NAHBS

The next big excitement in my life starts on Thursday. I leave for the North American Handmade Bicycle Show in San Jose. For those of you who don't know, this is THE gathering of custom framebuilders in this country. There will be builders from all over this country, Canada and a couple from Europe. There will be everything from Ti to steel to bamboo to aluminum to carbon frames on display. Most of the top names will be on display - Eriksen, Sachs, Vanilla, Baylis, Potts, etc. Also in the house will be some painters (Joe Bell, Spectrum Powderworks, etc.), frame component suppliers (Paragon, Sachs, Henry James Lugs, etc.), and some more technical suppliers (Reynolds Tubing, Columbus tubing, etc.).

You're probably wondering what in the world am I doing going to such a show. Well, my life occasionally works out in my favor. I was asked to work at the show by Kent Eriksen (my favorite Ti frame builder). I thought he was kidding at first, but realized he was serious when his wife followed up by asking me again. It so happens that I make some parts for his new Sweetpost that will make its' commercial debut at the show. Here is where my life is good - thanks to all the taxpayers in this great country who will be subidizing this trip as I write it off as a business expense. Sometimes I need to pinch myself!

So, not only will I be hanging out with Kent and Katie for the weekend - a good time in and of itself, I will be checking some of the sweetest bikes ever. Oh, and Saturday morning I am going to borrow one of Kent's show bikes to ride the Sierra Road climb of the Tour of California.

This is one of those rare times when it is good to be me!

Tough Night for a Dad

Last night was the Coming Home dance at the high school my daughters go to. Once upon a day, we referred to this as a Sadie Hawkins Dance, never knew why. Bottom line, girls ask the guys. These are my daughters dressed up for the dance. Yes, these nights make me nervous. I remember my thought process at that age and I don't think todays teenage boys have changed much since then. As I try to explain on a regular basis - 'boys are pigs'. Some of you may try to deny it, but at the end of the day, it is true. Every 7 seconds, teenage boys are thinking about sex. For the 6 seconds in between, they are thinking about thinking about sex.

My youngest daughter ended up not going with her date, he was stuck in Cincinnati at a debate tournament/match/whatever. I dodged a bullet there. She still went to the dance, but without a hound dog on a leash.

My older daughter had asked a seemingly nice young boy. I remember being a seemingly nice young boy at one time, my theory was if I wasn't nice to the parents, I had no chance getting what I really was after. They had dinner at our house with 5 other couples. They were pretty entertaining - girls who couldn't walk in heels and boys in coats and ties (some have to wear them to school every day). They almost didn't make it to the dance - not in any hurry to eat etc., until someone happened to read the 'bid' and realized that if they weren't there by 10pm, they would not be allowed in the dance.

Here is the whole group - I don't think I was the only nervous father!



The next four years are going to be very hard on me.

A Funny Day in the Life....

Actually more than a day, but funny day was the best I could do.

Started with a planned ride on the Towpath along the Maumee River with Jamie and Rachel. There were supposed to be more participants, but they decided in the middle of the night before to change the start time without letting us know in a timely fashion. Perhaps there is a message in there. The starting temperature was a balmy -13 Celsius, with a slight breeze pushing the wind chill into the -22 range. DFC By the time the three of us piled into my FJ, it looked like we were going camping for a week! Jamie brought the java and we were off. Listening to Johnny Cash and chatting away. At the trailhead the suiting up was uneventful, bonus of heated bathrooms to change in for the less hardy. Once we were rolling, the first 10 minutes were dreadful - ice cream headache, frozen eyeballs, etc. Eventually warmed up and had a nice ride. Waited for Jamie at one point and recognized the fact she was no longer having fun, so we turned it around and rode back, total ride time of a little over an hour. I am sure that there are many who would be disappointed with us, but you will just have to get over it, we did. Back at the car, recognition of the fact that although we had a ton of crap, none of us had any civilian clothes to speak of. Coffee and muffins were the order of the moment, so off we went to the thriving metropolis of Waterville on a quest. On the way we got to experience the joy of Rachel's new thermos - very nice, but the coffee pretty much sucked (decaf). You might want to be nice to us next fall at the cross races if you want to have a chance at this bonus! In Waterville, I (checking my manhood at the door) asked for directions for a coffee place that had recently moved. We found it and proceeded in. Did I mention Rachel's outfit? So bummed I did not have a camera, multicolored cowboy boots over her cycling tights with her cycling jacket and knit cap. Truly a sight for sore eyes - made you forget that your eyes were hurting before. We were truly the picture of style amongst the local Waterville populous - I think we probably made them nervous. We eventually made it home. I was very close to taking a nap at Rachel's house - she has the most awesome chair/blanket combination. Very dangerous post ride and breakfast.

My evening was going to be a movie (The Departed) and dinner with Marci's sister and brother-in-law. The movie was good (I like Jack Nicholson) and dinner was at Bistro Wasabi. It was a fun evening with a funny incident at the restaurant. This is a male moment, so females may or may not be able to relate. At the restaurant (Bistro Wasabi), the men's restroom has a stool and a urinal side-by-side with no barrier between them. This would tell me that if I was the first one in, I should lock the door behind me. I entered and lo and behold, there was a guy at the urinal. At that point, retreat was an option, but would have been a bit awkward, if I had only known what was going to happen... So I 'whip it out' at the stool and proceed to take care of business. Now I believe in certain man rules, one of which is no talking while peeing unless you know the person. And keep in mind, there is no barrier and not much space between the stool and the urinal. This guy proceeds to ask me how my evening is going, weather, etc. I couldn't shut down the sphincter muscles fast enough to get out of there. For the women that might take the time to read this - other rules include, don't use side-by-side urinals if there are others available, strict conversation rules, no cold water jokes....

This morning is going well too. Here is a picture of a new addition to our household.


I love waffles. It doesn't matter what time of day, I can eat waffles. My only requirement is pure maple syrup, none of the simulated crap. I made a double batch of batter this morning and was in pig heaven, throw in a few Morningstar breakfast links, good coffee and you will one big aaahhhhh from me. As the beer commercial says, "it just doesn't get any better."

I hope you all have a great day!!!!

Inquiring Minds Probably Don't Want to Know

I am asked more than I care to recount what it is that i do. I have come to accept the answer of as little as posssible so that I can do what I want as much as I want is not really socially acceptable in most circles. Oddly enough, when you answer that your company runs screw machines, their are usually two responses - blank stare followed by 'Oh', or some crack about 'screw' machines with some polite giggling. It gets better when I tell them they are automatic screw machines when I get that second response.

This is a 1970 vintage screw machine:



We have a fleet of these that we use to make parts that go into automobiles, medical devices, bicycles, various types of equipment, and laboratory equipment. Additionally, we have a couple of vertical machining centers to use for secondary operations.

2004 Vertical Machining Center:



Using these machines and some others, we make parts from plastic, steel, stainless steel, brass, aluminum and some other materials.

Here are some parts that will end up on Kent Eriksen Cycles seat posts:



My wife asks me when I am going to retire, what's my plan. I have a pretty standard answer that is not always accepted. Why should I retire? I like what I do at work (ownership has its' privileges), it provides a nice lifestyle for my family (helps that Marci is an attorney), I have good employees, and I can do what I want pretty much when I want. I'm also too young to not have some place to go for the next however many years.

Life is good - health, financial security, and family!! Not necessarily in that order - and good friends.