Och, Leah! What a beautiful celebration of life and living it with wild abandon and of the end of one chapter and beginning of another, with its own unexpected challenges and delights. May you and yours always breathe with wild abandon!
With abandon, Patrick On Monday, July 8, 2019 at 11:54:44 PM UTC-6, Bicycle Belle Ding Ding! wrote: > Dear Friends, > > In 2015, my husband needed a new bike. Providence would have it that > Rivendell was making something totally new, and very affordable: their > now-famous and highly-acclaimed Clem and Clementine. My husband got one of > those lovely creamy blue Clems, and when his mother heard about it, she asked > me to order her a Clementine. “I’d like it in burgundy,” she said. > > “It doesn’t come in burgundy,” I said. “You get aqua.” > > “Ok,” she said, “Tell them I want burgundy.” > > With that squared away, I asked her what kinds of accoutrements she’d like > her Burgundy Clementine to have. “When you call them, tell them I want > everything. Just get everything,” she said. > > This is just classic. She does nothing halfway, and when she said she wanted > everything, she meant it. This was accomplished via phone in a conversation > that lasted 2 hours. I had to read every product on the website over the > phone to her, and put it in the cart at her direction. It was a large order, > and it was right before Christmas, if I remember right. I think I even put a > note on the order that said, “No, this is not a fake order.” It was done and > now we had the excitement of waiting for her new bike, which I would not get > to see until summer. In her determination to go whole hog, my MIL found > Rivendell’s website and decided to call the elves there herself. She made > another order. A huge order. And when 6 months later we arrived at her house, > she had Rivendell swag for everyone! All four grandkids wore their Riv caps. > Reflective triangles galore. Clem Smith tee shirts in several sizes. Water > bottles, pins, bandanas. We had it all and we wore it all like Dobby the > house elf from Harry Potter, and we were the fanciest family cyclers in all > of Beltrami County. We rode to ice cream, rode around the lake, hit the local > parks. We took photos, greeted the neighbors, zoomed over bridges and pedaled > through the cute little business district in town. My MIL never pedaled but > with a giant grin on her face and *always* on the wrong side of the road. > > We had 2 really great summers of riding together before it all went wrong. > Just two. I wish I had taken more photos. I wish we had ridden more miles. I > won’t go into details here, but my fun-loving, zany, whimsical mother in law > is no longer herself. She now resides in assisted living and will never be > able to ride her pretty Clementine again. Her Clementine has sat in her > garage since May of 2018. On my Annual Great Northern Road Trip this summer, > I drove up to see her, and while I was there, I rescued her Clementine from > it’s life sentence to the garage. But for two blemishes on the head tube and > one fork blade, the bike is mint. Well, it’s aqua, but it’s MINT. > > Since getting it, I’ve decided I LOVE the Clementine. I love every single > thing about it. Everything. I love that this bike belonged to my MIL first > and that we set it up together. I love the memories we have on these bikes. > There should have been more. > > I always wanted a bike with Rivendell’s latest philosophy (fat tires, > chainstays for days, etc). It just hums - HUMS - along the road. I shall fear > no gravel, as it has no power over my new super tires. It just oozes charm > and class and the shape of the step-through frame is exquisite. It’s got > those fun thumbie shifters and even has Brooks grips - how in the world did > she ever find and order a pair of those?! Also, everyone loves the “burgundy” > (read: aqua) color. > > Sincerely, > Leah, who suddenly has the strangest urge to ride on the left-hand side of > the road... -- You received this message because you are subscribed to the Google Groups "RBW Owners Bunch" group. To unsubscribe from this group and stop receiving emails from it, send an email to rbw-owners-bunch+unsubscr...@googlegroups.com. To post to this group, send email to rbw-owners-bunch@googlegroups.com. Visit this group at https://groups.google.com/group/rbw-owners-bunch. To view this discussion on the web visit https://groups.google.com/d/msgid/rbw-owners-bunch/3895916e-38cd-4ee8-b565-3ab9bfad9425%40googlegroups.com. For more options, visit https://groups.google.com/d/optout.
