Adventures in Breakfast
Thursday was the first full day in Portland and needless to say, a good breakfast is the key to
starting the day off right. During the show periods I spend most of my t ime that we are not in
the show itself with Bruce Gordon, world famous framebuilder and always in the "medals" with the
work he produces and brings to the shows. Very few people know Bruce as well as I do now; but he
is not like most people expect him to be. We always try to keep everythi ng upbeat, positive, and
most importantly, funny. Humor and the fact that we don't take ourselves as seriously as people
seem to want us to, is what keeps our time out in public fun as opposed to stressful. We don't
try to be what we're not, Bruce is particularly that way. I think people have a tendency to
misunderstand Bruce much of the time. The third master framebuilder and painter extraordinaire that
completes our trio is Ed Litton. I don't get to spend much time with eit her one of them, but Ed
in particular. I'm so glad we were able to get Ed to join us this year. He had to miss the event
last year due to foot surgery. He has recovered well and Ed I think is i n the finest form of his
life at this point. I'm so pleased that Ed Litton was with us to complet e our little group of
"brothers from another mother" (a phrase we picked up somewhere) because Ed has a sense of humor
that is the perfect balance to Bruce's style. Sometime their comedy rout ines are priceless.
I think on this particular outing Ed may not have been with us yet since he drove up and arrived
a little later in the day or something. A group formed up that was inten t on eating a good local
style meal. A guy named Rody (from Groovey Bicycles in Ohio) and his fri end Bill had heard of a
place downtown that was supposed to be real good. We were joined by Stev e Garro (Cocomino Cycles
from Flagstaff, AZ) and his wife and one of their friends and perhaps on e other person I can't
recall. Steve was the victim of being hit by a truck while on his bike a few years ago and is
lucky to be alive from what I understand. I met Steve last year when we both stayed at Paul
Sadoffs (Rock Lobster Cycles) in Santa Cruz before the show in San Jose. Paul Sadoff was one of
my bandmates in the Motherfluxers (don't blame me for that, Paul and Don Walker came up with
that). Anyway, Steve is still on crutches, but each year he is improving and hope to see him
walking unassisted in another year or two.
So our party made our way to the MAX and got off downtown near our desti nation. The air was cold,
there was a little wind, but it wasn't raining. The previous day was rai n all day. Our pace was
slow as we walked with Steve, which gave us time to talk and get to know one another. It turns
out that Rody and Bill have a good sense of humor as well. We made it to the small breakfast
joint that is clearly a favorite of the locals. We had a great meal and were very satisfied when
we left there. The ladies separated after breakfast to see the downtown and maybe do a little
shopping. The guys, not to be out done, decided on a little shopping of our own. All it took to
get Rody and Bruce excited was a joke shop. I had to join them, of cours e. We came away with two
sets of Elvis sideburns (locally known as Tony Pierera (well known local framebuilder) sideburns,
some fake mustaches, and a selection of noses. The plan was to play arou nd a little bit and have
a little fun. Parts of the event and some of the people involved take th ings a little too serious
in our view, and we take it upon ourselves to lighten the atmosphere a b it and help these guys to
take a less serious view of themselves. It's what we do.
Once we were back on the rail headed back to the hotel and then the 1:00 pm start of the setup, we
realized we had missed our "exit" so we stayed on the rail and took a la p of the city as it made
it's loop around town. When this happens we get to interact with a numbe r of locals which is
always fun. We finally made it back to the hotel (the trolley drops us a lmost at the door!) and
we separated. We joined up again and were amongst the first to gain entr y to the building. Bruce
and Ed got busy setting up. I had to get to the Greyhound depot to pick up my two boxes. Once Ed
was unloaded from his truck, he took me over to the depot which was very nearby and easy peazey I
had my stuff. The Greyhound was an excellent way foe me to get my boxes there. It is cheaper,
faster, they take lager boxes, and there is less likelihood of damage wi th them. God forbid one
would have to ride the bus; but shipping is great.
I was set up in a matter of minutes since I left the two frames in the b ox and all I had to do
otherwise was take a track bike out of a bike case and put it together. Done. Over the years I
have learned how to make my life easier while I'm on the road. This is a key to having a good
time while at the shows. If I had roadies to deal with my stuff like a r ockstar, it wouldn't
matter. But packing and unpacking twice is just a plain pain in the ass. I don't have much
patience for it. Packing and shipping is also the think I dislike most w hile doing business at
home. Once set up I was able to walk around a bit. I was VERY surprised to see that Peter Weigle
and Kendall made an appearance. Last we had spoken he wasn't coming. A l ast minute cancellation
of a booth became available and suddenly they were there. Bravo Peter! A s I was walking around I
met for the first time Joe Cosgrove (I think) who is the painter of the LLewellyn bikes from
Australia. I could tell instantly that we were going to get along famous ly, even though he is
attached to a faction that has a different approach to things than we do which has created a
certain amount of tension over the years. I believe that comes form taki ng things too seriously
and not letting the flow of the universe move naturally through them. Di fferent philosophies I
guess. Joe and I talked for a bit and I knew that there were going to be positive inroads made
between the factions. I have to admit, the bond between painters appears to be much more positive
than the relations between some of the framebuilders. I believe in some ways the painters are
more artistic and casual people in general and are more willing to be im pressed and learn by one
another. Just my observation from personal experiences over the past sev eral years at the shows.
During my trip around the building is when I discovered the Mark Nobilet te quick release lever. I
was so impressed, as I have mentioned before I decided right there that Mark is a genius, in
addition to a master machinist and framebuilder. In this case, simplicit y is perfection. There is
nothing else to say. We finally figured it was time to head out and rela x for a few minutes
before we went to the workshop/home of Andy Newlands whose place is in a former fire station
built in 1948. He has a totally rad setup there. Andy had some fine loca l brew, a selection of
wine, and his wife was in the kitchen making home made pizzas as fast as humanly possible. Each
finished pie made it a few feet into the workshop area before it vanishe d from the wooden platter
upon which it sat. Apparently framebuilders are magicians also; we can m ake food disappear right
before your eyes. There is a photo circulating that was taken during thi s time which shows 7
"oldsters" in the framebuilding business whose years of experience 240 y ears. You can always tell
which one is me in these photos. I'm always the dwarf in the photos. No one ever mentions it for
fear of a solid punch in the kneecap from me.
Most of us were pretty tired, so after the meal at Andy's place we retir ed to the hotel in
anticipation of day number one of the show, which was to be "industry da y" where the public
wasn't coming and it would be a little less hectic. Bring it on.
Brian Baylis
La Mesa, CA