Jim Merz' tour and ride at Specialized in Morgan Hill

Jim Merz organized a great tour of Specialized Bicycles in Morgan Hill today which included guided tour through the onsite museum, access to and explanations of the on campus wind tunnel, a 19 mile group ride plus lunch at the company cafe. Thanks, Jim! I had a blast and learned a lot.

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"Meagan Daniel of Specialized has put together this schedule:

Tentative schedule for November 19th:

10-10:30am: Museum Tour
10:30-11:30: Wind Tunnel Tour
11:30-12:00- Prep/Dress for Ride
12:00- 1:30: Ride
1:30-2:15 Lunch
2:15- Potential Tour of Test Lab

The museum is in the lobby of Specialized main headquarters located at:

15130 Concord Cir, Morgan Hill, CA 95037

Parking at this building is normally hard to find, but you can park on the street or the parking area around the wind tunnel which is at:

15683 Concord Cir. Morgan Hill

Hope the rain holds off next Wed.! Specialized has a cafeteria and has graciously agreed to let us eat there. They do charge for the food, but is reasonable. I was told that CalTrain is an option for getting to Morgan Hill, I don't know about the schedule though. Seems like carpooling would be a good idea, how can we organize this?

Driving directions to Specialized if using I101. Either north of southbound on 101 take the Tennant Street exit and head west. About 0.7 mile turn left on Vinyard Blvd., heading south about one block this turns to the right. Just after this right turn is Concord Cir., turn left. Specialized it on the right at the end of the block. I have attached a simple map showing this. Also the ride map attached. I will make sure no one gets lost. If anyone wants a more detailed map let me know.

This should be fun! Hope you can make it.

Jim Merz"

Some pics here:

https://www.flickr.com/photos/ericm/sets/72157649380014905/#

Laurie Bolard's incredible pics here:

https://www.facebook.com/laurie.bolard/media_set?set=a.10152849971422748.1073741879.815127747&type=1&pnref=story

Bike saint Matteo Gorski's awesome shots and video here:

https://www.flickr.com/photos/124743305@N05/sets/72157649327252036/

https://www.flickr.com/photos/124743305@N05/sets/72157648975492959/

Great set of pics from Joe Bunik here:

https://www.flickr.com/photos/joe_bunik/sets/72157647050266123

If you have any more pics please send me a link and I'll post it here, thanks!

Jan Heine's Reappraisal of Tullio Campagnolo

http://janheine.wordpress.com/2014/07/01/a-reappraisal-of-tullio-campagnolo/

Slaying the Badger - Greg Le Mond - Bernard Hinault

Bob's Birthday ride - Paradise loop 2.15.14

What a great day for a ride and not 1 but 2 celebrations - Bob's birthday and Nicole and Eric's engagement!

11 hearty souls braved the cool sometimes windy weather and threat of rain for another great Paradise Loop ride, conversation, and admiring each other's lugged steel human powered machines. Camino Alto climb was challenging for a couple others and me recovering from this season's nasty weeks long "flu". The twisty downhill to Larkspur has been refinished and is now just smooth & sublime. Cutting over to the bike trail we cruised easily under hwy 101 and headed out Paradise Drive for the usual loop - views, water, trees and way less traffic than I've seen on this route. Group pic in Tiburon and no stop at Caffe Acri today as we wanted to leave room for Rita's amazing cooking back at Casa de Freitas.

The man cave (Bob's garage) was filled with tasty snacks and tasty bikes as usual. We were called to the table inside for a simply amazing feast of bikie proportions. Rita is a wonderful hostess and we thank her so much for allowing us to help Bob celebrate once again!

More pics here:

http://www.flickr.com/photos/ericm/sets/72157641037271295/

Helena's pics here:

http://www.flickr.com/photos/ericm/sets/72157641046568503/

If anyone has more pics please email (or comment) me a link and I'll include them here.

Thanks for a great day, Bob and Rita! And congratulations to Nicole and Eric! Bob, that 40 y.o. port was amazing!

'til next time, "Have a Nice Ride"...

Second Annual Dave Martinez Memorial Ride

Very hard to believe it's been a whole year since Dave Martinez has left us to go ride with the cycling legends. Dave was the heart and soul of our group of old steel and wool riders and is missed greatly. You will live forever in our hearts and minds, Dave. Say hello to Fausto and Gino and the gang for us...

I'm also hoping that Dave's eldest brother Leonard doesn't mind if I post his email to Bob Freitas a few days ago. I continue to be impressed and amazed at Leonard's strength to Linda, the boys and his whole family in their time of need and the respect he shows us as Dave's friends:

"Hello Bob,

Thank you for posting the Woodside ride agenda on David Martinez' Legacy.com memorial page.

http://www.legacy.com/guestbooks/insidebayarea/guestbook.aspx?n=david-martinez&pid=162634258&eid=sp_gbupdate

As we approach the 1st anniversary of our brother David's passing, I'd like to take this opportunity to thank you and the entire cycling community, near and far, for sharing their comments, sentiments, memories and many photos of David.

David's loss continues to be felt deeply by our family. We take much comfort knowing that David's passion for classic cycling is memorialized in the enthusiasm and camaraderie within your fellowship. This is evident by the smiles displayed in the group photo currently posted on the Classic Rendezvous Events page that supports our sentiment:

http://www.classicrendezvous.com/calendar.htm

My brother Dennis tells me that he plans to attend the afternoon dinner. I am unable to attend the dinner but I plan on attending the Sunday morning Woodside School pre-ride gathering.

I have shared your agenda information with David's wife Linda and their sons Chris and Ryan. Linda continues to rely on other family members for internet assistance so I made a printout of Sunday's ride agenda. I also encouraged Linda to contact you directly on your cell phone if she requires additional information.

Regards,

Leonard Martinez"

Thank you, Leonard, for honoring your brother, Dave, and befriending us as we all work through this loss. It was a comforting pleasure to see and talk with you this morning.

A few more pics here:

http://www.flickr.com/photos/ericm/sets/72157639946041796/

Leonard's pics are here:

http://www.flickr.com/photos/115111159@N08/

Please let me know if you have more pics and I will link here.

'Til next time, "Have a Nice Ride"...