NAHBS 2010 - Richmond, Virginia

The tough thing about coming back from the NAHBS show is picking the things to start talking about. One could wander through the alley ways of that show for hours and not see everything. In fact there was a whole isle that I think was completely missed. Tony Pereira was on hand to help out in the Mini Mart but he developed the best technique I heard, it went like this "At some point I realized that I just had to put my head down and jump from space to space focusing only on the bikes." You do whatever you have to at these events.

It was great to have Tony and just as well Ira Ryan stopped by more than a few times so that the two could regal visitors with tales of the Rapha Continental over the past few years. And I think I heard Ira mention that he rode his bike in Norway as well. That cat really gets around, but I know that there were a few of his customers that were really excited to meet up with him in the Richmond area and I surprised more than a few others by pointing out both he and Tony.

In other news, two of "our" builders (and I only say our because we love them so) won awards at the NAHBS. Congratulations are in order for both - Richard Sachs for best Track Frame and Bilenky Cycle Works for best Road Frame. You can see them with the bicycles in question here at the official Shimano - NAHBS website. And yes, you are seeing that correctly, a tandem won Best Road Frame. Who would have thought that possible?

As the week progresses (and we have some time to sift through the massive amount of images that we all took) there will be some further explorations of the stories that came out of the weekend. But the overall theme that was prevalent was that people will come out from around the country (and especially D.C.) to celebrate these handmade builders. As Slate Olson would say "Good on you Richmond."