Motivational Monday, a Monday tradition at Bike Shop Girl, my goal to keep you motivated and to be striving on the bike even during a hard week or long hours at work. Are you a woman that bicycles? Fill out this easy form and be part of our motivational movement!

What’s your name and location?

Wendy Davis in great Missouri

What type of cycling do you enjoy?

mountain, single-speed, gravel, cross, road

What is your first cycling memory?

June 16 2007 was my first mountain bike ride as an adult. I pedaled 1.5 miles and launched myself over a cliff. A visit to the ER confirmed a broken elbow. In that short time I found my destiny. I fell in love with mountain biking that day.

Who inspires you to ride, and better yet WHY?

I ride to inspire others to ride. I want people to see that if I can do it, so can they. The bike has made me happier and healthier. I keep riding because it makes me a better human.

What has been your best moment on the bike so far this year?

Racing at Sea Otter courtesy of Airborne Bicycles and crushing gravel at the Dirty Kanza 200

Tell us all about your bikes

2009 Specialized hard-tail singlespeed
2011 Kona Jake the Snake
2011 Airborne Goblin

Read more about Wendy over at her blog!

Airborne Bicycles Goblin

MSRP: $1,199.95 A well built bike for  5 cents under $1,200.   For the person looking to upgrade their entry level bike, getting into 29ers or simply a deal finder that will upgrade the parts as they need. (I fit in the latter.) Weight: 18 inch is 28 lbs Key Parts: Aluminum hydroformed (shaped) frame, SRAM X7 2×10 drivetrain, Avid Elixir R brakes, RockShox Reba RL fork, WTB Trail 29 wheels.

What that means for you

This bike is a budget friendly bike, Airborne gets you a very well spec’d bike at a cheaper price by taking out the middle man, the bike shop.   While I encourage most folks to go to a bike shop to purchase bikes, this doesn’t always fit and personally I am glad to have a bike company behind me for the season (I’m sponsored by Airborne) that I can sell to my consumer – my READERS.  Not every reader has a shop down the road, or a shop that knows what they are talking about.   I’m still going to be at the drum of shopping at local shops , but if they can’t help you I at least have a tool in my back pocket to get you on a bike that I believe in.

First Impressions

The bike is not light, at all.  28 lbs for a 29er isn’t horrible, especially looking at the parts that come on it (new 2×10 technology, an air fork and good hydraulic brakes) this bike isn’t something to put your nose up at.  In fact you are getting a better parts package on this bike than some $1,800-$2,000 bikes.   Take the money you saved and buy yourself a lighter set of wheels and tires to save yourself 2-3lbs!

Other Things to Know

This bike will come to you in a box about 80% built.  You still need to know how to install a handlebar, pedals, adjust shifting and your brakes.  If you don’t know how to do this, or don’t have a friend to do this, please budget in cost to get a bike shop to build it.  Also, be ready for the bike shop to give you grief for shopping online. The day I built mine I installed a handlebar, the Answer ProTaper XC, that I had received for review.  The stock handlebar is a bit heavier, still flat, and very white.

Full Review to Come

After a couple hundred miles I will check back in to give you a full run down of the Airborne Goblin!

This product was given to me at no charge as a member of the Airborne Bicycle Flight Crew.  I was not paid or bribed to give this review and it will have my honest opinion or thoughts through out.

When I was first notified that I had made the cut for the Airborne Flight Crew my selfish first thought was “when do I get to try out the bikes?”

No longer do either the dreaming of bikes, or critically going through the specifications or grams of a bicycle do it for me. Every bike is built different, and other than the geometry of a bike your early can’t know how all the ingredients of the end recipe will turn out. Every piece of the puzzle matters and even in sales I often would tell a “upgrade crazed” consumer to simply give their new ride a few weeks as stock.

Some great examples :

I cycle through 4 different saddles. Depending on the bikes reach, drop, handlebar width, seat tube angle and “cush” I may fit on one saddle better than the next.  There are 3 tires I prefer on my mountain bike. If it’s a suspension bike, full suspension bike, 29″ or 26″, and finally how aggressive the fit is. All of these things change the handling of your bike, which will change how you ride your tires. Do you have more weight on your front tire through the turns, are you able to run lower air pressure, will you ride rockier trails (all mountain style) and the list goes on.

The First Taste of a New Bike

Where was I? Oh yes! I know the generic spec off paper of how the bike will be built. I don’t know how all of those spec’s in this “bike recipe” will taste, and I can’t wait to get my butt on the bike to taste my new bike!

Today’s the Day

As I walk into the 2011 Sea Otter Classic I have a few things on my mind, and a few things to take care of but I am ultimately excited to be testing out what I’ll be riding the rest of 2011. Between the Airborne Goblin 29″ and the Airborne Delta CX my butt will mostly be rotating between some variation of these two bikes.

Look for an initial preview of my first test ride

!

The main purpose of my recent trip to the 2011 Sea Otter Classic in Monterey, CA was a homecoming of sorts for the 2011 Airborne Flight Crew members.  It is the one time a year that we are brought together from across the country.  Some of us race, some of us banter and we all work the Airborne Bicycles booth for a couple hours a day during the festival.

The team has already been introduced over on the Airborne Bikes Blog, they do it better than I so click on over there to read!

Round Up of Events

Day 1 (Wednesday) :

Some members were flown in a couple days early to get become Airborne models for the website and print use. From my understanding the photos were taken by Ian Hyland of PinkBike fame. There was a ton of hiking, re-doing shots and back and forth shuttling.   (This is also the day I was flying all over the country getting to Monterey.)

Day 2 (Thursday) :

Every day started off with unpacking the trailer we had packed with bikes the night before. This is the official first day of the Sea Otter Classic. We were all given our Airborne Flight Crew gear. Dickies work shirts, hoodie, beanie, long sleeve jersey, a couple XC jerseys, shorts, and a downhill jersey.

It is “industry day” so it is the day most vendors are getting their booth’s properly setup, running through demo bikes again and it is also a good time to split up booth duties to walk the festival.   Airborne Flight Crew members test rode all the models, for most of us it was the first time to test ride the new Goblin 29er, Wingman DJ and Delta CX.   From 2-4pm I was found over at the Ladies Lounge. Then it was time to start shutting down and putting all the bikes and goodies back in the trailer.

Thursday night we went out as a group for authentic mexican food and really started to get to know each other.  Several folks stayed out in the hotel room, I went back to my room to recover from the past 48 hours of travel and going.

Day 3 (Friday) :

Woke early to go over the Delta CX I had brought back from the festival to ride in. Grabbed breakfast with a few Flight Crew members and started riding.  9 miles = 1.5 hours = a crap load of climbing! It was a beautiful ride, but very humbling thanks to the long sustained climbs on the cyclocross knobby tires. I look forward to having a geared cyclocross or 29er bike to take it to Pisgah for the fire road climbs that I miss being able to ride.   My legs were miserable the rest of the day, but it was a good feeling even though I regretted it during the long walk back to the car at 6pm.

The day consumers really start mingling.  It was a really good fit with most Flight Crew Members. It is a very even split between the gravity style riders and XC. I think I’m one of the most “dedicated” cyclocross racers, so I tried to pinch hit as much as possible on that one.  It was also very helpful to have so many knowledge folks of the Taka and Wingman bikes.  A good amount of bikes were test rode and talked about.  Several magazines and websites came to take photos or chat about the bikes.  This included someone from 650b.com to check out Tony’s custom Zeppelin that he converted to 650b.

I can’t forget the Ladies Lounge with Rebecca Rosch and other pro-super star ladies.  There were tons of tech questions, I ended up greasy after it (always a great sign.)  One of the readers of our site (link/name?) who’s a pilot for a heli-ambulance landed her helicopter to come to the show and join Ladies Lounge!   That was such a great treat to meet someone with an amazing story and a friend of Bike Shop Girl.

Tuesday through Thursday was the BLC (link) which many vendors and “who’s who” in the industy were at.  Friday those folks finally made it to the Sea Otter Festival, including my dear Pam Sayler from Kurt Kinetic (link.)   After the festival ended for the day I spent a couple hours catching up with her and then we all went to sushi down at the Wharf.    If I have a chance to make it back to Sea Otter next year, I will go a day early to fully experience Monterey.  The wharf alone was amazing with the seals on the coast, the boats in the harbor and the mountains in the background!

Day 4 (Saturday) :

The busiest day of the festival, my last day of the festival and the day I became inspired to get to more races to photograph.  All our downhillers were racing and running around frantic in the morning, parking was crazy and included another long walk up hills but it was a great day.   I walked every inch of the show it seemed!

Our downhillers had great success in their racing.

Results :

Tony learned that 650b.com was the brainchild of the one and only, Bike Shop Girl.  There wasn’t any “scoping” of his bike and Airborne Bicycles wasn’t going to change their mind this season on NOT having a 650b Zeppelin.

Unfortunately I wimped out and didn’t go out after we closed down shop.   With a long day of traveling the next day, I stayed behind at the hotel to eat in and pack.   From what I hear our team husband, Jim Davis, stayed behind at the festival and has some wild stories to tell.  (Including hitch hiking home!)  Wendy and I talked racing a bit before bed, and I had to say my final goodbye to many of my teammates until the next time I see them (probably 360 days!)

Other Notes :

While I wasn’t present for the last day of the festival, there was still tons going on.    Wendy placed 10th in her race!  First race on the Goblin and gears (from my understanding), she rocked it!  Other Flight Crew members also had snafu’s with their flights and spent way too much time with airlines..

Jerry Hazard

Hopefully all my teammates can understand this when I say it…   When I learned the roster for the 2011 Airborne Flight Crew the one thing that I was jumping up and down inside about was the name Jerry Hazard.   Jerry is an amazing photographer that I followed almost 10 years ago on Deviantart.com.  His photo’s have been featured in many magazines and his personality around photography and riding is a treat to be around.   To be able to pull from that type of fountain was alone something to fly to California for!   During my trip he allowed me to borrow his fish eye lense, evidence is above and on many photo’s through out the Sea Otter post you’ll see.  Walking me patiently through the settings and recommendations.   It was humbling and inspirational to see his photography coming from the event!

A quick status and “what the hell are you doing?” update!

It’s 7am in Monterey and I’m slowing getting my crap together to go grab some food and head out to the venue.   Today’s my last day at Sea Otter as I fly out tomorrow morning.   I plan on getting a ride in (if possible) and take a crap load of photos and pictures.   I figure I have 12 hours of travel tomorrow to actual put together all the post.

Today is also the last day of the SRAM Ladies Lounge. Yesterday the tent was packed and we had a ton of great questions and feedback from women and athletes.  If you are at Sea Otter, this is a must.  And you don’t even have to be a guy!

Trying to stay on East coast time but have been failing.   Instead we go out to dinner at 8pm most nights and  I get back to the hotel exhausted to pass out in bed!

Thank you to everyone that has introduced themselves in person, visited the Airborne or Ladies Lounge and reached out about Bike Shop Girl!

In February Airborne Bicycles put out a call for Flight Crew members.   Essentially Flight Crew members are a small group of brand ambassadors.   You get to ride a bike, for free, goto Sea Otter (to work the booth), for free, and encourage cycling.   When I heard this news I was ecstatic.  I already had my eye on on an Airborne Goblin for the 2011 season, and if I could become part of the team? Great!

“A” Stands For :  Arleigh Awesome Airborne

That was my tag line for my entry to the Flight crew.  Apparently it worked, but I think I won them over with my sweet talking on the phone.  How could three bike guys from Airborne turn down a girl on the phone that knows a crap ton about bikes?

Red Tape Around Every Corner

There were concerns along the way.  I didn’t want to muddy any water on Bike Shop Girl by having a product sponsor, but on the flip side Bike Shop Girl is a purely passionate investment of my time.   It is a personal blog and doesn’t generate enough money to buy me anything but bottom shelf beer.   Now that I work in marketing full time, the bike industry is not my job and I am going to continue to give unbiased views of bikes or product.

Other details include more guest posting for product reviews that compete with Airborne Bicycles.   Say Specialized wants a mountain bike reviewed, I’m going to ring up one of my em:pwr team members and ask them if they would be interested in reviewing a bike.   Basing it completely on their experience, riding style and needs that fit the bike the best.   Instead of having one person to review a bike, we have 38 voices and opiniongs!

I’m a Bike Rider and Racer

Cycling is an expensive sport and if someone wants to give me a bike, I’m not going to stop them.   If a company structure that I believe in (direct to consumer and brick ‘n mortar) want to sponsor me, why would I turn this down?    As long as I am upfront with my goals and what it means for my readers…why would I say no?

Officially, I am a Flight Crew Member

Thank you Airborne Bicycles for wanting me, I’m honored and flattered as I know what type of competition there was! In two weeks I’ll be flying to Monterray California to ride many Airborne Bikes,  I’ll take many photos but most importantly it will be the first time I’ll swing my leg over my race rig the 29er Goblin and the new Delta CX bike for my cyclocross season!

For now go visit Airborne Bicycles and check out their line.  The new Delta CX will be up on their site sometime this weekend.

When friend and follower Rick Vosper sent along spy photos of a new cyclocross bike he had up his Airborne Bicycles sleeve, I was impressed and excited.  I was sworn to secrecy until they finished testing it.

Here’s the low down.  $1099 for a SRAM Apex equipped, custom carbon fork, disc brake cyclocross bike.  Yes, you read $1099.  Do you know how rare it is to find a cyclocross bike around $1000?   Meet the Airborne Delta CX.

Now Airborne Bicycles is a unique company as it is everything that local bike shops hate.  You can only purchase them online, and because they take out the middle man their bikes are cheaper.   There’s going to be a specific customer for their niche, one that knows what they are looking for, and either knows how to put their unbox their bike, or is okay to take it to the bike shop.   Personally, I’m a fan of this concept.   Buy your bike online, as long as you know what you are doing, bring it to the shop for them to properly build it and then pay them again to fit you.   No low margin bikes for the shop, and only money making profit on the labor of the services.  This is a completely different rant, but for now I’ll save you.

The Airborne Delta CX One Part CX, One Part Commuter

This bike will be ready to rock well before the cyclocross season comes back around.   It is also equipped with bosses for your rack, as a disc brake cyclocross would be a perfect commuter.   That’s the great thing about a good cyclocross bike.  The ample tire clearance gives you room for fenders, rack and all those goodies plus a slightly more upright position than a road bike.  While living in DC, Boston or major cities cyclocross bikes were my go to bikes for 80% of people wanting to “tool around”, commute and go for a fun road ride.

View more photos on Airborne’s Facebook Page.