Geoff Casey (previously of Baron Bicycles) left our beautiful and sunny city for his dream job down in Santa Cruz last year. He is certainly missed by many. At the very least, I’ll always remember the smell of his coffee and bacon at our local cyclocross races.

At this last year’s Single Speed Cyclocross World Championship in San Francisco, I got a chance to meet up with Geoff again for old time’s sake.

He approached me about a design for a line of apparel and various other products. They wanted the look to be an older style union badge. It should feel like it could be stamped on the side of a wooden crate or cardboard box and not feel out of place. I think we got them there.

It’s painful to admit, but sometimes I get the feeling that I’ve been faking it this whole time. Maybe I’m not a talented enough at design (or coding or cycling or cooking or what have you). The truth is that we are all capable of more.

I’ve pushed a lot of my limits over the last couple of years, professionally and physically. I often wondered if it was out of a sense of adventure or just a sheer stubbornness and refusal to give in. It is probably a bit of both.

Bill Strickland’s latest piece sums things up pretty well.

There are always other riders who possess those qualities in greater degrees, or sometimes a rider who is all three at once. Yet, those riders don’t express any surprise when I stay with them, or force a move, or bring back a break, or even when I know a great road when we’re six counties from home. I only hear about something when I can’t do one of those things. I’ve become completely ordinary. And that’s pretty amazing.

The talented people in my life continually inspire me to ride faster, perfect technique, code cleaner and push my craft forward. I can’t thank all of the people in my life enough for this. I wouldn’t be half of what I am without you.

This cross season has been amazing. I can barely keep on top of it, but it’s dragging me right along anyways. Soft Like Kitten went from nothing to a serious stamp on Seattle’s cyclocross scene. This has been in large part due to everyone just being awesome, fun and not giving a shit.

Jane scored us some last minute sponsorship with Fremont Brewing, so we’ve had hydration covered along the way.  Dylan picked up a tent for us and Chris is in the process of getting it painted. Everyone has been really great about trading off duties to make sure we have a spot at every race. It’s a big time commitment, and I really appreciate the support.

It has brought a tear to my eye to see so much pink in almost every field.

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