Posted by Randi on Nov 11, 2008 in
News This morning we saluted our good friends Jynelle & Kyrod goodbye as they left for the Sunshine State. In celebration of the good times we had ourselves a fancy breakfast of pancakes & memosas a few days ago….
Gus enjoyed the morning as well, finding love at first sight with the Champagne cap…
After such delightful times, J and K did some more packing of their gypsy caravan including the soon to be constructed “Baba Yaga’s Coffee Caravan” to be parked somewhere near Santa Cruz. (That’s what’s under the tarp!) Watch out lil’ children!
In other news…Eric and I went down to good ol’ Elkton a couple weekends ago. I got a driving lesson in the ‘77 Mercedes (That’s right…I still don’t have my drivers license):
And my three aunts & Grandma Lou got 4 deer with 4 bullets. Good aim, ladies! How many of you out there can say the same? Obviously not me….
Out.
Posted by Randi on Nov 4, 2008 in
Bloggish Wow. Aren’t we getting fancy? New website look…updated blog. New products. Shoot. We almost got citified. Don’t worry though…we’re still bringing you the goods from lil’ ol Cottage Grove. The only mustaches here are on real men in Carhartts.
So, here’s a few new shots from Halloween which also happens to be the 2nd anniversary of our bike shop being open in Downtown CG.
But wait…there’s more!!
Ahh, yes. You guessed it. The Mariachi and her Luchador ‘Fuego de Cabra’ with his tag-teammate Poochador!! Yes, even he had red super underwear. And a side note: the Mariachi does not have a middle-aged man gut, she is Prego. Horray!
Way back in September Eric, Gus and I broke out the Pugsleys and took a ride on the sandy beaches. Gus obviously got more of a workout than we did!
Then my folks scored the raddest short bus from the Elkton School District auction. A whooping 325.00 got them a sweet diesel short bus which was swiftly modified into the most awesome bike camping rig EVER! You can fit 8 folks & up to 10 bikes in that thing!
And now we’re enjoying a lovely fall with plenty of colors on the trees and mushrooms galore. Here’s a few shots Eric took out at our place. Happy November!
Posted by Randi on Sep 18, 2008 in
Bloggish Hey folks,
Ahhh… fall is fast approaching yet we’re still extra busy at the shop and in the sewing room. Randi’s getting ready for the Oregon Manifest up in P-town. A biggish hoot-nanny for bike geeks. Here’s a sneek peak of what she’s been working on:
And here’s a fine portrait of Ducky… THE trike rollin’ recyclin’ guru.
Last weekend we spent some quality time with Mr. Goodtimes in Ashland for the 1st annual Southern Oregon Handbuilt Bike Show. It was a hoot. We brought the bike blender, made some impromptu smoothies and hung out with some cool dogs….and people too.
Gus was the luckiest of all. Not only did he fall in love with a gigantic wolfhound named Katie, but he won a Gary Mathis UBI frameset. Shit. That dog gets it all…the ladies, the bikes…
Here’s a shot of him marking his territory. Lucky bastard.
And for the grand finale…. our little friend the Praying Mantis.
Out.
Posted by Randi on Jul 12, 2008 in
Merch!,
News It’s been busy here at the Rainy Peak headquarters. Plenty of greasy hands, flat tires, tune ups & happy bicycle riders to go around. Our strawberries are ripe and ready from our planter out front. The park next door keeps getting uglier (refer to blog on March 19). Gus hasn’t been to the shop in weeks due to the lack of green space. Hmmm…
And just as gnarly are some of the bearing situations Eric’s been dealing with lately:
But on a good note, Randi’s been making lil’ caps for the lil’ cuties that keep popping out in town:
If you’ve got a lil’ cutie that needs a cap, give me a holler. They’re going fast!
Speaking of lil’ cuties our little man Audric is getting a sweet ride - an old Peugeot with new paint & upside down sweep-backs. SWEET!
I guess that’s it…more mayhem to come…. Keep checkin’!
Posted by Randi on Jun 6, 2008 in
Bloggish,
Ride On! Sounds great, doesn’t it? Unfortunately, we weren’t on such an adventure….
This particular Pugsley was put together by Eric and owned by the lovely Pat! She sent us these sweet shots of where she’s been riding the big boy.
Posted by Randi on Jun 3, 2008 in
Ride On! Well. We took the afternoon off on Friday. Put up a sign in the window that read: “Closed early for a good old fashioned bike ride. The mechanics want to ride too!”
The plan was to ride to Elkton (40 highway miles) from CG. We left our house with full water bottles & a few random snacks for the back hills of rural Oregon. That was around 2:30.
We rode over Gowdyville and made a split decision with the use of a Powerbar as our coin & decided to take a “new” route. We saw no more than 5 cars the whole time. The first 20-30 miles we pretty much knew where we were, it was finding the path to Tom Folley road that gave us a bit of trouble. Eric wrote down a few key roads for us to look for using our Oregon Gazetteer. You know the ones with tiny squiggly red lines that usually lead to confusion….
Various big rigs would roll by, Eric would wave them down & confirm that his directions were reliable.
“We’re trying to get to Elkton.”
“Elkton? That’s pretty far from here.”
“We started in Cottage Grove.”
“Shoot, I can’t even drive that far.”
“We want to find Tom Folley road that spits us out right before the Elk Creek tunnel.”
“Oh, that’s a ways….gravel too.”
After about 3 of those conversations (one with a petite Granny - big rifle in hand and curlers in her hair) we found a good ol’ boy that gave us some decent directions.
“Here’s what you do. Follow this road for another 10 miles. You’ll see a big gravel pile, then on the left a concrete bridge that goes over Johnson Creek. Stay on the pavement and then take a right…that’ll take you to Tom Folley road.”
Got it…10 miles, a left at the gravel pit at a concrete bridge. Stay on the pavement, then a right…..
We followed the directions as best we could, past the gravel pile and left across a concrete bridge….onto a dirt road. Hmmm….maybe he meant stay on the pavement until here. We followed that logging road over the hill, scared a bear along the way and eventually made it to another paved road. At this point the “we might have to camp out here tonight” conversation began & Chris said if things got bad, he’d eat us. The only thing we could do was keep riding…
At that point we decided this must be where we take a right. We rode mostly down hill for several miles and realized we lost the sound of cars as we headed farther in that direction. We did a bit of back tracking, checked out the sun & realized that the tracks from the logging equipment were going left… Surely they must be heading towards some sort of civilization. Left it was down the steep hillside and along a familiar looking creek. Nine miles later we finally reached the destination we had been looking forward to all day. By the time we saw the lights of the tunnel it was around 9 pm. Just enough time to push the button for the bike sign to flash and get ourselves over the hill and into Elkton before complete darkness. I’ve never been so happy to see that scary, narrow tunnel.
We reached Elkton in time to get the food we’d been dreaming of since 5pm….sports drinks, savory snacks.
Ah, the road less traveled is rewarding….
Posted by Randi on May 30, 2008 in
Bloggish Last weekend was our first fishin’ trip of the season on the ol’ Umpqua. Randi caught the biggest. A bass that got away in the hands of Eric the animal lover. Here’s a shot of the beauty.
In other news, our good friend Chris returned from the land of Joseph Smith for some good old fashioned Oregon brew & bike riding. On a short commute ride to our shop his frame of less than 2 years and over 8,000 miles had an accident. It just got tired. Here’s the happy rider and his steed:
And here’s a look at how STRONG Chris is….
Yep… Chris is getting a new frame & a framed photo on our wall for “Strongest Dude on a Bike.”
OUT.
Posted by Randi on Apr 27, 2008 in
Bloggish,
Ride On! We’re back from another exciting adventure in the sunny state of California. We loaded up the Mercedes, the hog dog & our friends Jynelle & Kyrod for a week of bike camping! Here’s a few shots:
The Ol’ Mercedes packed full….to the brim.
Henry Coe covered in spring flora
Purdy flower in the spokes
Gus in his Service Dog attire.
Eric’s bike loaded.
Gus getting a ride out of the park…18 miles did him in.
beach cruising on the Pugsleys
and handy Kryod replacing the alternator in the parking lot.
Ahhhh…what a trip.
Posted by admin on Apr 3, 2008 in
News Yes, we were hacked by some pirate scoundrel. The problems have been fixed and none of your sensitive data was compromised. Just letting you know.
Posted by Randi on Mar 19, 2008 in
Ride On!,
Shop Events Last Sunday RPC embarked on yet another fun ride! Nearly 20 in attendance ranging in ages from 4 to 44 (?)…. 18 Guinesses were guzzled, hula hoops were whirled, hopscotch hopped, and llamas called. We started out the ride at what once was the Opal Whitley Park (Now a construction zone,the once beautiful community planted park just got a lobotomy. Similar to Opal’s life - we’re transitioning into the “asylum years” as the park becomes another flag-stoned lifeless piazza…..)
Once through town we headed out to Gowdyville road, meandering, hopscotching & calling the llama’s as we rode. 2 miles from town Gowdyville starts to climb and turns into mud & gravel. Once the pavement ends, Gowdyville becomes Hick Heaven. Notorious for it’s attraction of Honkies, dumping & shooting at your trash is a common pastime on the hill. We rode past teenagers with b-b guns, listened to Bob Seger’s Night Moves on my onboard stereo system & took shots of Agave Tequila halfway up…. and once to the top, Eric & I opened up our Ortlieb’s to reveal ice cold Guiness. The photos tell the rest:
Ron having a go at the hopscotch.
Haulin’ up the hill…
Holly, the Hula Mistress
Skill & talent. Randi attempting the Hula-Guzzle.
Foreground: Randi’s Hill Climber - complete with onboard stereo system….
Background: Enjoying the Hilltop Honky scene amongst bullet shells, beer cans & trashed electronic equipment.
Gowdyville Guzzle-A-Guiness Awards as follows:
1st to the top: Will
2nd to the top (1st dog!): Gus
3rd to the top & hauler of the ‘G’: Eric
1st Lady: Gretchen
Best Hopscotch: Ron
Hula Hoop Champion: Randi
Hula Hoop Creative Artist Award: Jynelle
Most shots: Will
Fastest Decent: Tamara
Youngest Rider: Riley (age 4)
Toughest Rider: Herev (age 12)
Best Guzzler: Kyrod
Perfect Attendance @ RPC rides: Frank & Tamara
Repair-on-the-Road Award: Michael
Best Llama Call: Russ
THANKS FOR COMING EVERYONE!
Cheers,
Randi
