Running Mommy, take that email to the bank--seriously. I hope you make it through.

I just thanked a bike shop in Breck. I took a friend's ancient, filthy mountain bikes in--all with flat tires. I was dying to ride, and my friend refused to let me rent with "four perfectly good bikes in the garage." The mechanic washed, serviced and even advised we didn't need new tubes and tires after I said, "go ahead and change them." He apologized for charging us less than $10 per bike, because he had to do some fine tuning and add bar end plugs. When I returned the next day with the other two bikes, I bought a new seat. This simple purchase turned into a huge fiasco, because the bike had an old seat post and wouldn't accommodate the new seat--SO he rummaged through ALL the bikes in the shop--rental and new--until he found a post he could swap out. This took about 45 minutes and he refused to take any extra money. During all this, I chatted him up about where to go ride. He offered some suggestions.

The next day we took his rec, and had a blast. I called the shop to get his name--and he was the one who answered the PHONE! He eagerly listened to my bike report. I followed up with an email and an attached photo of the bikes at Boreas Pass--just to make sure his boss was aware of what a great employee they had.