St. Patty’s Day News and Specials at Passion Trail Bikes

This week’s news and info on March 17, 2009:

1. St. Patty’s Day Coupon
2. Sale on all in-stock wheels
3. Sale on select lighting systemss
4. Wednesday Wrides, WOOHOOO!!! 3/18 5:45pm
5. Be a Singletrack Superman: Trail Crew Leaders needed at Waterdog Lake
6. National Bike Summit Recap


1. St. Patty’s Day Coupon

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2. Sale on all in-stock wheels

We’ve got some great deals right now in the store on wheels and lights. Perfect combo for 24-hr racers! You can lighten your bike in two ways…

2008 Mavic Deemax Regularly $725 now only $540 – save 25%

Mavic’s Deemax is THE wheelset for downhilling and freeriding due to its UST tubeless rims, outstanding durability and light weight, which makes things easier on every ride.

• These wheels accept UST tubeless tires AND regular tires and tubes
• Mavic’s Maxtal rims use 6000 aluminum, which is 30% stronger than 6106 aluminum
• 20mm front hub, Solid 10mm x 135 rear through axle

Shimano XT M775 Wheelset Regularly $600 now only $450 – save 25%

Shimano XT M775 wheelset is designed to take on the challenges dished out by modern mountain bike riders and their long-travel bikes.

• Center Lock (559×19) disc-brake compatible with standard Q/R front hub
• 14/15/14g spokes7075 T6 alloy oversized axles
• 24-spoke design
• Angular contact bearings ensure long life and maximum efficiency

DT Swiss 340 Classic Wheelset Regularly $830 now only $620 – save 25%

Just the ticket for aggressive riders! 20mm throughaxle front wheel, with 10×135mm through axle rear wheel to complement it. DT Swiss’s 340 is a sturdy, sealed cartridge bearing hub that is 6-bolt disc compatible. They’re laced to DT’s EX 5.1d disc rim using 32 / 3x stainless, double butted black spokes and ProLock nipples.

• Front accepts 20mm thru-axle
• Rear uses 135×10mm rear QR axle
• Ideal for bigger, more aggressive riders
• 100% DT Swiss made!

Roval Traversee Wheelset Regularly $830 now only $620 – save 25%

For aggressive trail riders that aren’t afraid to take risks and go big, this wheel gives you the durability to traverse the whole mountain, while still compensating for light weight. Click here to learn more about the technology behind Roval wheels.

• E5 alloy high strength disc rim with eyelets, tubeless compatible
• DT super comp 2.0/1.7/1.8mm round spokes
• DT hexagonal pro lock alloy nipples
• Roval steel quick releases
• Includes tubeless rim tape
• Approximate Wheelset weight: 1579g/set

Roval Controle XC Race Wheelset Regularly $830 now only $620 – save 25%

This weight-comes-first, cross-country racing wheel helps you climb to the top of the peak faster, with enough strength to handle rocky, muddy and serpentine terrain year after year.

• E5 alloy lightweight disc rim with eyelets, tubeless compatible
• DT revolution 2.0/1.5/2.0mm round spokes
• DT hexagonal pro lock alloy nipples
• Roval Titanium quick releases

Approximate Wheelset weight: 1425g

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3. Sale on select lighting systems

We’ve got some great deals right now in the store on wheels and lights. Perfect combo for 24-hr racers! You can lighten your bike in two ways…

Light & Motion Seca 700 Light Regularly $550 now only $440 – save 20%

Featuring an amazing 700-lumen output along with a 5-hour run time on high, Seca is the most effective way to blaze a path through the dark. Multiple output settings and mounting options, as well as a rapid 3-hour recharge time, make this the light to reach for when ultimate performance is the goal.

• High, Medium, Low and Flash Output Settings, Cruise and Race Modes
• 6 Powerful LED Emitters Producing 700 lumens of Light Output
• Multi-Chem Smart Charger Short 3.0 hr. Recharge Time

NiteRider Tri-Newt Light Regularly $400 now only $320 – save 20%

The TriNewt was designed with cycling specifically in mind. As a result, no ‘off the shelf’ optics are used in the TriNewt.Instead the 3 high-powered LED’s are housed in a custom made reflector to deliver a beam pattern ideal for night riding. The TriNewt incorporates a cluster of 3 high-powered LED’s to achieve a retina searing real world output of 500 lumens!

• 3 Light Settings: High / Low / Flash
• Low Battery Indicator
• 486 Lumens
• 3:30-7:00 HR Regulated Run Times

NiteRider Wireless Remote Tri-Newt Light Regularly $500 now only $400 – save 20%

This wireless version of the TriNewt was designed with cycling specifically in mind. As a result, no ‘off the shelf’ optics are used in the TriNewt.Instead the 3 high-powered LED’s are housed in a custom made reflector to deliver a beam pattern ideal for night riding. The TriNewt incorporates a cluster of 3 high-powered LED’s to achieve a retina searing real world output of 500 lumens!

• 3 Light Settings: High / Low / Flash
• Low Battery Indicator
• Wireless Remote
• 486 Lumens
• 3:30-7:00 HR Regulated Run Times

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4. Weekly Wednesday Wrides 3/18 5:45pm

Sunset is at 7:18pm this Wednesday 03/18/09. Twilight ends and darkness falls right around 8:00pm.

We are back at it with the spring Hustle hustle! Arrive with your shorts on and your camelback already full of water. Let’s make a solid effort to launch the rides at the alloted times. Stragglers will straggle and make up their own ride (there may be several of you this week). No waiting around!

P. L. E. A. S. E. . . . P. U. T. . . . L. I. G. H. T. S. . . . O. N ! ! ! !

Please remember to put a light on your handlebar and have a blinky ready for the ride back to the shop! CA vehicle code requires it. Don’t get caught out on the streets in the dark! Also, a reminder that we need to be super conscientious about stopping at stop signs and lights, yielding to pedestrians, and operating our bikes predictably and responsibly while on the roads. While we are not the only cyclists out there we are certainly the easiest place to lodge complaints. Let’s be safe and kind out there.

For all the details about what makes each group unique, please refer to this webpage. If your questions aren’t answered there, you can also email us for info at info@passiontrailbikes.com.

There will be the usual variety of rides on the twisty narrow singletrack that makes Waterdog famous. All rides start pedaling from the shop: Passion Trail Bikes, 415 Old County Road, Belmont, CA 94002 650-620-9798

Riders queuing up for the launch of the Wednesday Wride

The EARLY ride will go out at 5:30 PM.
The RIDICULOUS ride will go out at 5:35 PM. (that’s Beer-thirsty-five Hawaii time)
The REGULAR ride will go out at 5:45 PM.
The FBG or Fat Bottomed Girl ride will go out at 5:50 PM.
The WHITE SOCKS ride will go out at 5:50 PM.
The STRAGGLERS ride goes out at 6:00 PM.
For future planning, we have the upcoming start times each week for the REGULAR ride posted on our Community Calendar

Note we may not have leaders for each ride but usually someone knows their way around. All groups will meet back here at Passion Trail Bikes right around dark for the usual story telling & beverage enjoyment. We will have stuff for the BBQ along with some carbo laden side dish, chips and fatty snacks and EANABS to pair up with the Devil’s Canyon Brewery’s Full Boar Scotch Ale, Silicon Blonde Ale, and Little Devil Root Beer. We will hang out until about 10pm, so come on down, even if you can’t make the ride! Passion Parties are better with YOU in the mix!

Riders enjoying one of Waterdog’s great trails

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5. Be a Singletrack Superman: Trail Crew Leaders needed at Waterdog Lake

Help wanted: Amazing people to help complete an amazing project this year!

Volunteers making the first cut during tread construction on the Lake Loop Trail

We are gearing up for a major push forward on the Lake Loop Trail realignment project at Waterdog Lake. This project will replace an aging trail with unridable (and nearly unhikable) obstacles that was built below the winter waterline, with a new multi-use trail above the level of the dam that will be family-friendly and appropriate for beginning level riders. It will add almost a mile of bikable singletrack to our existing trail network.

We are hoping to complete the entire trail by September 2009. This includes three trail bridges, a number of rock and timber retaining walls, and about 4000’ of trail tread left to cut. If we assume that each volunteer can build about 10 feet of completed trail in one workday, then we need 400 volunteer hours just to do the tread construction. If our average turnout per workday is 10 volunteers doing four hours of work, then we need ten workdays just for the tread. The bridges will take a handful of workers about three workdays each to install, and then there’s retaining walls where things are complicated. So, we’re looking at a lot of workdays and WHEW! Wouldn’t it be better to just get MORE people to help out and speed the whole thing up?

Schematic drawing of a trail bridge for one of the gullies

The challenge with that is that we need additional crew leaders to assist with guiding volunteers. Patty can only handle about 10 volunteers before it gets a little chaotic and inefficient. So she is hoping to find and train (as needed) some additional volunteers to become crew leaders to make it possible to organize workdays with 20, 30, or more volunteers.

Leading crews is an incredibly rewarding way to improve our wonderful trail system. You become an essential component of the project’s success and develop a really amazing sense of accomplishment, and take home that warm feeling of giving back to the open space that gives you so much. Providing the leadership we need to help others contribute to the trail building effort is something that you will remember for the rest of your life.

Our next workday is Saturday March 28th, and we will be partnering with the Belmont Lions club on that day. We have also posted a few of the upcoming workdays on our Community Calendar. If you think you might be able to help on at least two or three workdays this year, please consider volunteering to become a singletrack superman or superwoman in the form of a volunteer trailbuilding crew leader!

To get involved, please send Patty an email at patty@passiontrailbikes.com and let her know what sort of experience you’ve had working on trails. She will get back to you with more information on how it all works.

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6. National Bike Summit Recap

Patty has returned from Washington, DC where she joined 580 other cyclists in paying visits to members of our nation’s Congress and Senate. Over 60 cyclists made the trip from California. Patty worked with other advocates to team up and present our perspective on how our government should make and modify laws and provide funding to make our nation stronger through supporting cycling-friendly programs and projects. Bike Portland has a great set of reports on the Summit up on their blog.

Tuesday evening the keynote speaker was Congressman Earl Blumenauer, our champion for cycling in Congress. He is very proud of his work for cyclists; an avid cyclist himself, he arrives at meetings on Capitol Hill with his helmet and leg strap on his cuff. He has assembled a large group of other representatives into the Bicycle Caucus, which works to support cycling friendly legislation. One of our tasks was to recruit more members so that the caucus had enough numbers to amount to a majority in the House.

Transportation Secretary Ray LaHood addressed the opening plenary, noting that the DOT will be “a full partner in working toward livable communities”. The Secretary was followed by Representatives Blumenauer (D-OR), Lipinski (D-IL) and Matsui (D-CA). Congressman Oberstar (D-MN) spoke at the Summit dinner, and Representatives Petri (R-WI), Coble (R-NC), McCaul (R-TX) and Kissell (D-NC) made remarks at the Congressional Breakfast and/or Reception.

Wednesday was spent in small workshops with presenters from the League of American Bicyclists, the International Mountain Bicycling Association, Safe Routes to Schools, and Administration officials in the National Park Service, Transportation, and other departments. We learned about how various programs and projects were funded, the status of those programs in the new budget, and how cycling could benefit by projects funded through the stimulus bill.

Wednesday night we were delighted with a wonderful presentation by the director of bicycling programs in Copenhagen, Denmark. Wonderful photos, videos, and statistics helped us understand how residents of Copenhagen make bicycling a normal part of everyday life.

On Thursday, we literally walked back and forth through the halls of congressional office buildings on Capitol Hill. IMBA-California volunteers and staff had helped schedule meetings with staffers, and when we were lucky, our representatives themselves. We met with Anna Eshoo from Palo Alto, and staffers for representatives Jackie Speier from San Mateo, Sam Farr from Santa Cruz and Monterey County (we spent almost an hour in his office, which was wonderful!), and Tom McClintock from District 3 (Nevada City, Downieville, Plumas County, Truckee). We also met with staffers for Senators Diane Feinstein and Barbara Boxer.

Our goal was to encourage support of programs such as Safe Routes to School, passage of the Complete Streets Act of 2009, incorporating cycling-supportive infrastructure improvements into the Transportation Bill (CLEAN-TEA), and better funding for the Recreational Trails Program which is administered as part of the Federal Highway Trust Fund and includes revenue provided by the gas tax paid by off-highway vehicle users.

For more information on the National Bike Summit visit the League of American Bicyclists website for details. If you have interest in getting more involved as a citizen in helping shape your government, consider becoming an IMBA member and possibly taking your turn next year as a bicycle advocate in the halls of Congress.

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To contact us, email us at info@passiontrailbikes.com, or call the shop at 650-620-9798.

Happy Trails, the PTB crew
Charles, Patty, Berry, John, Bret, Sterling, Daryl, Peter, Reba and Buster