French Polynesian Transporation photos

A little taste of Bora Bora for you. From our Beautiful transit boat designs inspired by American wooden boats of Jackie O days, to our Land Rover tour and bicycles for sale and rent. My favorites were the stylish boat ride and the previous post with the hotels work bikes.

GT demo April 11, SLaB clinic May 16, Downieville weekend June 6-7th.

Hi all - 

***MOVED TO TORO PARK IN SALINAS****

Instead of proposed clinic at Freemont Older this Sat.y April 11th, we'd like to invite you to Los Gatos Reservoir to meet the GT demo truck, and test ride any bike you might like to try! Ride around the Saint Joseph's trail and others - from that location!

**email me first, or check with Calabazas shop for details on this. I am not running it, and times/locations may change.

May 16-

Clinic in Cupertino is starting to fill up - hold your spot soon by email.

Downieville weekend. Arrive June 5th pm, ride Saturday the 6th & 7th. Depart anytime Sunday.

I'll post a deadline soon on commitment. A few rooms in our group's block are taken, and maybe you ought to commit to the others! Will be a blast!

Don't forget the Sea Otter - April 17, 18 and 19th

You don't have to race to enjoy yourselves there. Come watch pro's and amateurs, and shop the unique boutique booths to major brands and demo any bike brand!

Woo Hoo riding in the 1860's

SLaB October Update

Group Ride- Cadence Workout Group

Pete, Terry, Walter, Mayo, Bev and Nadine

Sunday was yet another stunning day in California, and we spent the afternoon at Saratoga Gap. As Walter said (with Holland accent), it's WORLD CLASS nice! We had a group from the office of Cadence' Design's corporate gym (Club One a.m. fit class) that wanted to go for an excursion, outside, on the dirt! Two beginner ladies, me, my honey Terry, and Walter with their physical trainer; workout guru, spin instructin'- Pete! 

Both gals don't have bikes, (one has a 15yr old number that is not up to speed), so we brought our GT demo bikes. It is so great to be able to get folks out on "real" bikes, or up-to-date mountain bikes so they can see what they'd like to invest in, and have a great first ride experience. 

Speaking of first trail rides, I was super impressed with all of their abilities to brave some rocky terrain. Mayo and Nadine made it down steeps, over rocks and on loose gravel corners. Even Walter admitted normally he might walk down to get past a super technical section, and was happy for the do-over mentality, to improve skills, and start clearing sections to dismount the bike less often. He did fantastic, and was a natural. Now if only I could get him to keep his helmet on! (don't worry, while riding on the trail - it was, but relunctantly was on flat fireroads).

Nadine and Bev, happy bikers.

The entire album from the day is posted on www.iamSLaB.com - photo page at the bottom!

Commuting update - lockers rock!

Decided to roll on a lighter bike today, this GTw Zaskar, which rocks! It's available for demo purposes at our SLaB events. (Always good for me to test the equipment). The only thing for commuting that I missed, was my basket for putting the Doppia Macchiato in, and the "da du da de da daaa" music in my head of the wicked witch theme song from Wizard of Oz. 

This is the way to treat an employee bike commuter though... gorgeous bike lockers, and plenty of them! at least capacity for 24 bikes, protected from the elements. Two per bin, cleverly divided w/ a diagonal board so your bike backs in with ease. Room for the front wheel and handle bars to turn perpendicular and steady the bike, taking a shorter footprint space.

The Best!

RACER SITING

Oh... and saw my fellow Webcor racer dude this morning! Turns out he buys a baguette and continues down that side of the road to either Petes, or the office park on the North Side - and leaves later than I usually do. I was running late today - so now I see why we've not been synchronized at the lights in a while!

Fantastic ride w/ Olympian, Pro's & friends!

Just a quick note to say how much fun we had riding with Jill Kintner and her friends - including another pro - Downhiller Kathy Pruitt! So cool! Details to come - just wanted to say Thanks for joining us - the entire album is posted on the SLaB website www.iamSLaB.com.

THURSDAY group ride w/ Jill Kintner -Bronze Medalist!

We are so honored to have the opportunity to ride with Jill. She loves mountain biking on trails (World Champ actually) as well as her BMX success (Olympic Medal!). Come join us for a ride on the technical and fun trails of Saratoga Gap. 

Mostly SLaB women - and some of their other halves - ahem - men, are coming to get autographs and ride. Please rsvp to Beverly at  b e v c o @ m a c . c o m - so we know to expect you, and how many will show up!

Meet at 5:45, ready to ride at 6. I'll be arriving with Jill, as we leave Calabazas bike shop at 5:30, at Hwy 9 and Skyline/35.

See you then!

Bev

BRONZE! CONGRATS JILL!

From Jill's Blog:

OLYMPIC MEDALISTS
Insane insane insane. 3 was my lucky number all day, lane 3 every round, finished third every lap, number 33,third overall, and USA took home 3 of 6 medals in BMX. my bronze, mikey's silver, and the Don's bronze. I am mid media blitz but will write more after this settles down. This experience has been incredible and to walk away a champion is something else. I'm very happy to be able to give something back to everyone who has supported me along the way. Think my dad was shining down on me today. Big thanks to Coach g, Bryn, mom, Paul, chris powell, kinger, USA cycling, Gt, red bull, Oakley,team sponsors, amy Stanton, Arielle, OTC, Steve spencer, Steve "mf" Bamel, Katie k, pete d, RM 59, Leigh d, Smapril, April lawyer, Anthony t, randy roberts, e-dub, mike raich, and everyone back home who has supported me through this!!!

We are so happy for you Jill - and proud of the entire BMX team! YAYAYAYAY!

Jill Kintner is in China now

Check out her first impressions on her blog - Day 1. Very interesting! Thanks to Slabber Alex - she keeps me up to date on Jill's blogs. The group of us that rode with Jill at Sea Otter, are simply giddy about "knowing" her or getting to ride with an Olympian!

Jill Kintner Blog

Next Wednesday is the first race, then Thursday the BMX Finals!

Jill Kintner is Olympic bound!

(Jill is first girl on left- can you imagine even holding your bike in that position for the start?!)

We are so excited that SLaB honorary member and clinic/coach - JILL KINTNER made the Olympic team! Let's keep cheering her on - as she is simply FABULOUS!

Jill Kintner is the only American girl who will represent BMX in the 2008 Olympic Games!

"I am proud of myself considering how much I have had to overcome to make this happen, and that less than a month ago I was under the knife getting part of my knee fixed." - Jill

Her news had mixed emotions, as her friend and room-mate at the training center was who she beat by 1 point overall - to get the position for the US team. Tears for Arielle's loss came first... but soon tears of joy will hopefully take over for Jill.

Check out these links for more information: 

Fellow SLaB member & journalist- Karen Kefauver

Jill Kintner's website

Associated Press story

GTbicycles

For the half-dozen SLaB members that got to meet and ride with Jill at the Sea Otter, this is even more exciting! We realize how special she is, and were so lucky to get advice from her as we did a riding clinic. Learning from an Olympic competitor!

Dirt to Dirt.... SLaB goes to Vascona Park

Afternoon cruise and test ride of a "real" mountain bike - Jaimie & Vix and Bev go for a bike path ride in Los Gatos. We went from our Pottery Studio Class - and attempting to build out of dirt or clay... to playing on the dirt. 

Fantastic way to enjoy an hour or two in our busy days. Vix escapes the photos, but the 3 of us enjoyed some easy going riding... object of afternoon; no fear, nothing too taxing, and to try something new! MISSION ACCOMPLISHED! You don't have to get completely geared up and do a big epic ride each time you get on your bike... sometimes just playing around on curbs and small trails - can improve your confidence and help start forming cycling muscles - for future rides that may be more challenging. I recommend doing this little treat often - to bring the fun factor back into riding, and introduce our bodies to moving around and trying little challenges!

Discovered lots of fun whoopdie doo's to practice technique & test the bikes out!

The bike path is sweetly marked for traffic, and we had almost none!

Your choice, the paved path above, or this nice little single track 

beckoning your fat tire's to come play!