“Man, I mean it was Saturday morning - EARLY Saturday morning – well early for me anyway. There I was curled up on top of this cute boxed Surly Long Haul Trucker when these two dudes walk in. JJ was still trying to get the rental bikes out when ‘Ol Baldy and his “French” buddy Il Plummer come traipsing in the door – all in good spirits and such, waking me up. I hadn’t even lapped my milk yet.
(Tripod – Shop Cat Supreme!)
Then they commenced to talk. Buuuurrrrruuuutherrrr! I could tell it was gonna be a long day…”
”The bald one starts introducing himself. Saying he was from the mountains. Said he’d talked on the phone about a Fargo. JJ seemed to know what he was talking about and called out to Nathaniel. They commenced to jaw about and around this Salsa Fargo. Seems we had the only one in 3 states that “he who is mighty bald” could actually come down and see. I guess he’s been wanting one for a long time. He told some sad tale about having dropped all these hints to the Salsa people about sending a free one. Doesn’t look like it worked. Boo Hoo! Let me tell ya a tough story. Wanta know why they call me Tripod? Ah, that would just take us away from this other tale of woe. You can probably guess anyway. You know – a tripod has 3 what? Yes, LEGS! Guess you think you’re purty smart now.”
“At any rate, JJ commences to pull out this snazzy Salsa Fargo with the medium frame and the SRAM Apex gruppo and starts showing it off. “Ol Baldy was mighty interested and “Frenchy”, as I called him, started documenting the whole thing like nobody had EVER bought a bicycle here before. They all headed outside and I contemplated going back to sleep but decided I’d better keep an eye out.”
(JJ showing off the details of the Fargo to Zeke…)
“So I look out the window and there JJ is showing the Fargo off and answering what I’m pretty sure were dumb questions from ‘Ol Baldy.” Then “chrome dome” took a spin around the block while JJ set “Frenchy” up on rental bike so he could ride along and keep up his Doc U Menting. “
(Zeke testing out the Fargo under the watchful eye of JJ)
"Next thing I know JJ had sent ‘em off to ride the Swamp Rabbit Trail and get a feel for the compact double and the 11 X 32 gearing. This being Saturday and all, they probably met up with a bunch of people on the Trail.”
(A couple of shots of Zeke cruising on the Swamp Rabbit")
“When they got back from the test cruise, they were blathering on about the friendly people that they met and how lots of trail riders were saying “the grocery store was open today.” I guess that really was a pretty big thing given the Swamp Rabbit Café and Grocery was having their Grand Opening along the trail today. “
(Barbara & David from nearby Fountain Inn, SC at the café)
“Anyway, ‘Ol Baldy’ seemed to be mighty pleased except for a little shifting concern and Nathaniel went right to work on fixing that up. (Editors note: the concern was about how the shifter was working – not a complaint that just kept moving around. That Tripod!) Course, he needed some pedals and ended up reversing his thinking on Power Grips and got himself a nice set of Shimano PD-M324 2-way platforms. Then, he started in on wanting a Brooks saddle this time. Good thing we stock ‘em. I’m pretty sure we’d have sold some Schwalbe Big Apples if we’d just had the right size. Ah, ya gotta give ‘em a reason to return.”
“Well, I’m getting tired and need a catnap… (Sorry, I’m the shop comedian too!) Guess I’ll start wrapping up this tale. “Frenchy” got a pretty decent photo of ‘Ol Baldy’ with his new Fargo Salsa at the Café. That is a fine looking machine even if what's his name is standing behind it. I did kinda like his shirt though. I wonder where ‘Hasten Slowly” comes from…”
If any of you good folks are ever down at 102 South Hudson St. in Greenville, SC stop by and visit with me. I’ll be here – maybe share a joke with you – maybe not. JJ and Nathaniel will be here though and they’ll give you great customer service just like they did ‘Ol Baldy” and “Frenchy”.
(Shop Owner Nathaniel polishing off the sale!)
(TTR Bikes – Home of great service and good conversation!)
(Editors note: I’m not quite sure how Tripod got control of my blog but I’m grabbing it back now. Have a safe and happy Labor Day and please remember our fellow citizens in harm’s way during this holiday period. Now, I’m out of her to ride MY NEW SALSA FARGO!
- Zeke
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8 comments:
Hey Zeke,
That is a nice looking bike you got there! I will look forward to hearing how yo like the Apex groupo. If I was building my Gunnar Crosshairs now instead of 4 years ago, I think Apex would be the route I would go. I think you will find the compact x 11-32 gearing will be about right for around Haywood County. When you are ready to do a mixed light trail, gravel road and paved loop, let me know. There is a great ride that I have done over at Bent Creek that I think you will enjoy!
David Tate
Thanks David. I'll take you up on the fine offer one day soon. I spent the day running around in Asheville (Liberty, REI, Motion Makers) looking for different items to polish off the purchase. I picked up bike computer parts at Liberty, Keen shoes at REI, and then traipsed back to Liberty when I realized I'd forgotten to get Proofide to start the breaking in process on my Brooks saddle. Liberty didn't carry it so that led to the trip to MM, who also didn't carry it. I just finished an on-line order with Amazon to get some sent to me. :)
The bike felt really good on the Swamp Rabbit Trail although the tire tread on it right now is too aggressive for longer paved riding. I'll be adjusting that issue over the next few days. I've also got to put new rubber on my Fuji as those tires are showing serious signs of wear.
Looks like riding is going to be limited over the next few days as we get some much needed rain!
Thanks for reading!
- Zeke
Looks like a gereat bike. The two-sided pedals are a good choice as well. My wife has a pair on her tourer and they seem to work well.
I think you'll like the Brooks too (after a bit of break-in).
Jack
I'm excited about the possibilities. I purchased some shoes to go with the spd pedals yesterday and ordered a Salsa Wanderlust rear rack this morning. This morning I've been putting the cleats onto the shoes and am getting ready to set up my bike computer for Fargo. I liked the flexibility of having both cleats and a platform. We'll see how it goes over time.
I just weighed my bikes and was surprised to see that the Fargo is only 7 lbs heavier than my Fuji CCR3. I would have expected more...
The rains are getting here now so I guess it is going to be a washout. I hope it isn't as bad as they've been predicting. Last night and early this morning, it looked like most of the moisture was going up the west slope of the Appalachians. We've just now reached 0.35" of rain. There's a long way to go to the predicted 10" mark.
Enjoy the day!
Zeke
Am so glad you found your perfect fit. (you'll just have to trust me on the bra thing.) It looks like it will give you miles and miles of great riding pleasure. Am looking forward to lots of pics and stories along the way. BTW Tripod did a fine job commentating during your trial on Fargo. An excellent asst. blogger.
I'm so happy that if I had on a bra it would be filled to overflowing! :) Unfortunately, Tropical Storm Lee is hovering near and over us so there has been riding on Fargo as yet. Looks like it may be later in the week. I'm sure there will be lots of pics and stories along the way.
Thanks for checking in! I hope you and your family are well!
- Zeke
Congratulations. I think that's gonna be a cool bike, but there might be one problem with it. I think I see a lot of gravel in your future.....
Yes, I think you are right. That will be fine with me as long as the gravel stays on the road/trail and is not embedded in my behind!
I'm looking forward to broadening my range of riding experience!
I hope you are well and weren't hammered to bad by Lee. We came out much better than anticipated and ended up just getting about 18 hours of some good earth soaking rain instead of run-off flooding.
- Zeke
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