Lucky for us, the largest distributor of cycling parts and accessories in the country is located in the 'burbs just south of Minneapolis. Every day we see the advantages of getting speedy delivery of bits from Quality Bike Products (QBP) for our customers. On Sunday, we saw the true beauty of QBP being in our back yard was so we could ride our bikes to their annual trade event, Frostbike.

Thanks to a late start, the temperature was up to 5º when we hit the road at 10am. (They do call it Frostbike, afterall.) The roads were mostly clear and the Sunday morning traffic was fairly light. I realize not everyone would have enjoyed this, but we're all native midwesterners. It rocked.

Group ride to Frostbike
SRAM Hammerschmidt on a Surly
Sara checking out the Civia booth

The event was packed with dealers, vendors and famous industry types from all over the world (Greg Lemond walked past at one point). Being that Surly is owned by QBP, the Surly booth was a happening place. Civia and Salsa (also Q brands) were showing off their shiny new product lines. We got to see the new QBP brand for '09,  All-City Cycles. This brand is built around a steel frame that is track legal, but is designed to be sold as a hip city bike. The Minneapolis skyline is in the All-City logo as well as lasercut from the rear dropouts. Too cool.

After geeking out on the bike goods and having an awesome lunch (thanks, Steve) we jumped back on the bikes for the 16 mile ride back to the shop. Today, I love my job.

Here's a little video of the gang at Frostbike '09:

Ride details:
-Departing Temp: 5º
-Bikes: 1 Pugsley, 1 Bauer fixed gear road bike,1 Raleigh fixed commuter, one mountain bike and my handmade steel recumbent commuter
-Technical Issues: 1 flat tire (Sara!)
-Mileage: 32 round trip
-Best Schwag: Sigma Hiro Taillight