Coffee and Bicycles... yum

Mike over at GamJams.net has been working extremely hard in building this local cycling media hub over the past year or two. It is really beginning to show, both in the network’s visibility and (over a million page views so far, which doesn’t include people like me are using rss feeds to get there gams) and some solid partnerships being built throughout the community. One thing that has been falling into line lately is the idea of GamJams Network sponsorship. So far there are 5 sponsors backing the organization including such common companies such as Rudy Project and Accelerade along with some very high quality lesser known companies such as Velo Vie Bicycles and 53 x 11 Coffee. Velo Vie makes some fantastic carbon frames at some even better price points. 53 x 11 on the other hand, well they sell coffee of course. With a bicycling theme and a cycling advocacy approach. Two things I personally love.


Naturally I had to try the coffee so I ordered two bags of it back around Christmas time and I’ve been enjoying it since (well I enjoyed it for a while though sadly it is all gone now). I actually kept one bag, the Big Ring brew and gave the second, the Early Break to Brian as a Christmas present. Brian has a more particular attitude towards things like coffee so I figured he could be the real test of the product and I told him he has to write me a review of the coffee.


The Big Ring on the other hand was excellent. One thing I do notice is high acidity in coffee. When it gives me heart burn while drinking it, it’s a bit too much for me. Generally that only happens with the crap at work. This stuff was perfect; a really nice balance of flavor and acidity. Great way to warm up after a cold ride or get ready to head out on one. One strange thing I noticed that I’ve never seen before was that it frothed up a couple of inches in my coffee press when I added the water. Not a bad thing, I’ve just never seen it before.

So, if you really like good coffee and are willing to pay for it, I highly recommend 53x11 both for the excellent coffee and the excellent company behind it. Unfortunately finding my general go to brand of 8 O’Clock coffee on sale at the Safeway for $3.50 the other weekend I won’t be making the full time switch to 53x11 anytime soon, though for a treat, I’ll always keep them in mind.

GamJams Survey: Embrocation

This weeks survey is slightly obscure at this level of cycling I'd say. I had no clue what the stuff was until reading some reviews last year on Belgium Knee Warmers on some brands of it. Don't really see myself trying any out at this point, though I also don't even use chamois cream yet either. Chamois cream though seems a lot more reasonable and necessary then a lather of skin warming goo.



Anyway, whatever your feelings are on it, take the poll on my side bar and let the world know how you feel about it.

My big fat CY08 Wish List

A while back, Mike from GamJams.net asked all the ambassadors for some ideas (basically a wish list) for products we’d like to gain access to through the sponsorship program. Me being on a working/non-biking sabbatical of sorts did not manage to put anything together for it, despite the fact I’d long before started to come up with some ideas of what I could use this off-season. Granted my list more revolved around how much everything would cost and ultimately how damn expensive cycling is, but in the end it really was my wish list for the year. So, without further ado, here is my official wish list for calendar year 2008:

First and foremost: an indoor trainer! I had borrowed one from Scott last year but living with someone else and riding it on the third floor of the apartment complex, I didn’t use it nearly as much as I should have. Mostly due to how loud it would be which probably went directly through the walls and vibrated through the whole building. Now, living in my own place on the ground floor I won’t feel as bad about breaking one out and putting in some good miles in my living room in front of the latest netflix movie. I should add here also a nice long pair of head phones or wireless head phones so I don’t have to blare the volume too loudly.

Next would be gels, goos, bars and drinks for training rides. I’ve only had limited experience with getting into these and have never actually bought a full box or jug of them though I understand they are very helpful and even important for longer and more serious training sessions. In my marathon training I made the greatest use of these and was very thankful to have them throughout the way. This year with my planned additional training I’d like to really invest in my nutritional goods.

My next big desire would be a new hard tail mountain rig. I know this is well outside the region of a gamjams ambassador sponsorship deal, but it is something I’d really like to look into for this coming season. At this point the majority of my racing for the season will likely be road, but I’ve recently made some rumblings about doing a 13 hour and a 24 hour team race plus I’d like to get out for Wednesdays at Wakefield again and maybe even do a couple of the cranky monkey series races. My current mt rig is a 97 or 98 Trek 6000; a big deal in my eyes back in 97/98 when I bought it brand new as my first suspension mt bike but a bit dated and low end now. The bike is in amazing condition considering the lack of care I’ve provided it, however the front shock needs to be serviced and more then likely replaced and I dream about disc brakes on a nightly basis. I’ve loved that bike for a long time and have sworn for years I’d never sell it, though now I’m beginning to feel differently about the whole thing.

Gloves, caps, socks…; I feel like you can never have enough of any of these. They all wear through relatively quickly and are all relatively important to cyclists. As for sponsorship, these are inexpensive to produce and probably couldn’t provide much of a loss to companies if they were to be, say given away for free… Sweet sock, gloves and especially cycling caps are great and visible options for advertising a brand.

Helmet: I only have one helmet and it doesn’t even match my kit! Kidding, sort of. I’m not sure there are too many helmets out there to match a lime green kit. It would however be nice to have more then one stinky helmet lying around. It’d also be good to keep one at work so I’m not always the idiot at Hains with out a helmet for the noon ride.

Shoes: My road shoes are a bit tight to be layering anything underneath them for cold weather riding. What can I say I got them on sale. Hopefully somewhat soon I’ll get my hands (or feet really) on a decent pair that’s maybe a half size too big so I can layer up the sock s and stop loosing feeling in my feet every time I step outside to ride.

Tires: I’m sort of partial to my Michelin Race Pro 2’s and my Specialized Armadillos on the fixie, though that’s probably due to the fact that they’re the only tires I’ve really ever ridden. That said, the damn things a f’in expensive when it comes down to it. Even just replacing them every year is tough to squeeze especially when I add in the rest of the upgrades, nutrition and new bikes etc… Plus I should add tubes here… once again something you can never have enough of and go through like water.

Wheels: I NEED spare wheel sets. I’ve finally bought my first wheel set which was for my cross bike and I’ll probably use them as spares for my season but it’d be nice to get a nice pair of racing wheels. These though will probably be the last thing I choose to blow my cash on.

Finally, Saddles: I’d like to outfit all my rides with my choice of saddle. This means $100+ per bike generally. For road we’re looking at the Specialized Toupe Gel saddle, while my mountain seat of choice is the Specialized mountain equivalent. I actually tested it when I bought the Cannondale and felt like I was riding in a Cadillac or something; a bit much for a road bike but perfect for a mountain rig where weight is of much less concern.

Oh yeah, and I almost forgot. I'm hoping to land a new Cross bike for next season to hopefully help motivate my butt to race more cross!

Well there you go; I already sent it to Santa who blew me off this year, so now I’ll just go ahead and throw it out here. Anyone? Anyone?

Oh well, it was worth a try…

GamJams.net Ambassadors Peloton

Well, I’ve really done it now. Breaking with historical Racing Union practices I’ve gone and actively sought out sponsorship as a bicycle racer (I use that term “bicycle racer” lightly of course and really I should say as a blogger who races bikes). Well, ok so not really but I’ve joined the GamJams.net Ambassadors Peloton and can’t wait to see where it takes us. The group is surprisingly large; I’m not sure I realized how many other racers in the area had blogs, currently the group stands at 22 members. Not too shabby if you ask me.

In all reality this is more of a grassroots “sponsorship” idea then what is typical and is actually a really great idea. In creating the group Mike May of GamJams.net is looking to bring the big name cycling companies and sponsors to the local racing community where their products are most often being bought and used. When I questioned my teams acceptance of me joining the group Mike responded with a great explanation of the program as can be seen below.

We're a bunch of racers who make our own media. We ought to be rewarded for it.

There's an altruistic angle to it also. The other part of the program is what sponsors must couple with the offers to the Ambassadors. In addition to the promotion they make available to all of you, they're also required to run a promotion for all GamJams.net readers. So they won't just be running ads, they'll be offering something of value to the entire regional racing community. Maybe it's not a huge value - a free water bottle with purchase of a 60-serving canister of some recovery drink, for example. Or a free bike fit through a regional fit pro with the purchase of a new frame. Or a 10% discount to the masses instead of the 60% or whatever they give you. Something that shows they're supporting racing at the local level, not just sponsoring high-profile riders. I'm not letting them just make an offer to you - they have to make an offer to everyone, blog or no blog.

I'm hoping that this translates what the Ambassadors are doing into value for everyone around, which is very different than the current model for sponsored riders, which benefits the rider and the sponsor, often at the expense of the rest of the market (ie, we pay extra markup to cover marketing and advertising expenses). I'm hoping to create some sort of symbiotic ecosphere here, where the economics of sponsorship actually improve with scale, not diminish.

Maybe if you position it like that to your comrades, they won't razz you so much for supporting a capitalist model.

So, there you have it. The GamJams.net Ambassadors Peloton.

I’ll be updating the blog with links to my fellow Ambassadors as well as some cool banners for GamJams.net. Be sure to check back soon for the changes.