Wheat Ridge Cyclery Pro Night

Over the past year we have been fortunate to connect with many new people, and even have a few contribute to the Triple Crankset. But, its always nice to have an old friend drop by and lend a hand.

Dan McCormack was by our sides as we traversed over the Pyrenees and rode into Paris in 2003. Over the weekend, Dan attended Pro Night at Wheat Ridge Cyclery, and provided us with a recap of the evening.

January 12, 2008 - Denver CO - When I moved to Denver last summer I immediately checked out all the bike shops, as I always prefer to use & support a local shop (instead of the web). I visited a few that were ok , but they didn't really have the relaxed atmosphere I'd enjoyed in Austin, TX ... until I walked into Wheat Ridge Cyclery!

WRC is the best shop in the Denver area, started by Eugene Kiefel (Ron's dad) back in the early 1970s with very little knowledge of cycling (a better choice than a go-kart shop or Dairy Queen though!!). Ron and his two sisters worked the tiny shop with Dad for years and that's what led Ron into cycling. Fans like me who began following cycling in the 1980s with Greg Lemond, remember Ron as one of the early Americans in Europe riding for the 7-Eleven team (7 TdFs, Giro stage winner, and Bronze medalist in '84 Olympics).

The WRD shop has grown incredibly over the years and now hosts and annual Pro Night fund raiser for cycling initiatives. The event was very relaxed with free pizza (I swear they had 80 large pies!!), beer, wine & soft drinks. Many vendors were there including Trek which had the latest version of the 2008 Astana team bike (sorry no pic - but it's HOT!)

The evening was kicked off by Ron, Eugene and the Kiefel family and then hosted by Michael Aisner (Coors Classic director) & Bob Roll (with full beard) - and included a bunch of cycling stars talking about current projects and telling some great stories.

A few brief reflections & highlights:

• Tommy Danielson is an absolutely great guy (really down to earth), but he looked more like a casual skateboarder than a top of world road cyclists!
• Nelson Vails in contrast, still looks like a cycling machine with huge powerful muscles (a track guy for sure)
• Alison Dunlap was a real sweetie and we visited briefly before the event while just milling around
• Ned Overend is freak of nature - the guy is my age (52) and still totally fit and competing when he wants (2nd in 2006 Washington Hill & Mt Evans Hill Climbs!)
• Steve Johnson (CEO USA Cycling) gave a great presentation on the upcoming China '08 Olympics in which they had to build a mt bike course (we'll see?) ... but the road course should be very challenging with a circuit in the mts/hills north of Beijing

The highlight of the night though was Tom Ritchey and Jock Boyer talking about Project Rwanda. A friend of these cycling legends talked them into visiting Rwanda a few years ago and it seems to have changed both of their lives. They marveled at the beauty of the country and people (apparently the Hotel Rwanda movie doesn't do the country justice). More importantly, they got connected with people there related to transporting items (like water, coffee crop, etc.) long distances on home-made wooden bikes (because other bikes aren't strong enough).

The Mission Statement from the web site says it very well:

Mission Statement: Project Rwanda is committed to furthering the economic development of Rwanda through initiatives based on the bicycle as a tool and symbol of hope. Our goal is use the bike to help boost the Rwandan economy as well as re-brand Rwanda as a beautiful and safe place to do business and visit freely.

http://www.projectrwanda.org/

And now the exciting ending to this post ... I was feeling really lucky all night about my raffle ticket, but didn't win anything until the last item - new Specialized Tarmac Road bike - and they started to call the numbers 749 (yes) 006 ... and I had 007! (but I just got my Lemond Maillot Jaune fully tuned so I'm ready for another great season) ... Ride On!