A Walking Weekend

Unlike my fellow Kryptoniters Roby and Nadine, I'm not a huge rider. I do have a bike that I love and I do get out in the summer, but not for the long rides like Roby. More of a casual cyclist. When I ride I like to look at the houses I'm passing, or the flowers in the yards. Casual.

However, I do walk a lot, especially in the three seasons that are reasonable for that here in New England. I admit to being a winter woosie and choose the treadmill then. But, this past Saturday there wasn't a need for the treadmill.

I headed down to Hyannis with Jody Perewitz, some of her family and three of their dogs for the MS Challenge Walk. The National MS Society had multiple walks going on in Massachusetts that day, which turned out to be a perfect walking day. The sun was peeking through the clouds, the temps were in the high 50s, and there really wasn't a breeze until we got to Craigville Beach, which we expected. Even then it was just a little breeze, not a gusting wind.

92 people walked 6.2 miles and collectively we raised $25,000 to help end this terrible disease. It's one that has hit close to home for me; my cousin has lived with it for over 30 years now and I have two other good friends who also live with it. Although 6.2 miles wasn't difficult for me, they were truly my inspiration for getting out and doing the walk. I'm glad I did. Not only did we help with a great cause, but we also had a fun time chatting and playing with the dogs all along the route.

Hope you all had as great a weekend with your friends!

Cycling in Philly

Just a quick post to shout out to all the cyclists in Philly. I was really impressed yesterday with the amount of people out and about on their bikes in the city, even with the few showers that we had yesterday. I'd also like to thank everyone I saw who had a Kryptonite lock, which was just about everybody. Made me smile as I was cruising by seeing all the bikes safely awaiting their owner's return.

On a side note, while I was in Philly I got a chance to test ride the new Shimano coasting bike and those few minutes down by Arch Street were heaven on a three-speed.

I can't wait to get home to Boston and dust off the old bike myself. That's all for now from the road.

-Nadine Fallon-Nassif

Tour de lite

The reason for this ride was because last night, after dinner, I came across my favorite Girl Scout cookies, which are the carmel delights. Upon eating a row and a half, I took a glace at the caloric information that they so kindly provided for me. I found out that each cookie was 140 calories. I didn't care to look at the fat content.

When I saw this I knew a dawn patrol ride was necessary.

Out the door 5:45am for my local loop. Backroads down to Duxbury beach and the bridge (see above photo) and then around the corner to see the below picture. The ride was a little chilly today. Needed to wear heavy tights and jacket.

The ride was nice. Roads a little wet. Nothing major. Great ride. Too early for too many people to be out so people watching was less than the other day. My greatest fear on the roads this early is being hit by someone who hasn't had their Dunkin' Donuts coffee yet.

Mileage clocked in at 18. Muscles were sore from the last ride. Got a little ahead of myself the other day. When I got home from work I felt so good that I went for a night ride, too. Same loop. Needless to say, I cooked my legs and today's ride was much slower.

Roby Holland

Kryptonite & CMWC

Kryptonite has supported the Cycle Messenger World Championships (CMWC) many times and this year will be no different. We're going to Ireland this year! We just signed on to support CMWC this August in Dublin. Ok, 'we' just means the brand, not 'me'....I'm excited about this partnership, but I'd be more excited if I actually got to go (tiny hint).

This is Graham White. He's one of the organizers of the event and my contact there. He also made my day with this quote, "Who in their right mind doesn't use Kryptonite anyway?" Thanks!

More info on this fun event as it gets closer. Stay tuned...

Spring Ride!

So, this morning, I got dressed for work. Helped my wife get our 9 month old dressed and ready to go. We all left the house for work, only I decided it was finally spring and went back inside, put on my riding gear and went for a ride.

18 miles, to be exact. It’s a great time to go through Duxbury in the spring with everyone outside; there’s lots of people watching.

Went backroads down to Duxbury beach, through Hall’s Corner, past Holy Family back to home. Beautiful to see the ocean early in the morning. It really was.

Felt good. It was stellar. Nice. Need to do it more often.

Roby Holland

The Journey Continues

By now most of you are aware of our revamped Kryptonite website. The Kryptonite team is very excited about presenting a fresh face to our customers and partners. This is another step in our journey to deliver the best Action Sports security products on the planet. We look forward to your help and support in getting there.

I encourage you all to visit us online, take a tour and give us your comments. Again this is a journey and one we hope to take together with you. Keep an eye out for more developments as our marketing team is definitely not done.

Look forward to hearing from you

Dwight

Kryptonite's New Website!

Since the cat is out of the bag, I am very, very pleased to announce that Kryptonite's brand new website is live!!! Since we have, literally, just 'pushed the button' to make it live this morning, it is my understanding, with my limited technical knowledge, that the servers around the world take time to propagate the new information. If you can't see it right away, it is coming. I promise.

The website is step two in our brand relaunch plan for this year. Step one you are reading right now (umm...the blog!). We are just shifting our thinking a little bit to keep up with the times and to truly become more involved in the communities around us - be that at an event, show or the communities online.

Our new homepage is a place to showcase people in the industries that we play in as well as ourselves. We want you to know who we are, too, both via the website and through this blog. The Masiguy is our official greeter along with Jody Perewitz, Kate Cross (the daughter of one of our sales directors) and Rob Zuraski (he's one of our great engineers and I'm sure you will be reading about him on this blog often, he has many, many adventures). Read their stories, see who they are and why they have a bond to their 'ride'. Our plan is to have these folks change every 4-6 weeks or so. Yes, before you ask....after a couple of months we may just ask for volunteers for this section. Stay tuned for that.

All the same product information is there, but we think it is a lot easier to find and navigate through. But, we've expanded our info to include a Tech Lab section and an Events & Promotions section which will let you know about all the events we support throughout the year. That section will change monthly, too.

You can also read about our bond with bike messengers (another big shout out to Kevin Dillard for supplying us with some of the great photos on our website!) and find sections on Bob Roll, Dave Perewitz and members of the internal Kryptonite team. This will rotate every month, too, but first up is our GM, Dwight. You know Dwight, he's been commenting here on the blog already and will be posting soon. Now you have the face to go with the name.

What else? Oh, I don't know, I've been looking at this site for months now, so it is all starting to blur to me, but you'll find our history and all our contact info, testimonials (that will change monthly) and, of course, you can still register your keys and order new keys and find our great dealers and find fun links and...and...and...go look. Check it out.

We hope you like it and that you visit often since it will keep changing. We know there are tweaks that need to be made - there is a growing list on my desk from my colleagues already. And, we have sections that are being worked on that will go up on a rolling basis (including additional languages - we didn't forget that piece!). It will always be a constantly evolving place.

Hope you like it!

Perewitz Bike Build...

...but it isn't the Perewitz you might be thinking about.

Dave Perewitz, is a legend in the motorcycle industry. He's been building and painting custom motorcycles for decades and made bikes for rock stars as well as NASCAR and NFL celebrities. We are proud to partner with Dave at many events throughout the year and will have a bunch of photos here as we get into the season and even some sneak peeks of his newest creations (I just saw the latest last night - photos coming soon).

But, there is a new Perewitz getting in on the act. Dave's daughter, Jody, is no stranger to building motorcycles. Over the years she's worked on and helped to build numerous motorcycles, including her own. This coming weekend she's taking part in Gina Woods' XX Chromes at the 3rd Annual Midwest Cyclemania in Wisconsin.

Jody, Sara Liberte, Laura from Kustomcycles, Katie of Mitch Bergeron Customs and Tami of Diva Customs have a challenge ahead of them. They will be building a bike from the ground up during the show with everyone watching. No pressure, right?

The show is April 21 at the Brown County Veterans Memorial Arena in Green Bay, WI. Sounds like it will be a fun time. If you are in that area, stop by and say hi to Jody and see how she and the her partners are doing with the bike build. We think they are going to do a great job and can't wait to hear all about it.

Wow. What a Welcome!

I don't know about the rest of the company, but I am completely blown away by the generosity of my fellow bloggers. My friends and blogging mentors Shel, Carlton, Fritz and Lee all touched me deeply, personally, by the kind things they've said. Thank you, my friends.

There are, also, the folks that I haven't 'met' yet who were equally as kind and welcoming on their blogs, welcoming us with 'open arms' as Jeremiah puts it. And then, of course, the folks who took the time to comment and leave their thoughts for us on our first couple of days in the blogosphere. Thank you all. I read every one - some of them twice. Personally, I am humbled. And...slightly grateful since my boss' boss is watching.

We were even Twittered at least once, which I think it kind of fun.

Thank you all. I hope that we continue to interest you and that you come back often.

Behind the Scenes

A blog is not the work of just one person and this one certainly isn't and won't be. If it is a company blog ideas for posts come not only from the author, but from customers, associates, co-workers, colleagues and issues in the marketplace, too. If it is a personal blog ideas can come from conversations with friends and family and just about anywhere else, too.

As I mentioned, as we evolve this blog more people from here will chime in and I expect that all of you will have quite a few things to contribute, too. I'm counting on both those things, actually.

But, there are also the contributions that happened behind the scenes that got this blog started. Support from 'the top', of course. Not only the director of marketing here, but also our GM and the head of corporate communications for our parent company. They are all very supportive and, to be honest, this blog wouldn't be here without that support.

Then there is the creative. Do you think that I created the banner at the top of the page? I'm lucky I can draw stick figures, even on the computer. Our graphic designer did that and I think it's kind of cool. He also created the little lock icons at the start of each post. That, to me anyway, is a nice touch.

And, a big thank you goes out to photographer Kevin Dillard who not only provided some photos for our new brand website (live next week!), but he also took the photo to the right especially for us a week or so ago at a messenger event in Richmond, Virginia. How nice is that? We certainly appreciate that and it is the perfect compliment to the design of this blog.

Thank you one and all. I think this is going to be a great adventure for our brand.

Passionate. Fanatical. Driven. Free?

As we’ve mentioned, we are a passionate bunch. We are passionate about lots of things – cycling, motocross, custom motorcycles, skiing, rally, F1, hockey and, of course, our common bond is our passion for security. We wouldn’t all be in this building if we didn’t care how secure your stuff is. Just so you know, we all use our products, too, so they need to be tough. Seriously, do you think our engineers want to see me in tears some day because my bicycle was stolen? I don’t think so. We are a little nuts on security. Fanatical even. Driven, definitely.

So where does ‘free’ come in? We want you to be free to do everything you like to do – no matter what it is, without worry. In the next few months we are going to be relaunching our brand. We’ll have a completely different look and feel, starting with our website next week (!). But also our promotions and the way we do things will change, too (hello, blog!). We’re taking some risks, but we’re excited. We hope you like the direction we are going in. Other than the website, New Yorkers, you’ll be seeing some of this first – I’ll let you know when.

Don’t get me wrong. We are still passionate about being tough, being the best, frustrating thieves, but you know that already. We want all that we do to be more about YOU, not us.

After all, YOU are Time Magazine’s person of the year.

Who “We” Are

Now that ‘we’ are here, just who is ‘we’? Well, the main voice of this blog is me, Donna. Many of you have seen me around the blogosphere for awhile now – jumping in conversations here and there. Some of you have even found my personal blog and followed along its infrequent evolution. You can also listen to me on The Spokesmen Podcast sometimes and as a contributor to the Kool-Aid Krew (although I haven’t posted there in way too long – the rest of the Krew has been keeping that going quite nicely). So, that’s me.

You will also hear from Dwight. He’s our GM and quite an athlete in his own right. He’s been playing basketball since he was a kid and the way he talks about it, I don’t think it’s for fun – it’s serious with him. He’s been on a bike quite a bit, too. Shhh…don’t tell him I told you, but he’s training for triathlon. He’ll pop in here from time to time, too.

If I can coax her gently and often enough (ie, become a pest!), Karen may join us, too. She’s my boss, been in the cycling industry for quite awhile and is all for this blog. She’ll be shy at first, but I think we’ll get her here eventually.

We may be able to get some of the folks on the road to check in from time to time, too. Even if they don’t write their own post, they may comment back to you, if they are more appropriate to answer a question.

It’s an evolution, as every blog is. We’ll find our way and we’re glad you’re here for the journey.

Kryptonite’s First Blog Post

So. We’re officially here. In the blogosphere. Finally.

I struggled with what would be the first official post. It should be prolific after all this time, right? Grand in nature. Broad in scope. So, I struggled. How would we start this company blog? I struggled some more. And then I realized it’s just like walking into a room full of people you’ve never met - we’ll introduce ourselves to you. It seems like the polite thing to do, right?

First the company. We are Kryptonite – the company that innovated the bicycle u-lock awhile back….way back. So far back that we actually created the bicycle security category and then, subsequently, the motorcycle security category.

That’s it. You get the gist of what the company does. Enough ‘corporate babble’. If you want to read more about the company our new website will be launching really soon – you’ll hear it here first. When I say ‘soon’, I mean within a week. That will tell you everything you need to know about the company, what we do, detail all our products and so on.

This space isn’t about that. This space is about people. People who have an unbreakable bond to something action sports related. People here in this office are passionate about cycling, motorcycling, triathlon, hockey, volleyball, skiing and don’t even get me started on the snowmobile trips I’ve heard about. We are a passionate group of people. You’ll learn more about us – not the company, the people behind it.

We’ll also talk about people we meet along the way who have some amazing bonds to advocacy issues, charities, their “rides” (bikes, motorcycles and the like). People who are doing good things in the industries we play in (and I do mean play!). People who are passionate about the same things we are passionate about. People we bond with every day – and some folks we just hear about but that we want to talk about. And, just to see if you are paying attention, every once in awhile we may toss in something from left field.
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There will be no shortage of passion in this blog. Sometimes you may agree with us, sometimes not. We want to hear from you. Anytime and all the time. We can’t wait for the conversations to start! What we do ask is that you respect the space. Shel Israel created his “Living Room Policy” when he and Robert Scoble were writing Naked Conversations a few years ago. It was great and we whole-heartedly agree. To paraphrase, he asked that people be respectful with their comments. Constructive criticism is welcome, slander is not. Profanity is not. Basically, please don’t say something here that you wouldn’t say in one of our living rooms. We would appreciate that.

So, there you have it. Our little introduction to the blogosphere. If you have questions or comments, please ask. We’re listening.