Goodbye Mad Industry: Le Cirque du Cyclisme

I'm being a very bad blogger; between my own distractibility and the Great Kitten Emergency the last thing on my list is blithering on about things I do. For the record, the Great Kitten Emergency is under control and everyone is safe and well (and out of my studio). A marketing major told me that the best way to get readers and money is to put up cute cat videos, so here's a cute cat video:

SO FUZZY! Also, where's my ten grand?

Anyway!

Last weekend I went to Le Cirque du Cyclisme, which is a classic bicycle rally. A lot of vintage bikes show up, and a lot of vintage bike fans. Some framebuilders come too, to show off and socialize. Now, as much as I gripe about the bike world, the lack of money and organization, the egos and the inefficiency, you will not find nicer people anywhere. The first year I went to the Cirque I hadn't even graduated college, didn't know a soul and had a wicked case of bronchitis, but I managed to make several friends and buttonhole my current boss and get him to give me a job.

Le Cirque happens in a Best Western in Leesburg Virginia, which is one of those heavily curated small towns with historical log cabins and artisan cupcakes. There's also a nice long rail trail I rode on for a bit with other Cirque attendees, and apparently some lovely rolling hills that are just great for riding but I din't find out because all the group rides left at 7.30 AM which is completely barbaric. Everyone (except my lazy tail) rides out in the morning, dorks out over each others' bikes and listens to seminars in the afternoon, and eats and drinks too much in the evening. There's stuff like this:

Drillium!

And modern stuff:

The finest lug

And a swap meet:

Old n fancy parts yo

And for lots more pictures you should check out this guy. I never take enough pictures of anything. 

On Saturday my gentleman-friend and I skipped out and went to a boat festival on the Chesapeake. We're building our own sailboat out of a kit from these guys, and the Cirque happened to coincide with their Okoumefest.   There were boats on the shore,

Just as fancy as the bikes

And boats in the bay:

There was one patrol boat that might have been patrolling for amateurs overboard, or not. 

I haven't sailed in ten years and my gentleman-friend hasn't sailed at all, but the nice and harassed staff cheerfully shoveled us into various boats and watched us flounder around. There wasn't much wind for the first one (a twelve foot bathtub) or the second one (a skerry-- like ours! with a busted tiller) but by the time we got in the third one, a dory with a sloop rig, the wind had picked up and we actually got moving. Which was great! I remembered why I loved sailing so much, the sense of speed and adventure skimming over the water (or in this case wallowing, since the friendly staff had been helpfully installing the rudder and swamped us pretty good and didn't have a bailer). Then I noticed that the divot cut in the transom for the tiller was either in the wrong place or something wasn't installed right, because we could only turn to starbord. We made it in eventually and if anyone was laughing at us I didn't notice. 

OH MY LACK OF GOD I CAN'T WAIT TO GO SAILING FOR REAL!!

I noticed that the boat people and the bike people were more or less interchangeable-- iron grey hair, mostly male, eyes gleaming with zealous perfectionism. Those sorts of people don't often get to let their nerd flags fly quite as high as they'd like, so at events like Cirque and Okoumefest they are brimming over with enthusiasm and generous knowledge. It's the loveliest atmosphere. 

Once back, covered in Chesapeake, we sat around with a bunch of fellow framebuilders and chatted and complained. It's a shame that most independent bike manufacturers exist in a constant state of financial anxiety. Really nice bikes take a long time-- and the current market just does not allow most builders to charge what their bikes are worth. It's a lot like fine art and fine craft, I think, where even top tier artisans are barely making ends meet. I would love to see custom bike builders doing better and getting more for individual frames, but this does contradict my philosophy (and many of theirs' too) that bikes should be for everyone, and affordable. 

There is exactly one custom framebuilder I know who is doing really well for himself. I'm not going to name him, and he's not famous. He works alone and makes about 200 frames a year which is a huge amount for one guy. Once I asked him how he managed and he gave a deranged giggle and said, 

'I do 'em in BATCHES!!!' and that was all I got. 

So there you go, I guess. Do 'em in batches. 

I wish it was possible to do better in this industry. There is so much talent and creativity and good people who deserve the best. I feel a bit of a traitor for leaving, for entering industrial design and most likely not building bikes anymore. I'm going to miss the camaraderie, the people, the unabashed nerdiness. I promised to go back next year. 

Isis