TDR; “I know that guy” edition…

by

I had a simple screen shot lined up for this with a one-line description, but got talked into doing a proper post instead. So here goes.

My sometimes riding buddy Wunnspeed aka: Michael Cleveland is riding the Divide as we speak. (Or at least should be, as his GPS is stuck in Jasper. WTF is that about? We live in the fucking future; can’t we get that fixed already?) Dirty contacted me when I mentioned 2 guys I know are riding this year and wanted to do a write up on them much like you’ve seen so far.

He didn’t get to it. So now it’s on me. Great.

How he is more or less the entire day.

He’s 50. Read that again.

50.

He’s fitter than just about anyone I know or have met in my life. Rarely gets sick, rides like a motherfucker and is doing the TDR singlespeed and rigid. Again. SINGLESPEED AND RIGID. Fuck me. If there was a way to transplant his thighs onto my body, I would get him full of Absinthe and Tequila as soon as he returns.

So a bit of background on ‘us.’ I met him on a group ride a while after he and the missus moved to Munich. She’s a number-head and makes the real moolah. So that frees him up to ride, and earn a small income to pay for beer, wheelsets and other assorted bike stuff. Good for him for being a ‘reacher’ and not a ‘settler.’ (Get a TV you morons and watch some sitcoms.)

So we go and ride, drink beer and whatever and somehow we get to be great friends, not only because of the Americans living in Munich connection, nor the cycling thing exclusively. I like cooking and am a bit of a foodie as is his wife, so there is that as well. Long story short, we have had a lot of fun and I hope we are friends for a long time to come.

(UPDATE: I just caught him on the Facebook and he’s checked into a hotel as his sleeping bag wasn’t rated for the cold he’s in right now.)

So he got into the accident I posted about above, and as with our own Great Leader, he had an epiphany.

The TL;DR is ‘Life is short. I don’t want to spend the rest of it doing shit I hate.’ My words, not his. But Im sure the sentiment is pretty spot-on.

In case you didn’t know he and the missus make kick-ass custom bags. He made all of these that he is using on the TDR right now including this bad boy.

As for the general format of the other riders… well, I have no idea, so fuckit.

Bike: TI Independent Fabrications 29’er with rigid fork from who-the-hell-knows.
Bags: Self-fucking-made, bitches!
Wheelset: Self-rolled, no doubt. Tubeless with more-than-likely GEAX rubber.
Gear: Who the hell knows.
Thanks: The missus who had the patience, understanding and wherewithall to let me do this. (My words not his…)

—bp

by