I wrote a blog post on this:
===
Despite having issue with the name -- Tallboy -- that's the Santa Cruz 29er, Erik pulled the trigger. Finally!!! His search lasted for more than a year. I'm not talking about half hearted search. He was reading about 29er's almost every night! So, I was more than relieved when he brought the Tallboy home (yeah, I have no issue with the name at all).
It was an agonizingly long day-- a Wednesday -- for him when he bought the bike because he still had to work. But as soon as he got home, after Mango inspected it, he went out for a night ride.
On Friday morning, I offered to go to Skeggs with him early morning before work to take some action shots. Well, it was a misty day. At the famous, photogenic 180 degree turn on Manzanita Trail, this is all I could get:
But the mist seems to add some special effect that we normally don't get. I call it a mysterious feel like this one on Lower Fir:
Even though there was no standing mud puddle at all, the soil got just enough moisture that it was most sticky. After the ride, I gave the Tallboy a sponge bathe (and did not miss any skin) to get rid of the mud. It took me half an hour!
On Thanksgiving Day, a beautiful sunny but crisp day, we went back to Skeggs for a short ride before heading over to our friends' place for dinner. I did get a clean shot at the 180 degree turn, but I'm not Charlie, so the photo left a lot to be desired.
The short ride turned out to be not so short after all. Erik got obsessed with helping a fellow rider fixing his broken chain (we didn't have any power link or connection pin). Took a while, but it was a success story in the end.
On our way home, I told Erik that we should just leave the bikes in my CR-V since we would be going to Coe for a ride the next day. We should just take his FIT to go to the party. He protested.
-E: I don't want to leave the bike in the car over night all dark, cold, and lonely...
-M: Don't worry, my FTM will be in there as company. Think about it, it'll be cozy. How does that song go? "Just you and me..." Maybe in the middle of the night, the car will start rocking.... hahaha...
-E: ...Then someday, we might end up having a 20" BMX bike. Okay!
-M: Hmmm... wouldn't that be cute?
