Why I should be the next Foundry Cycles Ambassador...

I've been called many things in my life: Ben, Mo, Levine, Levone, Baldy, Slowpoke, Genius, Professor, F*&%head, Darling, and the list goes on. The one thing that people should be calling me is "Enthusiast". As in "Bicycle Enthusiast". In 2009 I purchased a used GT Palomar Mountain Bike (ca. 1998) and rejoined the cycling community. In regards to the dozen or so years I spent without a bike, let me just say, "What was I thinking?" My status as a "bicycle enthusiast" is the chief reason that I should be one of the next Foundry Cycles Brand Ambassadors.

In his book "Bike Snob" the blogger known as "BikeSnobNYC" says that a cyclist is someone who rides a bicycle even when they don't have to. Well, I'm squarely in that category. Wether I'm rushing through my work to squeeze out a couple of afternoon hours for a mountain bike ride in the hills around Oakland, California, or grabbing my bike off the bus trailer (I'm the touring bassist for country star Neal McCoy) and going for a 30+ mile roll around the Michigan countryside, I'm always looking for an excuse (and some time) to go and ride.

Occasionally, my enthusiasm for biking has disastrous results. This Superbowl Sunday, I took my wife on a short mountain bike ride. She had complained that she didn't feel comfortable on trails but I assured her that this was going to be a relatively flat, easy trail to ride. And it was. For about 75% of the ride. Then she hit her brakes while going over a rocky patch. This sent her over the handlebars and slammed her into the ground which promptly broke her shoulder. After a quick 5 hour trip to the emergency room my only selfish thought was, "Great. Now I have one less biking buddy." (6 weeks later now and my wife is almost all better - phew. But I'm still not asking her to go biking with me!)

Generally, however, my biking enthusiasm has excellent results - fitness increase, that calm feeling you get from being outdoors, satisfaction at climbing a hill that I couldn't before, and the fact that spandex is once again in my fashion repertoire.

But to be a true "biking enthusiast" you have to do more than just ride your bike. You need to spend hours and hours pouring over craigslist for the ultimate bike deal, staring at youtube videos of free ride mountain bikers defying physics, and drinking lots of Fat Tire Ale. You should also be a fearless advocate for biking in general - thus my wife's new mountain bike and subsequent broken shoulder. I do meet these criteria and feel strongly that I deserve the title of "biking enthusiast".

The real reason that I would make a fantastic Brand Ambassador for Foundry Cycles is that because of my job as a touring musician, I get to ride my bike all over the country and meet tons of new people everyday. Check out nealmccoy.com for our tour schedule and you will see that we have stops this summer from Oregon to Mississippi. Just give me the chance to go riding on a Foundry cycle and I'll turn more than a few heads.

And if all that isn't enough, check out the video productions that you be getting from me once I get a new Foundry bike!