Go to the Source – twojohnspodcast.missingsaddle.com

Above: section of a carbon rim, Below: the people of Enve

Go to the Source – twojohnspodcast.missingsaddle.com

Powering up down under with some Power Domes

But first, it’s the impromptu Christmas Gift Podcast!  We loosely go over gift ideas to show that someone special how much you care.  Maybe to the well rehearsed and heavily scripted production normally associated with The Two Johns Podcast, rather a loose, freewheel’in list- We even go over a new category, the Bro gift!

Emails, emails and more emails… which category should I ride?  A harrowing melodrama of the podcast’s role in an Aussie relationship, Vittoria CX too fragile for Scottish Roadie?  Wheels or pit bike?  The Airing of Grievances and is aluminum the new carbon?  Dre reforms and now photographs his bike drive side on the camera side, will a trainer ruin my smooth pedaling technique?  Shotgun gives thanks for her expanded lexicon of cycling related words among other comments and are the Johns down with 420?  Answers abound in this, our best podcast of 2011.

Go to the Source – twojohnspodcast.missingsaddle.com

Powering up down under with some Power Domes

But first, it’s the impromptu Christmas Gift Podcast!  We loosely go over gift ideas to show that someone special how much you care.  Maybe to the well rehearsed and heavily scripted production normally associated with The Two Johns Podcast, rather a loose, freewheel’in list- We even go over a new category, the Bro gift!

Emails, emails and more emails… which category should I ride?  A harrowing melodrama of the podcast’s role in an Aussie relationship, Vittoria CX too fragile for Scottish Roadie?  Wheels or pit bike?  The Airing of Grievances and is aluminum the new carbon?  Dre reforms and now photographs his bike drive side on the camera side, will a trainer ruin my smooth pedaling technique?  Shotgun gives thanks for her expanded lexicon of cycling related words among other comments and are the Johns down with 420?  Answers abound in this, our best podcast of 2011.

Go to the Source – twojohnspodcast.missingsaddle.com

It is always a treat to spend a few hours visiting him and his endeavors.  This time, John, some of my family members and friends had a post Thanksgiving mountain bike ride near Ann Arbor, MI.  After we were done gulping Mountain Dew, getting sweet air, and general hot doggery (for John G’s benefit) we retreated to one of the various back rooms.

First up was an education on coffee bean roasting.  With mechanical or process things, I believe knowing something intellectually is only knowing about something.  Knowing a process or an object involves engaging it.  In front of me was an opportunity to get to know coffee better by roasted it.

John, this is roaster, roaster, this is John.

Hello roaster.

Hello green coffee beans.

Early in the roast.

Mid roast, just starting to get color.

The roasted beans during their rapid cool down.

Despite having something to do just about every minute of the process, watch the color, watch the temperature, shift the airflow within the oven, listening for cracking two separate time… it all appeared to be very simple, under the direction of John telling me what to do.  Through experience he has developed this process and learned what observations indicate it is time for the next step.  Once the coffee was cooled, it was packaged, labeled and marked either for shipping for for retail sale.

The entire process is about having a great coffee bean.  Bean source, roasting process, and timely shipping consumption help the recipient have what is the full experience of the bean.

What does this have to do with cycling?  The next step was John showing me another of his back rooms.  This one, Bikeworks’ Studio, where bike fits are performed, bike design, component build out and servicing are done.  Beautiful examples of bikes line the walls, some old, some new all with the purpose to give someone an idea of what is possible for their new ride.  It is to work out all the things that make a difference.  Yes, the most humble of huffys functions as a bike, but to see the most a bike can be, attention needs to be paid to the details.

I remember learning how to cut a threaded steerer, more specifically, measure the head tube and the headset stack height so that once assembled the locking nut cinched the adjusting nut just before the top of the fork steerer touches the lock nut.  If your measure or cut is off, the steerer runs into the lock nut, too short and not as much thread engaged.  Not a huge deal, but not ideal, but it does make a a difference.  Like the length of cable housing, it can look cluttered and ungraceful, it will probably function that way too.  Even the feel of when you pull the cable, either the brake or shifter, to make sure the metal structure of the housing doesn’t rub against slight texture of the cable transmitting through the lever giving a notchy, less than smooth feel.  It feels right when you pull the lever and it feels like the cable runs from the cable, through helium, directly to the brake or derailleur.  It make a difference.

In the same vein, the recent article in Rouleur magazine, an interview with Valentino Campagnolo offers a window into what that company is about.  It has a deliberate focus on quality and serviceability is a uncommon today.  It is well worth the read.  My including it in the mention of my recent trip is because I see the same vein running through the Campagnolo interview that runs through the coffee roasting, bicycle manufacture and the people I experience it with.  That is one of the main reasons with how my relationship with cycling has changed and will continue to change, is why I continue to find so much in it & also probably why our listeners continue to join the ride.

By the way did I mention we sell coffee?

Go to the Source – twojohnspodcast.missingsaddle.com