Kickin' it with J.R.

J.R. was in line for coffee a few people ahead of me. I usually see his bike, but don't see him in the morning. I found out why this morning, as he usually sits in the back nook at Starbucks, where there's not much room, but no one goes back there.

Anyhow, I had only talked to him once before -- only for a few minutes in front of the library on my way to watch Stage 1 of ToM. This morning, Lorin and I sat and talked with him. We got his story, so to speak. Many of the urban cyclists around here are riding thanks to J.R. He repairs bikes for people or buys their broken bikes for cheap, rescues bikes from dumpsters and breathes life into them, and turns them loose again. He doesn't make much doing it, but he gets along. With Bikes and Trikes for Tykes in a dormant state, he's currently out of a stable job. With another bike mechanic friend of his, he's contemplating starting a bike co-op or going up to Chicago to help out at WorkingBikes. He's a pretty interesting guy, full of knowledge and passion and as far as I can tell he's as kind as they come. It was nice talking to him for a while today.

My morning commute lacked anything resembling excitement. I was running it kind of hard this morning, and as a result it felt mostly like I was just packing on some miles. Come to think of it, that's exactly what I was doing.

I have to go down to the Data Center this morning. I may try to finish up the work day out there, and just ride home again. I'd use this route, except with a detour using Belinder instead of Tomahawk to get to 71st. Thanks, Jeff for pointing out the bridge-out situation that added a mile to my trip last time.

Random Tunage:
Tiesto Ft. Christian Burns - In the dark
God Lives Underwater - From Your Mouth