Dan Action

Weather the Weather February 3, 2009

  Upon getting back from California, I entered into a sewing frenzy. Nathalie and I were trying to get a whole bunch of our stuff made for this punk flea market here in Philly. After a couple of intense days of working, we were able to bring somewhere close to fifty hats, ten pouches, fifteen neck warmers, and a bunch of random bike parts literally to the table.

The event itself was really pretty encouraging. Besides selling a fair amount of our wares, we got to talk to a lot a folks, and if nothing else, assert our presence to a greater base here.

Along those same lines, we have been getting a ton of positive feedback on the stuff that we have sold so far. It makes me really happy that you could actually enjoy and appreciate something that I make.

Anyway, with all that over, I feel I’ve been unpacking and cataloguing memories from my trip to California with Rapha. 752 miles in 7 days for a 49 hour ride week. Suffice to say, there is a lot there to go through. We saw the terrain and landscape completely change in the trip as we traveled roughly north to south. From lush coast and climbing through dense redwood forest, to mountainous pastures giving way to the brambled, brown hills of the Sierras, and finally the scrub and rocky facades of high desert climbs like Angeles Crest and Palomar mountain.  Carey, who pretty much kept us all from losing our minds got some amazing pictures and videos, and they’re up on her Flikr page.

Words are so small given the space that the ride has taken up in me. It would take too many to fill. The gorgeous, aching photos and film that has come from this are probably the best way to really see it.  As a photographer, you pretty much couldn’t miss. It was all that beautiful.  Jeremy also has some great content on the Embrocation blog.

Here the weather is erratic. Yesterday saw me getting out for a couple hours on the bike exploring some new routes; today huge snowflakes are falling with no signs of abatement. After riding in mostly sunny weather on the west coast, getting back on the trainer here is a special kind of torture given to those with only the deepest resign. Damn.

Got some good stuff to look forward to though. Battenkill, the Philly race weekend in early April, and maybe even the Grant’s tomb crit in NYC. Who knows, but I might as well use the fitness I’ve been gaining to an early season advantage, right?