Watching friends and pros crush through the mud and snow surrounded by the sounds of cowbells was an incredible end to what was an amazing cross season. It was a big one for us, as 2010 marked the year Sweetpea dipped her big toe in to the gooey puddle of cyclocross love. But we did not venture alone.  We started a team with the LOVELY Heidi Swift, which we called the Sweetpea Ladies Auxiliary.

Until this season, I never thought of myself as a team sports kind of gal. My third grade soccer career had been marked primarily by a motivation not to let my teammates down with my lack of native talent.  I encountered team sports with a keen awareness of my individual shortcomings and the value of the “good” athletes on the team.  I suspect that many girls (and women) decide at a certain point that they are not athletes, and that they are not “good enough” for a team. I know I did.

Well fuck that.

Early summer, we sent out invites to a handful of women:

“You are receiving this not for you past race results, but for the style, strength, and joy you bring to cycling.  We are starting a team inspired by your jaw-dropping, thunderous awesomeness and the recognition that women’s cycling deserves it’s own cozy place of ferocious style and relentless fun.  We want you among our ranks for battle and friendship.”

Sense of humor on a crappy day and good conversation on a long ride aren’t the qualities that you typically look for in a stable of athletes. But they are qualities you look for in a friend. And that seemed like the most sensible place to start.

As the season wraps up, I can honestly say that we learned a lot.  We learned that we need a bigger tent, a heater, and post race hot toddies.   We learned that skinsuits do make you faster no matter how fast you ride, that rear derailleurs should be sold in 10-packs, and that war paint goes on fingertips.  We confirmed our hunch that a battle and friendship are a powerful combo. Next year, you should join us.

Which brings me to another bit of news. Along with the team, I designed and rolled out a Team Issue cross bike. It is a bike we are calling the Boom Boom. This bike is available as a custom design only, and is delivered in just 10 weeks. It will fit you like a dream. It will get dirty. Boys will be jealous. More information here.

I’ve learned rather quickly that pregnancy has its own numerology. You count back to the estimated date of conception, count down to the due date, and count up the times the baby kicks. You count on your life never being quite the same again. My numbers are these: 21 weeks pregnant, 7 weeks into my second trimester, and experiencing everything for the first time.

I’ve let go of a whole series of other numbers that were old and familiar friends. My resting heart rate, my mile pace on a 5 mile run, my racing weight, and how much time passes before l really really need to pee. Again.

Pregnancy is at once a private miracle and the most mundane fact of our existence. The only thing that makes my experience at all remarkable is that I should be surprised to learn, as if for the first time, the truth that I am not my body. My identity is not as neatly housed as I had thought. Much of my adult life I have been healthy and injury free. I consider myself lucky. But it also means that nothing has challenged my working theory that my mind and body are generally in agreement about things. We like broccoli. We can run effortlessly, if not fast, on most days. We don’t really take naps.

None of these things are true anymore.

I want to be perfectly clear. My wonderment and gratitude far outweighs any consternation on most days. I can’t imagine a more splendid use of my body than to make a new person, even if that new person may already have clear ideas about broccoli and naptime. I want to throw a welcome party moment to moment on each passing day for the new little critter inside me.

But there are some unexpected moments that I have come to value more dearly. Cyclocross races every Sunday. Each week I pin my race number to my jersey and I race. I may find my heart rate higher, my pace slower, and my finish placement sliding, but that is no longer relevant in my new numerology. I want to be counted among a field of women. Not first, not top-ten perhaps. Just one among many who are doing with their bodies something remarkable and common, hard and temporary.

Welcome to the world. Baby, that’s as good as it gets.

We’ve talked about these guys before.  But it sure is exciting to get a call from a company that you admire and respect on a number of levels, and have them tell you that they dig what you are doing.  We’d be lying if we didn’t say that they were part of the inspiration behind starting Sweetpea.  I mean, if a bunch of surfers, climbers, and mountaineers can do it – and do it right – then so can we.

Many of you may be in committed relationships with your road bike, city bike or touring bike. That is sweet, commendable really. But at the risk of throwing your life choices into question, I just want to say… Remember that mountain bike you loved back when you were in middle school,/high school/college? Well, the mountain bike has grown up and gotten sexy. And it is time for you to get reacquainted.  Meet the Bombshell. Hard tail, soft curves, suspension fork, disc brakes. This Bombshell may rekindle some powerful feelings. It did for me. The tailhead starts here.

• Fox F32-100mm shock with 15mm axle.
• Thomson seat post and stem
• XT drivetrain
• Portland Design Works Speed Metal Grips
• Reynolds Canyon Disc MTB wheelset
• Schwalbe Nobby Nic Tires 26 x 2.1
• Chris King Headset

Writers talk about the obligatory semi-autobiographical first novel. It is the book that has your voice and is perhaps the first story you can find inside yourself to share with the world. But when the middle aged male author can write a teenage girl into a first person narration, then he’s really done something.

Until now, most of the bikes I have built are in some way autobiographical. I can mentally plop myself onto the saddle of a road bike, commuter, mixte, touring bike, cross bike, etc. and imagine the ride. Not so with a mountain bike, not one that is to be ridden with skills that I do not have, and a fearlessness that I may never know. And that is why I was so thrilled to build my first mountain bike for a woman whose experience and talent as a mountain biker were known to me even before I met her.

This hardtail’s curves complicate the notion that robustness necessarily has a straightforward form. It will be built up with a Fox F32-100mm fork and a White Industries double mountain crankset. The final build is shaping up to have a bright and weightless aesthetic, fitting for both bike and rider. Expect pictures soon.

Important things for you to know:

• S’mittens will be back in limited and colorful numbers.
• We will also have some of Natalie’s block prints, including one brand new (and quite large) addition.

It’s the holidays people.  Let’s do this thing.

It’s an ambitious goal. And today we’re going to take it one step further.

Like all custom builders out there, we have been students of the craft honing the design and fabrication of the bikes that we build. This takes hours of work, effort, and imagination. But we have also spent years studying the language of the body on the bike. Any builder can tell you that fabrication skills take years to develop. And any bike fitter can tell you that you need to do hundreds of bikes fits to understand the intricacies of the body on a bike. It is kind of like learning how to be a machinist and physical therapist at the same time.

And it’s something we have been doing this for the last four years.

Today we are announcing the Lust line: a limited production run of bikes that incorporate all that we understand about the relationship between women’s bodies and their bikes.

(Prototype)

A project more than a year in development, the Lust line is going to start with the release of our most requested bike: The Little Black Dress This design is informed and inspired by the ideal riding positions of real women and offers an elegant alternative to the standard bike shop fare. It won’t work for everyone, but it will work for a lot of women.

The best part: these bikes will be less expensive than our custom options and they will be delivered in just a few months.

LEARN MORE about the design process and the LUST line here.

Well this month, we are whispering “we’ve been here for years.”  Outside Magazine has included Sweetpea Bicycles in this month’s DIY article entitled “The League of Extraordinary Gentlemen* (And one badass bike-building gentlewoman.)”  Natalie covers what goes into a Sweetpea, what makes us different, and how a bike can fit like a favorite pair of jeans.  

Momma said check it out.  

If you are interested in a Sweetpea, but think that waiting a year and a half for a bike is absurd, we encourage you to send us a note by clicking here. We got something cookin’ that you might be interested in.

January 1st we are going to be raising our custom frame prices to $2000 from the $1800 that they are today. So if you want to save $200, then you have until the end of December to put down your deposit. Lead times are around a year and a half, and you can get in line here.