I wrote these two Keith Bontrager entries after a very long news day...although I am the low man on the totem pole here at work (one of two computer guys.) When there is a big news story, as in the case of the death of former President Reagan, I have long work days with a situation filled with excitement and some stress.
For other TV BABIES (a quote from DRUGSTORE COWBOY) think of the film BROADCAST NEWS, that movie was based off where I work. I know some of the characters that the movie characters were based off of, and yes, they are characters. With that said, it had been a long day, I had spent too much time on the computer already, the Whiskey and Coke I poured when I walked in the door did not help things....so I BLOGGED without revisions; my mind and hands were not nimble enough to get my point across.....so I am going to review things now


KEITH BONTRAGER
Keith Bontrager is cool! He has been cool for years; and I am sure he was cool long before I heard of him...and I heard of him before I could afford any of his parts and that was before Fisher bought him. The so called "sell out" is something that I have never disagreed with, this gave his equipment a greater audience and I am sure that it took his testing grounds from his garage to the lab! Keith in my mind is an engineer version of Henry Rollins....well of the Henry Rollins in Black Flag, and maybe some early Rollins band but maybe not; okay some modern day spoken word stuff may be cool. But not the cameo/extra king...again...not unlike Keith, I have no issue with anyone making a buck, but it is not clear if Rollins is trying to be an actor, trying to make a buck, trying to stay in the spotlight, seeking some form of immortality, or just having some fun with it. We can only hope that he is having fun with it, on an episode of JACKASS he sure seemed to be having fun driving a HUM V in the desert with SUPER JACKASS STEVEO got a tattoo of a smiley face on his arm, well a tattoo of a smiley face on his arm as the HUM V was driven fast and wild over off road terrain. I envy people whose lives have taken them in directions where they get to write their own ticket. Remember, I may envy aspects of people's lives, but I do not for a second wish to trade lives with anyone, but perhaps draw inspiration from other's lives and improve upon my own.
Years ago my brother did a trip out to California to race the Granny Gear 24 Hours of Donner Pass, on that trip, at a very grass roots 24 hours race I was very tickled to meet Keith Bontrager. No, we did not hang out at the campfire, share microbrewed beer, and then leave the race promising to write....nor was it me running up to him with a picture in a magazine begging for his autograph.....it was somewhere in between. I was tickled. He was friendly and cool, while I was tickled.....when he said something it came through a filter...Keith Bontrager Said This Filter.

read this article and you will agree that this guy is cool! He is cool in the same way that fellow parts guru Sheldon Brown is cool, or maybe the guys from Rivendale, Gary Fisher, or Tom Richie. There are many others, and these are just some cool folks who are cool in the cycling industry....there are other people making cool contributions to our planet who are not bicycle related, just can not think of any right now.


Okay, just thought of a few Jake Burton and Sims the two inventors that argue over the creation of the snowboard. Although it is super cool that these guys did this...there is a tad bit of irony, THEY TRIED TO REINVENT THE WHEEL! For some reason as they invented this tool to be used on the ski slope, they failed to look at the ski for some of the most basics strengths of its evolution....they created it without a metal edge! So as great as the early snowboard was, in so many ways it sucked! But it was stage one of the evolution of what is now the snowboard. A sport that I live too far from the hill to enjoy and a sport that I can not afford. In my mind, a week travel to a ski resort and all of its costs is pretty darn close to the price of buying another bike. Lift ticket prices have gone through the roof, last time at Vail I think the tickets were 60 Bucks, okay maybe 52, but you get the point. (oh, I did not pay for my tickets for Vail, my old friend katerina hooked my up with a stack of employee tickets and for Copper my friend Tim let my borrow his pass)

On another day I was tickled.....
maybe at work
I need to put my feet up
lets see if I feel like chasing this tangent in the morning.