road ridin’

Beautiful weekend here in the Bitterroots…..with temps in the 50’s both saturday and sunday i found myself turning circles on the road bike both days. Saturday was a nice mellow three hour outting on a solo ride that took me to Darby and back via dirt/asphalt road mixture. I got an early 8:30am start that was actually almost too early as it was still a chilly 28d when i left, even had a few snowflakes falling. Since i was planning on working a few hours i figured an early start was best to get me back at a reasonable time.

The shop stayed fairly busy for a saturday afternoon and we had a few visitors come down from Missoula….mostly tire kicking. Aaron put the finishing touches to a couple of tune ups which allowed me a little time to BS with the regular customers, Thanks Aaron ! Plans were also hatched saturday afternoon that it was that time of the year to start our weekly Sunday morning road rides……so, for those of you with a road bike we’ll be leaving from Kiwannis Park in town at 11AM every sunday morning until the snow melts from the trails.

Todays ride was gorgeous…..no wind at all and mid 50’s felt great. 7 of us showed up and headed north to Victor via westside backroads. The pace picked up slighty just before getting there as Bender and i took off from the others. I didn’t last very long at all as the cobwebs were blocking the path for oxygen (advantage Bender)….We regrouped in Victor and decided to head back to town on Eastside Hwy., Deano provided the free tow back to town and the rest of us were accepting of the fact and tucked in for the (almost) free ride.

By |2008-03-09T15:12:00-06:00March 9th, 2008|bruce gordon, ride|Comments Off on road ridin’

the BG

here’s a couple of pics of my new roadie….it’s been since 94′ that i’ve last spoiled myself on a new road machine and i will admit that i do have a small sliver of love in my heart for those skinny tired types. My last road bike (and first real road bike) was a gift from Wayne Schaffer, the owner of the first shop i ever worked at and given to me as christmas bonus. Wayne operated a great store back in Lincoln NE, that had a mom & pop atmosphere and diverse base of customers. Wayne himself had a heart of gold and taught me the ins and outs of the bicycle business which also meant watching how the man carried himself day to day. He always quietly gave to others, quick to lend a hand, was honest, and also loving….all traits that i’ve wanted to simulate and naturally practice myself. I’ve always quietly prided myself for cutting my teeth in such a shop. So it was truely a sad day when the parts off of the old Croll road bike were sold and the frame hung in the back with the collection of my other have beens and pieces of my cycling history. It was hard to part ways with a machine that has given me so much joy and a ton of fantastic memories.

Well, that was until my new Bruce Gordon showed up : )

lugged steel

By |2007-06-11T19:54:00-06:00June 11th, 2007|bruce gordon|Comments Off on the BG