On Friday, October 3rd Honey was a part of the New England Builders' Ball. This was our second year at the show and it was a huge success. We were very excited about last year's Ball which was held at the Biltmore in downtown Providence. The Biltmore was a great venue for a Ball. It is a classic old hotel with great architecture and ambience. But it had its challenges. The space was pretty small and getting to and from the Ball posed a challenge for a lot of people. This year's Ball was moved to Roger William's Park, the venue that hosts the Providence Cyclocross Festival. The Providence Cross Festival is one of the biggest cross races in the United States drawing world class competitors and grassroots racers from all over the country. The race itself is a UCI C1 race which features racers from Europe, Canada and the US.
Richard Fries and Eric Weiss created the Builders' Ball to showcase the top bike builders and artisans and show them off to a legion of bike racers. It has been a great format. Moving the ball right to the race course made an already fantastic event that much better. The new space at the Botanical Gardens offered exhibitors and visitors the opportunity to really spread out. The noise levels were much better so you could have conversations without shouting. This year's Ball was a who is who of New England bike building Legends. Honey was very proud to spend the evening in such lofty company!
We had a great spot in the Botanical Gardens. Right by the DJ and a nice water fountain. It was so great to see so many friends both old and new. We were very excited about the launch of our new Fat Bike! The Off Trail has been in the works for the past two years. We targeted the Builders' Ball for the launch as we knew it would be the perfect place to show it off. It was so hard to keep it a secret in the days leading up to the Ball!
We have so many friends who ride fat bikes. What drew us to fat bikes was not just their application for winter riding (although we are very excited to ride them in winter!) but how versatile they can be. Riding the Honey 100 with a good friend who happened to be on a fat bike showed just how much fun you can have on a fat bike in the woods even when there isn't snow and ice!
It was a great night and we thank Eric Weis, Richard Fries and their staffs for putting on such a great event that celebrated handbuilt bikes, cycling culture and cyclocross.
The New England Builders' Ball is a benefit for the East Coast Greenway Alliance. All the photos in this post are courtesy of the ECGA and were taken by Constance Winters of lovelybike.blogspot.com