Ritchey Blog

The answer is quite simple, Ritchey’s Titanium Mountain BreakAway Bike. Don’t believe us, check out his review.

Robert Myint is a pilot who lives in Hawaii and works out of Los Angeles. He loves mountain biking. All his traveling, however, makes it difficult for Robert to hit the trails as often as he wants, until… Ritchey’s Ti Mountain BreakAway, a full size, custom drawn titanium, hard tail mountain bike built up with all Ritchey’s WCS and Carbon level components, entered his life. Robert was then able to easily check in the bike, a mere 30 pounds for the complete bike, packaging and suitcase, on whatever flight he was to take, without hassle...

Arrive at his destination, and with a little practice, putt together the bike and be out on the trails in about 20-25minutes.

Patented BreakAway locking compression system adds only 100 grams

Sounds pretty good. If I were a mountain biking pilot, I would have to say I would be pretty happy.

Read Robert’s complete review here.

Tuesday morning in Northern California was dreary, wet, and cold but inside a local Peet’s Coffee the atmosphere was warm and energetic where a moderate size crowd had converged. The crowd was not the usual customers seeking the freshly brewing coffee wafting through the air inside, or even the spread of tantalizing pastries which covered the bar table. Folks where there to greet a handful of some of the fastest women cyclists in the nation, Team TIBCO’s Elite team riders. The riders were there to host a “meet and greet,” for team sponsors and supporters.

Team TIBCO's Brooke Miller

I had the opportunity to chat with some of these fast women, including one of the team’s “new” riders, Jerika Hutchinson. I am not sure, however, if “new,” is actually the most accurate word to describe Jerika. Jerika comes from Team TIBCO’s developmental team where she spent two years riding to develop her skills, and making a name for herself with a number of very strong finishes, logging a few appearances in elite pro level races. This season Jerika joins the elite level team bringing with her two Junior National Time Trial Championship titles and a Bronze Medal from the Junior World Time Trial Championships. Jerika, who recently graduated from high school and has just began her college career, shared that she enjoys riding with her father. She also mentioned she is taking a creative writing class. If we are lucky, we may get a chance to see some of her work and read about her cycling experiences in the women’s section of the Ritchey website. (author: Rosy, Ritchey Marketing Coordinator)

Team TIBCO's Stacy Simms and Meredith Miller

Three lead riders from Scott-Swisspower Team are currently preparing themselves in South Africa for the upcoming racing season. Florian Vogel, Nino Schurter and Patrick Gallati are putting in their training miles in hot temperatures with lots of sun, in beautiful countrysides- optimal “winter” training conditions. After reading a news update from Florian, one gets the impression these guys already have as much a passion for wine as Frischi.

News from Florian:

For one week, I have been staying with Nino and Patrick Gallati in Stellenbosch, which is situated around 50 kilometers outside of Cape Town. Just outside of town, there are some of the world’s greatest wineries but this isn’t the reason why we always come back here to prepare for the mountain bike season. This place has much more to offer than just red and white wine. It has some of the best singletrack trails I’ve ever seen, and it is the perfect playground for our Scale and Spark rockets (fully spec’d with Ritchey components). The temperatures can get high, but we’re always cool with our equipment!

While here we not only train on our mountain bikes but also do quite a lot of road riding and weight training. The Cape region offers a wide range of scenic roads and there are also some serious climbs nearby. As mountain bikers, power is quite important, and in Stellenbosch, we have access to some of the best facilities.

For the upcoming two weeks we’ll train here and live in a nice guest house near the center of Stellenbosch. Normally at this time of year, the weather back home in Switzerland is quite cold, snowy and wet, so for us, South Africa is the perfect place to be in February. We can train more often on our bikes than we could at home. If you come from the cold of winter to a place like this, it really feels like paradise. You don’t have to dress up for every ride like an Eskimo and you will definitely enjoy riding much more.

After our stay in South Africa, we’ll be at home for a couple of days before heading to our team camp in Tuscany. I don’t think the temperatures in Italy will be as warm as they are here, but the trails will certainly be a lot of fun.

Happy Trails (with or without “Eskimo” equipment).

- Florian Vogel