Cycling is a great way to stay physically active. Biking is a carbon-free means of commuting and getting out of soul-sucking traffic. Slowing down and riding a bike lets you see things you would otherwise miss locked inside a speeding car. But the best reason to ride a bike is that it’s fun. And we need more fun.

The North Bay’s scenic coastal and vineyard roads and rocky trails through redwood and oak forests make the area a cycling mecca. As summer shifts into high gear, we celebrate two-wheeled pleasures with our first annual cycling issue and survey of the North’s Bay’s cycling scene. Also, on page 14, see where to get an espresso and bike tune-up, and find our story about the new Marin Museum of Bicycling and Mountain Bike Hall of Fame in Fairfax on page 21. Have a look, and then go for a ride.—Stett Holbrook

FITZ CYCLEZ

The garage is fertile ground for creative minds, be they musicians, engineers or artists. John Fitzgerald’s garage is no exception. In the back of his
St. Rose neighborhood home in Santa Rosa, amid the washer and dryer and tidy storage boxes, Fitzgerald builds beautiful steel bicycle frames for a devoted clientele under the Fitz Cyclez (fitzcyclez.com) brand.

The dirt trails and winding roads of the North Bay have long been a draw for cyclists and frame builders. The list of North Bay bike builders is long and storied: Joe Breeze (Breezer), Scot Nicol (Ibis), Ross Shafer (Salsa), Josh Ray (Soulcraft). Great riding attracts great frame builders.

But it was affordable housing, not cycling, that drew Fitzgerald and his family to relocate to Santa Rosa from San Francisco one year ago. The cycling scene was a bonus.

“The roads here are perfect for it,” says Fitzgerald, who has been building bikes for 10 years.

Fitzgerald, 43, a lanky man with glasses and a long goatee, began working on bikes during his time with AmeriCorps in Austin, Texas, as part of the Yellow Bike Project, a nonprofit bicycle-advocacy group. He went on to apprentice in frame building for Rock Lobster in Santa Cruz and Banjo Cycles in Madison, Wis., before setting out on his own almost four years ago.

Fitzgerald specializes in road and randonneur bikes. Randonneur bikes are built for all-weather, day-and-night, long distance rides. As such, the bikes have fenders, light systems and smalls racks for holding food and gear during self-supported rides.

“It’s a niche market that the big guys aren’t tapping into,” Fitzgerald says.

Randonneuring began in France as an alternative to competitive cycling. Randonneuring is not about racing, but getting from A to B and enjoying the ride and the company of fellow cyclists along the way. In events called brevets, riders must complete a course with stops at checkpoints along the way in set times, no earlier and no later.

While carbon fiber and full suspension bikes are all the rage, steel is Fitzgerald’s material of choice. It’s the material he knows best, and it appeals to his old-school aesthetic. He’s drawn to the lines and details of French-made bikes from the 1950s and ’60s, and he works in some of the style and design elements from that era into his frames.

“I’ve always had an affinity for older things,” he says.

He built himself a sharp-looking, single-speed mountain bike with a retro rigid fork, and delights in keeping up with riders on bikes tricked out with full suspension and other modern components.

Fitzgerald’s wife, Sandra, is a psychology professor at San Francisco State University. He’s a stay-at-home dad who builds bikes in between school drop-offs, pick-ups and baseball practice. For his sons Mateo, seven, and Eisen, 10, he built a “side-hack,” basically a bike with a sidecar. He gets plenty of smiles when the three of them roll around town.

Custom bikes can cost as much or less than a store-bought bike. If you’re particularly tall or short, having a bike built to your measurements makes for a much more comfortable ride. And if you want something you don’t see on the market, like a rando bike, a custom build can be the way to go. His frame and fork sets start at $1,275.

“You want something funky that’s within reason,” says Fitzgerald. “I’ll build it.”—Stett Holbrook

JENSIE GRAN FONDO OF MARIN

Jens Voigt may have retired from pro cycling, but he’s still riding hard on the heels behind Levi Leipheimer. This year, the German cyclist lends his nickname to the inaugural Jensie Gran Fondo of Marin on Oct. 10 (thejensiegranfondo.com), trailing Sonoma County’s popular Levi’s Gran Fondo by just one week.

“It’s going to be a great event,” says Jim Elias, executive director of the Marin County Bicycle Coalition (MCBC). “It brings in one of the most iconic cycling personalities of our era.”

Voigt, a resident of Germany who announced his retirement in 2014, loves to ride in Marin, according to Elias. “He’s also quite a personality and a lot of fun,” Elias adds.

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Voigt will ride the entire route with participants, and not just at the head of the pack.

“He’s not here to race; he’s here to be an ambassador, to share his wisdom and experience with all the riders,” says Scott Penzarella, a cofounder of the event and owner of Studio Velo in Mill Valley.

A portion of the funds raised by entry fees will benefit the MCBC for its bicycle education and advocacy programs, such as Safe Routes to Schools.

Part of the appeal for cycling fans is the opportunity to ride with the famously gregarious Voigt, who’s been called “the most fun guy in pro cycling.” Also known for his “attack” style of riding, Voigt placed second after Leipheimer in the 2007 Amgen Tour of California and triumphed in several stages of the Tour de France. Retiring in his “young 40s,” he stuck with it longer than most, says Elias.

Entry fees for the Jensie Gran Fondo, priced from $95 to $749, correspond to routes of increasing length, elevation, service and swag.

The 100-mile “Shut Up Legs” route ($195) gets its name from a signature Jensism, and takes riders up to Alpine Dam and around Mount Tamalpais.

The first such event for Marin County, the Jensie Gran Fondo kicks off at Stafford Lake Park in Novato and threads through the hills of West Marin. It’s not a race and it’s not only for hardcore competitors, although riders who finish before 5pm will be timed by electronic chip.

“Some people ride ambitiously,” Elias says, “but for most people, it’s a big cycling celebration.”

While CHP will offer support at major intersections, the mainly rural ride will not close down roads, and participants are encouraged to ride single file.

All routes lead to a gourmet service stop in Point Reyes Station with local food purveyors, and end at Stafford Lake Park for a festival with music and, of course, a local microbrew to shut up that thirst.—James Knight

USED BIKES, FRESH FUN

Bikes are expensive. Some can cost as much as a used car. But it doesn’t have to be that way. Everyone can own a bicycle. Used bike shops sell bicycles than can range from 50 days old to five decades old and cost a couple hundred dollars instead of a few thousand. The shops also offer repair services to restore old bikes, and some will teach you how to fix them yourself.

Santa Rosa’s Bicycle Czar
(201 Santa Rosa Ave., 707.528.8676) opened in 2007 and is the original used bike shop in Sonoma County, says owner Brooks Van Holt. His mission, he says, is “to bring order to the used bicycle world.” His business offers services and vintage parts rarely found anywhere else. The business is a resource for used parts and information on bikes of days
gone by.

“It’s fun not knowing what is going to come through the door,” says Van Holt. “That’s the exciting part. It could be something that was bought this year or last year, or something that has been hanging in a garage for 50 years that needs to be refurbished. We’ve got our technique down, and we know how to bring bikes back to life.”

Bird House Bicycles (birdhousecycles.com) owner Drew Merritt started his repair business after finding a used bike himself and discovering the market for them. His business is run on his parent’s west Sonoma County property in a red barn.
He crams in as many bikes as he can and gets them roadworthy.
He also offers classes on bike repair.

“I try to think of the average working man or woman who doesn’t need an $8,000 bike, who just needs a point-A-to-B bike,” says Merritt.

Frank Hinds, owner of Uncle’s Crusty’s Bike Shop (2076 Armory Drive, Santa Rosa; 707.292.4644), was originally a buyer or “picker” for Bicycle Czar and started his business after learning the trade. He’s interested in promoting cycling and helping customers who don’t want to spend $4,000 to get started.

“We provide a cost of bike and a cost of service that’s lower than other bike shops in town, so we have a different client base,” Hinds says.

All these businesses focus on recycling and returning bikes to the community, and each shop has bicycle gems awaiting discovery—and a ride.—Haley Bollinger.

Wouldn’t it be great if Google or Facebook moved to Sonoma County? Well, yes and no. It would certainly create a lot of jobs, but the impact on housing prices and traffic wouldn’t be great. Anyway, such a move isn’t likely to happen, and I say that’s just as well.

Folks move to or choose to remain in the North Bay because of the quality of life, open spaces and the slower pace. Silicon Valley’s crushing traffic, Gold Rush–style development and stratospherically high cost of housing are not things we aspire to. In fact, many bail on Silicon Valley and San Francisco for those reasons, present company included.

But we still need jobs and economic development. Increasingly, that’s coming from small-scale makers, farmers and artisans, not big corporations. Small and home-based businesses are part of the North Bay experience. Local purveyors are part of what gives the North Bay its look and feel. And while they don’t have the economic might of a Google, local businesses create local jobs, reduce reliance on carbon-intensive imports, keep dollars circulating locally and contribute to the North Bay’s identity.

Last year, Sonoma County’s GoLocal Cooperative, a network of local businesses, residents and nonprofits that support local, sustainably minded businesses, produced $5.6 million in sales through its rewards card program. That generated an estimated
$2 million for the North Bay’s economy.

Two years ago farmer Kelley Rajala and weaver Pam Dale founded a different local business group called North Bay Made. The membership-based group is helping to unify small North Bay businesses by acting as their sales and marketing team. With more than 50 makers and markets in its portfolio, the group is really a force of private-sector economic development. But instead of trying to attract new business to the North Bay, North Bay Made is cultivating homegrown makers in the North Bay and stoking the benefits of a homegrown economy.

“We’re just stacking up win-win scenarios,” says Rajala

We write about local purveyors every week in the Bohemian, but in this issue we’re highlighting several of our favorites. The good news is there’s more where that came from.—Stett Holbrook

CLUTCH MONKEY

There’s something very wrong about throwing your leg over a vintage motorcycle while wearing a pair of Dockers. It’s not only fashion suicide, it’s not smart. Riding a bike requires a heavy-duty pair of trousers built to withstand hot tailpipes, flying gravel and high-speed asphalt encounters.

Jeans are the pants of choice for most self-respecting bikers, but as Bodega vintage motorcycle enthusiast Marc Bencivenga discovered, there’s not a lot of high-quality, heavyweight denim on the market, especially when you’re 6-foot-3 and 260 pounds of badass biker. (Note to self: Make sure you spell “Bencivenga” correctly.)

“There wasn’t anything out there,” says co-founder Bencivenga. His wife, Jennifer Klein, is the other founder. “That was the inspiration for Clutch Monkey. There was an unmet need.”

Clutch Monkey makes burly, selvedge denim jeans and vests for bikers and those who appreciate bulletproof denim. Selvedge is heavy, stiff (at first) denim made on shuttle looms that fell out of favor when denim went mainstream in the 1950s. Newer projectile looms make more denim faster and cheaper, but it’s not as durable as selvedge. Selvedge is made in tightly woven strips of heavy fabric and finished with bands down each side that prevent fraying and unraveling.

Turns out there is only one mill in the United States that makes selvedge to Clutch Monkey’s standards: North Carolina’s Cone Mills. Clutch Monkey also sources its selvedge from Japanese mills that use retooled Draper and Toyota looms.

“The Japanese put out the best selvedge on the planet,” says Bencivenga.

Clutch Monkey jeans and vests are designed in Bodega and sewn in San Francisco’s last denim factory. (The factory is in such high demand that Bencivenga was asked not to divulge its name. Top-secret denim!)

As a revival product, selvedge is often expensive, but Clutch Monkey sells most of its goods via crowdfunding campaigns and so can offer it at near wholesale prices, because a production run only begins with cash from backers on hand. No marketing required, although Clutch Monkey leans heavily on Facebook and Instagram.

“All the marketing comes to us in real dollars,” says Bencivenga. “People pay for what they believe in.”

If you want to handle a pair of Clutch Monkey jeans or a vest for yourself, get on your bad motor scooter and ride to the newly
opened Soul Riders in Santa Rosa (404 Mendocino Ave., 707.978.3810), the company’s only retail outlet. Opened by former Brotherhood skate shop owner Kurt Hurley, Soul Riders specializes in Southern California beach-culture ware in the form of surf, skate, hot rod fashions and reissues of classic skateboard decks along with a bin of vintage vinyl in the rear. Hurley is excited to carry Clutch Monkey denim as the one nod to the North Bay.

“The jeans will outlive you,”
he says. clutchmonkey.com.
—Stett Holbrook

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dhbetty

Spokes, cogs, chain, fenders, rims, valves—for Christine Culver, owner of dhbetty Bicycle Gems, an artist creating jewelry from upcycled bicycle parts, “it’s all about the bicycles.”

Dhbetty Bicycle Gems was the first business to connect with North Bay Made. Culver, a longtime cyclist, found a passion for bicycles in her late teens when she started racing professionally. She moved up to Sonoma County to work at a bike shop and continue racing.

Culver’s bike love led her to a position as executive director of the Sonoma County Bicycle Coalition in Santa Rosa, where she served from 2003 to 2011. The group advocates for better bicycle access throughout Sonoma County.

“I had gotten involved as a volunteer, then got myself on the board and created a job for myself,” Culver says.

While Culver was running the bike organization, she began creating her jewelry. “The thing that really kicked off this whole ‘doing the jewelry with the bicycle focus’ is that I just wanted a pendant with a bicycle on it. Everything I was finding was really chintzy. It started as a quest looking for one, and then finally I started making them.”

Culver designs bracelets, earrings, glass pendants and necklaces, some made from upcycled bicycle parts, including gears, chains, tires and spokes. Bike shops and the Santa Rosa Cycling Club donate retired bicycle parts for their next
lives as jewelry. Culver sells her jewelry at bike-based events,
local retailers and Clif Family Winery in St. Helena. dhbetty.com. —Haley Bollinger

THE SHOP

It’s a hot and delightful Thursday in Olema, and there’s really no place to be except eased back on the sun-dappled porch of a new West Marin outpost of “uncommon mercantile” called, simply, the Shop.

Sit on the porch in a Jane Brooks–designed baseball hat that features the store logo—she’s a co-owner and designer here—as you sip cold-pressed iced coffee out of a milk bottle and watch a flow customers peruse the offerings.

Repurposed as a shop of local goods, vintage wares, “Northern California classics and practical provisions,” the joint is positively bustling today.

Score! A young man of obvious means emerges with a pair of vintage California license plates tucked under his arm. There’s a whole crate of them out back, if you take the time to look.

Take the time. It’s worth it.

The Shop began in Fairfax several years ago when a quartet of West Marin makers took over the former Good Earth parking garage.

“We did a pop-up mercantile that lasted two years,” says Brooks, where she, her partner Val Yandell, Liz Lavoie and Michele Schwartz made stuff, gathered stuff and sold stuff.

When the Good Earth building sold, the women scoped out the Olema property, which last housed an art gallery. It’s the original Olema post office and there’s an old-time print behind the cash register that shows the building as it was way-back-when.

Together, the four set out to curate a retail joint that would offer and emphasize a particularized aesthetic. The gist is utility with style, preferably repurposed, salvaged or otherwise gathered from the beach, the woods or some old barn somewhere. And, where possible, Brooks says they set out to keep the preciousness factor at a bare minimum. Preferably, none at all. This is, after all, rugged and wild—and quirky—West Marin.

One section of the shop features kids toys along with Schwartz’s exquisitely soft and luxe cashmere creations, hats, ponchos and scarves repurposed from previous couture incarnations.

Elsewhere, vintage hand tools share shelf space with soft hand-made Sun Dog T-shirts that depict old maps of Mt. Tamalpais and other iconic outposts. There are hand-printed greeting cards from Bolinas’ Sirima Sataman, jewelry from Fairfax’s Sarah Roberston, and T-shirts and bags with the shop logo, to go along with that baseball cap.

The quirky factor finds a voice of sorts in the shelves themselves. The post office survived the 1906 earthquake, but the wall-in shelves wound up on a permanent slant after the fact. Hey, it adds character.

“We don’t put marbles on those shelves,” says Brooks with a laugh. They do, however, offer 5 cent pieces of Double Bubble gum to the kids.

Another anchor product comes from Lavoie. The Store is peppered inside and out with simple stencil designs of surfers (and others) rendered on repurposed grape-drying trays; those go for $90 or so.

Visitors to the Shop are heartily encouraged to hang around until they’ve uncovered every choice niblet of functional nostalgia, utility and the handmade on display here.

Oh look, a box filled with old matchbooks! Jewelry fashioned from beach flotsam and jetsam, cool. Delicious fudge offered in an old fruit jar, yum. Handmade beaded jewelry and leather bracelets from Sister Sue—beautiful.

The well-curated, handmade stuff drives the aesthetic here, like the one-of-a-kind, functional mini sailboats from Inverness’ Ray Forbes that start at about $250.

“He’s an off-the-grid craftsman who makes the most delicate and refined pieces of sculpture—and that take a ton of time to make,” says Brooks.

“We love handmade, we love vintage, and we love new stuff,” she adds, “but mostly we just love community. We’re proud to be representing people who are making things.” 9960 Hwy. 1, Olema. theshop-olema.com.
—Tom Gogola

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WILDBRINE

Driving by the unassuming Windsor Business Park, it’s hard to believe it’s the home of local fermented magic. And yet this is where business partners Richard Goldberg and Chris Glab launched Wildbrine five years ago, the go-to spot for all things pungent, crispy and spicy.

Former San Francisco residents and now proud citizens of Windsor and Santa Rosa, Goldberg and Glab have been friends for more than 30 years.

“We met through friends, and since we both were triathlon athletes, we would run together and then meet and cook for friends,” says Goldberg. Goldberg brought the restaurant and cooking experience, Glab had the food marketing background, and the two soon left corporate life behind and launched a line of cheeses, hummus and salsas. After a five-year break following that business, they opened Wildbrine.

The Windsor operation employs 40 people, and Wildbrine is currently carried in eight Whole Foods divisions nationwide and every local gourmet grocer in Sonoma County. The modest plastic jars contain some of the most unique kimchi, pickles, sauerkrauts and fermented salsas an adventurous condiments lover can wish for. Kimchi flavors include Japanese (with miso and horseradish) and Thai (with lemongrass and basil), and the sauerkrauts are not too traditional either—arame ginger or Madras curry cauliflower, anyone?

“We use our imagination and look for current trends, stuff we like that go well together. We’re both foodies and do all product development ourselves,” says Goldberg.

Smoky kale and tamari Brussels sprouts, as well as candy-striped beets and beet greens are some of the ingredients soon to make their way into Wildbrine products, and the latest innovation—fermented salsas with everything from cabbage to carrots—already has a devout following.

“I love our products as a side dish, or incorporating sauerkraut into salad dressings—I purée it!” says Goldberg. How very wild. wildbrine.com.—Flora Tsapovsky

NBC POTTERY

Settled in the mountains above St. Helena in the small town of Angwin, husband-and-wife duo Will and Nikki Callnan create intimately crafted clay works that are redefining everything from plates and vases to sculpture. Under the name NBC Pottery (named after Nikki Ballere Callnan), the pair specialize in custom-made wares designed for private customers as well as restaurants and wineries.

“We’ve been in clay and creating as long as we can remember,” says Will Callnan.

The two met while studying fine arts at Sierra Nevada College in Lake Tahoe. Originally from the East Coast, Will says they decided to stay and work in California because of the rugged beauty of the area, something that’s reflected in their work.

If you’ve ever dined in the Restaurant at Meadowood in St. Helena, you’ve eaten off their plates. Often resembling organic materials such as bark or mushrooms, the pieces highlight chef Christopher Kostow’s cuisine.

“They were looking for something different,” says Will Callnan. “With each piece, we want to show the qualities of the material.”

The flexible qualities of the clay are also on display in the way their vessels, vases and bottles mimic the fluid movements of waterfalls and birds taking flight. With a world of influence right outside their home studio, Will, Nikki, their young son Gavin, and newest addition Evie, are happy to host guests for a studio visit. Their custom wares are available for order or commission online, or directly from the studio. 707.965.1007. www.nbcpottery.com.
—Charlie Swanson