At the Races!

As I mentioned, I was in Charlotte over the weekend for the NASCAR races. As you know by now, I'm a complete NASCAR nut - that's no secret. My friends send me tires, for goodness sake, because they know I'll think it's darn cool.

But, this weekend I was able to see NASCAR through the eyes of some 'rookies' and it was even more fun. Roby and I were able to take some of our customers to the race this weekend - one was a NASCAR fan just like me and we hit it off great. But, I wasn't so sure how Roby and the other three guys were going to fare. Roby has been to one NASCAR race, but that was a few years ago and hasn't really seemed interested to go again. The other guys hadn't been to a race but were game to give it a go and see what it was all about. Turns out they were all fabulous race companions and I think everyone came out of there with an interest in the sport, which is cool to me.

The view from 7 stories above the track

Roby and I went out to Lowe's Motor Speedway on Friday morning to get the lay of the land and have a meeting with one of their sales folks, John Cox. We chatted about some programs and then John was nice enough to take some time out of his extremely busy race weekend to give us a tour of the facility via his Club Car. John....you ROCK!

Roby saw things he's never seen before like converted buses and the most loyal fans in sports showing pride in their favorite drivers. When I say to him, "there's nothing like it," he's now a believer.

Our customers arrived Friday afternoon. We were fortunate that Craig and Tom from Western Powersports were able to join us as were Alan and Ed from Tucker Rocky. I met them all for the first time and we boarded the bus out to the track for the Busch series race. A big kudos to Craig who had just arrived back the day before from half way around the world - but after spending a weekend at the track with him, I now know that not much would have kept him from these races! He's a pretty big Greg Biffle fan.

The race on Friday night was good, but I'm not sure good enough to make fans out of the 'rookies'. Saturday, however, was a whole different ballgame.

We were able to take a stroll through the pits, see some cars, converse with some guys on the crews and just generally soak it all in. I think I started to see some NASCAR fans emerge in our group....it was great to see the guys getting excited about where we were and what we were seeing. Made me excited to be there and be one of the people to show it all to them. I wish we'd had a little longer in the pits, but soon it was time to exit and hit the suite to get situated, get some food and watch the race. Apple carmel pie...that's all I'm saying about the food. Yummmm....

Personally, I thought the race was awesome, but then again, I'm a Jeff Gordon fan. I've been to a bunch of races, but never saw him win live before. That was just awesome! I felt badly that Craig's driver didn't have a good night, but not that badly as I watched Jeff do his celebratory burnout.....

Here are photos of the weekend. Enjoy.

The things you see in front of the speedway....

Just about every team hauler had bicycles with them.

Tom and Alan wondered if they should attend the Rookie Meeting.

The view from the suite. It was right between turns 1 and 2.

Tom found Tony Stewart's car heading for inspection. Later Tom was sporting a #20 hat. Shhh...I even saw him wearing it on Sunday morning! Do I sense a new Stewart fan???

Alan seemed to like Denny Hamlin's car.

Ed found the Hendrick gang with the #5 car.

Craig not only inspected Greg Biffle's car before it went out on the track....

..he and Ed also seemed to be getting some race strategy secrets from the crew.

Roby found the stash of spare parts for his favorite car. This isn't unusual since each team has full kits ready to go for every on track possibility.

Craig did an excellent job making sure everything was just right in the 24 car before the race! So good, in fact, that this ended up being the winning car! Thanks, Craig!

These tires went on to win the race!

Notice that the best teams partner with the best companies (see the Club Car logo on the pit box)

Check out the special 'guest' down on pit road!!!

Roby the Race Fan!

A NASCAR Surprise

Thanks to my friend Jeremy Pepper, who knows I'm a NASCAR nut, a got a fantabulous surprise yesterday! Even our UPS guy was impressed. Turns out he's a NASCAR fan, too.

Check it out!

Yes, folks that's an actual tire that was used on Jeff Gordon's car during the 2003 'Dega race. It even as a certificate of authenticity. The action figure is just an added bonus. The real treat is the tire. My office smells like rubber now. That's just too cool.

Thank you, Jeremy!!!! I absolutely love it!

And, this all came at a perfect time...I arrived today in Charlotte. Why? Well, there's a NASCAR race here this weekend, of course. Mr. Gordon just qualified 4th for Saturday night. So...think he'll give up his practice tires? I only need 3 to complete the set....

Breaking News - New Plog on the Block!

A "Plog"? What's a "Plog" you ask? It's the term Jody Perewitz has coined for the new Perewitz Blog! Yup, the Perewitz crew now has their very own blog...excuse me...Plog.

Life at Perewitz will be an inside look at everything Perewitz - where they go, what's cookin' at their shop, who visits and who they are and what their interests may be outside of motorcycles. Did you know that The King of Flames himself is a master landscaper? Now you do. Did you know that Susan Perewitz is a great cook? Now you do...actually, I already knew that because I've been lucky enough to be there at lunch time, but now you know it, too.

Jody will be the main voice on the Plog but others will chime in, too. Yours truly included. I'm very excited because Jody has said that I don't need to write about motorcycles there if I don't want to...I can write about anything Perewitz that I experience when I visit or attend an event with them. Oh, I can come up with a few fun stories for their Plog....stay tuned.

So, go on over and welcome Jody to the blogosphere...or maybe it will be so popular before you know it we'll all be calling it the Plogosphere!

Wonder Woman Lock Contest

The next installment of our 'win the lock' contest. Answer the question correctly and be entered in a drawing to win the Wonder Woman padlock.

by Ryan Sawyer, graphic designer

Wonder Woman can fly, so why does she need a jet...and for the matter, why does it need to be invisible? She doesn't turn invisible when she's in it, so it just looks like a lady sitting down, zooming through the air. Do you remember when Spider-Man briefly used a dune buggy that could drive up walls? Same concept. It's like giving Aquaman some scuba gear.

Also, I wonder if her "Lasso of Truth" would hold up in court as a legal evidence. I certainly don't think she reads the criminals their rights before she hog ties them with her lasso, and anything they say while being detained by her is almost certainly coerced, since her lasso "forces" them to tell the truth. That'd be a sad day, wouldn't it? Wonder Woman finally catches Lex Luthor red handed doing something incredibly illegal, but the case gets thrown out of court because his "confession" is inadmissable and the invisible security cameras on her invisible jet use invisible tape, so no one can see the footage.

Trivia question: Wonder Woman's creator, William Moulton Marston, had a hand in creating what popular law enforcement tool?

As usual, please email your answers to Donna, donna(underscore)tocci(at)irco(dot)com. Good luck!

Congrats to Andy Zalan - 2007 Markus Cook Award Winner

Congrats to our friend Andy Z down in DC - he's the recipient of the prestigious Markus Cook Award this year. The official press release from the IFBMA is below because they can say it much better than I.....

Congrats Andy from all of your friends here at Kryptonite!

The International Federation of Bicycle Messenger Associations (IFBMA) is pleased to announce that Washington DC messenger Andy Zalan has been awarded the 2007 Markus Cook Award. The Cook Award is given annually to bike messengers who best represent the camaraderie and community spirit of the international messenger community. In the past year, Andy set up the Destination Dublin race series in Washington that enabled several DC messengers to travel to the Cycle Messenger World Championships in Dublin , Ireland . His annual bike messenger calendar is a tribute to those who work day in and day out.

However, beyond Andy¢s accomplishments of the last year, lies a decade long history of community advocacy and bridge building among American and European messengers. Andy is one of the founders of the District of Columbia Bike Couriers Association, one of the first organizers of alleycat racing in Washington and he brought the world to his city as host of the
1998 Cycle Messenger World Championships. Andy has been instrumental to the continued success of the CMWC and is a critical component of the international messenger community. In his nomination for the award, veteran Swiss messenger, Luk Keller accurately summed up the international messenger community¢s appreciation of Andy Zalan: "He never loses the spirit. He unites every aspect of what I like about messengers (he¢s uncomplicated, he can race, he can party, he's good-looking, he's smart, friendly, badass...helpful) and by being the way he is he unites the messenger mob with the messenger snob."

With all this in mind, the IFBMA and previous Markus Cook Award winners are pleased to welcome Andy to the list of winners.

Hiking, Climbing and Camping My Way to Interbike

by Eric Anastasia, Eastern Regional Manager

This was the fourth year that I boarded a plane in route to Las Vegas for Interbike (international bike tradeshow). The conventional way of traveling to Interbike for me is to board the plane at Boston’s Logan Airport and disembark in “Sin City” Las Vegas, Nevada.

This year was different. I did leave from Boston but I landed in Denver, Colorado, then traveled out to Vail to link up with a good friend of mine. He had planned a little journey for us; well over a thousand driving miles, 2 State Parks, 5 National Parks and countless miles of hiking all in 4 days. One of the days we hiked over 11 miles in under 6 hours, a little less then half of those miles where done in a river. The remainder was a 1400’ vertical hike with steep zig-zags though the mountain. (Zion N.P.)

The River

The Summit

I could go on and on about the incredible sights we saw but I will give it to you simple.

Arched National Park

Capitol Reef National Park

Goblin Valley State Park

Bryce Canyon National Park

Zion National Park

And finally, Red Rocks

This was by far the best Interbike I ever experienced. We already started talking about next year's trip and the route we are going to take.

Interbike Wrap-Up - Inside Our Booth in Photos

Ok, so here's the last batch of photos from Interbike. As I mentioned, I'd try to do a little different spin on Interbike at times - life from inside a booth. Here are some more things I saw from inside our booth....

Karen and Craig take a short break to smile for the camera before getting back to talking with customers. Our booth was jammed pretty much from the get-go right up until Friday afternoon when it was very sloooowww...so slow all around that I heard booths coming down by 4ish (the show is open until 6pm).

Simon and Lisa from Colin Lewis Cycles in the UK were greeted by our in-transition European/South American Sales Manager, Gustavo. They won a trip to Interbike through a Kryptonite contest held this past winter. It was great having them with us. Last I heard they were headed for some sight seeing and shopping....hope they had fun on the rest of their trip.

Bob Roll chats with and signs a poster for one of our customers. Bob joined us in the morning both Wednesday and Thursday and was, as usual, a crowd favorite!

Craig and Eric serve up some coffee to the folks that stopped by to see Bob. They did a great job! Sandy, too, but I learned during this show that Sandy is about as comfortable in front of the camera as I am.

Chris and Cyndie from Cool Breeze Cyclery stopped by to say 'hello' to Bob. It was so much fun meeting them in person!

Eric Hawkins, owner of Park Tool, also stopped by to greet Bobke. The Park Tool booth is right near ours at Interbike, which is great because we've known those guys forever and they are always fun to hang out with.


Through the power of the internet and the telephone, I've "known" Mark Alker from Singletrack Magazine for years. We are even Facebook friends and connect on MySpace. However, since I think he is never allowed out of the office for some reason, I've never met him in person....until Interbike! It was great meeting him in person. From what I can gather, Mark's first trip to Vegas was a full experience....he needed the coffee we were serving, big time!

Century Cycles in Ohio won "An Evening with Bob Roll" during our Interbike contest a few years ago. Scott, the owner, came by to say a quick hello and drop his card in to win a ride with Bob this year.

Craig checks out a funky bike that made its way to the booth.

One of our favorite visitors to the booth every year is Marilyn Price from Trips for Kids. She was telling Karen here about all the new chapters she's opening. Bravo!!

Tim Grahl stopped by for a bit at the show and showed us that he's all in tune with our new Justice League padlocks. By the way, he was telling me some amazing things about the growth of his Commute By Bike site. Check it out!

Our friend Eric from Pedro's stopped by on Friday at just the right time. We asked him to pick the winners for our 'Win a Ride with Bob' contest and he did a great job. And the winners are....

Nevrik and Hrach from Velo Pasadena are the grand prize winners! Bob's going to be visiting their shop the first week of November. We are very happy they won since they are such great customers.

Christian (MN), Kevin/Squid (NY) and Billy (CA) are way loyal Kryptonite customers. Each has been a bike messenger for more years than they'd probably want me to tell you about and have become friends over the years. Ok, I just met Billy, but he was hanging with Kevin so it's all good. I know they don't go anywhere with their bikes without a Kryptonite lock. Congrats to Kevin on opening is own messenger company recently.

Lucky gal, version 2. The best part of any job, for me, has always been the people I meet along the way. I've been truly lucky in this job to meet some wonderful folks. Some I am fortunate enough to see more than once a year, some I only see at Interbike and some only come to the show every other year or so. This was a special year...the gang's just about all here (John seemed to be missing during this photo, but he was there, too).

And that's Interbike for another year. I think that Bob may have his own wrap-up later this week, but his will be very different from any of ours and I'm sure it will include a mention of the 7-Eleven team reunion. Stay tuned for that.

Now, on to the fall...

Interbike - Outside Our Booth

After a heck of a week with a cold, I am finally able to breathe. If you couldn't guess, breathing is not over-rated. I credit the semi-fast turn around to my new found gem - Puffs w/Vicks. I had never seen them before and after a little investigating found out they are new. If you get a cold....go directly to the store and get some. Now...I wonder if they make things for coughs....

But, I digress.....although I spent a lot of time in our booth at Interbike I did get out a couple of times to visit some friends and see some of the sights. Got to the Thule booth to say 'hey' to Karl and Tripp, met a very nice lady at the Larabar booth (if you haven't tried them do it today...they are just too, too good and good for you), got to the Masi/Haro booth a couple of times (how could I not), met new friends at the Shimano booth (as you can see) and found these interesting items along the way.....



Yes, you see a bus in that photo. A real bus that the folks at Clif Bar drive around the country. It was a cool thing to see. I guess they were also doing smoothies or shakes during the show, too, but I got there too late for that (note to self for next year....go on day 1).


A guy rode by our booth on this one of the days of the show but I didn't get the camera out in time. The next day I found it hanging out in this booth. This is just FUN!



Then I found our friend Chris at the Earth, Wind and Rider booth. Check out this wool polo shirt. Chris took a trip around the country this summer and hung out at some messenger events and found that they are playing street polo now. These shirts are just sweeeet....there are 6 total with different colors and numbers that are distinctive to the cities they represent. The numbers are...get this...the area codes (brilliant!) and the colors have something to do with the city...Boston's red because of the Red Sox (ha)...New York is yellow for the taxi cabs, or in my mind for the New York Lock...Oakland is silver to match the Raiders and so forth. Way cool.

My last stop before I packed up and left the show was to visit a long-time friend of mine, Dave Murphy, over at the Sugoi booth. He showed me some absolutely kickin' new items for 2008. He's been with the company for about a year and a half now and I can see his touch pretty much everywhere. There was just too much goodness to take photos of everything, but check out this women's jersey.....it has a cupcake design on it and in the pocket??? The recipe to make cupcakes. How fun is that?! Look for it next spring.

That's it for now...one more Interbike post from me to come...after all, we did have some great things happen IN our booth, too.....

Happy Weekend all!

Dave Zabriskie's Calling YOU out!

Have ever watched the Tour Day France and thought, "I can take him". Ok, me either....but maybe you've watched a race at some point and thought, "I can hang with him." Tomorrow's your chance if you live in or near the state of Utah.

As part of the Bikes for Kids Utah, current USA Time Trial Champion, Dave Zabriskie will race YOU, big talker. Yup, that's right. Bring your trash talkin' and give it a go. For $75, which goes to this great organization, you can race Dave on a USA Cycling sanctioned time trial course. Is there a catch? No...except that it is up Salt Lake's Traverse Ridge (that to me says "mountain").

Dave's ready. Are you?!

If that's a stretch for you...'cause it is for me....you can participate in Bikes for Kids Utah on Saturday with Dave, too. There's a 5K family ride and a 50K with Dave and a metric century at 100K. Hopefully, it will be a nice fall day for a ride. Go on out and join 'em. I've only been in contact with Dave once...he visited our booth at Interbike in '06 (no not to see me...to say 'hey' to Bob Roll). He seemed very, very nice - I'm sure he'll be fun to ride with.

So, what is Bikes for Kids Utah? You can read all about them here, but basically they are an organization that started last year to provide "disadvantaged children with free bicycles as an inexpensive and fun way to get to school and as a hobby that helps them exercise as well as learn responsibility and safety."

The organization teaches them about bike safety, rules of the road and the importance of regular exercise. Last year they gave away....are you ready for this....they gave away 1,000 bikes! They are aiming to do so again this year. Amazing.

Kryptonite has been a proud supporter of this event the last two years. Seriously - kids, bikes and safety...it's a great thing for all involved.

We wish everyone involved tomorrow the time of their life and everyone a crisp, clear fall day to ride on Saturday.

A week full of summer wrap-ups

by Jody Perewitz


Here at Perewitz Cycle Fab we had a busy week September 17-23! There were so many events going on in one week no one at the Perewitz shop got a good nights rest.

It started on Tuesday with Kory's, our service manager, birthday! Another birthday gone with the wind! Next on Wednesday we had our last Bike Night and what a night!

Wednesday was a nice day for bike night. As Donna has stated we luck out and always seem to get good weather, although I don’t want to curse us so we’ll say we have always HAD good weather! Well, the bike night was a huge success! We never know how the last one is going to be because kids are back to school and it gets dark so much earlier.

Those things didn’t seem to stop the crowd though! The parking lot was full, the food line was long and there were numerous volunteers, who got a free Kryptonite lock, to do burnouts. The first one was on a complete custom motorcycle which is cool because usually it's stock bikes, not that those are bad! Anyway it was a great night and an even better way to end the season!

Next we had a long weekend full of events. We had our annual, invitation only charity event, the Fall Foliage Run. It started with a ride from our shop to the Cape, then dinner at our house for 200 people!

On Saturday we had a poker run and a lobster dinner with a live auction. Thanks to the high bidders on the auction items - hopefully we will have a good amount of money to donate to the Multiple Sclerosis Society. On Sunday everyone rode to Provincetown and came back to the Perewitz manor for an Italian dinner and some leftovers. What a weekend!

We skipped work Monday to clean up the house, get rid of the trash, put things away, and eat some great leftovers that have lasted all week! Phew, I am glad it is over but sad to see another season go!

Till the next one!

A Parent's Dilemma - Tricycle or Push Bike?

by Alison Donlan, Category Manager



It all started about a month ago when my husband, my 2 year old son and I went to my brother-in-law's for a cookout. (I should mention my brother-in-law has 3 children 3 1/2, 5 and 7.) My son, whom I will lovingly refer to as "my short friend", got out of the car and his eyes popped out of his head when he saw all of the bikes and tricycles in the driveway. He made a b-line for the largest bike (the tire about his height) and attempted to get on. While I encourage my short friend to do challenging things, I was not up for a trip to the hospital so I re-directed him to a tricycle that looked a little more his speed.

He was enjoying himself on said tricycle when his cousins appeared with bicycle helmets on, jumped on their bikes and stared riding. Crisis. "Bike hat! Bike hat," my short friend exclaimed pointing furiously to his head. Thank goodness for sister-in-laws because mine came out of the house with an extra "bike hat" for my short friend. For the remainder of the day my short friend pushed himself around on the tricycle, proudly donning his new bike hat, pink flowers and all. It was very amusing and heart warming to watch.

On the way home that night (short friend asleep with newly acquired bike hat in hand) my husband and I decided it was time to procure a tricycle - or a push bike. Dilemma. Do we buy a push bike or a tricycle? It seems like the push bike is very logical for many reasons. However, are we going to deny our short friend the childhood joy of a tricycle if we buy a push bike? Will he turn 18 and revolt against us because he didn't have a tricycle? I suppose only time will tell...

Devastation Can Happen Anywhere

by Craig Glab, Regional Manager (Central)



I was in Minneapolis on September 13, to visit Erik’s Bike Shop in Dinky Town. They have more than one store, but the one I visited is right there in the U of M campus area and they are a great Kryptonite dealer. I went to the store and conducted business and then drove across the bridge that is the closest bridge to the I-35 bridge collapse.

When I was driving, I decided as a former Minnesotan I wanted to capture the view to show other people what I saw. The destruction was phenomenal. I had been there just a couple of months before the bridge collapse. And, in the past, I’d driven across the I-35 bridge many times – anyone who has driven it can probably still remember all the pot holes and where they were, I know I do.

I guess it is different for all of us – we’ll all have our own thoughts on this tragedy. If you don’t live in the Twin Cities area think of it this way - if it was a tunnel in Boston or a bridge in San Fran or wherever you live, it would mean more to you, I guess, especially if you drove it every day and then all of a sudden it wasn’t there any more. You might even think it could be you. It could be any one of us. This is particularly devastating for anyone who lives in, or has lived in, Minneapolis.

It really brings to my mind the question, “how short is life”? In a split second this could happen to you…or me. It could be any one of us. This huge bridge was there once and now it is gone…amazing. I guess I still have a hard time with it.

Here are some interesting photos of what I saw last month.

Lake Mead Ride Video

I've been to Interbike 8 times now...and 6 of those I've come home sick. This year is no exception. I've got a red nose, watery eyes and the sniffles. People in the office are avoiding me like crazy....which could be a good thing. I'll get lots done between sneezes.

So, I wasn't feeling that chipper to write this morning. Thank goodness for friends and their creativity!

Carlton Reid sent this link to me this morning. It's a fun video of the 24-mile industry ride to Lake Mead that happened before the indoor portion of Interbike started this year. You'll see the Masiguy, David Bernstein, Rich Kelly and the Boston Globe's Ross Kerber (I told you he was a bike guy!).

Enjoy!

Boston Globe Talks Simply Cycling

There are more photos and commentary from the Interbike show, but I'm weeding through emails this morning....tons tend to pile up when you are out for a week, even when you peek at them half way through the week....

But, I didn't want y'all to miss a couple of articles in today's Boston Globe, which you can view online. The Globe sent out business reporter, Ross Kerber, whom I've known for years. He's a good, fair reporter who just happens to be a total bike person. I'm not sure he considered headed to Vegas for Dirt Demo and the first day of the show 'work', but we won't tell his bosses that.

Anyway, he spent some time at Dirt Demo trying bikes and then walked around the show. His article, "Simple Cycling" is a great one and worth the read. Also worth the read is his second article, "Finding Profit in the Practical". Gee, I wonder who you'll find in that piece... give it a read, too.