News / Fairdale Feed from FairdaleBikes.com

Ryan Worcester spends a day ripping around Maui on his Weekender. Also, check out what happens when you give a BMXer a big wheeled bike designed for commuting.

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Sandy Carson just got back from California. While out there he lead his buddy Allan on a quick bicycle powered camping trip. Check out the casual adventure below and making the “Weekender” live up to its name. Story and photos by Sandy Carson… I went to San Francisco the other week to hang out with my oldest pal, Allan McNaughton. We’ve know each other for 30 years.  That’s a pheasentury to those young uns reading this. In that time, we’ve played in punk bands together and toured Europe, learned to ride BMX in a carpark to a Miami Vice theme tune on a boombox, made fanzines together and both moved to the States to live the American dream. There was one thing we haven’t done until now, was to ride adult bikes together or go camping. Seeing as Allan just bought a Fairdale weekender, it was the perfect chance to break that bad boy in and head out to Samuel P Taylor State Park via route 1, the road we finished out our last Fairdale trip. Allan treated himself to carrying all the weight, a yoga mat for a sleeping pad and I borrowed Kyle Emery-Pecks carbon bike and for the ride. On the ferry from Oakland to SF. I know it’s not pure to ride ferries on road ride, but i wanted a “ferry shot” for the blog.   I don’t have any photos of our crazy hill climb from Fairfax up the 1 past Muir woods towards Stinson Beach, only this one of some naked sticks. All I can tell you is, it was rainy and misty as shit. I thought i’d killed Allan but he took it like a champ. Straight into the deep end of bike touring and killing the micro climates of Marin. Q-What did Kermit say when he climbed Route 1 and looked out over Stinson Beach? A- Ahm Uppit. get it? never mind..Scottish Joke. Another arse shot for the books. Newmains boy done good! We arrived at the State Park in pitch dark with crap bike lights and realized we had forgotten to get dinner from the last stop 8 miles back. Total rookie move. Lucky for us we managed to cook a slap up meal for two, of foraged berries and clif bar. Yum. Allan’s rig and our old man’s back digs. Here we are coming back via the Misty Gate Bridge, formerly know as the Golden Gate just in time for some Bicycle Coffee.

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We got some nice new mesh hats in. Check them out here…  http://fairdalebikes.com/catalog/swan-hat/

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Hershal (with a little help from his buddy Logan) just posted up a new Field Trip post. Check out Hershal’s journey across the great state of Iowa here.

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The Flyer got a review over on the Yay Bike! blog. Check out a innocent 3rd party review of the Flyer Step-through here.

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Want to learn more about our bikes? We just uploaded some casually informative videos explaining them. You can find the videos with each bike in our catalog or…. go ahead and nerd out and watch them below… Coaster Weekender Flyer and Flyer Step-through Parser Black and Parser Express videos will be up in a couple days.

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Ok, that didn’t actually happen. In fact, this Weekender was given away by the Texecutioners at the recent Star of Texas Bowl. Check out the rest of the photos and a cool little write up here on the Texas Rollergirls site. Austin is pretty darned amazing isn’t it?! Also, congrats to the winner Michael from Los Angeles!

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Anamosa To Clinton 70 Miles The final morning was uncharacteristically quiet. The humans partied harder than usual last night, with most talking about how relaxed and cool the next day’s ride would be. Our campsite packed up quickly as both of us were eager to get the ride started. I sat at the bottom of the ramp into the truck while Logan loaded our gear for the last time. We rolled our rig through camp making sure to say good morning to the people who we saw regularly. Hearing Logan give the rundown of my breed, age, name and the usual info every fifteen seconds for seven days gave me the idea that there were quite a number of people who recognized me. It’s hard to tell the humans apart when they all are wearing such funny colored spandex, but I always appreciated the kind words. The ride was bittersweet, Logan seemed settled into a groove and the miles seemed to drop quickly. The evenly spaced towns on today’s 70 mile ride broke up the last day of the trip pretty well. While the hills rolled past and we began the long descent into the Mississippi river valley I had some time to reflect on what I had experienced. RAGBRAI was not a cycling event. RAGBRAI was a celebration of the wholesomeness that the Midwest has to offer, more specifically the wholesomeness that is nurtured in the green rolling hills of Iowa. The best way to experience such an amazing collective feeling is by using the most humble of Human innovations; the Bicycle. These humans have come to Iowa from all over North America to pedal through the small towns that some have forgotten exist, for a variety of reasons but the one common factor that keeps humans returning is the hospitality of everyone involved. RAGBRAI offered me quite a bit of hope for the Human race. Upon our arrival in Clinton Iowa Logan made his way through the crowd to the water’s edge for the ceremonial front wheel dip in the murky water. The miles were taking their toll and Logan seemed to be moving like a Zombie. Logan arranged for a ride on his cellular device and shortly after both of us were fast asleep in a Hy-Vee parking lot on the edge of downtown. Logan’s parents pulled up and we packed up the Fairdale, B.O.B. Trailer and all our gear for the return to East Moline and the following day back to Austin. Next Year should be even better.  

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Cedar Rapids to Anamosa 43 Miles Today started off wonderfully, the cool air seemed to hang through the first fifteen miles. Staying so close to the winding river kept the first stretch of the day’s brief 43 miles considerably more relaxing than expected. We passed a few interesting information booths from local groups passing out information on various human things. Ending corporate personhood table topped my list of things that gave me hope on the ride. Today was the shortest day of the trip so the pace was a bit more relaxed. It was nice to have more time to look at things than normal. I think a lot of humans have misconceptions about Iowa. Each hill we came across held another picturesque landscape that you felt really captured what the Midwest was about. There are endless fields of rolling hills covered with dense green corn, Bright red barns and white picket fences surround quaint farm houses that contain some nice people. After a brief stop in Mt. Vernon as we neared Anamosa we came across the greatest road side attraction of the trip. It was a 300 foot long slip and slide in someone’s front yard, needless to say the disc brakes of the Fairdale weekender were put to the test as Logan slowed to pull into the driveway. Fun was had, as you can imagine. I love Iowa. We set up camp in the local high school and decided to wander around town and see what there was to see. I did a bit of partying myself and things got a bit out of hand but Logan saved the day and decided we should head back and get some shut eye shortly after the sun fell. With the slip and slide provided shower we fell asleep feeling refreshed, it was a great day.      

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Got a head? Think about how much better it would be if you protected that knoggin’ from the sun. Fairdale Mesh hats (with deluxe terry cloth headband liner) are now only $10.99 and that comes with free shipping (if you live in the USA on the continent). Check them out here!   Also, limited edition Roger x Fairdale decks are going fast. Still a handful left for your collectors or cross over fans. Check it here.      

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