add this up...

for those of you who think I traded in that crazy busy beer job for a vacation in Italy...here's a little math for ya'll:

50 Bikes shipped from Van Nicholas to be assembled
+ not enough cassettes (the gears for you non-bike-humpers)
+ 10 sets of wheels that needed tires and tubes put on
+ 6 2/3 Liter beers between James and Myself
+ 4 handfulls of peanuts for breakfast one day
+ 2.25 Pizzas for dinner that nite
+ LOADS of coffee the next morn
+ 40 seats attached to 40 seatposts
+ 21 Bikes prepped for upcoming tours
+ 2 bikes that were going to be for sale now being sent out on tour cause we dont have enough parts
+ 4 vans
+ 8 sets of roof racks, 2 for each van! (thats 13 bikes per roof!)
+ a case of headsets and cables (more bike geek stuff but quite a sight that many parts in one box)
+ 3 12 hour shifts
+ not enough sleep
+ 5 rentals
+ 7 damaged knuckles
+ 4 major tours
+ 2 dudes
- (and that's a BIG minus) my last damn nerve
_____________
= several new original swear words, two really tired dudes, my hands hurt like I just built the friggen railroad, ALL of it!, and my vans shoes (that should have been thrown away a year ago) smell of degreazer, sweat and that funky throat smell you get when there are a ton of new tires around. Am I even making any sense here!?

We got the big shipment of bikes we have been waiting for but none of the bikes were built! Typically when you get a new bike from the manufacturer, you have to put the bars and stem on, adjust the brakes and shifters (only minimally usually) air up the tires and give it a spin. What we got this week was boxes and boxes of stuff! wheels with no tires, tires with no tubes, handlebars with no tape, shifters, gears, brakes, chains, seats, seatposts,....all individually wrapped patiently awaiting our years of expertise to carefully put them together in the right working order and VOILA! BIKES!





Bikes that are leaving on tour the day after mind you! The 30 minute bikes preps we expected turned into 2.5 hour pro builds, for each bike!!!! Not to mention there are some crucial parts not available in Europe as of right now due to the increased production over previous years. Needless to say we had some long nites...but damn aint the finished product worth it!...



I finally grabbed a bike ride into town today with the hopes of being right behind an accident involving an armoured truck and a limo full of "dancers." No suck luck, but I did get to spin my wheels a bit, come back refreshed and dive head first into an amazing dinner of salad and panini.

Its summer and I keep thinking..."wasn't I going to be a teacher? With the summers off?" But I still cant find a good reason to trade this experience with anything! The Cottonwood tree has finally stopped its search for fertile grounds, or I'm getting used to it, or I took a lifetimes worth of anti-allergy meds last week and their collective half life expires sometime after I'm dead. The skies have been amazing, and despite a day of rain (which we didn't notice hunched over bikes) the weather is amazing. In Italy there is a kind of rain dance you can do for the crops, simply vow to spend the afternoon putting roof racks on vans and sure enough - it will rain. But all in all the busiest week of the year is done with. And although we are still awaiting some parts, and there will be more crazy weeks ahead, I'm looking forward to it, collecting some stories to tell, and pushing on through.

We'll leave the espresso machine on for ya!

S.