Friday Group Ride #100
Much to my chagrin, some of the most read pieces on Red Kite Prayer are the product reviews. No matter that I sweat blood into my keyboard every week over each post I write. I understand. Not only do regular RKP readers click on links to product reviews and express their very wise and considered opinions, but people doing web searches, who are simply curious about those very same products, who may never have even heard of RKP, will end up here as well.
So, it doesn’t hurt my feelings that the posts concerning new wheelsets or chamois creams get more attention than my garbled, personal rantings about riding my bike up a steep hill. Chamois cream is compelling. I get it.
But there’s so much talk now of pay-to-play advertising in the cycling industry, it got me thinking. What bike products and people would I recommend unreservedly? Who do I want to see succeed? What about a little free publicity?
I don’t know about you, but I start every day with a cup or four of coffee. Two cups before I leave the house. One upon arrival at work. Two more in the afternoon. It’s both too much and just enough. And, coffee and cycling go together like asses and chamois cream, so I recommend High Cadence Coffee.
High Cadence manages two pretty spectacular tricks at the same time. First, the single-source and small-batch roasted beans make fantastic coffee. The Gavia Espresso will fix more or less any problem I have, even in small doses. Second, High Cadence donates $0.15 of every sales dollar to support and promote women’s cycling. What? You mean I get a great cup of coffee AND I support cycling? Yes, and yes. Jeff Ernst, who runs High Cadence, as well as the Ciclirati website, sent me a free bag of coffee once, just because. I recommend the coffee because it’s good and it’s good for cycling though.
I don’t know anyone at all who works at NiteRider. No one. But I ride home every night in a cone of daylight supplied by my NiteRider MiNewt 600 headlight. I love that light. It’s bright. It runs long on a single, USB charge, and it weighs nothing. I can’t imagine a better headlight. Of course, the name “MiNewt 650″ is goofy. 600 refers to the lumen output, which is fine, but “MiNewt?” Great light. Bad name.
My favorite t-shirt, maybe ever, is this one. Mike Spriggs, the man behind Gage+DeSoto, is the sort of guy who pops up here there and everywhere in the cycling world. When he’s not silk-screening the coolest velo-themed t-shirts on the internet, he’s working with Rapha or the Red Hook Criterium or, I don’t know what else. I don’t want to web-stalk him to find out.
This week’s Group Ride is all about FREE PUBLICITY! What people, places or things do you recommend to other cyclists? Who are the good guys? What are the indispensables?
Finally, this is Friday Group Ride #100. We’ve done this 100 times. It boggles the mind. Just wanted to take half-a-sec here to say thanks to everyone who has come along on the ride.
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