This is less of a traditional tech story for us than a cycling lead-in to the Velorama music festival and Colorado Classic road stage race that kick off tomorrow in Colorado Springs and run through Sunday’s finish in Denver. Plus a bit of a reader’s ride. One of the groups playing the main stage on Saturday night after the Denver city crit is LA indie pop band Saint Motel. And what drew our attention was actually their drummer Greg Erwin.
Erwin is a pretty avid cyclist (and winner of a hand full of California crits himself a bit back in the day) and routinely uses touring with the band as an excuse to haul his Jamis Renegade Expat adventure road bike along with him to hit up the dirt, gravel, and back roads wherever the band is playing. Erwin put together a fun video from last year’s tour mixing in the venues they played and the rides he squeezed in. Check out the video, his thoughts on life as a bike riding rock drummer, and the Velorama CO line-up all after the break…
*thanks to photographer Taylor Lewis for the roadside couch photo. www.taylormarielewis.com
In the words of the drummer himself…
“Some people might say I am living the dream. Well, that’s actually only half true. I feel like I’m actually living BOTH dreams. My name is Greg Erwin and I am lucky to say I have spent my past 12 years as the drummer in Saint Motel.
The “dreams” I mention were to play music with my closest pals in front of crowds all over the world, and to drag my bike along with me for the ride (pun intended). There were many years of grinding it out in the seediest of bars between nowhere and somewhere, but thankfully the hard work and persistence and creation of music that people actually want to hear led to much bigger opportunities for the band, and we began to travel and see the world in a whole new way.
Along with the growth came an opportunity for me (a former motorcycle and bicycle racer). I knew if I was going to stay sane and even remotely healthy and balanced on the road 6-8 months a year, it would require the help of my bike. Once I started riding on tour, my outlook on everything changed, including the way I viewed many places I would have simply overlooked or seen as somewhere not worth being or going back to. Now I find that some of the strangest, smallest, no name places in the middle of absolute nowhere, are complete gems if I have my bicycle in tow.
It’s been truly special to be able to expand my already amazing journeys by just being able to pedal every day.
This coming week my worlds finally collide in Colorado as Saint Motel is one of the main acts of the music festival portion of the Colorado Classic / Velorama event which features a full 5 days of UCI WorldTour stage racing, along side a really incredible music festival.”
Jamis Renegade Expat adventure road bike
Erwin’s tour bike is a chromoly steel aluminum Jamis Renegade Expat that he packs up with two pairs of Zipp wheels to either hit up road or off-road riding along the way. A set of tubeless Zipp 30 Course alloy wheels serve off-road use, while tubeless Zipp 303 Firecrest clinchers handle the smoother, mostly tarmac riding. A SRAM Force 1x drivetrain with hydro discs keeps everything spinning smoothly & stopping along the way.
And yes, that’s Skratch Labs‘ Allen Lin serving as a mobile, off-road bike stand for Instagram shooting.
Velorama music festival lineup – Denver, CO
Fri, Aug 11
6:00 pm – La Santa Cecilia
7:15 pm – The New Pornographers
8:30 pm – Wilco
Sat, Aug 12
6:00 pm – Tennis
7:15 pm – Saint Motel
8:30 pm – Death Cab for Cutie
Sun, Aug 13
5:00 pm – Rob Drabkin
6:15 pm – The Jayhawks
7:00 pm – Old 97’s
