As most of us that find our way to cycling or riding we think (and correct me if wrong) as ourselves as fit, semi-health conscience, and for some, fitness freaks.  We drool over the newest, shiniest bike widgets that come to our local shop.  Pouring over the equipment we use and energy snacks we fuel our bodies with during the adventures we undertake. We log those hard miles in ugly weather, we commute for the sake of saving fossil fuels and cutting down on our own vehicle induced stress.

What about the food we put into our bodies? Organic this, organic that…but where does it come from?

Our own Amy Decastro welds bikes and components here at Moots.  She is super skilled and provides our days with an ever happy & humble attitude. You can learn more about Amy in the MOOTS CREW section of the community/blog area.  Recently she did a class project that asked of her to present a digital media piece that focused on a Species or Conservation effort that interested her.  She chose the subject of Sustainable Agriculture as a method of Biodiversity….that’s a mouth full, but is a subject we should all be aware of. 

The clip above his her project.  Have a watch and listen.  I’d give her an A+.

http://www.vimeo.com/16534876We have had the fortune of working with some pretty talented people during our almost 30 year history.  From our inside family that painstakingly hand builds our products, day in and day out, to the people we seek to help us in the other areas we are less talented.  We’ve come across some great ones.  This last year we met Jamie Kripke.  He lives in the People’s Republic of Boulder….Colorado.  He makes his living by taking some pretty dam cool photographs that span life and life in action.  Lately he’s getting more into video and today he sent out this little snippet of Boulders well known Wednesday Worlds Cyclocross training session.  Clean, smooth, soulful.  I think he’s sharpening his video skills for something bigger to come…..he’s off to a nice start in my opinion….but I’ll let you be the judge of that.

Jamie photographed the action shots you see on our website and in our 2011 product catalog….he is a joy to work with!

If you’d like to learn more about Jamie you can check out his web site that contains a really well written bio, a very nice portfolio and some pretty cool work.

 JAMIE KRIPKE DOT COM

After returning from his historic medal winning Winter Olympics, Johnny Spilane toured the far east, got news he is to be a daddy and got a new Moots to help him along during his summer training blocks.  Not too long ago we had the chance to catch up with him and see how a Nordic Olympic athlete spends his summer training.  This is what he had to say:

“The Nordic Combined training season consists of different periods all aimed at getting us to ski our very fastest during the championships or Olympics.  The first block goes from May-August and it is our biggest period in terms of total hours.  We won’t jump all much because our main focus is getting as big of a base as possible.  During this time it is not uncommon for us to train between 20-25 hours a week.  This is only xc hours and does not include time in the weight room or jumping time.  In order to get in the big hours I have started spending a lot of time on road bikes.  Over the last few years I have had a lot of surgeries and my body has been pretty beat up.  The road bike allows me to comforatably train for 4-6 hours without feeling like a pile of mush afterwards!  The other main reason I like the bike is I can maintain a constant heart rate for hours at a time.  All of this adds up to a good solid base that we can start to build on.  August through November is when we start doing more intensity workouts.  Everything gets much shorter but much harder.  During this time I do all of my intervals on rollerskis.  It is as close to xc skiing as you can get without being on snow.   I still ride my bike some, but mostly for easy recovery rides that are less than two hours.   Once we get into November it is time to start racing!”

That sounds like a ton of good quality bike rides.  Since we spoke to Johnny he has had major knee surgery to repair damage that was done during a wedding of all things.  I’m sure we’ve all heard of that happening at one point or another…..he is human after all.