Archive for August, 2007
After a couple of days of walking around trying desperately to find “something” at the Eurobike Show that resembled a green initiative, I stumbled upon WALDMEISTER, a small German company that makes…,wooden bikes!
This unbelievably well made wooden wonder was without doubt the finest demonstration of respecting the planet I found at the show. The use of copper beech ply and sophisticated modern components – plus the attention to detail, is amazing. After all, I previously thought a bamboo derailleur would not work but here WALDMEISTER had two bikes on display, one for on-road and one for off-road. The people standing around the bikes agreed with me – you don’t need all that spaceship technology every time you go out for a ride! For some people, a simple bike is all that is needed.
Take a minute to visit their website here WALDMEISTER especially the “Gallery” where you’ll find some exquisite views and angles of these magnificent bikes!
WALDMEISTER is just starting and Gergor Arndt (COO / Product Management) that I talked to mentioned that they’re doing quite well building custom frames for their first customers, using a variety of wood types including Birdseye Maple, Ash and Walnut. This small but brilliant company reminds me a lot of our partner BOHEME that I talked about in a previous post. Their products are not only beautiful but they remind you that getting outside can be simple.
Posted by: andrew |
Tags: brands, shows
Posted by: andrew |
Tags: interviews, shows, partners
Posted by: andrew |
Tags: interviews, shows, partners
Posted by: andrew |
Tags: interviews, shows, partners
Posted by: andrew |
Tags: interviews, shows, partners
Well, I’m off once again to Friedrichshafen for the EUROBIKE tradeshow, August 30th thru September 2nd. For those of you that read this blog regularly, this show is in the same town as the recent OUTDOOR SHOW (because they both share the same organizer).
Anyway, the EUROBIKE is, as its name implies, Europe’s largest bicycle industry professional tradeshow (it’s North American counterpart is the INTERBIKE) and has been running for 16 years now. This year some 850 companies will be exhibiting equipment to a crowd of over 30,000 visitors, retailers, journalists and other trade related professionals from 50 countries around the world. This is THE bike rendezvous of the year to see and hear about all the new products that will be coming out this fall, winter and next spring.
The bicycle industry is generally very “industrial” in nature. Research, development and production cycles are very complex and involve a great deal of manual processes, translating to traditionally lower profit margins than those of their “textile cousins” at the Outdoor Show (though not always the case). Over the years I have noticed that this industry is not as focused on the “eco element” of their products as the textile crowd – even though they share the same terrain. I am sure we’ll see some manufacturers this year putting forward their engagements in favor of protecting the planet, but I expect most of them to be concentrated on their carbon emissions and other “eco-footprint” initiatives. I have yet to see a fully or partially recycled bicycle, bicycle parts, a “bamboo derailleur”, or coconut coated painted – though I might be mistaken – we’ll have to see.
I know that our Laneo partners like LOOK CYCLES with their new White Keo Laneo Pedal (look for an article later on), MOBIKY with their revolutionary urban biking, and SRAM with their incredible initiative called the WORLD BICYCLE RELIEF will be there proudly leading the pack and showing the path to protecting the planet while also enjoying it.
I of course hope to find more companies and will report on them as I find them. So check out this blog over the next few days. Let’s see what these guy’s have up their sleeves. If they’re going the right direction, let’s raise our hands and give them a hand of appreciation and endorsement.
Posted by: andrew |
Tags: shows
Fall, my favorite time of year, is almost upon us. This beautiful season is the same in any language and it happens in almost every place across the Planet. The bright hues of red, orange and yellow appear almost overnight and nature’s internal clock signals a gradual slow-down.
What’s funny is that we also enjoy our favorite outdoor activities – differently come autumn. Our friends and training partners slow down after the summer full of exploits, and a more causal enjoyment becomes the number one objective. The very way we experience nature changes drastically too. The air and water temperature cools which change the way we feel and breathe. The fact that we have to wear different “layers” changes our contact with the outdoor elements. And even our energy levels change requiring different amounts of food, water and sleep.
And of course the environment changes around us too. Water currents change, as do wave patterns. Leaves fall off the trees and decorate our favorite trails. Rain makes an occasional and unexpected appearance, and even our favorite animal friends suddenly change coats, migrate to warmer climates, or disappear all together to hibernate through the winter. All of this makes for a tantalizing piece of art that only nature could create.
So in the upcoming months, take a moment to enjoy the changes happening around you on your regular training routes or weekend trips. And remember to slow down and celebrate this special time of year with an “après” Cappuccino and Hot Wine with your friends.
Posted by: andrew |
Tags: society, environment
I don’t know about you, but I’m tired of hearing all these catastrophic statistics and data on climate change and tragic images of wildlife and landscape. Sure we need to raise awareness, but intimidating people with apocalyptic scenarios isn’t going to get us anywhere. In my opinion, the focus on dramatizing environmental issues is counter productive. There is a moment when all of it becomes “too much”. People lose track, get confused, don’t know what to do, and most of all – give up – because it seems too big to solve with simple answers. In reality however, simple changes and tiny commitments are all that is needed to make a huge difference.
The recent rise in public eco-consciousness is due to the massive media coverage of literally millions of initiatives around the world. Some fueled by capitalistic opportunism, others purely by civic responsibility. Whatever the root cause, what’s at stake is not market share or consumer trends – it’s the environment. Hype is for shopping, not for social issues. But with this huge onslaught of information, just picking through the available news is a job on its own. You practically have to be a PhD expert to understand it all and be able to differentiate fact from myth.
At Laneo, we steer clear of all the hype and clutter. By talking about what’s new, who’s doing what, where the initiatives are going, and how you can participate if you wish – Laneo offers you a positive approach to make your own choices and your own level of impact.
What interests us is the great outdoors. Those picture perfect swells, the mist rising off the lakes, the silence of country trails and the majesty of century old boulders. Getting everyone outside to experience this, whether they’re beginners or experts (and at whatever dose they choose), that is our “hands-on training” of what’s right and what’s wrong for our planet.
Outdoors should be fun and it should enlighten adults as it does children. It should never ever become a terrain for hopelessness, regret or restraint. So go out there and play. Enjoy the spirit of life and nature. Because only when you get out there and experience it for yourself, will you understand what you yourself can do to protect your planet.
Posted by: andrew |
Tags: society, community, environment
I just came back from an hour long trail run and while I was out there, I ran into a friend who during our conversation asked me “Andrew, why did you choose to make joining Laneo a Free membership?”
So I came home and looked up the dictionary definition of “free” and here’s what I found:
a) “not subject to or constrained by engagements and obligations”
b) “using or expending something without restraint”
c) “so as to become available for a particular purpose”
When I decided to make Laneo memberships free, there were two opposite perspectives that I was battling. In today’s capitalist society, anything that is free is considered to be “bad” or “poor quality” or not really worth pursuing. Yet “why” should helping clean up our outdoors cost those who want to do it. There’s a lot of debate today on the subject of free in “business models”, “culture price” and “community expenses”. Some even argue that “price” is the only barrier to wastefulness, but I think it’s a lot simpler than everyone’s making it out to be.
Remember when you were a child and everything seemed so accessible? You went outside and you could basically go anywhere and do anything, for nothing. You could climb a tree, jump in a lake or run through a cornfield. Money was not an issue. It’s only when you grew up and society caught up with you that things started to cost money.
Today as adults, especially in big corporations, we turn everything into money. Products, services, people’s time and expertise, production, overhead, – it all has money attached to it. But things like family, friends, quality of your life, quality of your environment – no one can assign a monetary value to those things. They are beyond any price anyone could assign to them.
I made Laneo memberships free, so that the model could “free up” restrictions and fuel opportunities because I believe our environment is beyond price. If we destroy it, no amount of money we collect and leave to our kids, will ever enable them restore it.
Posted by: andrew |
Tags: society, community
During my 50 km bike ride with my friends today, the younger ones especially, were intrigued by my attire. It’s not that my stuff was dirty or torn, it was just that most of what I was wearing was at least 8 years old. One aspiring triathlete even asked me what brand “TINLEY” was?. He said he’d never heard of it?! (checkout his website – he’s one of my heroes)
It made me wonder. Was I keeping my old stuff because it reminded me of a time when I could effortlessly leave all these youngsters in the dust. Or was it my way of saying “hey I’ve been here doing this a lot longer than any of you – you’ve got nothing on me”. Or was it perhaps because my budget conflicts with other toys I want? Was it space? After all, there’s only so much stuff you can cram into the drawers of your sports cupboard in the garage right?
Well the truth is that most of the stuff I have is still in pretty good shape and its technical characteristics still answer all my needs. I mean the promise of long term durability and performance is why I purchased the stuff in the first place. So why replace it so quickly? And really where will all that stuff go when I throw it away? I could reuse some of the old shirts for menial tasks like cleaning bike chains, washing the car, or drying the dog. But if I replace my attire every year – I’m going to end up with more rags than I could use in a lifetime. And no mater what, I’m eventually going to have to throw those rags away or hope I can find a way to recycle them.
Now don’t get me wrong, I really think there has been some tremendous innovation in sports equipment over the past years and I’m not suggesting we deprive ourselves and go back to the days of running a 60 km trail race in December -15°c weather with a cotton t-shirt and sweatshirt – risking hypothermia. But I think we owe it to ourselves and those we care about, to make a conscious effort to distinguish between “wants” and “needs”. Yeah I may really want that cool new bike shirt (if not for anything else than to stop my friends from teasing me), but I really don’t need it.
I’ve been around long enough to learn that trying to keep up with my wants is one race I’m never going to win. So I choose to focus on what is important to me. To be with my friends, to be outside, to ride my bike on the beautiful roads and trails that remain – that’s important to me – and I’m just not willing to throw that away.
Posted by: andrew |
Tags: society, sports
Social networking websites are sprouting up around the globe faster than we can keep up with them. It’s no wonder that small companies have found a new “gold rush” in supplying a wide variety of innovative tools and services for their members. Each promising newer and more amazing features so that their members can create better and more personalized “windows” of themselves. (Makes me think of all those quaint storefronts in Salzburg, Austria at Christmas.)
I belong to quite a few of them and have tested many of the “options & gadgets” that are offered. One of them has just caught my eye – I AM GREEN available on FACEBOOK.
Residing under the “Applications” section of the FACEBOOK site, this option to lets you check off eco-actions (or leaves, as they call it) to indicate the things you typically do in favor of the planet. These engagements then show up on your profile and you can then invite your “Facebook friends” to join you. It has spiraled into over 24,500 users and over 700,000 different “leaves”!
And while creating personal “windows” on social networking sites may be a fad, “greenness” is most likely here to stay. Everyday, more and more people are changing the way they live and once they do, they are not turning back. I for one am very happy to see that Facebook is providing people with an opportunity to express themselves in different ways.
The people behind I AM GREEN state; “When we commit to doing something good, we inspire each other to do that, and more.”
They must have read my mind.
Posted by: andrew |
Tags: technology, society, community, environment
When we first set out to develop Laneo, we sought the input of over 50 outdoor sports manufacturers on a number of issues – especially what their needs were in terms of marketing and promotion programs. The feedback we received signaled an overwhelming support for our approach, and we were confident that manufacturers would be proactive and eager to participate from the get go.
We were wrong. Despite what they said and promised, industry executives in the end proved to be timid and faint-hearted in devoting any resources to our programs. Facing the reality, we knew we had to find a way to prove to the industry that there were people out there that wanted to get involved. We had to start building our global community despite the missing industry support.
Well I’m proud to say, the effort is paying off. I just returned from Annecy (see photo) where I’ve spent 2 days with Salomon & Millet (2 of our partners) working on upcoming events and actions.
Based in one of the most beautiful and pristine areas of France (and with an abundance of outdoor activities on their doorsteps), both of these fantastic companies have deeply-rooted brands and traditions. Both sell their products around the world. Both are leaders in their respective market categories. Both have modern structured organizations and foremost industry experts directing them. So why has it taken this long for them to finally agree to play along?
No lame excuses, no finger pointing and no strategic pretexts – just the basic of all obstacles – time. It takes time to change the course of things. And at large companies it takes time to get new projects started.
Because of the obvious confidentiality that surrounds the programs we’re working on, I cannot share with you the details but suffice to say they will involve Laneo at a global level and you’re going to love being able to participate in them!
So then, what’s all the fuss about with everyone else?
Although some of us are very concerned with the state of our Planet, we have to face it – a lot of people around us just aren’t. If you haven’t experienced natural destruction first hand, it’s hard to understand what all the commotion is about.
To help you understand this; during lunch yesterday on the terrace of a local restaurant facing the breathtaking mountains that dominate Millet’s headquarters, Laurent (Millet’s Rope Product Manager – see his interview in our Blog) said to me; “You know Andrew, when we go out for our lunch break and hike up to that peak over there (pointing to a picturesque granite cliff top), we never see any pollution or degradation. Maybe that’s why people around here just don’t understand what all the fuss is about?”...
Posted by: andrew |
Tags: sports, community
Loading ...
