Yeah, yeah, we used to be so prolific over here.

Writing blog posts all the time, making videos. Drinking more. Playing Xbox. Dressing up small dogs like Olsen Twins and having impromptu tea parties. That kind of thing.

Those were simpler times.

Of course, here at the Ritte Service Course, when times aren’t simple, they’re still fun. After all, we make bikes for a living. Well… technically we sell bikes, since it’s actually the incredibly skilled, unbelievable precise and sadly underrated factory workers in China that actually make the bikes. You can romanticize the notion of some old Italian man hand-building frames in some ancient workshop all you want, but it’s those men and women in the Chinese factories who are the badasses in my book.

The Ritte Frame Factory as seen from a Soviet spy photo.

Hell, they don’t just make Rittes, they make just about every carbon frame on the planet, from the $300 shit you find on ebay to the $5000 frames you find on your bike shop’s wall. Nobody thinks about the 28-year-old Chinese girl who carbon wraps tube joints as well as anybody on the planet. So here’s to you, Chinese Factory Worker. Have a Bud Light.

SOME RACING HAPPENED:

Bubba shows off his strangely hairless chest in a slowmotion water-splashing scene.

The Ritte Team showed up in force at the last major SoCal crit of the year: The Brentwood Grand Prix, hosted by LaGrange Cycling Club. Brentwood GP is just 3 years old now, but has quickly become one of the most well-attended, biggest-paying races around. It’s always well organized, supremely pro, and attracts the likes of Dave Zabriskie, Rahsaan Bahati, Justin Williams and a host of local pro talent. Ritte doesn’t field a pro team, so we concentrate our energy on the 3s and 4s races, winning the 3s with strongman (and excellent Shimano service rep) Jack Lindquist.

Jack won. What a surprise. (That's sarcasm.)

Young Griffin Easter got 2nd in the 4s by inches. Griffin won the 4s last year, so why is he still a 4? … because the kid hadn’t raced since! The one or two weekends a year that the little bastard isn’t too busy playing high school soccer, or going to the mall (or whatever it is that teens do these days), he throws his leg over his Bosberg and absolutely dominates.

Griffin Easter in a rare appearance on a bike.

Kyle was looking very strong in the 4s race until this moment, after which he looked very concussed.

Ritte Team training ride with some of our newly crowned State Champs

CYCLOCROSS SEASON APPROACHES:

Enjoying the singletrack above Santa Monica. Got to check for ticks later, but woth it.

THE 1919:

One frame we’ve been really excited about all year is the 1919 Time Trial. It was finally completed a few weeks ago and built up with the cooperation of Ritchey and SRAM. It’s a straightforward design: thin, low, and stiff. And in a world of all-black TT bikes, the Ritte colors really stand out. They’re available now.

Like the Bosberg, the 1919 is also available in a matte version.

thin enough?

INTERBIKE:

We’re getting ready for our first Interbike. We’ve got a tiny booth and a couple of old crates to put bikes on. We’ll keep you posted on our progress.

Party,

Lanolin.

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