The New Dream

This weekend, anchored to my couch and sick, I seriously geeked out on the bike blog scene. Of primary recent interest to the addict-level bike crowd, I learned, was the North American Handbuilt Bicycle Show (NAHBS). I checked out a bunch of the pictures on BKW (see previous post), and then went over to the website and plunged into the list of exhibitors. At first I expected to flit through a couple of the framebuilders' websites and then leave the handbuilt bicycle crowd forever.

And I saw these.





































It was one of those profound moments, not unlike your first tri, or crit, or cross race, when you realize that this is something you've always wanted, but just hadn't known about yet. When I saw these bikes, I couldn't imagine buying something off the rack. Don't get me wrong, I'm still in love with my (used) Six13 (I'm psyched that it's used, in fact; too much new stuff out there), but the thought of owning my own bike. A bike that no one else has, and has been built for me only. I've suffered through two cross seasons on bikes that didn't quite fit right, and I think I know what I'm gonna do for next season (or the season after that; many of these guys have long lead times for a custom bike).

Dream on.