Thread Drift

[BleeckerSt_Girl]

It is warm and sunny and blue sky and the air smells like spring and eucalyptus. Just standing out on the patio for a few minutes I saw two hummingbirds.
Coffee and pancakes for b'fast. Maybe a field trip to Rivendell or another bike shop....

OK, this sounds pretty close to Heaven!
Hey you two ENJOY.

[KnottedYet]

We made our pilgrimage.

Rivendell Secret: Grant rides a Specialized mtb to work! (we were admiring his bar-bag and another employee told us it was his bike)

To begin at the beginning...

We tried to find their address from the website. Not much luck there, so Trek called them. She was told they don't post the addy so they can keep the "riff raff" away. Like those Mondonico riders. I was given special dispensation because I ride a Waterford, and Waterford makes Riv's "A. Homer Hilson" bike.

In my little Riv fantasies, I pictured a weather-beaten barn on some sunny California hillside filled with bikes and bags and wool clothes. A mechanic or two sitting under a tree outside eating lunch. Something bucolic like that.

In reality Riv is in two big garages (with roll up garage doors) in a big industrial building full of garages behind a bakery outlet. We knew we'd found the right place as we saw 10 or so bikes out leaning on walls and the fence and in a rack. One garage is the bike mechanics zone, the other is the show-room. Beautiful bikes and bags and woolly clothes and books and other goodies! We looked around, chatted a bit (they offered to let us ride some bikes), got a catalog, and walked over to a restaurant they recommended for lunch. We read the catalog, discussed what we'd seen, and made plans for some wild and crazy purchases!

Those Salukis sure are nice bikes...
Hah! No, that's not what we bought! I bought a pair of Riv's wonderful MUSA pants (size M fit me, but I got size L as they were more comfortable and were looser in the thighs for biking). I'm not a nylon fan, but these pants are GREAT. They are actually cooler than the cotton capris I was wearing. They do make swish noises as I walk, though. And lemme tell ya what Trek bought! This goddess among women, this paragon of bike-geekitude, this jewel in the crown of TD, she bought a bar bag and GOT ONE FOR ME, TOO!!!! whoa. That's love, baby! http://www.rivbike.com/webalog/baggage_racks/20128.html We have matching canvas ones.

We met an Ibex woolweenie while we were there. I was wearing Ibex, which intrigued one of the guys working there. Another customer came in wearing a polo that looked like Ibex fabric, but I was too distracted by goodies to pay him more attention. The Riv guy spotted the Ibex logo on the customer's polo and hollered. So we had some Ibex bonding at Rivendell.

Now if Riv would make some MUSA pants out of wool...

[Bikingmomof3]

Popping in for a quick hello. As I thought, I shall be spending the day in the rain watching a track meet. My DS#1 does the "long" distance events, which makes sense since his true love is Cross Country running. Anyway, in a 6 hour meet, yes, somehow this one is 6 hours , my child will be running for approximately 3.5 minutes, shorter if he PRs.

Last night was a family movie night. We watched Danny Kaye in The Court Jester. The boys went to bed and DH and I foolishly stayed up to watch a second movie. I only say foolishly because I need more sleep then the 5 hours I received. The rain should keep me awake, right? We watched a British movie, Kinky Boots, which was based on a real boot company of aforementioned name. I did enjoy it, but did not find it quite as funny as my SIL did who recommened it. I thought the movie had wonderful messages throughout and a great ending.

I hope everyone stays warm and dry today. Wishing everyone a fantastic day! Time to run.

[DebW]

Knot and Trek, sounds like a great time at Rivendell. I've decided that today is my day to visit Harris Cyclery (the Rivendell of the East?) and buy 3-speed parts.

[mimitabby]

Knot, thanks for the Riv report! The info about Grant's bbike is priceless.
(How did you find out?)

It would have been fun to be surrounded by those particular bikes.

I didn't like the picture of the bike bag, it was hard to see (maybe it's because my eyes aren't focussing yet) i will have to see it in person, i am sure it is
really cool.

oh, gee, and DebW is going to Harris bike?!!

LBTC glad your dog's toe is finally healing!

Speaking of movies, we saw "On a clear day" the other night about a guy
(IRISH?) who swims the English Channel. The accent was so difficult for us
to understand that my husband finally remarked; "this is like watching an italian movie but with no subtitles.." it was a good movie, at least.

[Bruno28]

Speaking of movies, we saw "On a clear day" the other night about a guy
(IRISH?) who swims the English Channel. The accent was so difficult for us
to understand that my husband finally remarked; "this is like watching an italian movie but with no subtitles.." it was a good movie, at least.

Eh, that would be Scottish

And while I'm here

Happy Birthday Margo49!!!

[roguedog]

Hey.. happy bday margo...! What a lovely spring day it is here to celebrate it!

[mimitabby]

They were speaking Scottish?! wow! I had no idea it was such a strong accent.

Then two nights ago we watched Strictly Ballroom, which is Australian, and we marvelled at how much easier it was to understand in comparison.
(On a clear day was the better of the two)

[Trek420]

Knot, thanks for the Riv report! The info about Grant's bbike is priceless.
(How did you find out?)

Mimi, one of the employees told us "That's Grants bike".

What got me about the bag is the front pocket. Yeah, I'm shallow. The blurb in the catalog was something about it being the perfect place for a BART ticket. Light bulb (CFL) goes off over Treks head.

Right now the routine is:

skid to halt at BART
lean bike on booth or another passenger
cuss and curse as get backpack off of back
unzip vest
try to remember which jersey pocket has ticket
find ticket and swipe
reverse previous steps and go in.

then repeat at destination, on the way back ugh.

Just the idea that everything I need for a commute, clean shirt, bike lock....and the ticket is right there.

Sold.

Happy Birthday, Margo!!!

[roguedog]

Oh yeah.. Knot Trek.. or is it Trek Knot? hehehe

Your trip to Riv bike sounded awesome. Funny I pictured a quaint little shop like they have in downtown Walnut Creek.

I've always wanted to take a peek at what their retail shop looks like. Thanks for the write up!

[margo49]

Thanks for the B'day wishes all
Do you think I should change it to margo51?
Kind of like Area 51 (as well as that I am now not 49)
Then next year I could be margo52 (like the bomber)
When I was 16 of course I was M - 16 ( and being 5 foot 4 I was a Shortened M-16 into the bargain!)

btw, Now I am such a Tribal Elder and Crone could I be permitted the crotchety request of asking people to note that the "m" is lower case

[LBTC]

Good morning, everyone! I actually started a Saturday with yoga! For some reason, most weekends I just sleep late and don't start my day like every weekday.....it feels better this way!

K&T you'll have to tell us more of your adventure stories! Rivendell sounds fab and the bik bag is perfect! I can totally see it!

BM3 we loved Kinky Boots! Of course, I cried, as always. Last night we watched Stranger Than Fiction. It was pretty good, but really nothing compared with Kinky Boots!

Mimi, I haven't seen the movie you mentioned, but I really have a tough time with accents, too. They make me concentrate soooo hard when I watch the movie, but, hey, then I can't fall asleep!

Hey, should we start a movie thread?

'Cuda's toe continues to heal well. YAY! Now it's Ted's turn for his heart checkup. Keep your fingers crossed that there is good news and maybe we can even reduce some of his meds....

Time to get back to it and get stuff done!

Hugs and butterflies (hovering overhead to keep the rain off of BM3)

~T~

[DebW]

Knot, thanks for the Riv report! The info about Grant's bbike is priceless.
(How did you find out?)

It would have been fun to be surrounded by those particular bikes.

oh, gee, and DebW is going to Harris bike?!!

Harris was cool. There was a row of hanging frames, mostly Riv's (Rambroullet, Atlantis, Bleriot). Built bikes included Riv Saluki, Jamis Coda, some Terrys, a Burley Duet tandem. I even saw a Waterford ridden in by a customer.

I spent $370 on parts for the 3-speed. But it was fun. They had almost everything I needed except a rear rim (40 hole) which they will order and pawl springs for the AW hub (will order) and a replacement stem bolt (he will search the old bikes for one later). I even blew $90 on a new B72L - an exact replacement for the current crumbling saddle. Got new pedals, chain, cog, spokes, grips, tubes, rim tape, seat post, 3-speed pulley. Whoa, just checked my receipt and I paid $1.00 per spoke (72 spokes=$72). No wonder it all cost so much. Well, I did get good service - Elton even shook my hand as I was leaving.

I think spokes were $0.15 each in 1973. What does that make the inflation rate? Only 5.7%.

[margo49]

a replacement stem bolt

So you are just replacing the stem bolt
- are you happy with that (query? dinged and bent) front fork then?

[BleeckerSt_Girl]

Knot and Trek, sounds like a great time at Rivendell. I've decided that today is my day to visit Harris Cyclery (the Rivendell of the East?) and buy 3-speed parts.

Say hi to Elton for us! Tell him it's hi from Brian Sullivan and Lisa.

ooops...too late i guess!

We love Harris', it's where we bought our 2 Rambouillets from. Unfortunately it's a 2 1/2 hour drive from our house to get there. That means most of the work on our bikes needs to be done closer to home at another LBS.