Unfortunately I had limited time to tour around the Seattle International Bike Expo on Saturday. The weekend event is a great way to cover a lot of ground — Northwest bicycling-wise.
The Cascade Bicycle Club's annual show features 150 displays in Hangar 30 and surrounding buildings and tents. There are hundreds of bikes on show and sale, as well as piles of bicycle gear, many organizations touting their upcoming rides and bike tours.
One of the tents had a few leaks and a soggy floor. That didn't seem to bother anyone, however, as this is a gathering of Seattle area bicyclists; we take our moisture in stride.
Seattle International Bike Expo; 10 a.m. to 4 p.m. Sunday, Hangar 30, Magnuson Park, Seattle; $8 admission
I got a chance to get close-up looks at some new-style bikes, specifically some offerings from the chainless drive-shaft rides from Dynamic Bicycles and commuter and errand bikes from Civia Cycles. Madsen Cycles had a working display out in the parking lot, where interested folks could ride their utility bikes around.
Moots displayed some of its bicycles, “handbuilt in the Rockies,” and the Oregon Bicycle Constructors Organization had a display area with lots of its members' works.
I had the chance to chat with some bicycling authors while I was there.
Joe “Metal Cowboy” Kurmaskie from Portland was hanging out in the Bicycle Paper booth. The humorist had a 2 for $20 inventory clearance sale for his books. He was preparing for a 4 p.m. show in which he was going to play a guitar and sing. I told him that I didn't know he could sing. “I don't,” he replied. “This will be interesting.”
We talked briefly about Kurmaskie's latest project, “One Million Bicycles.” Check out the website for more information. I'll try to update later in the week.
I also interviewed author Peter Gelman and illustrator Neal Skorpen. They have collaborated on several books and graphic novels with a bicycling theme. It's cool to learn that bicycling is making it into fiction literature. I'll report on my interview later, but you can check out their work at www.nealskorpen.com and www.dangerquestmysteries.com.
Another writer I interviewed was Portia Masterson, the author of “Bicycling Bliss: riding to Improve Your Wellness.” She maintains that too many bicyclists are focused on speed, when they would get better results by building balanced fitness. As with the above, I'll catch up with her later as well.
Finally, I stopped in at the Wild Heart Cycling Tours booth. Ben and Celia Leber have been running a fairly unique bicycle tour company that doesn't rely on sag vehicles. People carry their own gear in Burley trailers, which has some beneficial and surprising consequences. I'll write about those next week as well.
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