Sunday 4/5/2020

I spent a greater part of yesterday reading books, magazines and old brochures. I then gravitated towards some old blog postings that were amazing. I came to realize that a lot of that has been lost in todays quicker, faster platforms. 
I was on a good roll in 2019 as I stated here before. I was aware somehow to take advantage of some free time and weather. I got up early, a lot last year. I was playing around with number 5 for a while. I explored a lot, went to different places but mostly rode by myself with a few exceptions. I got a lot of my bikes out. Somedays I would ride the fat bike, others the carboner, others the fixed gear, others the track bike. I rifled thru all of my bikes and it was good. 
Then in January the bottom fell out. Between Jan-Feb-March we lost 3 fathers. Three pillars to our family. That's all I want to say about this right now. I feel like everything crumbled. I completely lost interest in riding. I also lost interest in sleeping thru the night. Everything got disrupted. Then the "crisis" came and the rest is history. 
I had a friends frame hanging in the garage for months, months. He had asked me to install a headset and chase the threads. Yesterday, out of the blue, I went into the garage, put the lights on and started working on it. 
It was weird to touch the tools, almost on control remote with 30 years of experience. I finished the frame, then I moved on to my sons cross bike. I had promised him gravel tires and a fresher cassette. I got that done, adding some WTB nanos in 40mm. A fresh cassette, der adjust and that was done. Then I finally installed the ortlieb saddle bag on the Troll I finished building a while back. 
I cleaned up the area, turned the light off and felt some satisfaction. Some satisfaction in that there is a light on the end of each tunnel, no matter how long it is. 
I went upstairs and read more entries on Charlie Farrow's blog. I laughed, I cried as  Charlie is a wiz with the words. I copied and pasted a paragraph to Cookie. I fell asleep thinking of those days, together with some of the best people. 
I miss the Dads that we lost. I will soon commence to ride in their honor. Thank you for all you have shown me. We truly miss you guys. 
thanks for reading, 
Ari 

Bonk King and I riding. Slender Fungus Strong.