Hi, I hope you are well. I would like to discuss some things I have witnessed this week. First however we are going to talk a bit about the past few weeks.

I have been doing a lot of non-bicycle related items. Some of them are art and some are industrial. With these types of customers, I usually don’t mention anything in my rantings and I often don’t blog when I am busy outside of work riding or some other things.

Anyway, so this new blog is up and the others are going to vanish pretty soon. I may get to it this morning while I am cooking my breakfast.

So, on to this week. Kurt is working out well and he built an office inside the building so people can site down. Some people sit in my welding chair which is messed up.

So I have come to realize that the best view into the future is watching the kids in the hood. It’s a bit like a astrological forecast except It is completely made up. (don’t freak, it’s a joke)

20% of the kids in the hood got new bikes. They had crappy US branded bikes with complicated gears and brakes and weighed a friggin ton that had morphed into useless experiments in corrosion.

The new bikes are china direct to consumer. They have no gears but they made me realize the bikes mentioned above were really mid-level.  I noticed the wheel was so crooked it was nearly rubbing the fork. When I loosed the nut to align the wheel in the fork, I could feel the threads had bound.  Withing seconds I could see it was the worse bike I had ever seen.  I felt sorry for that kid.

I hopped on the 81 Grandis road bike and Mickey with the 71 Raleigh pro,  we went up 121 a ways and enjoyed the afternoon breeze on bikes.  It had rained earlier and we rode through mixed sport of hot and cold air.

Later Mickey went south, me north and as I crossed 121 at “red light hill” some kid, perhaps 12 or so came ripping down the hill from my left, cut across the parking lot making a hard turn and rips down the sidewalk.

I was rolling across a fresh green light on the 42 about half-way down the 13-21 with the breeze at my back and the kid is looking over his shoulder and grinning.

All 4′ of him.

I can feel myself blush at that moment. I am seated still and fumbling with the front shifter. So many things at once. Youth, courage and opportunity. I am beat.
The gear happens however, I have a tiny down hill and in one burst I am up and my hands are are wrapped around the hoods.

I go like hell and the kid is still spinning. His bike is 50# pile with 175mm cranks. How the hell is he doing this. He is out of gear but still spinning.

I pass him finally after a distance of two houses in a full sprint.

We waved and smiled as I passed as did I but I didn’t look back.

I kept pedaling even though I was spent.

I am sure the kid had fun and took something positive from the experience. I can only guess. I kept pedaling hard until I had gone quite a distance. I was really impressed with that kid. I hope I gave him something to look forward to.