Rode far and wide on the Motobecane Super Mirage of my youth. Racked up
miles unquantified, explored both the country and city of St. Louis from
which we lived near to the northwest. Even rode on the "Honda trails" in
the woods behind the moto dealer. Cycling became organic to me.
College in the '80s (not on either coast), cycling in a big gap between the
biking boom of the '70s and the MTB surge to come. Graduated, took my
commission in the service and found myself searching early for a new
career, in a bed in Walter Reed with two dotted Sharpie lines around my
thigh, one at 6" the other at 8", whichever gave the surgeon a better flap.
I was fortunate to be able to leave with both the leg, and the crutches. My
colleague, who ran a bike shop in Williamsburg, VA and helped me buy a 1987
RockHopper (he talked me out of the drop bar MB-1!) two weeks before my
injury, helped me fashion my discharge. He spotted me on the walk past the
nurses station, carried me by the belt when I passed out and plopped me in
the bed of his pickup for the escape up Georgia Avenue. I worked through
process to clear form the installation and he boxed and sent the bike to my
folks' house in Arkansas where I ended up in charge of my own fate and
rehab.
I conducted the most approximate PT as I could with materials and supplies
and as soon as I reach enough ROM to ride my bike on a trainer without
being jacked up off the seat by the bad leg coming around the top of
rotation without enough flex. Freedom came in the form of riding again. I
put clips and straps on the 'Hopper ("madness" people told me) and I
cinched down the bad leg's foot and used the other for all of my stoplight
and trail dabs. Not enough nerve coordination to walk yet, but for the
first time in more than a year I was able to go into the world on my own
power without crutches. Soon joined the reserves to account for not letting
the admin guy end my service and slap a medical determination on me. It
would have been a $3k check for the trouble. I was riding 20 miles in the
mornings and again iater each day
Made a business proposition to an existing outdoor outfitter of great
reputation back in my college town. Wrote a plan for adding cycling using
five paragraph operations order format (degree in zoology, not business).
They said yes and I ran it and was one of the general managers of the
company within two years. Started with Specialized and Bridgestone, doing a
five star tear down and reassembly of each bike and their wheels. We were a
dealer that made the reputation of brands rather than a dealer who pushed
volumes of poorly assembled models based on brand equity.
Bridgestone folded, my business plan included a similar "break down camp"
scenario because my cycling department was in response to LBS not moving on
market trends enough to satisfy customers used to the high level of service
of the outfitter in other lines, I had a drop dead point if those LBS saw
the light of day and got up to speed which they did when one of my
mechanics bought one and used his med school money to turn it around (now
has shop in Portland). I shut it down sold him much of the tooling and
bench stock. My girlfriend and I married, moved away to the Bluegrass area
and was riding an RB-1 with Sachs New Success Ergo and wheels of my own
build (Open-4 36°, WS 14/15g DB) on and off road.
Moved again to Pittsburgh, got out of the reserves, bought house to rehab
and set in on that when 9/11 happened. My wife was stuck in Mexico City for
three weeks on a business trip, saw the Shanksville plane fly over on way
to fate, saw AF-1 with phalanx of preceding fighters going back to DC then
silence. Not a plane for days. Nothing looked real. Slowly pulled things
back into context, the neighborhood was great. Rode with a group from the
coffee shop around the corner mostly around town up and down, looking at
how folks pulled together, 20-30 miles each week as time and light allowed.
Said yes to a friend of my wife's looking for a 4th rider on a super light
cross country ride, someone with mechanic skills. I said yes but knew my
RB-1 was not going to do. A chance to see the country after this big
reformation of value in eight to twelve hour rides, staying in cheap motels
and eating in the cafes and diners along the way.
Not stock bike was rando enough for my long of leg stature. Too much top
tube, too little stem extension if any. Wasn't going to go goofball and
ride a too small frame with a periscope setback post. Good money chasing
bad idea. Talked to Grant, Rambouillet was coming and the stock geometry
was ideal for me. A custom frame would nix the whole trip. Not available
this year. It arrived the night before I drove to Yorktown, VA for the
start in classic RBW build. Sports the same bar tape & shellac as issued
including the repaired tear from the little dump in south central Colorado
after a rear tire blow out. Once tire replaced the Peterson design values
really played out: my shoulder was separated from the first hit on the
newly chip-topped road, no cars for hours, no cell service and with storms
across the western sky I told my fellow riders it was time to ride. 42
miles to the next town. My trip was done but I was again reminded of what a
great ride this bike was as I did it with my jersey transformed into a
sling for the bad arm. I was able ride and control the bike one handed for
the next hour and a half into the next town. The doctor in the town clinic
was undone because she felt I should not have been able to ride 42 miles
with a separated shoulder. She had no knowledge of Grant Peterson and his
bicycle design and build ideals. I e-mailed him my story and we agreed it
was for personal consumption and would never be a stellar plug "buy a bike
you can ride after you are injured". The Grand Junction bike shop who
shipped it cleaned the blood off its orange paint before packing. They were
really eyeballing it and it was here say that Bill Strickland was in the
shop and really took it in as the first he'd seen in person.
It has been ever my prime road and off-road trail (like the GAP/C&O, not
the "dress like a hockey player to ride MTBs" fashion of late) bike since
and although I look plenty, I cannot bear to move on from this trusty bike,
although I do have a commuter which is better at the daily horrors of
climate and urban decay. It's effective transportation and appreciated for
that but not a looker by any means. It's a wordy path leading to an
accumulated life's cycling meeting a product fashioned for exactly such.
Andy Cheatham
Pittsburgh, PA
On Tuesday, August 21, 2012 11:06:10 AM UTC-4, lungimsam wrote:
>
> So how did you originally find out about them, and why/where/how did you
> get your first Rivendell bike?
>
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