Not as clean as Georgena’s. Get some coffee and watch this classic how-to video for excellent tips and an inspired demonstration on proper care and cleaning of a bike chain.
Category: Sidesaddle Blog
-
THE BICYCLE DRESSMAKER.
Here’s another custom builder, but one who uses textiles rather than tungsten.
Katharine Andrews has an eye for design, a passion for bicycles, a mastery of pattern making and sewing and may change the way you think about clothing. I discovered her custom clothing label, Telaio, at Hub and Bespoke in Seattle a couple of years ago. There it was: the little black dress that has become my personal go-to for all special occasions, cycling and otherwise. Made of a lovely, lightweight stretch wool, it made riding in a dress a reality. Wide, flattering neckline, beautiful, deep v back, dropped waist styling with side hand pockets and invisible zippered pocket on back waist seam. Plus, there’s a hidden snap on the hemline that turns the skirt into a riding gaucho. I’ve worn it many, many times, with and without a 3/4 sleeve tee underneath or a bolero as cover.
Everyday Bike Dress Lucky for all, we have engaged Katharine to make the Everyday Bike Dress for you this year. It’s the kind of dress that defies season, needs very little care (wool is naturally self cleaning — just air out the dress and it’s good for multiple wears), insulates appropriately, repels water, wicks away moisture, breathes and is naturally anti-bacterial.
That’s the dress, here’s the dressmaker (compliments of her website):
Birth of a seamstress. Katherine has been making clothing professionally since 2008 and unprofessionally for much longer. She spent her teenage years mostly in clothing that was self-made or modified to suit (often despite the trends), working out techniques and reaching towards self expression. In young adulthood, she attended Seattle Central’s technical/vocational Apparel Design program and graduated at the top of her class, earning an industry award that provided the seed money with which to start a business. The daughter of a master carpenter and a gifted caregiver, she approaches her work with a loving and skillful integrity that is evidenced in each piece of clothing.
A not-so-little mission. Clothing embodies the intersection of necessity and art. While it is an intimate experience of material on skin, it also presents one’s public image. Apparel manufacturing is a global industry in which many are exploited and it is also an avenue for individual and collective empowerment. We all participate in this arena to some degree. Telaio Clothing is a one woman operation. Katharine hand builds high-quality, original clothing that people truly love.
Katharine’s inspiration, as quoted in Drift Journal:
The bicycle is a beautiful and useful human invention. It’s a masterpiece of design and contributes to life in a pretty much uniformly positive manner. When you ride a bicycle, you become attuned to your body and to the world around you in a special way—you not only see the hills, but feel them in your legs and your lungs as you climb them, the wind and the pull of gravity as you descend—and your experience takes on an integrated quality: time, distance, movement, gravity, effort, exertion, perception, sensory input and purpose are all linked. I used to ride my bike to apparel design school, five miles up and down hills each way, and my clothes failed me! I’d arrive at school warm from my ride, but as I cooled down, my cotton clothing remained damp and gave me a chill for the rest of the day. I tried wearing a waterproof raincoat on rainy days and found that I was as wet inside, from sweat, as I would’ve been without the coat, getting rained on. I wanted to create clothing that would work with the body and the bicycle and look good enough to be integrated into daily life. Wool was the perfect choice because it is naturally insulating (meaning it maintains and regulates body temperature) even when wet. It wicks, breathes, is naturally antibacterial and antimicrobial. Wool has historically been the fabric of choice for outdoor activities. One cycling club manual I read from the 1880s advises its members to wear only wool on the bicycle—if you wear cotton, it says, you may get caught far from home, catch cold and die—literally! So wool was a great choice for creating clothing that performed on a bicycle and was also elegant enough to wear off the bicycle and in daily life. The goal is to look and feel as good on your bicycle as it looks and feels on you! *Telaio is an Italian word that means “bicycle frame”, “frame of a loom” and “skeleton”.
photos courtesy of Telaio
-
WHERE’S GEORGENA?
As a matter of fact, she’s just launched a wonderful new website for her custom bike building business: georgenaterry.com.
Georgena started Terry Bicycles some 30+ years ago, building bikes by hand and building a company dedicated to female cyclists, along the way. At first, her basement was her workshop until the demand for her women-specific bikes took off and she hired a crew and moved into a building in East Rochester, NY. Eventually, bike demand required a bigger team and off shore resources from Italy, Japan and Asia. Terry was never the biggest bike company for woman, but it was definitely the FIRST. Those like me who’ve worked with her have a strong appreciation for her commitment to frame geometry and her unwillingness to compromise on things like slack head and steep seat angles in order to “fit” a woman. Like many of you out there, I wouldn’t even be able to consider 100 miles on a bike without a Terry underneath me.
Although in recent years she’s gone off on her own (and even pursued a law degree), Georgena never lost the desire and energy to make the ultimate bicycles for women. When asked about what fuels her now, she says,
Today, I’m building bikes one on one, with and for you. I hope I’m part of a movement that encourages women to think for themselves. To be stubborn. To break the rules. And not be afraid to be a pain in the butt sometimes. Susan B. Anthony did. And it turned out pretty well for her.
Even if you’re not in the market for a custom bike, check out the new website — it’s enlightening and engaging, filled with good information and a good place to dream…
-
SHOP IT LIKE IT’S HOT.
Ends Sunday at midnight.
Save 30-50% on a select group of cycling and activewear bottoms. Lots of lengths, features and fits, just in time for the events of summer. Don’t miss these…
Highest Rated Touring Short/Short
Optically Patterned Velo Short from Craft
Longer Length & Lightweight Navaeh from Zoic
Lots more to pick from. Shop the group here >
-
POETRY IN MOTION.
When I think about my mother
I don’t necessarily think about bikes.
But I think about beach days and
learning to fly kites.
I think about how hard she worked
to raise a family in the States
and how she managed to get all six of us
on the ice in our hockey skates.
She instilled in us all a work ethic
that is strong and unrelenting.
I admire her strength, and the love she gives
seems to be never ending.
She has taught me how to live a life
full of love, joy, and hard work
and that I must be sure to keep my balance
as I continue to pedal forward. – Dani Racioppi
-
OVERTAKEN.
Smitten with Smith’s Overtake Helmet.
I transitioned in recent years from a Giro, to a Catlike, to a Smith Overtake with MIPS. The Smith is by far the lightest of all the helmets I’ve owned to date and can be fit to my head like a glove with the adjuster at the rear. You hardly know it’s there. It is the only helmet I’ve owned that does not cause my head to mildly ache after 80 miles on rough roads. The neon honey comb not only provides extra protection without compromising ventilation but keeps the bees out and sends out a jolt of visibility too! The bonus I don’t feel, unless I rotate the helmet on my head, is the MIPS technology which I will simply go with as there is nothing to argue when it comes to any promise of incremental brain protection. The bonus I do register is the lower profile look and the fact that it sits straight on my head so I can avoid the wrath of our Creative Director!
Wildly patterned and fully protective Overtake BSF with MIPS 
Route Helmet with MIPS, in 2 color options 
Shop the full range of Helmets here at Terry >
-
LOVE LIFE – LOVE BIKES – LOVE RICHARD.
Spinning for a Cause.
Last month, twenty riders from the Green Mountain Bike Club gathered together to take part in a spin class lead by Ann MacDonald, the Spinning Director at Synergy Health and Fitness in preparation for the second annual Richard’s Ride in memory of Richard Tom.
Ann MacDonald donates her time to lead the GMBC training. 
Green Mountain Bike Club Spin Class at Synergy Health & Fitness Spin Studio The Richard Tom Foundation was created to honor Richard Tom who lost his life while cycling near his home in Vermont. RTF was formed to keep Richard’s legacy alive and pay tribute to the many ways that Richard lived his life by sharing his love of cycling, health and adventure.
Proceeds from Richard’s Ride will support legislative activity for safe roads and provide opportunities for children to attend cycling camps like Little Bellas whose goal is to help young women realize their potential through cycling.
The ride will be staged at Cochran’s Ski Area base lodge in Richmond, Vermont on May 20, 2017. Please save the date and register at www.bikereg.com/rtfoundation.
The Foundation will also be drawing the winning raffle ticket for a Trek Madone ProjectOne Bike donated by Earl’s Cyclery and Fitness. Please go to www.bikereg.com/richard-tom-founadation-bike-raffle to buy your raffle tickets today.
USA-made ProjectOne Trek Madone donated by Earl’s Cyclery & Fitness in Richard’s personally spec’d grupo & color On a personal not, our CEO, Liz Robert, shares this wonderful memory of Richard…
“As I eased myself back into cycling having crossed the 50 year mark, Richard made me feel confident I could become competent at it. I remember when he sold me my first clip-in pedals, he made sure to adjust them to my uncertainty (as loose as they would go) and took me out for a lesson in the parking lot. He made sure I bought CO2 cartridges with threads because he remembered what injector I had (others, to my dismay on the road with a flat, were not so thoughtful). As I came up the curve, he pushed me to the finer things that made sense, like stainless steel cables and 25 cm Schwalbe One tires. And when it came to bike fit, there was no one better at it without the machines. He asked the right questions that made an aging lady not flinch. He used his eye and a lead weight, a level and a goniometer; “a what?”, I asked him, unafraid with Richard to be a fool.” Liz Robert, Terry CEO
-
FREE SHIPPING STARTS TODAY.
We’re Celebrating Bike Month – Free Shipping at $50+, April 30th – May 31st.
Every month is bike month for us, but the rest of the country designates May as the official month of the bicycle. Established in 1956 by the League of American Bicyclists, May, National Bike Month, gets more significant each year. All month long, we’ll be featuring fun promotions and free shipping at $50, no code necessary. Have fun, go ride, help spread the goodness of the bike:
Bicycle Club of Philadelphia’s Spring-n2-Cycling Weekend: May 5 – 7
Bike to School Day: May 10
Amgen Tour of California: May 11 – 20
Bike to work week: May 15 – 19
Bike to work day: May 19
Tour de Cure – Long Island: May 13
Tour of Long Beach (CA): May 13
Georgia Mountain Metric Century: May 13
Modesto CA Ride for Mom: May 13
Cyclofemme women’s rides: May 14 (note that if there isn’t one in your vicinity, you could potentially host one!)
Tour de Chesapeake: May 20
Reno, NV Spoker Ride: May 20
Tour de Lyme CT: May 21
CT Bike for HOPE (New Haven CT): May 28
-
EXCLUSIVELY AT REI.
Good news…you can now find Terry products in all REI stores. Great news, this spring you’ll find several jersey prints exclusively offered at REI stores and at REI.com.
Fabulous Soleil LS Top in La Vie en Rose – only at REI 
NEW Soleil SS Top in Feather – only at REI 
Breakaway Mesh in Twiggy – only at REI 
Sun Goddess in Feather Shop all the Terry products at REI.com >
-
ITALY THIS OCTOBER.
Chartered Yacht Cycling.
Only a few months left to get it together and get on board. When Bill McCready of Santana Adventures first approached us about inviting our Terry friends on an international bike cruise that involved Venice, the Italian coast, the Dalmatian Islands and some other places we’d never heard of riding before, we knew he and his wife, Jan, had a long history in tandem adventures around the world, but what we didn’t know was that they had perfected this form of bike travel that involves a yacht.
Jan and Bill got their start creating and leading cycling tours for others. They later founded Santana Cycles which grew to become the world’s leading manufacturer of tandem bicycles. In 2005, Santana set an entirely new standard for cycling tours by chartering a luxurious cruise ship. The travelers who joined on that first cycling cruise discovered 5 advantages:
First, they were freed from a wasteful hour of daily drudgery. When you stop to consider the steps, previous bike tours waste an hour of precious vacation time with each change of hotels. That’s how long it takes to find the hotel, figure out where to park and lock your bike, stand in line to check-in, find your stuff, schlepp it to your room, unpack to clean up before dinner, repack the following morning, drag your luggage to the truck or van and then stand in line to check out; all before unlocking your bike and pedaling to the next hotel. On a chartered cruise ship you unpack once. Instead of living out of suitcases, waiting in front-desk lines, or securing your bike, you simply flash your scan-card as you walk your bike across the gangway.
Second, when participants didn’t need to adjust to a new mattress, pillow and thermostat each evening, they slept better. The spacious staterooms on Santana’s charters are soundproofed, individually air-conditioned and furnished with luxurious twin or king-width bedding. Private bath with shelves, cabinet and hair dryer? Of course.
Third, superior cycling. Previous forms of bike tours follow a dot-to-dot format. When viewed on a map the dots show the location of the overnight stops and the lines are the rides linking them together. A few lines represent fault-free days of cycling. Most of the lines are flawed. Stretches of busy roads with boring or ugly segments are a natural feature of routes linking places to sleep. A cycling cruise breaks the dot-to-dot pattern. As you dine, shmooze and snooze the ship unties and relocates up to 150 miles, passing all those less-than-perfect stretches to find a hand-picked spot for a superior selection of rides. Compared to a set-in-place string of hotels, a cruise ship is like a magic carpet that allows a perfect string of vacation days; all with great cycling.
Fourth, a wider choice of rides and activities. Santana selects ports after scouting thousands of miles of available routes. Each day has multiple choices. Shorter routes are flatter and follow the coast. Longer options loop inland to find great climbs and descents. Normal cruises stop at one port per day. On most days of a Santana cruise our chartered ship sees us off on our morning ride before racing down the coast to welcome us back aboard at a different port. When the ports are separated by too many miles or hills, a morning convoy of buses and moving vans can whisk some or all riders (and our blanket-wrapped bikes) to a various higher-elevation ride starts closer to the afternoon harbor. Unlike previous tours, the afternoon rides of a cycling cruise feature a downhill finish. Additionally, every day is a potential layover day. If you “play too hard” on one day, it’s always OK to take the following day off. If you don’t ride, there’s an additional choice. You can enjoy the ship before exploring the afternoon port, or hop aboard Sergio’s reclining-seat coach to see the country. It’s your vacation, and no other cycling tour features a wider range of included daily options.
Fifth, multiple regions or countries. When you look at other week-long cycling tours, the total distance between start and finish seldom exceeds 250 miles. At most you’ll experience two adjacent regions. On Santana’s cycling cruises you’ll cover up to 1,000 miles and allow you to experience twice as many regions. Most cruises cross international borders (while you sleep!) to experience multiple countries. When you consider how much it costs to fly to-and-from Europe, why not sample more places before returning home?
The Venice/Dubrovnik itinerary is outlined in great detail HERE >
These photos will give you a little taste of what’s in store…
For more information, click here >
