A Serious Bike Stoke

What to do on a rainy Saturday in January? Well, load up the family for a little tour de Denver of course.

We dropped the wire donkey off at Ed Sussman's place (Bicycle Pedal'r) for the retooling of the bottom bracket. Seems these things wear out and mine was well beyond prime. While she was getting fixed, we took a drive around some old Denver neighborhoods and ended up in the Lowry Town Center. Very cool project that finally has some tenants.

While Anne was scoping out a flower shop and a card shop, I dropped into the local "bike shop" called Pedal Pushers. The name had me expecting to find another kiddie/townie store so I rolled in with as full complement of kids in tow. I should have known something better awaited me when I saw the Moots sticker in the window. Inside I found a cramped store jammed with Cannondale/Jamis etc all centered on the work bench. For further effect, they had The Donnas playing on the store's sound system.

After browsing the few racks of requisite Sponge Bob jerseys I found a cool rig stuck in the corner. It was a fully built up, slightly muddy Moots cyclocross setup on a 47 cm frame. While at 6'3" Hammerson wouldn't even notice he was on a bike, this baby was even small for me. With full disk brakes, knobby tires and the beautiful Moots titanium welds, this ride was something special.

It might have been the fact that I locked onto his personal bike, but as I was looking the Moots over, shop owner Jason (didn't get a last name) came over and started chatting bikes. This was no sales pitch but rather a "who the hell is this poser in my shop" kind of talk. After a while, Jason informed me that he opened the place about a year ago and has set up a Cat 3 with 2 Cat 1 riders team. Furthermore, he is working to set up a race this summer; either downtown or in Meridian. I guess I must have said something right because I was treated to a private preview of the new team kit that was still its boxes. Gotta tell say it looked pretty sharp.

At this point Anne arrived to gather up me and the kids and head out. As we slid out the door, I couldn't help but think, "damn, I need to ride.....right now"! I can only attribute this feeling to a great bike stoke. While it is not so unique, our sport inspires feeling of intense passion. However, I find it strange that a 20 minute conversation with a stranger that rides can get you so fired up that you need to immediately "scratch the itch.

If you are in the neighborhood, I recommend that you drop in on Jason to say hello. But make sure that you take your ride cause you are gonna wanna pound out a few miles after the visit.

Fast or Fat?