing. Seriously, if you're not going, you're doing yourself a diservice.

And, if not for yourself and pretty bikes, then go for Don Walker, the owner/namesake of Don Walker Cycles here in Indy and founder of NAHBS, because he's an awesome dude who created something amazing and brought it to Indy for us, and deserves to see it succeed.

And, if not for yourself, pretty bikes, or Don, do it for Indy and the Midwest. We all know how often we are underdogged. I've heard the question, "Why Indy?" so many times in regards to NAHBS being held here; it's almost hard to stomach. Let's answer the question.

Check out more about the 2009 North American Handmade Bicycle Show here.

Local Celeb: Congrats, Jer.

Our good friend and contributor to our fledgling site, Jeremy Albert, went with me to shoot some photos for a NUVO article about Don Walker and the upcoming North American Handmade Bike Show.

Evidently, someone over at the not-so-fledging site, Urban Velo, stumbled upon his Flickr, and featured him in a post. Check out his feature on UV and show him some love.

And, if you didn't know about Urban Velo before, you should. Great dudes, and great work. Subscribe to them if you can afford it, or you can also read the copy Joe's Cycles always has laying around. They'll be at NAHBS next week, too, so check out their booth.