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Old August 2nd 03, 04:23 PM
Jeff Potter
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Default Team OYB: many days on the road...but big fun!

Thanks, guys.

I was sorry to miss Nathan in Boulder. Things were rolling just a
little too fast and hectic at that point. We did have a great
breakfast at Chatauqua park there, tho. Did I already report that?
Best breakfast spot on earth, really. I hope the Mimosas didn't hurt
my ride up Flagstaff too bad.

Well, now we're in the Bay Area, staying with friends. What great
houses around here! I don't mean the big ones by any means. They're
fine. Basically all of them are nice. Wellpreserved arts'n'crafts
bungalows galore. I like that house design. Lots of nice porches,
fieldstone. Good culture. Far better preserved than in Michigan. Great
old cars, motorcycles and houses alike. Lots of bike commuters.
Flowers. Cool marina vibes everywhere.


I got a new big mt cog for my bike yesterday at Rivendell Bike Works,
where I finally got to meet Grant and Friends. What a great bunch.
What fine bikes! I told them how I needed a big new rear cog for my
old bike and they busted apart a not-as-old cogset and filed the big
cog to fit my freehub and presto I now have a better gear for the
hills. I even got to meet Pineapple Bob. Just a very nice scene there
in the machine shops district. They had their bikes set up to ride for
an overnight campout after work. The bikepacks and luggage that Grant
designed and sells is just amazing. Baggins Bags. Very nice stuff. The
Hobo bag for the bars has two pockets that face you when you ride.
Very right. Grant set me up in his new/old position and had me test
ride a few bikes around the block. There are some steep ups near the
shop and the highbars were fine for them. Definitely a comfy position.
No toeclips. Great allround bikes for sure. I'm not convinced I'm
ready for the bars-higher-than-seat setup yet---got too much racer in
me still but it does make sense and makes you smile to ride that way.
What's also really cool is his new handlebars. How many custom bike
makers design their own bars? Uh, none that I know of. Grant does
production bikes but makes them special in every way. Great paint,
too. World's best, really, it seems. Funny thing was I'd never seen
one of his bikes before. We were having dinner one night at the Ocean
Beach restaurant, up high, in the dark and a bike pulled into the lot
with new LED lights. I watched it roll in then said to my dinner
companions that I bet I knew what kind of bike that was, a Riv. They
laughed. I had to see if I was right and went down to the parking lot.
Sure enough. Nice guy riding it, too. Good world, that Riv world.

Our friends have a BMW M3 convertible. We got to drive SF the Nash
Bridges way. Hoo-ee! What a backseat ride that was. Great car. I think
my pal has properly rationalized that particular midlife purchase just
fine. --It actually is a comfy 4person ride. And the weather out here
keeps a car going for 50 years if you want it too. Seems like a
lifelong car to me.

Next stop: bringing the kids to the Tenderloin for a couple days. Then
NoCal uncle. Then LA uncle. But darn I am very bumming that I missed
visiting and riding with VVA. He had a sudden emergency pop up. We
came very close. Darn, riding with such a hero woulda been great. But
I woulda had to do a quick 5-6 hours driving to do it. Oh well. Next
time.

Over'n'out!

--JP
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