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Reflections
As we're smack dab in the middle of Black Friday, Cyber Monday, and the rest of the shopping spree known as Christmas there are articles upon articles that decry our over-consumption. This time of the year brings out this madness. Look sweetie, a new Lexus! This weekend in particular brings out the worst in the human race as ordinary grandmothers-turned-professional-wrestlers give forearm shivers to unlucky shoppers who're about to grab that microwave she was reaching for.
Unless you live in arid sunny climates and/or southern latitudes then winter is a real thing. Depending on where you live "winter" can mean different things ... from meters of snows to unrideable rain-saturated trails. Either way, riding can come to a screeching halt. While winters in the Pacific Northwest are generally wet and dark last winter was snowy which meant we weren't able to ride for months at our favorite local trails. So what do you do when the weather turns bad and the trails are unrideable?
I moved away from the desert this year ... two hours north and 3,000 feet higher. There hasn't been a single regret. Daylight brings unspeakable vistas. Night reveals new clarity previously shrouded by the light pollution of my former city. The air in this new place stinks of adventure.
While it is essential for any brand in any industry to truly showcase their products and even carve out a growing following (which we're doing) the how becomes the critical component. From the very beginning I've always wanted Loam Coffee to informally adopt the WYSIWYG mentality ... What You See Is What You Get. That's us. Nothing to hide.
Fighting off the growing darkness with coffee? That almost sounds like Book One or the first movie in a new Lord of the Rings trilogy. You know, when Frodo pushes back the darkness of Mordor as it expands under the penetrating evil eye of Sauron. Instead of throwing the ring into the volcano he instead throws a hot cup of coffee in Sauron's eye ...
Given the number of mountain bikers combined with the population of cities the reality is that most mountain bikers live within the city. That ranges from the central city to the suburbs or even exurbs ... but most are in proximity to the city. Again, that could range from larger metro areas like Vancouver, BC (2.4 million metro) to smaller communities like Hood River (pop: 7,100) or Oakridge (pop: 3,200) here in Oregon. Then there are the "tweener" communities like Bellingham (pop: 85,000) that are either (a) "overgrown" towns or (b) small cities.
