I finally got a pro contract.

Name- The (dis)honorable mayor of Drunkingham

Age- 37.5

Profession- Former messenger, and monkey wrench. Present art fag, word slinger, Swobo buffoon.

Race classes- Single speed, Masters A and sometimes B cross, cat 11 road, I put the low in 'anglo'.

Soulcrafts I own- One. TheMonsterCrossVisionQuestVirginBuster. I call it 'Shaft', but Sean calls it 'The Dirtbomb'.

Why I ride- The experience of the adventure, to crack a can in the woods, so as I dont get no fatter than I is, to drum up memories of being a little kid loosing myself in the woods with nothing ahead of me but opportunity.

..and also to get rad..

Best moment on a bike- Most recently, a high speed 5 mile cat and mouse with an incredibly belligerent and unreasonable motorist, only to finally have him see me pearched above him on an overpass. As he crawled beneath in the slow-as-molasses traffic and glanced up at my smiling face, he knew what was about to be deposited on his windshield.

My aim is true.

Favorite bands- Shellac, Rocket From The Crypt, The Fluid, Mudhoney, Fugazi, Russian Circles, The Black Sheep, Urge Overkill, Three Years Down, The Dirtbombs, Drive Like Jehu, The Cows, Public Enemy, The Jesus Lizard, Mule, Big Black, Ben Harper, The MC5, Olive Lawn... The list is all on vinyl, and could go on and on.

Why Soulcraft? Truth be told, Ive amassed an amazing collection of friends who are blessed with skill with the torch and I have a collection of bikes made by each of these folks. The Soulcraft however has a special place in my heart due to the fact that this bike single handedly covers every style of riding I might find myself wanting to engage in in a single outing.

Start on the road, peel off onto the fireroad, off onto the rock stewn elevatorshaft of a descent, 

back onto the fire road and then off to the alley cat... Its like a schizophrenic retard on steroids. If it was a person, youd want to give it a wide berth, but as a bike, its truly aces.

Children repulse me.

You know, but thats just me.

Some people think 'Everybody loves Raymond' is funny, but I dont.

Its the variations and differences of us that makes being a human being so wonderful.

Were all like dreamcatchers, each throwing a plethora of vibes all around the proverbial room in a whimsey of spectacularation and fetid explosivity.

The Flagstaff Soulcraft contingent

Hi, I'm Linden and I am (I think) about the only non-Nor-Cal er on the Soulcraft team. A little about me:


Name: Linden Kimmerer
Age: 25
Location: Flagstaff, AZ
Profession: retail manager for Absolute Bikes
Race classes: MTB pro, sometimes singlespeed, CX 1, road 4
Soulcrafts: baby blue 13.5" Option 3, 49cm Groundskeeper in John Deere green


Why I ride? because getting out in the woods farther than you possibly could walking lets you see amazing things, because every fallen log in the trail is a new challenge, because speed is addictive, and because actually riding keeps me sane after talking about bikes all day.


Best moments on a bike: the first time I cleaned all of Rocky Ridge trail, keeping up with the boys down Tunnel trail, and finishing 2 hard all-day singlespeed races with a smile still on my face
Favorite bands: Midnite, Abja (Virgin Islands reggae)
Why Soulcraft? How many other people get to talk to the guy who actually makes your sweet bike? With what other company can you have your dream bike, right down to haggling over the color? And it's pretty cool to be the only one at the races on a steel hardtail that makes people go "nice bike!"

I spent the season racing all over AZ and the 4-corners region. We went to most of the Mountain States Cup races in Colorado and New Mexico, and wound up pretty successful (AZ state champ, 3 podium finishes in Super D, and a few top-10s in cross country in Colorado). Highlight of my season, though, was the local racing around Flagstaff at the end of the season. There was an underground 12-hour singlespeed race over the best trails in the state, a hot-lap off road beer crit, an 83 mile offroad slog down the rim then back up to Jerome, and some sweet DH racing. Lastly a Dawn-to-Dusk singlespeed event in Phoenix that poured rain the whole time, it was alternately fun and terrifying due to the knee-deep washed that flowed all day. Check out photos http://myracepics.com/search.php?e=238&s=53 Good times.

Hope I'll get out to Cali to meet some of y'all this year, if anyone is heading out this way let me know and we can ride.

I know I left my keys around here somewhere.

hi, i'm matt wills

here’s a little bit about me. written according to our fearless leader…

Name - matt wills

Age - 36yrs

Profession - licensed professional architect and recovering bike-shop service manager

Racing class - single speed mountain bike

Soulcraft bikes - two flat bar non-suspension corrected soulcraft holyrollers, one with gears and one SS. one drop-bar holyroller fixed gear, also non-correct, sometimes run freewheel.

Why ride - i ride to be outside and to be in the country off the main roads. i relish the long rides out in the boonies. i also love the feeling of a good two wheel drift thru dusty hardpack narrow trail.

Best biking moments - finishing the Laramie enduro, finishing the Dirty Kanza 200 and finishing the TransIowa V3.

Favorite Bands – way too much music to only list a few bands. i love music, it’s a big part of who i am. aesop rock to zappa. outkast to marvin gaye. miles to weather report. iron maiden to paul oakenfold.

Why Soulcraft - my soulcraft bikes handle better than any other bike i’ve ridden. they are comfortable for extended periods of time. comfortable enough to exploit the advantages of the 29er wheel without those silly springy things.

i’ll have to post some stuff up about “training” and some ride reports and race stories as they occur. hope to meet you all sometime. -mw

Daniel Boyes

forestbiker

Age: 17
Gender: Male
Astrological Sign: Libra
Zodiac Year: Horse
Industry: Student
Location: Inverness : CA : United States

About Me:
My name is Daniel Boyes. I am seventeen years old. I am a senior at Marin academy High School. I enjoy all forms of Mountain Biking, and I am an avid outdoorsman. I race in the Varsity class in the Norcal High School Mountain Bike League. I do not, as of yet own any Soulcrafts, but I will in the near future. I ride because I love the outdoors, and because I feel really good after taking a long ride. The most memorable moment in my biking experience was the time I decided to wheelie going about twenty miles per hour. I wanted to impress my little brother and close friend, and I was, put simply, showing off. I ended up going over backwards after cranking too hard, and my left ankle has clicked ever since.My favorite bands include Bob Dylan, Bruce Springsteen, The Beatles, Mark Knopfler, Dire Straits, Bad Company, The Clash and Shawn Mullins. I ride for Soulcraft because I believe in supporting small bicycle companies instead of gigantic corporations. Soulcraft is all about having fun and cycling because you want to, not because you want money or fame.

profile:

Name: Michael Hosey
Age: 20
Profession: University of Colorado Architecture environmental design
Race class(es): Cross elite U23, Mountain semi-pro, road???
Soulcrafts you own: Option 3, groundskeeper
Why you ride (not race): I ride becuae I race
Best moment on a bike: crossing the line knowing there is nothing left in me
Favorite band(s): all music
Why Soulcraft?: becuase everyone at soulcraft is for real, no shammy-sniffers on this team.

Cross report: This cross season started out back in September in Vegas for the inaugural crossvegas. The event in Vegas was pretty rowdy with tons of fans screaming, throwing beer on the racers, and tempting us poor cyclist with dollar bills on the course. Sean, Matt, and Yuri were present at the race in their tacky get-ups (these guys were ridiculous, probably their prom attire from way back when). The race started very fast with an elite field of racers from around the world and was quickly strung out. Starting in the back-mid section it was very hard to move up. I aggressively tried to pull forward on a sketchy turn and was taken out, all jumbled up and my brakes below the rim I hopped back on the bike in dead last, but managed to catch quite a few guys before being pulled with about 20 min. to go. The rest of the season I have been roller coasting up and down placing top tens in most of the boulder cx series (that is when I don't get flat tires! tubulars certain wheel company??????) This coming weekend I'm racing in the Colorado state championships, then off to Kansas for collegiate cross nationals! Finally after the nationals are over my 11 1/2 month season will come to an end and I can take a couple weeks relaxing before throwing down the big base miles, off to the lighthouse we go Yuri!!!!

HEY

Hi everyone-let me introduce myself, some of you know me, some don't - my name is Tony, and I live down in SJ. I get up round your area every now and then. Let's ride sometime ev'rybody (couldn't make the throwdown ride against the Olympic club last weekend-boo-hoo):

NAME: Tony Leal

AGE: 39 (I'm old)

OCCUPATION: Assistant to the assistant

RACE CATEGORIES: CAT 3, MASTERS 35+ 1,2,3

SOULCRAFTS OWNED: Royale 52cm

WHY DO I RIDE: To maintain sound body and mind...

BEST MOMENT ON A BIKE: Everyday the shiny side stays up...

FAVORITE BANDS: Pearl Jam, Neil Young, THE Dave Brubeck

WHY SOULCRAFT? An all-purpose bike, yet it won’t clash with your favorite outfit. Great attention to detail, superb ride, the weapon of choice for any good Kung-fu master, and now available in rally sport package-need I say more? Their bikes have that classic styling and appeal that the mainstream, cookie-cutter rides just can’t match. It's an honor and a privilege to be part of the Soulcraft family…

See you soon-

Hello

This is only a test---coming soon to a theater near you-

Fall 2007 ABC Rides return to Marin County

Hey Soulcrafties,


Well, we headed out to search for the large item trash sites lurking in the Marin County backroads as part of our bi-annual Tour de Trash Rides.

See http://www.abcrides.blogspot.com/ for more details.

The warmer weather held up for our 8:00AM start time from Ghost Rider's place. After warm coffee, Redneck, Schletcko, Ghost Rider, Hang 1o Tim and your's truly, went out Spring Hill Road and were surprised to find our first large trash site waiting for us so early on in the ride. No parts were worth it for the Redneck after his inspection.

Onwards towards Chileno Valley, and the pace started showing signs that this ride might turn into a training ride as the large litter items were expected to be scarce. Not to worry, the "Kemmelberg" never disappoints as the creek lends itself to an easy dumping ground. Again, refrigerators, mattresses, tires were the target of our GPS receiver waypoints in the hopes that the Marin County Conservation Corps will be able to get most of the litter out of the deep ditches.

After the traditional sprint to the "outhouse" that Redneck won but was unanymously and immediatedly voted as disqualified, we settled in for the climb up Wilson Hill for the next known trash site located at the peak of the ascent. Fortunately, Ghost Rider was trying to respect his low heart rate training mandate that kept the testerone where it belonged for a late Fall ride up the climb. Unfortunately, another huge group of cyclists were out on their training ride to Marshall Wall and local pride was brewing. Quick descent down towards Walker Ranch with our "sister" group was distracted with a few trash sites along the way that forced us to ride hard to catch up. The ride was on!

Wait a minute, this is supposed to be the easy going Tour de Trash rides. Not this time, as the Marshall Wall was nearing. At the foothill, only Hunt Moore was the last rider hanging off the back that we could see. Like a dangling carrot, Hang 10 couldn't hold back and went for Gold with Redneck in hot pursuit. Ghost Rider couldn't resist and threw caution from the coach's training log to the wind. Hanging on, GR and me started collecting the stragglers and Redneck faded into the Bonk Abyss of the Winter rides. Reaching the summit, we split into 2's as other duties beckoned but everyone made it back OK. See you on the wet roads.

Team BLOG Test...

This is a test post by Mitch.