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Inside the Fairdale Tribe Erik Conn holds a seat of wisdom. Even before I knew him personally I could tell by watching him play drums that he was doing a hell of a lot more than mechanically keeping the beat. Watching him play was almost spiritual… or maybe you could say it was in that special zone where there was no thinking… it was all feeling. It’s kind of a rarity to find folks who are so obviously doing what they are supposed to be doing. Who are so committed to following their heart. I think we all sense those signs tugging at our lives, but it’s not always easy to find the courage to go the direction they lead. We sent our film-man extraordinaire Francis Delapena down to Austin to try and capture some of the inspiration that Erik is. Tia Carrera Magnet School  

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Leif just built up a new Daybird! A new model for 2015, the Daybird is our take on a legendary classic. This simple and easy to use 3-speed is available as a step-through (shown) or a Standard model. We didn’t make this bike to win races or jump off roofs, we made this bike so you could enjoy bike riding!

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Our Scottish born (and Texas Naturalized) Fairdale OG team rider, Sandy Carson, has been really falling in love with MTB riding. Being a fit dude and having all the skills of a top BMX pro has quickly earned him a Texas State Championship (even though he couldn’t race the last race). Congrats to the dude! He sent over a news report of some cool stuff (and not so cool crashes) he’s been into… NOTE: No expiration date.  Just finished up racing my first season as a rookie in Cat 2 for the whole TMBRA  XC racing season. I’ve never raced MTB and never thought i’d enjoy it, but I got into it and had a total blast on the big squishy bike, taking first overall in Texas State Champ overall. Pretty stoked! The races were no joke and the 40-44 age group are full of serious apes with endless energy. The races took me all over Central Texas, camping out, meeting new bike folk and generally having a good time. The MTB crowd is way more laid back than the Roadie crowd and the singletrack leans towards the BMX skills on a squishy bike while holding on for dear life trying not to puke haha  Looking forward to the fall season in Cat 1. I guess that means i’d have to train, instead of drinking beer and doing pro recreational rides withe the Wednesday Nighter crew! This is Teddy and Z at the finale in Warda, TX, who took 2nd and 3rd in the season end. These dudes are so fast.. and muddy! A lot of the races were super muddy and hella sloppy which turns out to be my favorite kinda conditions to ride in being from Scotland. Ha. I get sunburnt in the shade for christ sake! Part of the points system for the year end title requires riders to do’ pay dirt ‘at a local park or trail system. Here we are blazing a new trails on the Brushy Creek park in Cedar Park, TX. That’s AJ Camp lurkin’ in the back of the photo from Peddler bike Shop, who also won State Champion in Cat 1 and will be pro next season. Go BMX!! My racing season was cut short due though to a wild accident on my BMX bike riding some jumps in South Austin, filming for a film that Dig Magazine is making right now. I thought my shit eating bmx days were over but I was wrong. Right now looking at trying to rest for the next 6-8 weeks from a pretty good concussion, broken rib, compressed vertebra and a seperated shoulder. Yikes. Here’s a photo from the annual Rosedale charity ride that the Sativa Rollers team participates in. …and finally, here’s a little snifter of BTS, from some filming that went down with Francis Delapena when he was in Austin making a fairdale promo. Stay tuned!!

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The crew arrived in New Orleans today! I’m really impressed. Two riders who had never done a multi-day day tour like this just hopped on bikes and rode across a big chunk of the country. Hopefully it inspires other people to get out there and experience some of the fun. It’s such a cool way to travel. All in all the ladies pedaled 532 Miles… enjoy a final day wrap up from the crew below.  From Liz: Thinking back on today is almost a blur. I was so set on arriving in New Orleans today it was difficult to focus on taking in the sites. We got an early start this morning in order to finish early in New Orleans. It was still hot by 10am. Emily got a bit sunburned. The last long stretch of the day we spent on the Mississippi Trail, a lovely little paved trail that runs along the Mississippi River. Every day we ride, the last 10 miles seem to be the toughest. It was a great way to finish the day. Now it’s all over! We will enjoy New Orleans and go back to a regularly scheduled lives next week. From Phil: The last day really dragged on. We were so close but so far away. The road to New Orleans was a straight open road with no shade. As we got closer to the city we passed the industrial district where oil or gas get converted or filtered. It wasn’t exactly a big welcome sight to the city, but we creeped into it slowly but surly. I parked the van and pedaled to the French Quarter with the girls as we approached the finish point of the trip. The intersection of Bourbon and Orleans seemed like the appropriate finish line to the journey. We only had one flat on the whole trip! We all got along well and got to know each other’s weird and quirky habits. I managed to get some good photos and make some cool memories. Maybe someone out there will get inspired and do something positive! No one made us do this trip or told me I had to plan one. It was all an idea that Liz and I had and the group approved it. Glad to be a part of such a progressive team willing to support things like this trip. We all like riding bikes and I hope it shows! I wanna say thanks to the crew in the office for holding it down and letting me go on this trip and Taj for being down with the plan that we came up with! Thanks to all the bikes shops that support us. Shout out to Fletcher Bike Studio holding it down in Houston those guys rule!   From Emily: Today was just long enough for me to reflect on the immense gratitude I have felt over the past week. First and foremost, for Liz, my amazing partner that encouraged me to go on this wild adventure […]

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This morning was actually chilly. It was wonderful, but a bit windy. After the first 9 miles, we had warmed up enough to loose our jackets. While tossing over my jacket to Phil, I lost my balance and couldn’t get my foot unclipped. I toppled right over. I landed in perfectly soft grass so it was hilarious. It kept me grinning for hours. I put my chain back on and we pressed on. The first part of the day we passed through Baldwin and Franklin, Louisiana. These little country towns left me feeling nostalgic about the northeast Georgia mountains I grew up in. We heard wind chimes and smelled sweet gardenias as we rode down tree-lined streets. We rode further and ended up alongside water. We passed huge manufacturing facilities and shipyards. We continued on through the Attakappas Island area. The environment got progressively more swampy as we went on. We saw four alligators that had died and been dried to a crisp from the Louisiana sun. The temperature started to rise and I felt crispy myself by that point. This is the first of three major bridges we crossed today. It had the lowest incline and largest shoulder. It’s been a while since we’ve had hills so it was an extra challenge. We ended up finishing 70 miles today. I can’t believe we arrive in New Orleans tomorrow! Our goal is to wake up early and finish early.

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From Phil: I got to sleep in all the way till 8:30 today. We crashed at our friend Abigail and Josh’s last night. I was awakened by Liz jumping up and down on our air mattress until I got up. We got dressed and walked to a local coffee shop for some cold brew and cookies. We drove out to Baton Rouge to go check out the city and a visit local bike shop. The shop was half bike shop and half machine shop; it’s a good mix of city bikes and new and mid school BMX parts. I could tell the shop owner was into making custom frames. 16″ Strider style bikes, some 20″ and 24″ creations filled the shop.  Yes this last bikes a T-1 Barcode with an electric motor… After stoping to the bike shop, Liz and I cruised around the city. An old city like Baton Rouge has some awesome architecture dating back to the 20’s. “It’s like if New York City and Savannah had a kid: That’s Baton Rouge,” said Liz . Art deco mixed with bauhaus… An industrial designers dream town. I also got to hit up the Chase towers tranny wall. I don’t know why they made such a thing, but it’s amazing. It’s no secret and I would encourage everyone to go check it out. It’s nice getting to explore a new place whether it’s awesome or it sucks. It makes you appreciate the things you have and you get to see the world work from a different perceptive. “Everyone you will ever meet knows something you don’t.” – Bill Nye the Science Guy. From Emily: Taking the day off from distance riding was such a wonderful addition to our trip. We even ended up riding a bit within the city, just for fun!  It was a nice reminder that we are on vacation and needed to treat ourselves a little. We got to take a break from making pb&js and hummus wraps in the back of the van and instead eat amazing local food. Staying with friends is certainly one of the best ways to travel.  You learn about the city through the eyes of those who walk the streets everyday and know all the little secrets to a fun time. For instance, the hostel/bar we went to the first night is where everyone came together and played music while people gathered to zydeco dance.  They took us to so many other amazing places to eat and explore. Phil got to check out an awesome BMX/skate park off of the U of L campus that our friends’ roommate suggested.  And while Phil and Liz headed to Baton Rouge for the day, I stayed in Lafayette and went to Lake Morgan (a 15 min drive from our hosts’ home) to canoe in a swamp.  We came across 6 or 7 alligators and pretty much had dragon flys intertwined in our hair the whole time. There was also a bird sanctuary within the park […]

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From Liz: Today was a hot one.  The first half of the day Emily and I spent on our own. Unlike most days, we did not have longer than a 9 mile stretch on any road. The area we were in felt very desolate. We would go miles without seeing another car or person. It felt like a movie desert. We rode past a number of crawfish ponds and ended up on another dirt road today. It was the roughest we’ve been on yet and was mostly gravel for 3 miles or so. After we made it back to pavement territory we came across four lounging white dogs on the side of the road. Most dogs chase us. These guys just said, “Hi.” Emily and I both miss our dogs dearly so it was nice to pet a dog for once and not just run from it. We are in oil country for sure. We passed a couple different oil equipment supply places and these crazy drills. We spent most of the rest of the day on the I-90 frontage road. Even though the view was repetitive, we were able to travel at a pretty quick clip which made the miles go by faster. From Phil: Today was another shop stop for me. I made sure the girl’s bikes were good to go before I drove ahead to Lafayette. I stopped into Hub City Cycles to see how things were going. The shop was filled with some sweet Chicago Schwinns and other cool custom bikes. The one thing that stuck out was a replica Pee Wee Herman bike that they built themselves. It’s a super rad shop that’s psyched on what Fairdale has to offer. Check’em out for your Fairdale needs.    I picked up some veggie-chicken-salad sandwiches for the girls and met up with them in Maurice, LA for lunch. The girls are making better time every day. I’m really impressed with Emily since before training for this trip she had never really ridden more than 10 miles in one day. She rode with Liz to San Antonio one time before this trip and that’s it. It goes to show you anyone can do something like this. If you just make a plan and set your mind to it, you can accomplish anything. It’s also good if your friends are around to support you! The rain definitely chased us down today. There was no escape. I think we’re just expecting it now. The clouds rolled in and it dumped! Lightening struck and the girls jumped in the van. We waited it out for a few minutes. After the thunder died down, they threw on their rain coats, got back on their bikes, and pedaled through the rain. The rain eventually stopped and the road began to dry. Rain sucks but it beats the heat!

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From Phil: Going down the frontage road on I-10 in Louisiana is like going down one big, long bike path. Today’s ride was pretty straight forward. Not a lot of twists and turns just one long quiet frontage road. It’s pretty nice. You can really ride your bike a long way without having to get on a real highway. Lots of people are nervous to ride their bikes, but you can really find a bike-friendly route. I think only one car has honked in anger (jealousy?) this entire time. From the campsite, we passed through Lake Charles, Louisiana. I split off from the girls for a few hours to check out what the city has to offer and visited the only bike shop in town. The shop explained to me that there is a small scene in Lake Charles and that they were looking into carrying more BMX bikes and parts in the shop. Just riding around the town I did notice some obvious skate and BMX spots. Flat rails, wall rides, and unique architecture around every building. This one bank had the craziest walls going around it. I rode the bank a few times with my BMX bike before getting the boot. The lady that told me to leave was really nice and she seemed totally perplexed that I was riding my bike on the side of the building. I left super politely and said thanks. For me, riding nowadays is all about finding spots. I always like looking for new things to ride. It’s a good excuse to get off your butt and go somewhere new. Sometimes you find nothing but the days that you strike gold are really quite euphoric. I caught up with the girls after getting a little exercise. We ate some lunch in Iowa, Louisiana and then pushed on. It started getting dark like it was about to rain. But the girls managed to outrun it before it caught up to them. This will be the first day that there’s been no rain and no one’s been rained on. Also I case anyone was wondering both bike are as they come out of the box the only thing different is Liz has clip less shoes and Emily’s just been wearing keds. From Emily: Woke up on day 5 a little chilly in our tents, which was wildly refreshing. We realized that after today we would officially have more miles behind us than we do ahead us and I can’t tell you what that felt like. We decided to really take in this day, starting with a nice slow and easy morning. We packed up the campsite and hit the road and yelped Lake Charles’ hidden gem, The Stellar Beans! It was a perfectly weird little coffee shop with hot croissants and strong coffee. We lounged a little on a comfy couch and finally got to biking a little before noon. Liz and I decided to zone out for most of the ride today. We […]

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From Phil: The day started out sunny with lots of twist and turns in the road. Within the first 5 miles, Emily wrapped her chain around her sprocket. I’m sure someone reading this has gotten chain suck. That’s when your chain gets wrapped around the front chain rings and wedged all in the bottom bracket. It was a mess but lucky it didn’t break. After fixing that we moved on. We went down one road where they turn raw trees into two-by-fours. All day long we got passed by huge 18-wheelers carrying tons of wood. We also passed another place that made skids or pallets. They looked like pizza boxes stacked a mile high… Dangerously high. It smelled like a match box for miles. We saw a couple of different yards with loose dogs on the way. There was one neighbor with a couple dogs that chased us for a while. I don’t think they get visitors or have ever seen a bike so they were really excited. That probably sounded scarier than they actually were. The girls also had a close call with a red and white dog. It was right at Emily’s heels. After stopping on the side of the road for some food, it started raining. Then it dumped rain. But at least it wasn’t lightening and tornados, right? We let the rain die down and then the girls pedaled on. There was a solid 10 miles of hit-you-in-the-face-and-it-hurts kinda rain but those two kept pedaling. We finally hit Louisiana. The rain subsided and there was just a little more ways to go to the campsite. The shoulder of the road where the grass is was pretty full of water. I think everyone all over has been getting this heavy summer rain. Some spots were definitely under water. We got to the campsite and ran into a wild deer. We got close, closer and finally just got right in its face. I’ve never meet a deer so cool with humans. We took some photos with it and liz tried to give him the rest of her apple (deer do not like apples or baby carrots if you were wondering). A friendly neighbor in an RV hooked us up with some wood and a firestarter and I got a roaring fire going. We had soup and toast for dinner, along with smores for dessert. Now I’m writing this ready to pass out. There seems to be a trend on this trip. If the first half of our day we are kicking ass and making great time, the second half of our day must be extra challenging. Apparently one of the roads on our route was bought out by a hunting club and is no longer accessible. So we had to think on our toes and reroute. It added a little more mileage, but we figured we would make up for missing miles yesterday. A positive for the day is that the weather was wonderful for the most part. […]

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From Phil: Sleeping in the tent last night was tough. It was warm and humid from all the rain. Luckily bugs didn’t really get bad until we woke up and started packing up the van. I ate candy for breakfast and the girls made healthy hummus wraps for themselves. We headed out and it began raining again. Luckily it was just a light drizzling mist, with overcast skies. The national park continued to grace us with its tall green trees as we continued east. The rain died down and I stopped by a donut shop to grab the girls some treats for the road ahead. The most consistent thing about all the towns we have gone through in East Texas is that there is always some sort of breakfast donut spot. They all offered the same plain, chocolate and sprinkle options, and terrible drip coffee (fine for dipping donuts in). We stopped on the side of a quiet road and ate the sandwiches I picked up from the same donut place.  After that, the girls rode another 30 miles. The rain progressively got worst as the miles went on. The rain got so bad I couldn’t even see out of the van and the girls got stranded at a gas station a few miles ahead. I got to the gas station and opened up the back of the van to let them in from the rain. Within the the first minute lighting struck one of the telephone poles only a hundred feet away. We also got a notification of a tornado warning on our phones. It was intense and the rain continued to pour. We all decided it wasn’t safe to continue and checked in to the closest motel just in the next town over. Even though we had to cut a few miles off of our day, we still accomplished a lot. We almost passed the 200 mile mark! Hopefully tomorrow will be sunnier. From Emily: I didn’t know what to expect waking up on the third day. I haven’t camped in a very long time and I haven’t gotten back on a bike after riding two long days back to back ever. We got up with the light and rain drops coming through our tents and started packing up.  Our spirits were a little low and exhaustion was high but we motivated each other to hop back on our bikes and so began day 3. We kept an awesome pace for the first 2 hours. Especially after the first few miles, it became a lot easier, but that may have something to do with the all the hills going down through the forest :).  Sam Houston National Forest was such a beautiful place, and gave us plenty of shade. I’m so fortunate to be on this adventure through Texas before I move out of the state this summer. Biking has given me such a wonderful opportunity to take in this beautiful state like I have never before! It has […]

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