When I'm not riding,it goes something like this(overlay/skimcoat on existing garden table).So,to date,Santa Cruz(Rick's ride)county line,long course(100 mi).My first 1 speed century!Ahem!Some had 2speeds,but I didn't know this untill the sun came up! Next came G.H.#1,'09.Perhaps ya'll have seen the footage.(roger bartels1@comcast)13th in spite of the pro field.A really good day,it gave me unrealistic expectations for GH2.The biggest profield &the biggest Grasshopper ever!Oh ,the chaos!The first 20 mi went well,then came Marshall Wall.Long story short,I haven't come unglued like that since '98.Never been droped by so many groups,ever!Comic/cosmic collapse!After that,Boggs4 was pure redemption!Stay tuned for GH3.

It Is Not All About The Race

Throwing up the first danish . Napa classic today turned out to be more about helping others than just race placement. Granted mid pack was fine , but more meaningful was the way the day unfolded. Yesterday went out with friends for a planned 2 hour , birthday social type ride . Found out in the morning that the birthday boy was only able to ride one and not both days of the weekend , so we doubled it. That evening made a call to a friend / future son in law about Sundays Napa Classic , he said he needed to get out no matter how he placed. I thought , that's cool. Got to the race and while suiting up a De Salvo riding pro guy forgot his kit ; loaned my extra. After first 15 min. as I watched my group pull away , still tired from yesterday, the geared exp. caught me . I ralleyed with them for awhile and it the midst of a techie section a Freewheeler from the city on a Sycip had ejected both his bottles . He asked , what else I gave him one of mine. The meaning for today "KARMA". It's not always about you .

We're getting old.....

This here is Mark and his 5 mo old daughter, Madeline. Mark and I used to work at Salsa together and I can remember when he was 'the kid" at the shop. We spent countless days brazing dropouts and stem binders back when "production" and "handmade" weren't mututally exclusive terms. Now look at the guy. Can you still call someone a kid when they've got their own kid now?

Train of thought

Speaking of Beautiful Soulcrafts, how about The Bad Brains playing theirs;


And speaking of playing, how about the Soulcraft 'Dirtbomb'?

And speaking of The Dirtbombs, here they are doing a Sly Stone cover;

And speaking of Sly Stone, I'm late for my appointment to wear platform shoes and snort coke off of somebody's back..

The most beautiful bike in the world

I've had my new Option 3 for close to a month now, and it's weird: it's the same, only better. Just as comfy as the original, same snappy handling, descends the same...but I don't whack my pedals on the rocks, and I can push it harder into corners and it keeps it's line. Yay! Thanks Sean!

I knew Keith reminded me of someone....

He looks like that kid from Christmas Story........

I'm Teaching Keith How To Blog...

This is Keith back in 1976. He still has some pants like that. For all you other team members looking for old photos, consider this the standard to shoot for.