Tuesday, November 26, 2024
Brewery Worker Dream
I was one of the first of six Sierra Nevada Brewing working stiffs in 1980. I labored there on Gilman Way until October of 1985. Ken Grossman and Paul Camusi were generous with me by letting me take Autumn sabbaticals of four to six weeks for cycling and backpacking adventures with my beautiful wife Lisa Jo. I would return to the bottling line every November and bust my butt for $5/hr through Winter, Spring and Summer until the middle of September when we would launch another outdoor escapade. Colorado River floats, British Columbia and Rocky Mountain bicycle tours, John Muir Trail backpacks. They always welcomed me back and listened to my stories. So, here we are forty years later and I have a four hour dream that puts me right back to working at the Sierra Nevada Brewery. Kenny asks me to name the next ale. I am excited to show him the label Lisa Jo and I came up with...It's called 3.2 Ale with a beautiful Sierra green background. He and Steve H. look at each other and say, "Yes, a light ale. We are ready for a light ale."
Saturday, November 9, 2024
The Last Family Bicycle Shop in Northeastern California
Twelve years ago there were two bicycle shops in Susanville, one in Burney, one in Quincy, one in Graeagle and one in Chester, Ca. Of those, the only family bicycle store that remains is Bodfish Bicycles and Quiet Mountain Sports in Chester. A bicycle shop wrenches on everyone's bicycle, brings old bicycles back to life, putting them back into circulation and attempts to stock new bicycles for the whole family. Public service is high on a bicycle shop owner's list of responsibilities.....'where to ride' and 'how to ride' safely is incredibly important. You don't get that from the Big Box sellers. So, what has led to the disappearence of bicycle shops? Online shopping is number one, however, large fires have made the territory seriously less attractive to vacationing cycliists and local self-propelled wanderers. Tariffs have had an effect as well. In 2018 the Trump administration decided that tariffs on Asian goods were a good idea. Prices on new bicycles and bicycle gear increased by 20%, scaring off many who were considering a new bike purchase. The Covid epidemic should have been good for bicycle shops but the epidemic and tariffs combined to result in a serious supply-chain problem and hardware was difficult to obtain, limiting store owner options. Finally, suppliers decided to bypass small independent dealers and sell everything on-line.....at bargain prices. This eliminated already slim margins and has resulted in the disappearance of many rural bicycle shops. Bodfish Bicycles is actually operating on life-support, luckily our bills and mortgages are paid and our one employee is willing to work for minimum wage.
Thursday, November 7, 2024
Insanity....continued
Same thing over again.....expecting different results. Obviously, I don't know what I thought I knew. As an amateur Psychologist and Counselor, I SUCK. Wrenching on old bicycles today has been incredibly therapeutic.....predictable turns of the wrist resulting in beautiful rehabs of old friends, now destined to be satisfying "town bikes". People, on the other hand, I certainly don't understand. How anyone can vote for such a train-wreck of a human to represent our hopes and dreams for our nation.....spoiling the future of millions of young Americans who will miss out on lessons of honor, truth and compassion for their fellow citizens. The return of Trumpery will set numerous bad examples that are bound to be adopted by 50% of Americans. How long after will it take to re-establish our national integrity.....and regain the respect that world citizens have had for our stable form of Democracy? What I really don't get.....how is that 50% of our fellow voters don't see the insanity in supporting this degradation of our national ideals. Do you want your kids to adopt any of these behaviors displayed by the man called The Donald.
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