The Gear Movement setup at The Rocky Mountain Bike Festival at Invesco Field in Denver! Photo Courtesy of Hardcastle Photography

July 11th and 12th rocked hard! Perfect weather, a bit of rain and tons of sunshine and the sweet tarmac at Invesco Field in Denver, home to the Denver Broncos. Its every uber fan’s dream to get to hang out VIP style at Invesco Field and that is exactly what we did for the Rocky Mountain Bike Festival.

Ben and Jordan hanging with the kids at The Gear Movement Booth

A cultural event, rich with bikes, character, locals, and community flavor, we couldn’t ask for much more. Put on by Miles Ahead Events and Carol Johnson, The Gear Movement rocked the house for two days straight! Community Events are the name of the game in this day and age, its a competitive market and anyway we can touch our client base on a positive level is great! Our next event coming up before we go into the cross season full swing will be the People’s Pedal Party – a pre-party and welcoming to the pro cyclists coming to our state for the USA Pro Cycling Challenge!

Jordan and his sister hanging at The Gear Movement booth, enjoying the amazing weather! Photo Courtesy of Hardcastle Photography

The Gear Movement ladies racing each other at the WielerSport tent! Photo Courtesy of Hardcastle Photography

The People’s Pedal Party in Colorado Springs on August 21st 4-8pm will be a blast! Live music, BMX demonstrations, USOC demonstrations, tennis, fencing and of course some sweet cycling companies like The Gear Movement! The event will be held in the middle of downtown Colorado Springs on the eve of the Prologue to kick off the USA Pro Cycling Challenge.

The Peoples Pedal Party, a pre-cursor to the USA Pro Cycling Challenge in Colorado Springs, CO August 21st 4-8pm downtown!

Come visit us for the party in downtown Colorado Springs and follow us on Facebook and Twitter throughout the week of August 22nd – 28th for updates from Jordan Schware in the yellow Mavic cars, winding through the mtns of CO!

See you then!

The Gear Movement ladies chalking it up and reppin the company! Photo Courtesy of Hardcastle Photography

The Rocky Mountain Bike Festival signs are colorful for the summer!

80’s and sunny this weekend? Check. Spend the weekend outdoors in the gorgeous spring weather? Check. Attend the 4th annual Rocky Mountain Bike Festival at Invesco Field in Denver? Check!

In Leadville in 2010, the backdrop was amazing! On to Denver this year

This will be the second year we are attending the festival and we couldn’t be more excited. With last year’s event up in Leadville, the highest city in the US, the increase in oxygen and warm weather will be a welcome in Denver. The festival will run from 10am-6pm both Saturday and Sunday in the M parking lot at Invesco Field. The Denver Century Ride will start and finish in the same location on the 12th with a community fun ride on the 11th.

Ben Duke shows off his Gear Movement T-shirt under our booth!

With all this good cycling activity Ben and Jordan couldn’t miss this opportunity to show the fine talents of The Gear Movement crew. We have dug deep into the inventory at the shop to pull out some great giveaways and a couple of pieces of high-end gear to raffle off. We will have an HTC-Highroad ProTeam signed Giro d’Italia official jersey on hand for one lucky winner to take home!

The festival was busy in Leadville, its gonna be packed in Denver at Invesco!

Look for our tent and wrapped car, and stop by the booth for some fun smoozing and boozing with Ben and Jordan!

Jordan Schware and Tom Hopper ham it up next to The Gear Movement booth in Leadville last year

Jordan working the turnaround point of the Tyrone Stage 3 Time Trial

Stage 3 = Time for a time trial! The Tyrone time trial on stage 3 turned out to be a slightly boring day in the sun and wind. With gusty winds of up to 50mph starting slow in the morning and gaining speed later in the afternoon, it was a rough one!

A nice visitor stopped by at the TT turnaround. What a cool picture with the SRAM car in the foreground

A Chipotle Development rider flies into the TT turnaround with his team car in tow...

I was positioned for the day at the turnaround point. The course was 26 miles long, out and back on a small exposed highway. I sat at the turnaround point with a SRAM Volvo car, wheels and bike, ready to assist if needed. Without seeing much action throughout the day, it proved to be a boring one, see pic below for the confirmation…

Mechanic Extroadinare TJ Grove listed how bored Jordan was on his TT race programme

Our SRAM NRS crew for the entire Men's Pro Race. L-R Desira Miller, Jose Alcala, Miss P, TJ Grove and Jordan (taking the photo)

Stage 4 saw the Downtown Silver City Criterium. The funnest race of the year provided me with a chance to smooze and booze with all the pro teams and all my buddies from back in the day. I think these pictures tell the story. Yet again two days in a row, one of the Trek-Livestrong U23 boys rode away with a stunning victory.

Jordan posing with the podium girls during the crit at the SRAM Tour of the Gila!

The Gila Monster on Stage 5 was the grand marquee for the whole week. With more than 10,000ft of climbing and some gnarly descents that freaked out the entire caravan, it was a hairy one. Being used to sitting in team cars in scary bike races, I gotta tell ya, this is always the scariest ride of my life. Sitting in a car with riders all around you, driving like a formula 1 race down mountain passes at 100kph is crazy! That’s what we do and that is why rocking out with the SRAM Neutral Service Crew is so much fun!

A view from Jordan's office during the final and 5th stage of the race - The Gila Monster! More than 10,000ft of climbing, wow!!

Miss P about ready to tear it up on the SRAM NRS special addition Aprilla Moto!

Ever seen a burn like this? Captions welcome. (Jordan was hurting after this)

The final podium for the Women's Pro Race at Gila. Congrats Ladies!

Jordan and moto ace Steve Donovan from Turin Bikes fly home on I-25 towards Boulder. What a beautiful stormy sky ahead into Santa Fe!

The SRAM Neutral Service Volvos ready to rock and roll, sexy!

Hello Silver City, NM! If you have been to Silver City, you have been here for a reason. This town is great but it is way off the grid. Travel down I-25 from the Boulder/Denver area for about 10 hrs and you find Highway 152 just a bit north of the Mexican border. Take that road for an hour or two over the Contintenal Divide and you are in Silver City. A town known for its Silver mine you can see from space or Google maps, this place is remote. Once a year at the end of April the entire community rallies around the SRAM Tour of the Gila and makes a great atmosphere for us cyclists/team staff.

SRAM Staff Michael Zellman, Desira Miller, Jordan Schware! ready to rock for stage 1

I decided the annual trip to see some of my great friends was worth the trip down south for some fun in the sun and a hard working cycling vacation. Working with the SRAM Neutral Service crew is an absolute blast. The team is strong and they are always ready to help a cyclist out and then have a beer afterwards.

Some great friends, Gord Fraser of RealCyclist.com and Ben Day of Kenda!

The Madness! Kelly Benefits Reid Mumford

My role for the race decided by headman Jose Alcala is that of mechanic/jumper in the SRAM car 2 with the Men’s Pro Race. Sitting in the backseat I am accompanied by Desira Miller, my trusty and rad driver and Miss Piera, Jose’s daughter.

Stage 1 saw some nervous and tactical bike racing for the men. A good amount of strong winds and some rolling roads for a large amount of the 151km kept us on our toes. Pair that with more flat tires than I have ever seen in race and the SRAM crew was scrambling all over the road. At the end of the Stage 1 Mogollon Road Race, came a monster climb. The bike race was shattered to pieces and the win went to Francisco Mancebo, putting more than 20 sec on his closest competition and raising his arms in triumph.

The Mogollon climb at the end of Stage 1

Day 2 saw a much more relaxed bike race beginning and ending in the old deserted Ft. Bayard Military Base. From the gun the men set out to keep the pace high and safe. With tons of climbs and gnarly descents we were lucky to only have a few flat tires and no crashes on the day. Our very own Frank Pipp from Team Bissell flew away with the win screaming into Ft. Bayard pumping his fists. Reports from the officials show him leading the Sprinters competition.

Jordan and Jose's daughter, Miss Piera!

The view from my office inside the Volvo all day!

Super busy in the back of the car = self portrait time!

Thats a wrap from days 1 and 2. Tomorrow we have the Stage 3 Tyrone Time Trial. I will check in again afterwards!

Well that is the mutual feeling of millions of people around the world who have enjoyed the holidays and are ready to move on, but not us here at The Gear Movement. Like most online businesses and retailers, this was our time to shine and now its gone! The holiday season is a chance for us to work our tails off and try to make our company look that much better than the next. When else do we get this chance? In the summer when everyone is out riding their bikes and enjoying the weather, no! It’s the cold wintry season around the holidays where we make our bread and butter.

What is our bread and butter in the winter holiday season? Its not tough to guess here…its skis! We have been unloading some amazing and interesting inventories of used and demo skis this winter. And with a price point between $150-$500, they are a perfect margin for our company and usually net a great price for our consignors. If you haven’t already seen our ski category, click this link to our eBay store. We also sell a nice bit of bike inventory leading up to the holidays. Some hot items were frames, wheelsets and drivetrain parts, everything that your loved one could pinch a couple of pennies for and give you a sweet present!

Here’s a small video to provide you with some laughs of our holiday season!

Fast Tube by Casper

Amazing view of Longs Peak from the Aspen Lodge at 730am, unfortunately it was 730am on a Sunday...

Even though getting up at 6am for a Cross race that your not even racing in on a chilly Sunday morning was miserable, what was to follow at this fantastic event was amazing! The Aspen Lodge CX Cross Race in Estes Park put on by our buddy Chris Grealish and DBC events was an inspiring, and tough event. Held under picture perfect conditions just off of South St. Vrain Road below the looming Longs Peak, Colorado’s most ominous 14er, the event catered to exactly what cross riders were looking for. The weather was perfect, the course was gnarly, fast but also super technical, the promoter did a great job showing his love for cross and of course The Gear Movement was on hand to give all the local riders a chance to use our free warm-up tent!

Free warm-up area here...Its trainer time everyone, get on em and get warmed up cause TGM is here for ya!

Can you ask for a better setup? Not really, right on the start line and look at those beautiful turning Aspens. Fall and CX is here folks!

One of our buddies Jerry Greenleaf hanging with us at The Gear Movement, the warm-up tent is full!

Our buddy Jason Sumner hanging in the tent and warming up for the dominant Velonews crews!

That would be a "thumbs up" from Jordan. Yep with his approval this will be sweet!

After chatting with Chris a few weeks ago Ben and myself with his suggestion created the idea for a free warm-up area for all amateur and pro competitors at the Aspen Lodge race and the Boulder Cup, Oct. 31st. Something we have not seen before is a warm-up area right next to the start line in a perfect location for riders of all categories to warm-up for their impending race. Quite possibly gone are the days where you have to warm-up at your car in a parking lot 2 miles away from the start. Now each rider can feel the benefits that the pros get, they can warm up right next to the course and get to see all the action, then get to jump off the trainer and your already at the start!

#1 TGM fan Nicole Duke hanging before the start of here Pro Women's race with Sonya Looney, sizing up the competition, go Nicole!

While everyone is racing Jordan was hanging with the ol' UBikes crew, Kris Lathrop!

Deep fryer extroadinare Steve Illes chilling with Jordan...

Are you freaking kidding me? A portable deep fryer! Best thing ever, thanks Illes for cooking up some mean fries!

Check out The Gear Movement on Facebook for up to date announcements and at the Boulder Cup at Flatirons Mall for a great time and good spot to warm-up at. If you have any suggestions for us on how we could do this better or improve the idea, let us know…

Ladies and Gents the CX season is here. As we leave for the day, the storms come rolling in over Longs Peak, game on!!

David Hackworthy warming up in the Clement Tent on Day 2 in Madison

Anyone want some Cyclocross? For the first time in my career I have decided to throw my skills in the ring for a winter long experiment with Cyclocross Racing. For those of your here who do not know what Cyclocross is, check out this video…

Fast Tube by Casper

Being a purely road mechanic for the last 7 or so years of my life, the switch to Cyclocross is interesting and actually kind of easy. Where as I normally work with 6-8 riders per race, this season I am working with only 1 rider this winter. After getting an email from an old contact from my road racing days I decided to jump back into the mix. Donn Kellogg contacted me to see if I was interested in helping him as a mechanic for the winter season with his re-emerging brand; Clement Tires. Donn recently brought the Challange Tire brand over to the USA in the last few years and when an opportunity to re-introduce the Clement brand back into the world, he jumped at it! Here we talk to Donn about Clement and whats new…

Fast Tube by Casper

The collaboration is between Donn and Clement tires, Ridley Bikes, HED wheels, KORE components, Shimano Drivetrains and Boulder CycleSport for local help. You put all of these great sponsors together to support one athlete, a David Hackworthy the 2009 U23 National Cyclocross Champ and you have a great recipe for fun and success.

Jordan and friend Tom Hopper - mechanic extroadinare for the Hudz-Subaru CX Team

The Cyclocross season floats from the end of September to mid December in the US culminating with National Championships in Bend, Oregon later this winter. The first excursion revolved around CrossVegas! A cyclocross race in Las Vegas at the same time as the Interbike show to kick off the season, could you have a better excuse for a party?

The Mavic boys show Jordan some love in the pit, Mark and Petar, thanks precious!

Normally I would be partying for an event like this but this year it was purely work. DOnn had me flying into Las Vegas on Wednesday the 22nd around noon, catching a cab straight to the airport and working on the two race bikes for 6hrs in our Hilton hotel room. The reason for the immediate work was to be ready for the CrossVegas race at 9pm Wednesday night about 5 miles off of the Vegas Strip! I didn’t even have time to gamble I was so busy, this was a good thing!

Jordan washing David Hackworthy's race bike in the Hilton Hotel shower, nicest bike wash this thing will ever get...

The bike race was uneventful with no mechanicals and David placing a modest mid pack result after suffering some back soreness. The kicker for me was 3 and half hours of sleep after the race then hopping in the team car and driving the team equipment to Madison, WI by Friday for the next round of racing. This drive was a beast and I ended up doing the longest haul of my life – 20hrs of driving and 1200 miles in one day by myself, uhh there are 24hrs in a day right? Geeze…

The Pit in Madison, WI at the USGP Pro Mens Race, yeah bike race!!

Having safely arrived in Madison, we raced under clear skis and great conditions with no mechanicals for David for the entire weekend. I will post some more interesting blogs about the actual bike racing later on this winter, for now the logistically tough long drives are done and I will be flying into the next USGP Cyclocross race in Louisville, KY on the weekend of the 24th and 25th.

When in need of a large truck for transport...the roof of a Subi will work, holy cow!

These "pro pool" ladies thought they could kick Jordan's butt, unfortunately him and his buddy Chris Kreidl showed them otherwise...

Until then ya’ll is back to to business at The Gear Movement…

Arriving in San Francisco for Stage 3 of ToC, beautiful and typical weather of this area

An 8 day bike race wrapped up and done, but geeze, it feels like a grand tour. This 2010 edition of California’s premier sporting event was by far the most exciting and intriguing race I have done in years. I have worked this race every year but one and couldn’t have asked for anything more. I have never worked for a ProTour Team before, and this was an experience. From the late nights, to the extra little bit of work we did all day to set ourselves apart from the other teams at the bike race, it was definitely a good experience. From the outside the Garmin-Transitions ProTour Team looks like a looming fortress of pretentious staff and riders. It is not, this team is a huge family that after spending a week and a half with them I noticed how close they really are!

Jordan with the Specialized Angel at the start of Stage 3

Garmin-Transitions Team Super Fan, this kid was soo adorable!

The 20 some staff and 8 riders gelled really well together during the race. We had 2 personal chefs, 3 mechanics, 3 sougniers, 2 directors, 1 team photographer, and multiple media and sponsorship liaisons. Can you imagine the logistics of getting each one of these people to and from each race every day? I don’t know how it all gets done.

Our Chefs Chris and Barbara Grealish with thier new parking lot toy!

Probably some of the best times at the bike race where had by the 3 mechanics, hanging out in the parking lot after a bunch of bike working, eating the leftovers of a gourmet dinner served by our two chefs! I gotta say, Chris and Barbara Grealish, thanks so much for the food! On stage 7, the Time Trial in Downtown Los Angeles, I got to follow Tom Danielson during his ride. What an experience, he was flying through the course and although he didn’t post a great time on the day, he had an impressive ride through some of the gnarly windy sections and the one steep little climb.

HTC Columbia mechanic Chris Franges and his awesome bikes get ready for the TT at the hotel in Big Bear

Following Tommy D in the TT on Stage 7 in Los Angeles

Hanging out with TT1 mechanic Alex Banyay and Fly V's mechanic Tennyson Hulcy after Stage 7 of the ToC

The SRAM crew poses for a photo op in-front of the Staples Center at the Stage 7 TT in Los Angeles

I gotta say the number 1 experience for me came on the last day of the bike race when I got to drive the 2nd caravan car in the peloton on the unassumingly tough Stage 8. A lot of teams came into the last day unprepared for what was about to hit them. What looked like a simple course turned out to be a leg/lung burner. A super technical, twisty climb of more than 5k, followed by one of the gnarliest descents I have ever witnessed. I had the 4 tires on the super reliable Subaru Outback squealing on the 8k descent, ohhh my gosh it was the most fun I’ve ever had! I definitely envy a Team Director who gets to sit in the front seat and drive on a regular basis, my spot in the backseat is like a desk-job…boring!

Redwood forests from Stage 3, beautiful!

Mechanics Tom Hopper and Jordan chilly and wet to the bone after Stage 2 to Santa Rosa. It was a downpour all day...

We took two stage wins, and the overall team classification win for the entire race, what an impressive performance boys! It looks like I will be working part time with the Garmin-Transitions Pro team for the rest of the year. On tap next will be the USPRO Championships in Greenville, SC in early September. After that I will most likely do my first ProTour races in Canada – Montreal, and Quebec City, if I don’t do those, look for me on TV at the Vuelta a España, holy cow! Adios amigos!!

Post race dinner, me and Dave Zabriskie getting comfy...

The Garmin Transitions Team Bikes before the start of Stage 2

Stage 1: Nevada City to Sacramento. We had about a 1hr transfer this morning from our hotel in Sacramento to the race start in beautiful, quant Nevada City, what a cool little mountain town! This morning all the three mechanics had to do was get the race bikes, spare bikes and spare wheels pumped and loaded up on our many vehicles, wash the two race cars and get rolling. Our standard procession to the bike race  is with the bus in front, leading the way with all of our riders, mechanics driving the race cars and everyone else sitting and ready to roll!

Mechanics Jordan Schware and Tom Hopper before the start, looking good!

With a prompt race start at 11:45am, we were off! We have two caravan cars here for the Garmin-Transitions team, me in car two, big time mechanic Tom Hopper in car 1. I did a lot of sleeping in the team car today, no real work, it was a little bit different for Tom. The front car saw some action with a few flat tires and a rear derailleur to the spokes in Tommy Danielson’s bike on a climb. After a quick bike change to his spare, Tommy D was up and rolling along!

The craziness before the start...

Mark Cavendish from the Columbia – HTC Team took the win in a final sprint in downtown Sacramento. The Columbia boys have started off the week in style! All the Garmin boys finished with the group and were unscathed in some of the crashes at the finale.

Kevin the Bus Driver and Nick the Swany before the start

After rolling back from the bike race, us mechanics got the bikes and cars washed, cassettes and cranks changed for the hills of tomorrow and the trailer packed and ready to go for its first transfer. Tomorrow Jake is going to be in the 2nd team car, with me doing the transfer of our mobile service course to the next hotel. Cheers and goodnight ya’ll!

We were shooting some B roll for a Cliff Bar commercial today on both team cars...

Garmin Transitions ProTour Mechanic Tom Hopper Getting the Bikes Dialed!

Ever wanted a behind the scenes look at what goes on at a top level pro cycling race in the United States? Look no further! A lot of websites ask for athlete and race related content, what about the fun times that is had by all the support staff in the pro peloton? There are mechanics, sougniers, directors, logistical staff, chefs, bus drivers and many more important people that help each pro team to get through each day and keep the race running behind the scenes!

SRAM's new Aprila Motos and their sweet custom chromed racks!!

I will be spending this week with the Garmin – Transitions Pro Cycling at the Amgen Tour of California. Talk about the real deal! This ProTour level team has it all. We are totally set up with almost 25 staff members for only 8 riders in the race. This large discrepancy means we have our basis covered and every t is crossed and i is dotted, we are dialed!

Rockstar Fly V Australia Director Ed Beamon, apparently too busy to chat with me...

It is now day two of prep before the race and my legs and feet are already done. Standing in parking lot for more than 12 hours a day while running around doing odd jobs from working on bikes, washing bikes, cleaning cars, setting up radios, applying vinyl stickers to rental vehicles and eating burritos! Thats right, we are sponsored by Chipotle, its pretty sweet!

The Fly V Australia mechanics truck and a bike getting unpacked...

Too many words to put into this quick blog right now, so lets let the behind the scenes pictures tell it all…

Fly V Australia mechanic Chris Davidson

Garmin Transitions Chef RV. This bus is for cooking food for the riders only!

Food all over the chef RV. The guys will be eating very well this week!

The mechanics side of the Garmin Transitions Team, nice setup boys!

I worked on these spare bikes today, ready to go for stage 1!

Tom Hopper checking out the new trainers for the TT bikes, kinda cool idea - LeMond Trainers...

USA National TT Champ Dave Zabriskie's new custom TT rig, this thing is dope!