The week of August 13.
Our new hours are 8 to 4. Anybody can work 9-5, 10-6, or even 11-7, but 8 to 4 was the favorite. I don't think it'll affect anything in a bad way, but it means less time in a 95-degree work area...and in winter, more daylight time to get home. We're trying it, anyway.
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Here's an interesting racial story. There are lots of good links and followups, too.
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I am expecting my Ethiopian shoes to arrive any day now, and as are all but two pairs of shoes that I own (the two with leather soles), they'll be great for riding, and I'll prove that. THey're made by solerebels.
These are the ones I'm getting:
https://www.solerebels.com/products/the-surge-aby?variant=1216328240340
That's the last time I'll link to the site here. If you wear shoes at all, you might want to look them up. Handmade semi-custom (you trace your foot, and if it's wide like mine, they consider making them wider for you) shoes from Ethiopia, which was formerly known as Abyssinia, made famous in Samuel Taylor Coleridge's Kubla Khan, the last verse:
a damsel with a dulcimer, in a vision once I saw
it was an Abyssinian maid, and on on her dulcimer she played
singing of Mt. Abora;
could I revive within me, that symphony and song
To such a great delight 'twould win me, that with music loud and long
I would build that dome in air!
that sunny dome! those caves of ice!
and all who heard should see them there,
and all should cry, "Beware! Beware!"
his flashing eyes! his floating hair!
weave a circle 'round him thrice,
and close your eyes with holy dread,
for he on honeydew hath fed,
and drunk the milk of Paradise.
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and the heck of it is, that's not even the first time I've quoted that poem.
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Lance NPR:
https://www.npr.org/2018/07/17/629874121/lance-armstrong-returns-to-cycling-as-a-superfan
It's a good interview. One of the best of all time, in its own way. If you enjoy not liking Lance, or worse, don't listen to this. Set aside half an hour, read the paper or do other stuff while it's playing, however you handle your downtime multi-tasking.
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New Touring Kickstand vs Racing Kickstand:
Mark, who doesn't use kickstands on his own bikes, nevertheless cares about them and found this bad boy on the Pletscher site:
It is rated to 45kg (close to 100lbs), which must mean the total weight of the bike it can hold up, but you're also part of the kickstand equation, because you have to pay attention to the surface and slope you plant it on. It weighs about 9.5 oz, 2.7 ounces more than our standard model. Is 9.5oz too much for a kickstand that'll hold up about 100 pounds of loaded bike? I wonder why it's called "Flex."
Here's a photo of room 19, our main work and shop area, where bikes, tools, stuff, scrap, photogear, and computers and work stations are. That's Vince, our savant finder of everything we misplace anytime, anywhere. The remembreer of names of people who came by once a few years ago. You'll never meet a nicer guy. Irreplaceable. Photo must have been 1/15th second, because Vince is blurrier than the other things.
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Original pic of dan climbing:
Here's the full frame photo of the crop in the title image or whatever it is. That's friend Dan on my Clem L59. If it were in color you'd instantly recognize the iconic Target bag in the basket. I wish I could make that the only color in the picture. The shirt is from Target, a loose floppy plaid by Massimo or whatever the house-designer brand is. Hat is by Randi Jo. MUSA shorts.
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Hot town, summer in the city. John/Rivelo John sent me this. Because it's been hot up in Portland and down here in Walnut Creek. These west coast hots aren't humid, tho. Most of you won't remember this song or these guys, but there's an Eleanor Roosevelt reference, and we've all at least heard of her.
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Morgan-Pashley collaboration, and the "mudguards" tell the story. The author was topsy-turvy.
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Here's photo of Sean in the open space nearby. I took it with an Ilford disposable camera, $10, and usually it's not so grainy, but this time it was AND I cropped it and enlarged it for more grain. Sean is late 40s, and in his mid-40s after not having done anything on a track (track & field type) for more than 20 years and after a ride and while wearing sandals, he ran a 1:01 400m. He never ran track competitively, but he was an ace pole-vaulter. He had a Bleriot, sold it, wants a CLEM, but he rides only with me so always borrows a bike, which--there goes his incentive to own one.
Isn't that a cool grainy photo? From a $10 camera. Sean with Atlantis. Plaid shirts always look good in b/w photos.
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Here's something that's not as much fun:
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MOUNTAIN BIKE UPDATE
No bad news, it's all coming along and we'll have four size samples by Sept 12. We may add one bigger size, bigger than the current XL (60cm).
It's come to our attention that LeBron James rides a bike, and before he signed on with the L.A. Lakers, he rode a too-small Cannondale Lefty. He should be on a CLEM 65 or one of the new mtn bikes, maybe with 2.4 slicks or something. Should not ride carbon, that's for sure.
Don't forget the African shoes or the Lance interview. And that first link is pretty good, too.
G