Metromint Blog

Off Season Reflections from Florida

12/2/11
by Rebecca Rising, Metromint Cycling Team

This time of year I would normally be anticipating the snow that brings an end to gloriously hilly fall rides. But I am not at home in the Sierra Nevada mountains of California; rather I am in the Everglades of Southern Florida. The bike riding here is completely flat, and the weather is perfect, so off-season riding has thus far been pleasant. Oddly enough, I find myself trying to create unpleasantness, by sprinting up the rise of a bridge over swampy water or turning deliberately into a headwind. I know this is the off season, and therefore time to relax, but relaxation is not all that satisfying. Instead, I think most of us inexplicably need to meet face-to-face with some sort of challenge or adversity. Bicycle racing and training fulfills this need by providing (admittedly self-imposed) challenges on a regular basis. During races, we experience interesting varieties of physical and emotional pain. We ride in nasty, nasty weather. We get dropped and we crash. Probably most of us have wondered, “Why do I keep coming back for more?” Of course there are the good times when the weather is perfect, we feel power going through our pedal strokes, and we win the race. It’s not that the good times necessarily outweigh the “bad,” but that riding to the limit makes us feel alive, healthy, and complete. Metromint water pairs well with feeling alive and healthy, not to mention it helps a little in overcoming some of life’s challenges. I’ve had a few good chocolatemint drinks while struggling to stay awake during an office workday. A really cold lemonmint is a great leadout for the looming 98-degree, 2,000-foot training hill. My supermom sister savors a Metromint after training runs. I need not complain about the overly pleasant Florida riding, because I will soon be going on my first group ride. According to the guy at the bike shop, “What we lack in terrain, we make up for in speed.” What will be the appropriate Metromint for group ride recovery? Maybe orangemint or even a custom-made coconutmint or keylimemint. . .

Finding Routes

10/26/11
by Virginia Solomon, Metromint Cycling Team

Metromint Cycling has its fair share of both PhDs and PhD students. In fact, part of why we’re so awesome must have something to do with the collective eons of higher education present on the team. I speak with some bias, considering that I'm one of them: I started with the team in 2005, and continued in 2006 and 2007 from So Cal, where I am a PhD candidate in art history at the University of Southern California.

Everywhere I have gone, I have taken my bike with me. And it goes without saying that, in every place, everyone I pass loves the dots! In fact, some of them are better at keeping up with the new Metromint flavors than I am. But I think I’m all caught up :). In any event, my bike has been to Ottawa, to Toronto, to Halifax, all over the tri-state area in New York, New Jersey, and Connecticut. It’s come with me to my year working in Philadelphia, where I extended my racing radius to Pennsylvania, Maryland, Virginia, and West Virginia.

Bike racing has made all of this travel both harder and easier. Harder because everywhere I go, I need to find new routes, figure out which races are good, meet new riding buddies, etc. But it’s made it all infinitely better as well because I find new routes in each place, and that provides the perfect way to learn a new environment. I race new races, which takes me to places that I would never otherwise go.

Best of all, in each new place I make new riding buddies. At first it can be hard, because if you don’t have one of the kits from the region, people can ignore you. Before long, however, the dots draw them in and we start chatting about the lifestyle we have in common, the diverse life paths we follow, and, of course: Metromint.

My bike and I have been a lot of places, and made a lot of friends; but we’re both ecstatic to be back here in California! I’ll be the one at the races that no one’s ever seen before. Happy to be back home. 

Metromint Giro di San Francisco

9/8/11
by David Kennedy, Northwest Sales Manager

Thanks to everyone who attended and supported the Metromint Giro on Monday. We had about 3000 attendees, and 600 participating cyclists. Our own team, Metromint Cycling, received two 3rd place positions and one 4th place position. It was great to see them on our podium!

In the expo area, we sampled all seven varieties of Metromint, as well as Metroelectro micronutrient water. We hope those in attendance were able to try something new and get one of our cool tote bags!

A shout out to all of our Giro partners: San Francisco Bicycle coalition, The Freewheel, Velo Promo, Golden Chain Cyclists, Rocktape, Pactimo, Cykel, Sports Basement, De La Paz Coffee Roasters, Breakaway performance, Mike's Bikes, Rapha, and Ride SFO. And to all of the Soma Beverage employees who volunteered to participate on Labor Day. We couldn't have done it without you.

Check out our Flickr Photos, photos by John Rafferty, photos by Navi Thach, and this cool video by Matt Reyes:

See you again next year!

 

A Day at the Stage Races

4/20/11
by Lina Martensson, Metromint Cycling Team

One of the best things about bike racing is stage races—a succession of at least three races on consecutive days, where the winner is the rider with the lowest combined time from all the different races. For us amateur cyclists, it's like Tour de France, except shorter and slower!

The riding is definitely fun, but the real appeal of stage racing is that you get to spend a weekend (or more) hanging out with your teammates and meeting tons of fun, new people. Let me give you an example from a race a few weeks ago.

As a European living in San Francisco, it may come as no surprise that I don't own a car. The best part about this is that I have to carpool to races with no exceptions, and I have gotten to know many of my teammates pretty well as a result. Last weekend I picked up the awesome team car, Ella (a snazzy Honda  Element!), along with teammates Tina and Johannes, and we drove (in style) to the Central Valley for the Madera stage race. Four bikes on top, one inside, three cyclists, and a bunch of wheels and other accessories all in one, blue-dotted car. Pretty sweet!

On Saturday morning, as we were loading our bikes for the first race, a man approached is in the hotel parking lot and exclaimed "Metromint is the best water! I love it!" to which we joked "Yup, we don't drink anything else. It's why we're so fast!"

But the conversation didn't stop there. The Man told us about his favorite trick for keeping cool in stuffy, dry, pollen-filled hotel rooms. He brings a humidifier with him on road trips to help with sleep apnea, and when he starts to notice the room dry out or heat up, he adds a little Metromint to the humidifier. So, not only does Metromint taste great, it also cools rooms, fights dryness, and cures snoring. No wonder he loves it!

The race weekend ended up being awesome: one 1st place, five top-10 finishes across the team, and a few new friends to boot.

The Ticker Tape Parade

11/5/10
by Jaime Borschuk, Interactive Design Manager

What a week to live in San Francisco! Halloween, the Giants' victory, November elections, Dia de los Meurtos, and then the Giants' Championship Parade. The Metromint office, located just 4 blocks from the thick of the Parade, closed operations early on Wednesday so our team could head out to enjoy the festivities. The turnout is believed to be the largest in San Francisco's history for a parade or a civic event. I'm not even a baseball fan, but the excitement on the street was palpable and a cool thing to see and feel first hand. Go Giants!