Zacker.org

If Facebook implemented this right they could create something really remarkable for their users.

They probably won't.

Friends and Family,

Early next Sunday morning I will saddle up on my bicycle, join with 3,000 other riders, and over the next week cycle the 545 miles down to Los Angeles as part of the AIDS Life Cycle charity ride. I've never ran more than three miles consecutively in my life or trained for an endurance sport of any kind, so this is probably going to be an interesting week for me. And by interesting I really mean long, painful and rewarding. Or quite possibly just long and painful. In either case I'll take lots of pictures!

This year will be the seventh annual Aids Lifecycle ride. It's a really remarkable program. This year they are projected to raise over $11,000,000 to fight AIDS. I encourage you to read a bit more about the organization on their website:

http://www.aidslifecycle.org

I've comitted to raising $2,500 myself for the event. You already know many important reasons to support causes such as AIDS research and treatment, so I will just say it would mean an incredible amount to me personally if you were able to donate in support of my ride:

Here is my donation page:

http://www.aidslifecycle.org/6369

Thank you!

Details are here.

Photos from the shoot will be going up later today.

For the past year I have been hard at work getting my new company, Chapter Three LLC, off the ground. We’ve built the company from scratch, earning every penny we’ve spent, and I’ve learned an incredible amount doing it. We’re five friends more or less choosing our own destiny, working on the coolest project we can get our hands on and building a work environment we all enjoy. We’ve got clients lined up through the end of the year, a lease on some wonderful loft space in the Dogpatch district of San Francisco, and enough cash flow to take some risks.

And now we have a bike company, sprouting up between our conference room and kitchen area in our office space. The project is purely an extra-curricular activity for me and Matt, my business partner at Chapter Three, but a really fun one. Our new friend John from Cincinnati is the one making it happen. He’s been in the bike business for 10 years and helped get a bike store up and running a few years ago in Ohio. After a lot of mostly idle talk this fall about how nobody in the bike industry is building bikes nearly as cool as the ones we see the hipsters in San Francisco building themselves, John took a trip to the Interbike convention in Las Vegas and we started making some moves….

Mission Bicycles

In October we are building our first run of six bikes. Our first model is a light weight steel lugged framed fixed gear bike with high quality components, a custom paint job, no visible branding, and a price point of under $1,000. It is designed for young city cyclists that want a sturdy, comfortable, and aesthetically awesome bike. We are putting in orders this week to parts manufacturers.

Design

We are going to building our bikes to be blank canvasses for design. There will be no visible branding on the bike and our customers will choose the colors for their frames, handles, and wheels. We will also be distributing vinyl decal ‘kits’ with the bikes that will be designed by artists that bike owners can choose and affix in their own configuration. We are looking for artists who would like to be involved in this, so if you know of anyone please let us know.

Order a Bike

We are now officially taking pre-orders for our first run of bikes. We won’t have a model for people to look at for another couple weeks, but if you are interested or curious at all please email: orders@missionbicycle.com.

Watch it happen

We have a website going with a blog where we will post updates as the company and the bikes come together:

http://www.missionbicycle.com/

John's first blog post detailing how Mission Bicycles began is posted here:

http://www.missionbicycle.com/how_mission_bikes_began

We also have a Flickr feed going of pictures we will be updating regularly:

http://www.flickr.com/photos/14546785@N08

Updates

We are starting a newsletter for the company where we will send updates about once a month. If you want to be added just let me know.

4 PM Saturday

Zack: John, I'm going to this 2080 theme'd dance party with industrial designers tonight and I have nothing to wear.
John (turns head, utters): Hoverboard.

10:30PM Saturday

11:30PM Saturday

Tony, Katherine, me - ready to roll out.

Note: Hoverboard graphics John whipped up with InDesign are attached.

1. Bring yer own big wheel race down Lombard St.
2. Accrual based accounting

More later...

full size

Pictures of the feast itself:
http://www.flickr.com/photos/zacky/tags/876feasts/

Happy birthday Matt! 2007 is going to be a great year.