I rejoined the list just to post this simple message.
Though I've never met him, I'm deeply troubled by the news about Bernie Mikkelsen. I've driven by his shop a million times taking my son to soccer games at Alameda Point, seen his frames pass by from time to time and have heard his name mentioned positively over the years.
My father-in-law and a brother both suffered strokes in the past. One took my grandfather when I was a kid. I've seen the struggle it takes to try and regain a functioning future, and the strain it places on the ones close to the victim. Life for all is never again what it once was.
Its difficult for me to imagine the importance of something Campagnolo may or may not have done in 1951 or the correct sequence of seat tube stripes when someone of flesh and blood is suffering.
I'm hoping someone with the knowledge and skills organizes something to stimulate our community to give what we can. Somebody organize and auction, donations from vendors, bike ride, something.
Failing that, I'm going to unload a bunch of my bike stuff on ebay and see if the money can be of help to him.
We're all of the age where something similar can happen to us.
My grandmother was a great do-gooder. She devoted her life to it. She taught me you can't change the world, end the wars, overcome poverty. But you can make a huge difference in the tiny sphere of your own existence. If everyone does a little, the sphere grows larger, and many tiny bits become something with real meaning.
Someone take the lead. Plenty will follow.
Ted Williams
Oakland, CA
USA