As many of you may or may not know, Airborne's World Headquarters is located in Ohio. Winters in Ohio tend to be very cold with snow (usually) on the ground from late December thru early March.

Most of us here are year-round riders and have been riding thru the winters for years. We'd like to share a few tips with you that we've learned to help you get the most from your bike and your winter riding.

TAKING CARE OF THE BIKE

Winter can be rough on a mountain bike, but if you take steps to prep your bike, you'll keep your bike in tip top shape. Some of us use an older bike during the winter to prevent water or salt damage to our "good" bikes, however if you only have one bike its still possible to ride all year round as long as you take care of it. How much prep and maintenance your bike needs depends on how and when you ride your bike.  

• Clean and dry your bike regularly during the winter months. Wet conditions like rain, snow or ice can wreck havoc on your bike. Washing, drying and lubing your bike often keeps it clean and rust free. If you have to wash it in a high-pressure carwash, be certain to do it on the low setting (don't pull the trigger all the way).
• Riding in snow requires less psi for better traction. Deflate your winter tires to around 25 to 35 psi. Tires with larger nobs with more space around them are better than small nobs that are close together.
• Wax the outside of your bike's frame with carnuba car wax. This will help keep water, mud and snow from sticking to the frame and it protects the bike's look, and makes cleaning much easier and faster.
• Check your brake pads regularly for wear. Salt, sand and other materials from roads and trails can build up quickly and wear the pads out more quickly. Know that you can go thru a set of pads in the winter months so be prepared to get new pads when you do your spring tune-up.

TAKING CARE OF YOU

Winter can also be rough on you as it is on your bike. However if you heed some of our hard-earned clothing advice it won't be so bad. Below are our tips for riding in temps of 32F and below.

• Layer, layer, layer! Dress in layers. Weare a long sleeve base layer, a long sleeve jersey, and thermal tights to begin with. Then layer from there. Much below 32 you'll need at least a thermal vest, and twenties or below you'll want a full thermal jacket. Wool socks are a must, and if you can fit a thin base-layer sock under them that's even better.
• Invest in a good pair of winter mtb shoes. We like the Sidi Diablo winter boots a lot, but there are a lot of other great winter shoes out there from Lake, Northwave, and 45North. Buy at least one size larger than you normally wear so that you can get two layers of socks on without restricting blood flow to your feet. Restricting the blood flow is the fastest way for your feet to get cold and then go numb (bad!).
• Buy a good pair of winter gloves. Much below 32 degrees we prefer lobster-style gloves, and when it gets into the teens look at full mittens. Pearl Izumi makes some great winter lobster gloves but there are many other good ones out there from Louis Garneau and other companies.
• Cover your head. A nice wool cap that covers your ears and forehead will keep you riding down into the low twenties. Much below that you will want a balaclava that covers your neck and chin. If your normal riding helmet fits you tight with nothing under it, then it may not work for winter. If the helmet has foam pads in it for fitting consider removing those first, but if that doesn't work you may need a larger helmet for the winter.
• Vent, vent, vent! You'll generate more heat than you think while riding, especially when climbing. Be prepared to periodically unzip your outer layer(s) to regulate heat. What you don't want to do is get soaking wet from sweat. Also, remember that cotton is BAD. Do not wear any cotton t-shirts as a base-layer.
• Cover your eyes. If you don't wear protective lenses during the warm months, get used to wearing them in the winter. Covering your eyes from the wind keeps them from tearing up and causing vision issues (and crashes!).
• Hydrate! The bad thing about riding in winter is you often forget to drink while riding and get dehydrated quickly. Buy thermal-insulated bottles, or get a camelback and tuck the bite-valve in your jacket when not using to keep the valve from freezing up.

That's it! Use the simple tips we've given you above to extend your riding season and stay fit and healthy! If you do a good job of it you'll be in great shape when the weather breaks in the spring and you'll be leaving your buddies in the dust on the trail!

 

 

 

 

If you've called Airborne to ask questions or order a bike, chances are you've talked to Eric Mckenna or Jeremy Mudd.  Eric and Jeremy combined have 35+ years in the bike industry. They even went to the same high school together and raced on the same teams in the past. They don't do it all by themselves; they are backed by a dedicated staff of folks at Airborne that help them make it look easy.

Here's your chance to get to know them a little better, in 20 questions.

Name: Eric Mckenna

Official Title: Customer Service and Tech Representative, Airborne Bicycles

 

Name: Jeremy Mudd

Official Title: Product Manager, Airborne Bicycles

 

1. What is the first thing you think about when you get up in the morning?

EM: Getting Rory (daughter) up and getting her ready for school

JM: Coffee.

 

2. What is the last thing you think about before you go to sleep?

EM: Did I lock the front door?

JM: Did I answer that last email that the factory sent me?

 

3. What makes you awesome?

EM: I didn't know I was AWESOME…. I guess being Rory's PAPA.

JM: I figured out a way to make people pay me for playing around with bikes all day.

 

4. When you look in the mirror, what do you see?

EM: A very tired old man!

JM: A guy brushing his teeth.

 

5. When you enter a crowded room, what theme song begins to play in your head?

EM: Clint Mansell - Lux Aeterna (Orchestral Version)

JM: The theme-song from Shaft.

 

6. If you could party with one person, who would it be?

EM: Don Gentile

JM: Samuel L. Jackson

 

7. What's your best excuse/justification for not trying something on your bike?

EM: I have a kid to take care of.

JM: I have a photo-shoot in the morning.

 

8. What motto would you write on your top tube?

EM: Sau Sponte

JM: THIS SIDE UP.

 

9. If you didn't work in the bike industry, where would you be?

EM: Graphic Design

JM: Archeologist and/or Professional Photographer

 

10: What's the next piece of bike technology that needs to be improved?

EM: Clipless Pedals

JM: Shifting systems

 

11: What's the best bike you've ever had?

EM: New Goblin ( 2013)

JM: JMC Andy Patterson signature frame

 

12. What's the best thing or experience riding has given you?

EM: My Good Health

JM: I thought I was going to make a career out of racing bikes when I was a teenager, but (fortunately) riding and racing led me down a career path instead and here I am now!

 

13. Five websites you visit every day?

EM: Vital/MTBR/yotatech/Google/Yahoo

JM: MTBR/CyclingNews/Google/FaceBook/SRAM

 

14. What's your worst moment or experience on a bike?

EM: Watching Emily ( girlfriend) crash in front of me and not being able to help or stop it.

JM: State Road Race in 2000. Brought one bottle thinking that race was shorter, had no hand-ups. Race was twice as long as I thought; ended up so dehydrated I was looking at spent waterbottles along the side of the road hoping some had enough liquid in them to get a drink.

 

15. What's the strangest item you've purchased online?

EM: What?

JM:  I can't put that in print, sorry!

 

16. What fad or trend do you want dead?

EM: Hanging pants off your butt

JM: Honey Boo Boo, but dubstep is a very close second.

 

17: Favorite type of riding?

EM: DH.. close 2^nd XC

JM: Anything with 2 wheels.

 

18. Last time you surprised yourself?

EM: Aug 25^th 2012 at Snow Shoe.

JM: When I said something out loud last week that I shouldn't have.

 

19. Last time someone surprised you?

EM: This morning..

JM: People surprise me every damn day.

 

20. Last meal request?

EM: Salmon

JM: Any kind of pasta, with some sort of meat, smothered in cheese.

 

 

We normally don't do sales at Airborne.

Mostly because our bikes offer great value already at their list price. And partly because we operate at much lower profit margins than the big bike companies (hence the "great value") that don't allow us to sell them any cheaper and keep our doors open!

Being an internet-direct bike company however, we do get to save a TON of money every September because we don't have to spend hundreds of thousands of dollars on an Interbike Booth in Las Vegas and all of expenses that entails: booth fees, freight, drayage, carpeting, electricians, trinkets, brochures, bar-tabs at the Bellagio, etc.

So this year we've decided to do something different: pass that savings along to you, the consumer. So, for a limited time from now until the end of Interbike weekend (Sunday September 23rd, 2012) we are offering some smoking deals on some of our most popular models:

Sabre $249.99

Skyhawk $349.99

Wingman $549.99

Delta $749.99

The above prices also INCLUDE FREIGHT to the continental 48 states. The above models are the only ones included in this promo. All prior sales are excluded. Again, this sale ends on Sunday, September 23rd, 2012.

Please contact us at 800-888-BIKE or go online to www.airbornebicycles.com to order.

 

Thanks so much to all who applied this year! The applications were overwhelming to say the least; in terms of not only volume but quality. There were so many great candidates that it made it EXTREMELY DIFFICULT for us to decide on the finalists.

First, here are the members that will be staying on for another year:

Dan Lucas, now a 3rd year Flight Crew Member. Dan is a good all-round rider in VA that rides AM/DH/FR/DJ/XC and even an occasional CX ride. Dan may crash a lot, but its his crashes that help us make bikes that hold up to anything that can be thrown at them.

Jerry Hazard, now a 2nd year Flight Crew Member. Jerry resides in CO and pretty much rides anything with two wheels. Jerry's photography and blog posts always inspire us to get out there and ride!

Neal Bryant, now in his 2nd year on the Flight Crew. What Neal lacks in riding experience (he's been riding for only about 2 years avidly) he makes up for in heart and the ability to try anything and succeed at it. Neal works in the film industry and has made all of us step up our game when it comes to video production.

Todd Haskins will be staying on and an official Airborne Test Pilot. Todd will continue to be active and integral in product development and feedback. Todd brings a "level-headed-ness" and years of industry experience to the crew.

In addition to the folks above that are staying on for another year, we are adding the following new members:

Dane Sink and Kim Sink, a great husband and wife duo based in Bend, Oregon. Bend is a mecca for all sorts of riding and we are excited to have such a great team based in that area. Dane and Kim are not only great riders but awesome at blogging and photography.

Robert Robertson, an XC/AM rider currently serving in the US Army and stationed in Germany. Rob will be racing the Leadville 100 this year with the Flying Frogs US Navy SEAL Team later this year.

Michael Mequi, a teacher living in Denver, CO that races and rides XC. Michael has been riding for many years and has been responsible for getting many folks into the sport. Michaels job as a teacher gives him lots of riding time during the summer.

In addition to the Flight Crew Members, we are also bringing some racers on board:

Niki Dallaire, a Pro that races XC and Cyclocross and just won this past weekend at the US East Cup Race in Conyers, GA on her nearly stock Goblin 29er. Niki is a consumate professional in terms of racing, training, and public relations.

Emily Walling, a Cat 1 racer in both XC and DH. Emily is a local near us here at Airborne World HQ and frankly we don't like riding with her because she embarrasses all of us men with her speed and fitness.

Look for both Niki and Emily to tear it up on both the regional and national levels this season.

So that's it! We have an awesome group of folks representing Airborne this year online, at races, and on the trails. With their help Airborne is set to have another great year in 2012.

Please help us welcome all of the new and returning people!

 

 

 

FOR IMMEDIATE RELEASE:

Airborne to sponsor World Cup Downhill team for 2013, full-time position up for grabs.

Centerville, Ohio USA - April 1st, 2012

Airborne announced today that it will be sponsoring a 6 man professional team to compete in the World Cup Downhill Series for 2013.

"We know that the best way to continue to move our brand forward is to compete, and with the success of the Airborne Taka downhill bike the past two years, we feel that it is time to enter the World Cup" says Airborne PR Director Ty Webb. "We have been in final negotiations with a former World Cup Downhill champion to be Team Director for 2013. While it is too early to reveal her name, we can say that she rode downhill as fast as a missile, and will bring a lot of experience to the team."

Airborne recently hired industry veteran Carl Spackler to come on board to develop the new Taka DH rig for 2013. "Look for the new Taka to put the team on the podium at every event in 2013. We will be the 'Cinderella Story' of 2013" says Spackler.

In addition to the team, Airbone will be holding a contest for a coveted full-time race reporter position.

"We are looking for someone to travel with the team and cover the entire race season on our blog, complete with photos and video. This will be a one-year full-time position with all expenses paid, and a salary of $100K" says Webb. "Details regarding the contest to be posted on Facebook in the next few weeks. We recommend that anyone interested in the position to be certain to "like" Airborne Bicycles to ensure they don't miss the announcement and details."

Contact: Ty Webb at ty.webb@airbornebicycles.com

####

 

  First let me preface this story by saying I don't poach trails anymore, and believe that it is a VERY BAD IDEA. It doesn't do any good for the folks that work hard for trail advocacy. But back in the day, when I was young and dumb, I did a lot of things that I would tell you not to do now…………

  During my early days at the first Airborne, I used to ride a lot with a friend of mine named "Don" (name changed to protect the guilty). Our favorite trail to ride after work on weeknites was a 17 mile loop that consisted of mostly hiking trail, with a little bit of road section, at the Ceasar Creek reserve.  It was a known "Hiking ONLY" trail, but the enforcement of it was rather lax at the time and most everyone we knew rode there. And the signage was bad; it only was visible if you rode the trail clockwise because the signs only faced in one direction. All of us knew that if we were stopped and questioned, we were to just play dumb and say that we were getting off of the trail right away. The spot where we parked was a bit out of the way and there were never any signs at that entrance to the trail head.

  Don and I hit the trail at 5:30 on a late summer Wednesday nite looking to get a nice easy 2 hour ride in. Something you have to know about Don: he always carried his wallet with him where-ever he went. Even though I lectured him about the fact he didn't need it, and that a copy of his ID stuffed in his seat-pack would suffice for body identification if things turned sour, he didn't like leaving it in the vehicle. And it wasn't a small wallet either. It was like George's wallet on Seinfeld. Big, fat, and stuffed with everything to the point where the rubber band strained to kept it all together. It barely fit in his jersey pocket.

  The ride was awesome. Except for the tall, old and haggared hiker guy who yelled at us for riding on the trail. "Sorry sir". "We didn't see the sign". "We'll get right off!". I think I heard him say something about "pesky kids" but I wasn't certain.

  We arrived back at the truck at 7:30pm and the post-ride euphoria began. Visions of Bentino's Pizza and a beer began dancing thru my brain as I started packing up my gear.

  "Uh oh".

  "Uh oh what?"

  "My wallet fell out of my jersey pocket somewhere on the trail."

  Damn. After talking about it for a few moments, Don and I decided the thing to do was ride the trail in reverse, looking for the wallet. He remembered having it still when we were more than halfway in during the first lap, so the thought was we might find it going back in reverse quicker. It started getting dark fairly fast in the woods, and by 8:30 it was pitch-black. We were forced to make our way back to the truck.

  No lights. No wallet. Hungry.

  We made it to the truck by 9pm and packed up the bikes in the bed. On the off chance that someone had found the wallet and turned it in, we drove over to the Ranger Station to check. I stayed in the truck with the gear and bikes while Don went inside.

  10 minutes passed. Then 20.

  Don, along with a ranger, finally appeared at the front entrance. They both walked out toward the truck. The ranger poked around in the back of the truck and looked at the bikes, then had a heated discussion with Don before he got in the truck and we left.

  "What happened??"

  "Remember that old hiker on the trail? The one that yelled at us? Well, he found my wallet and drove back here to turn it in after his hike. He told the ranger that I was riding on the trail. I just got a $100 fine."

  Sometimes Karma can be a bitch, and sometimes it comes in the form of a hiker.

 

Jeremy

Validation comes in many forms. Our personal favorite is hearing it from riders who appreciate our efforts to make best-in-class bikes that are also the best value around. But kudos in the cycling press? Well, those are pretty darn good, too.

We've already shared some of TwentyNineInches.com's thoughts on the Airborne Goblin here. And it's clear Guitar Ted "gets" the Airborne brand and why we think it's important to make good-quality machines available to regular folks who aren't necessarily willing to blow the college fund on some Dream Ride (don't get us wrong-- we love those bikes too, but they're not necessarily for everyone, and we're happy to provide an alternative).

So it was especially cool when we learned this morning that not only had we made the TwentyNineInches Top 10 Products list, but had managed to snag the #3 slot. And as far as we can tell, it's also the first time a "value" bike has ever made the Top Ten list.

Following are some of the nice things Guitar Ted had to say about us:

• "The Goblin 29 appears at a price point that is highly competitive, (right around 1150 dollars), and does so with performance that belies its price. Not only that, but it packs some pretty impressive spec at that price as well."
  
• "the bike comes very well packed with minimal assembly required. Even if you didn't have a clue as to how to adjust the bike, it would be rideable..."
  
• "...a fun, agile trail bike with a good balance of stability at speed and technical slow speed handling which wasn't too heavy or floppy feeling at all."
  
• "It made for a great climbing and accelerating feel at the pedals, while not being a jackhammer on the bum at the saddle."
  
• "the Goblin is a great deal on a fine performing 29 inch wheeled hard tail. Definitely an impressive first outing for the new Airborne."

Kudos to Flight Crew member Wendy Davis for turning her regular weekend ride into a mini-canned food drive/fundraiser for local needy families. You can read about it on her blog, A Pabst Smear, but here's the basic idea:

1. Call up your friends. Maybe you already have a ride scheduled, or maybe you just want to get some buddies together. Be sure to ask everyone to bring dried or canned goods (or cash) to be donateld to your local Food Bank or other charitable institution...and that you'll "do all the work" (it's actually amazingly easy-- see below).
2. Once you arrive at the Meeting Point for your ride, leave your car trunk open and invite everyone to put their donated stuff  inside. (Here's where the cash option comes in handy. If your friends are anything like ours, several will have forgotten to bring food, but will still want to help out. Checks can be made out directly to the institution you selected back in Step 1.)
3. Ride! Be sure to have fun.
4. After the ride, drive by your local charity (during the holidays, many supermarkets  have Canned Food drives too so this step this can be as simple as stopping by the grocery store on your way home). Offload the goods, be sure to say "you're welcome!" ...and you're done.

That Wendy. Pretty smart, huh? Just one reason why we like her so much.

PS: Happy Holidays from all of us at Aribone.

The trails around here have been wet recently, so last week I decided to do a day- hike at Caesar Creek State Park.  An epic hike is great for clearing the mind sometimes. Cycling is my first love, but hiking breaks up the routine of cycling and allows you to see the things that you might miss while blasting down the trail.

During my hike I decided to take a detour and walk the old "50 Springs" XC mtb course that connects to the big south loop. In the 90's the 50 Springs course was home to many XC and CX races. The Kenda Ohio Off-Road Series ("KOORS") was a staple there, and it was there that many a tri-state area XC rider tried their hand at racing for the first time.

It was your typical 90's XC race-course; fast, flowy, and big-ring all the way. This was during a time when XTR only came in 46 and 48-tooth big ring configurations and 80mm of shock travel was the norm. I spent many countless hours out there practicing and racing. 50 Springs also was well known for its group night rides. The last time I rode there was probably over a decade ago on a chilly fall night ride with a good friend of mine.

Why haven't I been back there since then?  Probably for the same reasons that no one else rides there anymore.  A series of events conspired to turn a once great race venue into a barely passable hiking trail:

First:  The KOORS mtb series ceased to exist because the promoter decided the money was in organizing Triathlons and not mtb races. The Ohio CX scene also found more favorable venues to race at. This meant all of the experienced riders and racers went elsewhere.

Second:  The park became over-run with men of questionable motives that parked and hung out there looking for a "good time".  This is always a small problem and public parks but it became a huge problem there. 

Third:  A more beginner friendly mtb trail network began to grow in a nearby town, causing people to migrate there to ride instead.

So it was on this day that I experienced quite a bit of sadness as I walked the trail. Even though it had been a decade or so since I last was on it, I still knew every corner and tree like it was just yesterday. There's the spot where I lost several race positions because I forgot to check for thorns in the tire before pumping up the new tube. There's the picnic shelter where we would hang out during night rides and swap stories.

The trail had deteriorated to the point where it would require a monumental effort to bring it back. As usual, my weakness of trying to "fix things" came out and I began to think "If I could just get some volunteers out here with some tools and a chainsaw we could have this back in great shape………".

Luckily for me I had a moment of clarity near the end of the hike. I realized it was time to let it go. No amount of work to bring it back would be worth it: the problems would still exist.  I wouldn't ride it. Nor would anyone else for the reasons mentioned above.

So farewell old friend. We had some great times together that I will never forget.

Anyway, they found the cancer has attacked my lymph nodes (11 of 15... those are pretty crappy odds) so a pretty aggressive chemo program starts in a few weeks. We spoke to the doctor about it and he threw around a lot of medical terms and stuff but at that point I was just ready to go home and didn't care about the next step.

 

Spent most of Tuesday in a haze and fog over the whole experience and my insanely strong wife kept me focused and helped me realize I need to be strong to beat this so that's the way it's going to have to be....

 

Hit up Dick's Sporting Goods for a Livestrong Sweatshirt, so now I'm ready, right?.

 

The crappy thing is that having staples like this (I had gotten 14" of my colon removed and 16 staples from my belly button to my crotch), means that wearing pants really sucks...and they just don't make cool bed shirts for men... At least not ones I can wear out to drop Luke off to school in...lol

And then there was the 6 months of chemo.

For those of you who have never been through it, it's sitting there for 6 hours at a time, getting pricked with needles a lot, dangerous chemicals pumped into your body, feeling like crap for a few days (which gets longer as the program goes on), allergies to meds (of course I was one of 1% of people allergic to a certain family of nausea meds... go figure), depression, joy and confusion, all rolled into one big ball of fun.

Jealous, aren't you.

The weirdest thing was "cold neuropathy"... the chemicals they gave me made it so I couldn't touch or drink cold. If I did, instant pins and needles. Just in time for summer.

So how do you get thru it? To steal a line from Nike, you "just do it". My family and friends were always there when I needed them. Being a stay at home dad made things a bit easier too.

But damn it, if I didn't have an appointment someplace, I walked them to school, took them to the pool during the summer, and tried to keep things as "normal" as possible. Doing so was really important to my wife and me. You get up every morning, look at cancer in the mirror and say "you won't beat me today", then you go off and fight it with everything you have.

I realize that I can go on about this for a really long time. You can all get a better "real time" idea of what fighting and beating cancer is like by reading my blog. It'll give you a better idea of my feelings during it all (and a better taste of my well-documented sense of humor).

I'm lucky enough to be surrounded by great family and great friends. Believe it or not, I almost feel like I'm a lucky guy to have gotten cancer. There was a time in my life were maybe I took too much for granted and this experience helped me realize how fortunate and blessed I really am.

On a personal note, I want to thank Rick at Airborne for asking me to write this. I spent a good part of the week end trying to figure out in my head what to say. Spent the last few hours looking back at my blog and re-reading the feelings I had at the time. It had been months since I've done that.

The "fire" that cancer gave me has been flickering back to complacency the last few months and doing this project opened my eyes to that. I owe everyone many thanks.....

So now that you know the context, click here for Todd's Total Tear Down post.

PS: You can learn more about Big Todd Haskins here on the Airborne Flight Crew page.