In celebration of the twentieth year of this blog, I have a few tales to tell. This post is one of them. This series will occur off and on throughout this anniversary year, I hope to illuminate some behind-the-scenes stories and highlights from the blog during this time. Enjoy!
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| The 2007 Haro Mary SS |
Consequently one of the opportunities offered to me came by way of Mike Varley, he now of Black Mountain Cycles. Back in 2006, Mike was working at Haro as the brand manager, I suppose you would call it.
Mike has a long history in mountain biking and he has a wealth and depth of knowledge that is well beyond what most folks possess today in terms of mountain bikes and what works. His talents and knowledge were being utilized at Haro to spiff up their mountain bike range, and 29"ers were going to be a part of that. Mike somehow got wind of what I was writing, must have thought I was a pretty decent wordsmith, and so he asked that I write some catalog copy for the 2007 Haro Mary 29"ers.
Okay, I was barely past one year of blogging and then this opportunity came along? I had to pinch myself to see if I was dreaming when I read the email. Me? A dude from Iowa write catalog copy for a 29"er bike? Wow....
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| The copy I wrote in the catalog. |
Not only was I writing some marketing stuff, but my task was to present the Mary, and 29"ers in general, as something that was a serious thing, not some fad or joke. Because things back in 2006 were different concerning the perception of 29"ers by most mountain bikers, this was no easy feat!
I jotted some words down, scrapped them, started again, and tweaked the copy. I sent it off to Mike thinking it would get rejected. I mean, this wasn't my area of expertise, or at least I did not think it was.
However; I was surprised and delighted to find out what I sent in was so good that they were actually going to use it! You can try reading it in the image here if you'd like. I know it is not much, but in the context of the day, I was pretty chuffed to have this be published by a legitimate bicycle brand.
Mike wanted to recognize my efforts and he offered to send out a frame and fork for one of the two Haro Mary 29"ers, a geared or single speed. At the time, almost every brand was pushing single speed as the way 29"ers were to be consumed, so I chose the geared version, despite my proclivities to being a single speeder.
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| The Haro Mary 29"er I built up in 2007. Unfortunately I asked for the wrong size! |
Geometry for 29"ers was still a thing being experimented with and not every company was doing things in a way that could be cross referenced to other brands. This led me to choosing a Mary that was one size too small for me. Drat! I was bummed, but I made it work for a bit. Then I decided to move on from this bike and I sold it to a former coworker at the shop I was at during this time.
Later that year, at Trans Iowa v3 which was run out of Decorah, Iowa, I saw Marty Larsen's Mary SS and I kicked myself for not getting that bike. I probably would still have the Mary if I had gotten the correct size in a single speed, but alas! Such is life.
The main point here is that this blog, and the eyeballs that were reading it, somehow got me into a place where I was doing things I would have never dreamt of doing. Writing catalog copy for a bicycle catalog was one such thing which fit that list. I am happy it was an opportunity which came along though. This opportunity pushed my work in front of more eyes that eventually would take me off into other opportunities that I am super-grateful for having had the chance to partake in.
Looking back after twenty years from starting this blog, some of these things I was able to do are still pretty unbelievable to me. Did I really do that? Yes, I did. And I have you dear blog readers to thank, in part, for those opportunities.
Thank you for reading Guitar Ted Productions!
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