Tequilero!
End of first week.
Sun 19 October 2008
Ok I’m writing this after the fact, because, well I had no computer or internet until the end of the first week.
It was great, sunny weather (freezing in the mornings) tons of tube mitering (my least favourite task) a few blisters, burns and cuts later – we had our front triangles brazed up and ready for week two.
Shown here jigged, not brazed on Wednesday or Thursday.
Friday night was also great, Barb and Koichi invited us for a lovely BBQ medly – in which we heard lots of tales of bikes and jollies from years past. Just gave a bit more context to exactly how long Koichi has been making bikes.
Saturday brought a small hangover and stem building class. More jigs, mitering, filing, sanding aligning and brazing. with a very nice stem to finish off.
Sunday was great, a few beers and a nice drive around the GAP state park. Great scenery, some climbers around the place, we visited a fishery (you are leaping with excitement I can tell)
Firstly, on the way out of Rifle – we came across this:
Kum & Go. Dubious no?
Then some really nice scenery
Then some beers
Then the fishery, yay.
Then more lovely scenery – Fworr, nice foliage mate!!
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Crouching lion, Hidden english
Thu 16 October 2008
Day 3 of the frame building.
I have so far managed to not camp. It’s been below freezing every night and the camp site was way further away from town than I thought.
So I’m staying in a motel with Matt (who is on the course as well)
We’ve been drawing our frame blueprints, mitering tubes, practicing brazing with silver and bronze, filing. Koichi is a legend! his knowledge and experience is incredible. I will post pictures asap but there are world cup winning bikes everywhere here.
We’ve made brazed lugs, fork crowns, and tacked some tubes today. The frame is starting to take shape nicely.
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Lovely Sunday
Sun 12 October 2008
Went and setup the tent today. Nearby is a family in their RV. Its getting chilly but I’m snug in the sleeping bag.
Despite the warning of bears and lions. I’m told that they stay away from where I am.
The jetlag has gone, and i’m about to walk to the Yamaguchi’s house to say hello.
The course starts tomorrow AM. Very excited!
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Rifle Saturday
Sun 12 October 2008
Breakfast at Base Camp was nice, with deer heads on the walls and bandana clad oil worker types, the 6am crowd was thick.
Nicole, Kyle’s friend and our waitress for this un-godly hour is smart and friendly, her sense of humour makes banter in the cafe good fun.
Prepare to camp
Testing the stove, due to extreme incompetence i’ve nearly set my leg on fire with petrol-type fuel. But it’s all good, I know how it works now.
Going to goto the Yamaguchi workshop tomorrow befpre I setup my tent on park land.
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Rifle
Sun 12 October 2008
Update: Crapdose Vista, has no spell checker in Internet Explorer. So there are quite possibly many spelling errors. Apologies, they will be removed.
Rifle is small, very small. Kyle is an extremely hospitable host, he works 7 days a week for an oil company. We won’t hold it against him. However Kyle has a couple of days off, he kindly drives me to where this camp site is supposed to be. There is a dirt road, yes. A camp site, no. The bar, we decide is the place to rectify this minor inconvenience.
Friday Evening
It’s 5pm, Kyle and I have been drinking at the local bar “Beer Meisters” There are a lot of, might I say causiously, Hicks? here. Friendly enough though. Beer Meisters has a surprisingly well equipped bar, with a choice of single estate Vodka and about 6 good Tequilas. I’m happy.
We bail on the bar, after sampling some beer and playing the pint game with the local hags. (“how many pints is she?” / “15-20” etc)
Thankfully, for now, Kyle also has some very hospitable, absent, housemates. Who although suspicious of Kyles new found hitchhiking friend, they concede that I am indeed a very polite and well manored Enlgish counterpart.
I am, it would seem not going to sleep in the cold until Sunday.
We gather a few more beers, and return home for pool playing and general banter. After a while, I’m tired of beer and no sleep. I sleep, Kyle continues – returning to the scene of the crime as it were. Only to encounter a bar maid that is probably not that keen on drunk men. She claims to have a boyfriend present and dismisses my newly found latino american “buddy”. He returns at 5:30am having woken up roadside.
We gather our hangovers and goto the Base Camp cafe for breakfast.
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Glenwood Springs
Sun 12 October 2008
Despite the Greyhound being a pile of steaming donkey shit. I did however meet a very helpful guy called Shylar. He’s a white-water rafting guide and a dog sled guide. He gave me the local knowledge on where to get camping gear. Factory surplus, how wonderfully American. Just down the street from Wal-Mart.
Within Factory surplus I met a very charming young lady, I bought rope, a compas, some camping fuel and a knife. And no ladies and gentlemen, I am not going to kill her.
The rope is actually for hanging my food out of reach of pesky black bears. The knife, for saving myself from mountain lions. The trick is aparently not to turn and run from a mountain lion and to if necessary sacrifice a leg or an arm in order to cut it’s throat. Fun fun fun.
She comented on my accent, I commented on hers. She was flattered, she held up the que to get me a map of the area, she offered to be my guide I accepted of course, being the gentleman that I am.
Aparently my accent also got attention from a few other people. Being the shit that I am, I have forgotten their names. They offered to give me a lift to the RFTA bus (the one that goes to Rifle) Alas, we got lost, but we had fun talking. We (by we I mean they, and the mother on the telephone of they) found a bus stop in the end – they left me to it.
With the hours dragging on, I was concerned that it would be dark by the time I got to rifle, Leaving me to walk 4 miles to a camp site and so I planned to go back to the surplus shop and get directions to a local camp site from my new guide.
Instead someone saw me carrying my enormous (now 30kg) rucksack. This guy Kyle stopped and asked where I was going. Rifle I say. So, Kyle gives me a lift to Rifle. Top draw!
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Vale
Sun 12 October 2008
Vale looks nice, it’s a pretty posh area with lots and lots of slopes and trails. All shut at the moment of course because there is no snow. Aparently tons of powder is arriving in a couple of weeks.
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Greyhound
Sun 12 October 2008
Let me take a moment to add that Greyhound are terrible. Legend has it that a man in Canada had his head cut off by a man with a hacksaw, on the bus, whilst it was moving, in the night. The man cut off his head, when the screams alerted the bus driver to stop – he opened the door and threw the mans head out, went back to his seat and sat down.
Thankfully, I did not meet any hacksaw wielding nutters on my greyhound bus, but it was late, hours late. First Great Bastard eat your heart out.
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Denver
Sun 12 October 2008
So then, i’m here.
I’ve had an interesting couple of days getting here. Firstly:
A good omen in Denver, the first taxi I took was a pedal rickshaw. The driver/rider of said taxi took me a few blocks where I was dropped next to a bunch of incredibly angry youths – alas the good omen was over. I decided not to take photos in front of the angry ‘youts’ and walked the remaining 2 miles to the Ramada Hotel.
After a steak sandwich at a bar opposite (Kinga’s Lounge) a polish bar with a very attractive waitress – I had a few beers and returned to my 3 star palace. Alone.
King size beds are great.
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I'm going to Colorado
Wed 08 October 2008
Ok, I have the contents of my bags various all over the floor.
I’m in a flap, so I thought I would take a moment to write my first blog post before I fly tomorrow.
Some of you will know that I am going to Colorado to attend the Yamaguchi bike frame building school . Very exciting, however, due to my budget –or lack thereof– I will be camping.
Now, you may not know what the weather is like in Colorado in October –but I do– and it’s not bad, until it gets dark. During the month of October, it can get as low as -17C. A touch chilly no?
Anyway, I have to finish packing. I will try to post various things about my travels and schooling every couple of days –it should help me remember it all when I get back– If you don’t hear from me, then it’s probably because I’ve become a meat snack for some sort of forrest animal or hunter.
See you in a month!
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