Moots Profiles
Every morning I sit at my desk picking at the emails that have sprouted overnight. My desk faces the open door of the sales floor, leading to the stairwell. Reliably, the third person to come upstairs every day is Caleb Franklin, lead finisher turned welder. Caleb is putting away his lunch for the day- which almost always includes cheese and crackers, and he’s followed by his ‘Short Tailed African Cougar Hound’ Luther –my favorite shop dog.
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Slow, steady steps… Ka-Pow! And Sam is in a fine samurai stance at the top of the stairs. Outlined by the doorway, he reminds me of an extra from ‘Harry-Karry’. From karate chop position, he walks through the door and often we find ourselves saying, ‘Good Morning!’ with an overly extended wave that uses the whole arm. Naturally we’ve gone from ancient Asia to synchronized swimming moves without a flinch…
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Matt has one big leg. What makes his big leg bigger than his regular leg is a titanium rod in his shin. You wouldn’t notice unless he pointed it out to you, but his right leg is a bit bigger than his left.
Even bigger than Matt’s right leg is his heart. A strong, honest soul, he’s one of those people that can disagree without hurting anyone’s feelings.
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Sunflowers, harmonicas and cross bikes…..
Saturday morning brought departure from Steamboat. Moots van loaded with demo bikes, personal gear and a large cup of Joe. I put in a big pull of 700 miles to get the worst of the drive out of the way early on in the trip to the Kenda festival. If you’ve ever driven across Eastern Colorado and Western Kansas you know what I mean. I had the pleasure of driving it back in December to cross nationals, but during that time is was with G-Light in winter conditions……this time heat of summer solo. I pulled through to Lawrence Kansas and found a place to stay. I opened the door to the van to get out and was hit with the familiar heat and humidity that is common place for the region. In Steamboat we are lucky to see the mugginess rise above 30%...I kinda like the thick feel of the air; you can just about drink it in. I went to my high school and college years in Oklahoma and don’t mind the “insta sweat” you get going if not in an A/C environment. Anyway, woke up in Lawrence and had some time to kill before meeting with the guys from Sunflower Bike….a quick breakfast snack and off on my cross bike to get the feel of the area. Traveling with a bike has to be one of the best things in the world I do to keep a bit of normalcy going while on the road. It makes me less detached from my normal day to day life. It also lets me see what and where the locals ride. I took a short spin around town to locate the shop and with phone book map in pocket headed out into the country side. It didn’t take long to discover some great roads that lead to some great white gravel roads. In Italy they call them “Strata Bianca” or white road…..they were everywhere! Not wanting to get lost and miss my appointment I turned around and headed for a shower.Once at Sunflower Bike Shop I met with Adam and Shea….it just so happens they were talking with a customer about the reasons why a cross bike makes great sense for many riding applications…..After talking with the customer for awhile about bikes I ask him what he does…he says “I play the harmonica in a band” and I say, “what band”…..”Ah, Willie Nelson”…..for the last 35 years! Wow. His name is Mickey and he wants a cross bike to take on the road in the tour bus with him…..he travels a lot to say the least and wants to ride during the down time…really nice guy and hopefully will be riding a Moots soon.
It’s nice to meet new people on the road that share cycling passion.
Tomorrow I’m heading from St. Louis to Indy and over to Columbus……long haul trucker style!
21 July 2008
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Comments
Beautiful bike shop; very nice curb appeal; love the awning.
gotta stop by the homestead for a night if you want. comfy bed, clean sheets, just let me peek into the Moots van to see what fits, I mean what cha got!
I’ll run you over to nebo so you can meet those cats.
Cheers
Dave