Vanilla Journal

MONDAY, DECEMBER 18, 2006

I was able to get away for a few days and accompany the Vanilla Cross Team to Nationals in Providence, RI.

We had a super good time. Providence feels a lot like Portland to me. I kept running into people that I thought I knew ,but I think they really just embodied the same flavor as so many bike friends from home.

The race action was awesome and the course was just perfect. The skies were blue and the temperature hovered around 50 degrees the whole weekend. Totally unreasonable for Rhode Island in December, but I'll take it with a smile.

The team were all stellar.

Shannon brought home the silver medal and if he had another lap, he would have been in gold.

Molly was also on the podium with a 4th place finish.

Molly is in Belgium right now racing with the best Cross racers in the world.
Check out the trip reports at www.mollycameron.com

Rhonda placed 6th in the Elite women's race, being beaten out for fifth at the last second by former national champion and friend Anne Knapp. this was probably the hardest I have seen Rhonda fight in a race in the five years that she has been on a Vanilla. She worked her way forward from mid pack with aggressive moves on the inside of some very tight corners and throughout the race did battle with the third, forth and fifth place women. She eventually moved up to third and held it for a good chunk of the race for a good portion of the race.

Rhonda has been selected to be one of the women on the U.S. national team at the Cyclocross World Championships. this is the third year in a row that she has earned this honor.

It was excellent to be out there with Team Vanilla's newest member Kevin Hulick, too. We got to spend some QT at the races as well as after hours mostly watching DVDs of Arrested Development at our host's house. going into the season (in late September) Kevin was concerned that he was not where he wanted to be fitness wise, because with so much going on in his life, he wasn't able to put as much time in on the bike as he felt was necessary. Well, to make a long story short, every race this season it seemed like he would go out super hard at the start, and then fade to tenth or so. At this time, he could have resigned himself to 10th and figured "oh, I guess I am just not fit enough this year" But he was tenacious, and on by one picked off the guys in front of him.

The kind of heart the Kevin showed this year was an example of what everyone on the team has inside, and I just feel so proud of them and honored to build bikes for them.

- Sacha

THURSDAY, NOVEMBER 2, 2006

I've spent a late night in the shop finishing up a fork, and two stems.

It is now 1:00 am and it's my Birthday! I am 30 today!

I feel very fortunate to be living the life that I do. Vanilla continues to be satisfying and challenging everyday. It is a sort of entity that I grow and change with and there has been a lot of change for both of us in the 7 years that Vanilla has existed. I wonder if it is just coincidence that as I transition into this kind of real adulthood that Vanilla is also making the shift into more of a mature company. The future seem upen and full of posibility.

Well anyway, I started this note with the intention of expressing gratitude to the folks who have made this life such a pleasure to live. Sometimes things seem so great that can't possibly last. I don't know what the future holds, but right now I have a healthy family that I am proud of and that is proud of me. I have been able to race cross this season and spend some great time riding and reconnecting with friends from that world. I have forged some close friendships this year with folks who have come to me for a bikes.

It's super late, and I have a date with my lady to wake up and have coffee together before she heads off to teach.

Thanks and love to those who have been a positive force in my life.I am happy to be alive!

- Sacha

MONDAY, JUNE 5, 2006

I don't know if there is an artist, or style, that I like more than Alphonse Mucha. I grew up with prints of his beautiful paintings on the walls of my parents house and now whenever I see his work, it is kind of unbelievable that someone could create such perfection...over and over again.

The advertisements that were painted in the art nouveau era were classy, well crafted and seemed to respect the intelligence of the viewer.

I have been daydreaming about having a Vanilla Bicycles print made in this style for over five years now and I am happy to say that they're done.

Here's the skinny:

The image joins the elegance, beauty and striking color combinations of Mucha's time with style and surroundings of our time. The subjects are my wife Caryn and our daughter Cybelle, riding on Caryn's bike (the blue stepthrough on the commuter page of my site). This is a true depiction of how they travel, when it is just the two of them.

The original was painted by renowned tattoo artist Dan Gillsdorf. You can see more of his work at www.atlastattoo.com. I wanted to work with Dan on this project, because I felt that the hard lines and brilliant colors often found in his tattoos would be perfect for the almost stained glass style of the art nouveau era work that we would be emulating.

The printing was done here in southeast Portland by Rebecca, Brian, Eric and Laura at Stumptown Printers. www.stumptownprinters.com. They used three methods of printing: offset, spot color and letterpress. The paper is made from 100% recycled material and is archival quality, so it will last and last if it is taken care of.

This is the first of a series. I am hoping to do one every year or so, but the process is so enjoyable, that the second might come sooner.

This edition is 150 prints, signed and numbered.

They cost $85 plus shipping (about $15) Checks can be sent to:
Vanilla Bicycles, 3450 SE Alder St. Portland, OR 97214

Let me know if you would like one and I will tell you what is still available. We can also discuss framing options if you are interested. I have also started an email list for updates about the second print in the series. If you don't want to be included in the list, let me know.

- Sacha  sacha@vanillabicycles.com

TUESDAY, MARCH 28, 2006

My older daughter Cybelle graduated to a 2 wheeler today! This is a proud moment for me as a dad, and it is an incredibly sweet thing for us to share.

We have been building up to it for a while. She started out with training wheels, but it didn't seem like she was learning much, except dependence on the training wheels. I had heard about a no pedal, no training wheel method from a friend, and it made sense to me. So I borrowed a tiny bike, and took the pedals off, so she could propel it by pushing with her feet and practice balancing as she was coasting along (mostly down shallow declines). We set up a little practice course at the school yard yesterday, so that she could work on leaning to make turns and after a half hour of that decided that she was ready for the pedal bike...and the rest is history.

She has told me in the past that she wants to build bicycle frames too. I told her yesterday, that if she is serious, she can start working with me and learning.

It has been a while since these interviews were done, but I still think it is interesting and is a good taste of what other builders are like.

http://istanbultea.typepad.com/largefellaonabike/2005/04/fbq_1_spectrum.html

This first one is Tom Kellogg. follow the FBQ (frame builder questionnaire)links for more. There are 20 in all.

- SW

SUNDAY, JANUARY 1, 2006

Cross season is wrapping up and it has been a great one.

First, Vanilla team rider Shannon Skerritt won the Masters Cyclocross National Championship In Providence, RI this past weekend. This is Shannon's first National championship win, and Vanilla's too. Yes! Shannon duked it out with the best in the national series all season and exceeded everyone's expectations, including his own...I think.

Vanilla / S+M Rider Rhonda Mazza (pictured left) Took 4th in the national championship against the best women in the states. Rhonda is so focused and quietly persistent. She is really an inspiration to me.

Molly Cameron (first year Vanilla team rider, pictured above) was also incredible this season. After brutalizing the local single speed field last season (no small feet) Molly decided it was time to step up and race with the A's. Well, Molly raced a few local a races, and then decided to jump right into the elite national series. These guys are fast. Many of them have been racing cross semiprofessionally, or professionally for 10 plus years. Molly consistently finished in the low teens and never backed down. I hear stories from Molly about racing in europe next season... I believe that Molly has the skill and talent to go all the way.

This is the third year that Vanilla Has been the main sponsor of the Single speed category or Oregon's "Cross Crusade" Cross series. www.crosscrusade.com. This year pal Matt Slaven won the series, although Dave roth, Ryan weaver, Jamie carney and others threw down to make for great racing throughout the season. The first year Steve Fassbinder and I made the single speed champion belt ( a WWF style belt made of leather, stainless, brass and silver) which has been passed on from Steve, to Molly Cameron and to Matt this year. I also have the honor of building Matt a new custom SS cross frame as reward for taking the series, and I am looking forward to it.

I have more to say, but maybe I will save it and post sooner than three months from now.

- SW

MONDAY, SEPTEMBER 5, 2005

My house mate has been on the lookout for a bmx bike recently. Some friends of ours who own a resale shop had a cool very old school chrome plated one come into their store and the snapped it up and called us. The bike was pretty ruff, but we took it into my shop and put on new tires and tubes, a new chain and repacked all of the bearings and it is rollin. Just doing a tiny test ride around my shop got me pretty darn excited about having a bmx'er. They are so small and tough and snappy. I was never into trick riding of racing bmx bikes when I was a kid. I probably would not be into that style of riding as an adult, but the simplicity and lack of pretentiousness that could come with cruising around town on a bike like this is pretty enticing.

It is coming up on 1 year that ben has been working with me. The business has never been smoother and the bikes have never been better. I have come to respect and appreciate Ben to the extent that if a situation came up and I needed someone that I could count on 100% he is who I would call.

There are some new bikes up on the site. I built the blue bike on the commuter page for my wife. Up until I gave the new bike to her, she had been riding the second bike I had ever built. I was so happy to put something together for her that would be some kind of payback for all she does. We are a bike only family so this new bike is really her Volvo station wagon.

The Grey Fixie on the commuter page was for a guy here locally who had gone to Richard Sachs for a bike initially. Richard told him that Road Fixies weren't really his thing and recommended me.I wanted to build a bike for him that would have an industrial toughness, but with a little bit of that classic race bike feel that he would have gotten had RS built a bike for him. I wish this bike was mine.

There is a blue, carved stainless lugged road bike that I built for a friend and team mate. This is his race bike. There is also a new silver and pink 29er on the mtb page. Unicorns in the dropouts? who's your daddy. happy labor day.

WEDNESDAY, JUNE 22, 2005

Last night Vanilla hosted a frame building workshop. It was something I put together for Pedalpalooza, a two week cycling festival, made up of different cycling based events. My Ideal was 20 or so people spending the day in my shop. During that day they would have an opportunity to file miters, lay out full scale drawings of bike frames, braze up practice lugs polish stainless steel etc. These are all things that I never thought about before i started building frames. I had never really considered what was happening under the paint until I saw someone working on a frame.

well...the full day turned into 3 hours (from 6-9 p.m.) and I didn't really know how many people to expect. I set up examples of each stage of the frame building process and decided that ben and I would conduct sort of in depth tours. I went home for dinner and to shower at 5:00 and got back to my shop at about 5:45. I explained to the ten or so people waiting that I had a few more things to get in order and I would be back to get them at about 6:00. after putting the PBR on ice and huddling with ben, Ira and Dave who were all there to help out I opened up the shop. The ten folks had turned into 100 or more. People were filling the side walk and spilling out into the street. It was scary and great! Ben and I took groups of 10-15 at a time and we were able to share a little piece of

I learned a couple of things from the experience. I definitely want to do an actual work shop sometime in the future. Not so much of an open house. The hands on part of it is what people could truely benefit from and to be able to do it I would need a smaller group and a lot more time.

-SW