I would like to take this moment to send a belated thank you to a threesome of cyclists who passed through Minneapolis this summer. Eric Reichmuth, his girlfriend Randi Smith and her dad Jeff Smith rode their bikes from Washington state up through Canada, down through the north central US and across to Maine.

They got here at the Surly World Domination headquarters and were given a little tour of the facilities. Since it was such a nice day, I left early to lead them out of town. It got late and they decided to set up camp in my backyard. On the way home after a quick beer stop, Eric let me ride his fully loaded touring rig. Going from my singlespeed Pacer to that 60-something pound ride was a trip in itself. I lasted about two miles before giving up. But that was enough to get me inspired to do some light touring next year.

The next morning I sent them off with a bottle of our homemade wine because I felt guilty for not having any homebrewed beer on hand. This photo was snapped just before they were leaving town eastward. Notice Jeff was riding an Xtracycle equipped Surly Instigator with platform pedals and non-SPD sandals. That's tough!

A few months later, I received a sweet carepackage in the mail. Eric had remembered our conversation about hoppy beers and he meticulously bubblewrapped 8 bottles of El Toro Brewery's Imperial IPA, IPA and Stout. Eric, they were delicious and I barely shared them. Along with the beer were some nice photos and an article from Eric's local newspaper in Morgan Hill, Ca about his adventures, all laid in a bed of popcorn which I ate for breakfast. His letter said they made it all the way to their ultimate goal in Bay Harbor, Maine and was getting used to the real world back in California.

Thanks to the 3 of you for inspiring others to drop the things in your life and go ride a bike. Whether it's for the afternoon or for 3 months, riding can be the best source of freedom we have left in this country.

You know us. We like all kinds of bikes. Road, mountain, whatev. If it has wheels and operates under human power, we'd like to try it. But deep in our chests beat the hearts of single speeders. So an event like Single Speed World Championships? Well, hell, that's the cat's meow. Many of you have probably received an email recently from Mr. Eric Roman, head bitch in charge of SSWC05; it outlined what's been happening on their end of things. Phaty and Radical Germans who organized SSWC04 left some pretty big shoes to fill in terms of planning but from the sounds of it, things are humming along nicely in PA. From Eric:
"The course is just about set and should offer challenges for every rider. From the challenging climbs, twisting ridge top trails, and fast fire roads,the venue will be one to remember. Look for a 25 mile single loop with vistas, sustained climbs, and a 'bail out' for the less fit. 'Aid Stations' will be located at key spots to re hydrate and regroup with the boys." And girls, I hope. ;-)
They're still working on registration but I'd like to offer one thing up: SSWC04 suffered a pretty big hurdle from people who signed on and then did not show up. Phaty and the Radical Germans didn't ask for cash up front. They planned the thing on the honor system, which worked pretty well except that there were quite a few folks who signed up but never showed and didn't bother to let them know. I am not sure how the planning committee will set things up in 05, but I hope they do prepay registration, and that the registration fee is nonrefundable (and it's $30. not all that much money to commit). These things take a hell of a lot of work and a lot of what gets planned depends on the money people spend to attend. If you sign up and don't show, that's money that has been spent already out of the organizers' pockets. You should come to SSWC if you have the time and finance to do so....it's a great event. But if you can't make it, please let them know. That's all I'm saying.
O.k., I'm done. ER continues:
"The date (Aug. 20/21) brings riders to town on the quietest weekend yielding empty restaurants, no crowds, and plenty of lodging. In a town used to dealing with 100,000 beer swillin’ rowdy football fans, we shouldn't even set off the radar-imagine that!"
Do you need more convincing?! Get tready, it's comin' at you faster than a Karate Monkey on singletrack!

I've heard some people say our frames work well, but they ain't pretty. Well, these new colors were pretty enough to make it onto some new Surly frames.

The Karate Monkey will be available in same old Black or the new Skid Mark Brown metallic. Going away is the Campstove Green. 18" and 20" Brown frames are in stock now and 16" and 22" available around Febraury.



The Cross-Check is now available in same old Black or the new Dark Green metallic, which replaces the Blood Red frameset and complete bike. Dark Green framesets are available now in most sizes, while Dark Green Complete bikes will be available around February.



The Steamroller in Dave Gray will be replaced with a Charcoal metallic color. These should be available within two weeks.

O.K., one more time on this one: many of you have been asking about the flask cage we displayed on the bass boat brown Karate Monkey at Interbike. We did not make it (sure wish we had) and do not distribute it. It was made by Joseph Ahearne of Ahearne Cycles in Portland, Oregon. He calls it the Spaceman Bicycle Flask Holster (snazzy name, eh?) and has put them into production. Call him (503-473-2102) or visit his website, www.ahearnecycles.com, to purchase one. Your brain will thank you but your gut might hate you.

PINK 1x1 frames are all gone. Thanks for playing.

It seems like we have a million things happening right now. Here is a listing the projects we've got going and when you might expect them to surface in your local bike shop:

• Stainless chainrings- after just one production run, we had to completely switch gears and find a new manufacturer for these. If you noticed, we are out of almost every size and will be for about 2-3 months, roughly.
  
• Cogs- if you have not already heard, we've redesigned our track cogs, added some sizes, and are making a splined cog for singlespeeding on Shimano-type freehub bodies. 13-22 tooth in all models. These have taken a bit longer than normally expected due to circumstances you most likely don't care about. At this point, we cannot put a timeframe on their arrival, not even a guess-timate. In addition to the track cogs, the lockring has been redesigned to have more thread engagement.
  
• New frame colors- The Karate Monkey in Campstove Green will be replaced with a Skidmark Brown Metallic, the Blood Red Cross-Check will be replaced with a Dark Bile Green Metallic and the Dave Gray Steamroller will be replaced with a Charcoal Metallic. These will be in stock in a week or two. Old colors will slowly just go away.
  
• Nice Racks- the rear nice rack production is just starting very soon. We expect about 2 months on these. The fronts are still being worked out in the prototype phase. Hopefully production will start in one month, so they'll be about 3 months from reality. Weights and prices are yet to be determined.
  
• Wool jerseys- we ran out of stock on many longsleeves at a bad time, sorry. We should have more in stock mid-December, just in time for the fatman to slide down your chimney with one.
  

• Pugsley- our ride-over-anything prototype has gotten alot of miles lately. Let me tell you this honestly, I climbed something last weekend I've never been able to climb before. Not to mention rode UP an off camber beach of soft deep sand without flinching! This bike is our answer to IMBA's trail campaign slogan "what would we do without trails?" More prototypes will be made and tested this winter, crossing our fingers for production models ready by summer. We'll write more about this beast as it gets some ugly action this winter.
  
  
• 4" tires to match the Large Marge rim and Pugsley frameset- We're still a long ways away from this. Most likely summertime, around the release date of Pugsley. Full sized tubes as well, don't worry, we try to cover our bases.
  
  

Thank you for being patient with all these things. We appreciate your excitement and are doing our bst to get them to you ASAP. Some of this stuff is not up on the website in the product listings yet, so stay tuned for that. Cheers.

Remember back in March, a long long time ago, we got some limited edition PINK 1x1 frames in stock? We had a hidden stash of them here and now they are in stock for the masses. Well, not masses really, more for the few folks that act quickly to get the small numbers in stock. They are only available in 14", 16" and 18" sizes. It's a stock 1x1, just different paint. I'm guessing they will be gone within a couple days, so if you really wanted one, now is the time. Once they are gone, they are gone for good. To help your bike shop order these, the part numbers are:
14" pink, FM0070
16" pink, FM0071
18" pink, FM0072

BBBRRRRRRR. It was a cold 7a.m. start this morning to meet Ms. Mia at Mel-O-Glaze bakery this morning. There was frost everywhere, which looked pretty cool against the fading yellow maple leaves. It was by far the coldest morning since probably April, and my lungs felt it. But this is the time of year that separates the true bike commuters from the summer-only clan. This is when you start seeing the same small group of people on your commute to work. Often times you see them in the same exact place going home as you did that morning. I love that friendly nod of the head when you know eachother are part of the population that has figured it all out. Keep riding, stay outside, stay fit, stay happy.

Folks, I trust you are all going to vote tomorrow, RIGHT? Don't make me move to Canada, even though they're really nice up there, it's too damned cold. Let's all make an effort to tell our employers we're going to be a little late tomorrow because we have to exercise our rights to vote.

I don't want to drink the Kool-Aid this year.

Saturday was the Homie Fall Fest, a local one speed feel good deal that happens around here every fall. Good turnout, especially considering the weather. About 50 people braved the misty moisty air, leafy and somewhat greasy (but not fully muddy) trails, and with reckless abandon dominated the Theo Wirth backwoods that our pals at MOCA have helped legalize and maintain. If you're in the area and have not ridden here before, it is well worth getting lost once trying to find them. The wet plank-over-log claimed a couple of people this year, and the Spankinator did too (Backer stacked it and concussed himself a little but appears non the worse for wear today). Best crash of the day goes to little Campbell K. who, with the whole crowd cheering him on (he actually said "no cameras!"), rode the runout onto the beach on his little 16" wheeled bruiser, only to stack onto his face at the end. Hurl helped him learn to breathe through the pain, Mimi busted out the first aid pack and cleaned up his bruise (right between the eyes), and he was on his bike again before he and his dad got back to the car. What a trouper! Also big thanks to the fine folks at One On One Bike Studio for delivering a wheel to the dude who taco'd his so bad the rim actually began to crack. A phone call and not quite 2 beers later, Gene and Josh showed up with another wheel and he was riding again. That just kicks ass, a shop that delivers to a ride out in the middle of the woods! Too much activity to recount, so I'll stop here with a big thanks to all who did not let a little rain stop them from making it yet another successful Homie.
More local rides coming up, including another Hare N Hound from Gene at One On One and Chortbowl, brought to you by the evilcycing crew, probably on the same trails. Ought to be much like the Homie but with feats of strength, which means a lot of falling down. Also, once winter's in full swing, the BrauSovCor Collective, this year's hosts of the Homie, plan to bring back the Snowball's Chance In Hell Formula Ice Race. Keep your eyes right here for news as developments warrant.

p/s/ THIS JUST IN: As I was writing this, Surly got an email from John Evingson, one of those people who actually uses things like Large Marge rims to their true potential, to let us know about this. Not for the faint of heart.