Show #236 – March 7, 2015

Guests: Custom builder Chris Connor; Coach, author, elite rider, Selene Yeager

I’m on my way home from NAHBS 2015 and will report on the nitty-gritty of the show next week. So, we prepared this episode of TOC especially for you before I left.

First up is our final frame builder interview for this year’s Hand Made Show. Chris Connor has built boats, furniture, and classical guitars; so, when he decided he wanted to get back to Colorado he took all his wood working knowledge and directed it toward building bicycles!

Chris Connor Wood Bicycles was the result and, in collaboration with the Louisville Slugger baseball bat folks, Chris will be showing a very special Louisville Slugger Connor bike built from baseball bat billets. Along with wooden handlebars and a specially made leather saddle fabricated from baseball mitt leather, this one-of-a-kind bicycle will be featured at the Louisville Slugger interactive museum after the show closes tomorrow where it will remain on display for everyone to not only see but also where visitors can turn the cranks and hear the baseball card flap in the spokes of the wheels.

Chris tells us a bit about his fabrication process, what to expect from a wooden bicycle, and why his clients love them.

After the news, we’ll head on over to Emmaus, Pa. to speak with one of the most dynamic women I’ve had the pleasure to interview.

Selene Yeager is a bundle of energy, inspiration, and fun and she shares her triumphs as well as her terrifying and heartbreaking story of how her college days almost led to a tragic end as she struggled with an eating disorder and how she found her way back to her bicycle and her life.

Selene is the author of Bicycling Magazine’s Fit Chick column, co-authored Rebecca Rusch’s book “Rusch to Glory”, and writes for many other publications. She is a proud member of the Rare Disease Cycling Team which sponsors the “Million Dollar Ride” – raising more than that in its inaugural year to help fund research and CURES for many unsung and underfunded disease.

Sit back and enjoy the show then meander over to our FaceBook page to get some highlights from this year’s North American Handmade Show.