June 2005

Hi guys. As you may remember, I had 5 major ride goals in mind when we upgraded from my Arrow Race to my new S-3 in March. I admit, that when I picked it up, the paint job was not quite what I expected, {we apparently had picked a color that was one digit off. If this happens we will always offer to repaint the bike, but as you will read, Bruce decided not to} but boy has it grown on me. Now, I wouldn't want anything else!! Your painter is a genius. . . some of us are just a bit slow to appreciate good art. And I can't count the number of times I've heard "sweet ride" or "awesome bike" as the summer has gone on.

As to the ride, I couldn't ask for a better one. And when I tell people it's steel and weighs 18 pounds pedals and all, it's been pretty fun to watch the shock set in. Since March, I've put on 1,800 miles and accomplished all five of my big rides. They were: June - Tour de Blast (85 miles + over 6,000 ft in elevation gain at Mt. St. Helens); June - Cle Elum to Leavenworth and back century over Blewett Pass; July - STP Seattle to Portland (200 miles in 1 day); July - RAMROD Ride Around Mt Rainier in One Day (154 miles + over 10,000 ft in elevation gain); August - RSVP (Seattle to Vancouver BC 175 miles in 2 days - the P stands for "and PARTY. (The Cle Elum Leavenworth century was supposed to be the Flying Wheels Century, but that was the same day as the Tour de Blast. The Leavenworth ride, however, was great and probably a better ride! I think I'll make this a regular ride using the old Blewett Pass, which I highly recommend for interval training - no traffic, except for the occasional Elk or Coyote.)

I can't begin to tell you what a pleasure my S3 has been to ride. It just cruises and I couldn't ask for a better climber. Light, responsive, quick, it's simply awesome. So thanks to the team at R&E for a great job building this: Scott and Smiley (you guys are great - honest, fair and you know your stuff), Teresa (goddess with a spray gun) and Dennis the man who actually built the frame, which you tend to think about when racing at relatively high speeds down a windy and sometimes pretty rough Mt. Rainier road. My S3 is a great reflection of all of your work and of R&E - one great bike shop!