Mid April No. 15:
This is one of those in-case-you-missed-it things. It's about paper books and children, so you know where it's going, so you know whether or not to click on the link right.. HERE
I'm reading The Princess Bride now. Will's read it four times. My 24-year old daughter told me I'd really like it, and so far, yes.
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Scott next door made these dogs:
Dog 1, Scott, Dog 2.
All car parts. He is amazing. Hasselblad with either Delta 100 or HP5, and I forget the lens
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Here's a sillohuette that, unlike most sillohuettes, clearly identifies the bike as a Boots, as long as you know the way the top tubish thing goes. You can see the end of the kickstand.
But it was a blown shot. I wanted Dan exposed correctly. He was making it up a hill I didn't think he'd make it up, so I wasn't prepared to be shooting this.
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I've mentioned this store before. It's my No. 1 favorite retail store in the world, behind Blue Lug, in Tokyo. But it's also in Tokyo. Go, Tokyo!
http://www.waterdoggarden.net/title_page/titlepage.html
If you don't like dogs you won't understand. They don't ship internationally, so don't try. I want everybody who goes to Tokyo to go there and pick me up something. I'll reimburse generously. I like the shirts, the signs, the camping stuff, the dogs-in-canoes stuff. I want to wear it and give it away to anybody who loves dogs. I really want this stuff. I'm an American L, by the way, but I "have people" who fit all sizes. Buy, send, gimme the bill.
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Roman and his gf drove across the country after a family-related trip, and on the way he heard this podcast he raved about, then I asked him for the link and I'm raving about it, and now you can have it. It's plastic-related, and watch the imbedded videos, too. The whole maximum everything will take you less than an hour, and I think Roman said, "It should be required for everybody to hear it."
https://99percentinvisible.org/episode/national-sword/
The embedded video is what changed China around. Turned it around. Made them stop taking on the western world's stuff.
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So where will it all go? How long do you think you could go without plastic? I'll get to bikes soon enough, but it is related. We're going to stop selling plastic water bottles. They're the only kind I've ever used on a bike, and I like them, and the stainless ones seem too techy and slick and overkill for water, but I'm seeing them differently now (behind the times, yes). The thing is, they're all made in China, and we don't do that. Besides, you can get a Kleen Kanteen at Walmart or the local Five-n-Dime now, anyway. We don't need to be yet another vendor.
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I predict the unrecycled and unrecyclable plastic will go to the Mongolian steppe in a special place built for it. It's the biggest open available space on earth, but wouldn't that be a drag? I've got another idea that's philosophically abhorrent, but—transportation issues aside, practical as can be. Space, the final frontier. Another Musk task? Everything is stardust, and maybe the severe environment up there would transform it all back to separate, pure elements. I get that the idea of it is gross, but have you watched the movie in that link above yet? That's grosser.
So that's why we're going to give up plastic water bottles. I'll use the ones I have, but we're not ordering any more of them.
Carbon bikes are short-lived and relatively hard to recycle. Steel bikes are made from recycled steel. Steel is easy to recycle, an most steel IS recycled. You don't want them digging a deep quarry in a hillside so you can ride your steel bike, right?
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My oldest daughter was flying last week, entertained by the woman in front of her stretching her triceps or shoulders or something. The nails were there for a couple of hours.
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Here's something more meaty and interesting than creeping blue fingernails. A customer, a guy from Georgia, is 70, a vet who got angent oranged and has had MS for a long time (the docs say because of the orange)...isn't a rich guy, but he is a fly-fisherman--or was--but his MS has interfered with that. He has an all-Campy Peugeot in great shape but it's too big, and a Raleight Super Course in decent shape, but he wants one of our bikes.
He knows have a distant ancient past with fly-fishing, and called up and asked me if I wanted to buy or part-barter for a bike with this:
That image was pilfered from the internet, and he says his has a leather case, but in any case, if you know what you're looking at you know how rare it is (out of production) and how good it is at holding the hook while you tie flies. He wants $500 for it so he can come closer to getting one of our bikes. He lacks a computer and the access to the world that brings, but he's spoken to me often, and I told him send it to me, lemme see what I can do in the selling-it department.
If you're a fly tier / fly fisher and you've been looking for it (many are), here you go, and don't be the guy who tries to get the MS guy to sharpen his pencil. When we get it, if you buy it, we'll match the $500 toward Bill's bike (that's his name). Bill says bike riding is his biggest joy and something he can still do, and there's a long path, 37 miles or so, near his house.
Private mail me: grant@rivbike.com and let's see where this goes. No shame in not wanting to spend $500 on a German-made rare and coveted traveling fly-tying vise, but I'm putting it out there. There must be some fly-fishing forum out there with a fanatic/collector of means...
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This guy's carrying his bag high, but shouldn't he have a bag or basket, anyway? Or another bike.
It's not a caption contest-----
The outside agent has selected a winner of the caption contest of a few weeks ago, and a few honorable mentions, and a handful or two of heroes of participation, and they / you will be notified within a week, with minor prizes. Thanks!
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My old single speed sold, and take THAT, craigslist and eBay. We're shooting for good days, and that'll help.
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It was big news a few months ago in California==the big fire in a town called Paradise*, about 180 miles north of here. Rivendell owner-rider Richard got his whole house and five bikes burnt to this. Here's a Rambouillet, and a Clem L and Joe Appaloosa also went down in flames.
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* I can't hear the world "paradise" without thinking of this:
It's a 5:35 Bob Dylan song from 1968, and imagine, how unlike all other 1968 songs it was. The words: (which, I think you can listen to it and read along with the words, there's a way...).I try to live my life by these lyrics. What this song doesn't cover in the life department, another song on the same album, Dear Landlord, does.
Here are those words:
They were the best of friends
So when Frankie Lee needed money one day
Judas quickly pulled out a roll of ten
And placed them on a footstool
Just above the plotted plain,
Sayin', Take your pick, Frankie Boy
My loss will be your gain
And put his fingers to his chin
But with the cold eyes of Judas on him
His head began to spin
Would ya please not stare at me like that, he said
It's just my foolish pride
But sometimes a man must be alone
And this is no place to hide
All right, I'll leave you here
But you'd better hurry up and choose
Which of those bills you want
Before they all disappear
I'm gonna start my pickin' right now
Just tell me where you'll be
And said, eternity
Eternity, said Frankie Lee
With a voice as cold as ice
That's right, said Judas Priest, eternity
Though you might call it 'Paradise
Said Frankie Lee with a smile
All right, " said Judas Priest
I'll see you after a while
Feelin' low and mean
When just then a passing stranger
Burst upon the scene
Saying, are you Frankie Lee, the gambler
Whose father is deceased
Well, if you are
There's a fellow callin' you down the road
And they say his name is Priest
Said Frankie Lee in fright
I do recall him very well
In fact, he just left my sight
Yes, that's the one, said the stranger
As quiet as a mouse
Well, my message is, he's down the road
Stranded in a house
He dropped everything and ran
Until he came up to the spot
Where Judas Priest did stand
What kind of house is this, he said
Where I have come to roam
It's not a house, said Judas Priest
It's not a house it's a home
He soon lost all control
Over everything which he had made
While the mission bells did toll
He just stood there staring
At that big house as bright as any sun
With four and twenty windows
And a woman's face in every one
With a soulful, bounding leap
And, foaming at the mouth
He began to make his midnight creep
For sixteen nights and days he raved
But on the seventeenth he burst
Into the arms of Judas Priest
Which is where he died of thirst
When they took him out in jest
Except, of course, the little neighbor boy
Who carried him to rest
And he just walked along, alone
With his guilt so well concealed
And muttered underneath his breath
Nothing is revealed
The moral of this song,
Is simply that one should never be
Where one does not belong.
So when you see your neighbor carryin' somethin'
Help him with his load
And don't go mistaking Paradise
For that home across the road
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Listen you guys. This is my Mental Health zone, where venting and catharsis rule the day; where cards close to the chest aren't an option, where inside information is par for the course, where most things I say, on the day that Notre Dame burned down, sound like hideous insults from a guy with bad values. I just found out, and here I am trying to wind this up:
Susie won the Gus Boots-WIllsen anagram contest; Wolbis almost did, and was the favorite of the guy who came up with Susie. He did both. These may surface, and g.g. almighty, get them while u-can. These will be "early adopter specials," and--most unfortunately--collectables in 2032. They'll be in the same genus as Gus, that's why we used the same letters for the downtube. I hope it all comes to pass.
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I wanted to color-split a pair of Grip Monarch pedals with somebody, and Nate walked in to get some and agreed. I am tempted to offer split pairs (no picking which is black and which is silver). We might try that. It's the kind of thing that increases hassle and is not smart, but I think I'll try it, anyway. You'll pay a $1.00 premium for the hassle, and you won't get a box with them. Don't pretend to be cool and loose about this if you're uptight about not unmatched pedals not in a box. You can't have it both ways.
A customer/friend rode these yesterday even before I did, and they're mine.
If you're swashbuckling enough to want a mixed set (reread the rules above) and you've ordered before, send me your name, by April 19 (this friday) with MONARCH MIX in the subject, like:
Robin Robles MONARCH MIX
We'll get 10 mixed pair set aside and figure out a way to do this without the shippers getting mad at me.
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Here's that link from above again:
https://99percentinvisible.org/episode/national-sword/
And here's a picture of the amount of plastic used to wrap an Atlantis frame. It's 7.2 ounces, or 0.45 lb. Imagine what a big company goes through.
