Sunday, September 16, 2007

Gimme a P!

Date: Sept. 16
Mileage: 25.1
September mileage: 367.3
Temperature upon departure: 48
Rainfall: .97"

The wait was nearly unbearable.

The pieces trickled in - an eBay item here, a remnant of an old bike there, all placed in a dark corner of the house as I waited for the big picture to emerge from the black hole of Parcel Post. The weeks passed. The big wheels began to gather dust. The sheen on the steel frame became dull in the waning light of late summer. Over two long months, the elephant in the room started to fade into the wall decorations. Two long months, and I nearly forgot I was harboring the disjointed fragments of the coolest bike ever to grace the shoreline of Southeast Alaska.

Now, the wait is over. The brand new handlebar finally arrived in the mail last week, as did the extra rear disc brake for the front wheel. Geoff finally came home from vacation and added the finishing touches. And suddenly, all those pieces - those obese wheels, those tangled cables, that dusty frame, those rusty old Snaux Bike parts - merged into the beautiful black-and-gray beast you see pictured above.

I will call him Pugsley, and he will be mine, and he will be my Pugsley.

Now all I have left to do is go for a ride.

23 comments:

  1. Enjoy your new bike. It looks great!

    ReplyDelete
  2. That is a SWEET RIDE! I'm sure it will bring you many adventures. :)

    ReplyDelete
  3. I can't believe the size of the tires on those things. I want to move further west into more snow, just so I have an excuse to get one of those. ;-)

    I know Doug loves his, so I'm sure you'll love yours, too. Never too much snow if you have the right equipment, eh?

    ReplyDelete
  4. Wow:-)

    I am so jealous!

    I can hardly wait to see some action shots-you are such a great photographer.

    ReplyDelete
  5. Now we're talkin'!! Can't wait to ride all the stories of your Pugsley adventures.

    ReplyDelete
  6. Looks indestructible. And no suspension, wow.

    Enjoy.

    ReplyDelete
  7. Glad it's finally together. Now go ride it a lot :) I'm jealous yours is grey. I like that better than Barney colored like mine.

    ReplyDelete
  8. "And no suspension, wow."

    Who needs it with tires that fat? I love the Pugsley.

    ReplyDelete
  9. Cool cool cool bike!
    I enjoy reading you blog so much--Thanks!

    ReplyDelete
  10. Ahhh, so sweet. Mucho envy. Next year, I must have one.

    ReplyDelete
  11. Awesome snow bike! You'll definitely make McGrath on Pugsley.

    ReplyDelete
  12. Congrats on finishing your Pugs! I feel a wonderful season snow biking, and blogging about snow biking, is ahead of us!

    ReplyDelete
  13. Can ya ride it right now at all, or do ya have to wait for the white stuff? Take it to Fairbanks - only a week or two 'til their first snow! ;-)

    ReplyDelete
  14. it snowed here in juneau today above about 3,500 feet. are you going to carry your pugsley up onto a ridge tomorrow for a ride?

    ReplyDelete
  15. Hey, I think those are the same tires that came on my '72 Honda 100.

    ReplyDelete
  16. good lord!

    it's like the monster truck of bikes!

    can't wait to hear about the riding of it.

    ReplyDelete
  17. Several of these photos look photoshopped to me... are you sure you aren't faking some things?

    ReplyDelete

Feedback is always appreciated!