I just wanted to share a few special moments and situations that I exper ienced while attending my 6th Cirque in a row. Although I have sensed a certain small disturbance in The Force, so to speak, I also am extremely glad I made the event this year. And thanks to at least two special fri ends that contribited to my being able to attend by generously helping m imimize my expenses of travel and lodging. I'm glad there were also a nu mber of "first timers" attending this year, including Gabus, who is funn y to be around (in a number of ways) and the young framebuilder Mauricio Rebolledo, who I spent a bit of time talking to. Being generally shy an d reserved by nature, I forced myself to break the ice with the lad. Sin ce I didn't have time to speak with any of the young builders at NAHBS, I figured the Cirque was a good time. Enjoyed that very much. I think Ke vin Kruger was a first timer; I think it was him who mentioned and item of interest to me he wanted to give away, not bike related. I need to fo llow up on that; that's only a small part of what is great about going t o the Cirque. I also got to spend a good amount of time speaking to Paul La Maire from RI, who is also a framebuilder. We've gotten to know each other better during this trip and I got to see a bike he built back in 1981, which I was quite impressed with. But it's more about the freiends hip and networking that goes on amongst framebuilders that is so cool. O ftentimes new relationships like this thrive while some of the older rel ationships experience "the disturbance" from time to time.
My actual greatest anticipation this year was knowing that Dave Moulton was going to be in attendance. I haven't seen Dave in almost 20 years. I was both curious and anxious to reunite with him, since we spent some s eriously wild and funny(?) times while in San Marcos, CA building bicycl es. Powderkeg Dave Tesch and a few other painting anf framebuilding conc ers all operating in the same place at the same time. Many of the goings on then could easily be the foundation of some sort of soap opera. Seri ously. But it is fun to look back upon and think dearly upon the special insanity of that time, involving the Cunninghams (who I love dearly), t he Ted K. and Jim Allen combo ( running Masi essentially), the Moultons (Dave was married to a previous wife at the time) who worked relentlesly and were very productive, Dave Tesch who was a loose cannon in so many ways, a catalyst for millions of "reactions", and yet a genius in certai n ways at times that you just had to admire. And myself, of course, the closest thing to neutral that there could be. I got along with everyone and could operate in almost every camp, except for not too closely with Cyclart for a number of reasons, most of which were more percieved harm and not actually founded on differences and events. Seriuosly funny sit uation and a really fun part of my life. It was during this time that I feel I began to really mature as a framebuilder, as the recently surface d gold plated bike from Connoiessuer Magazine might indicate. But I digr ess.
I was standing in the parking lot at the Battleground on Friday morning, hobknobbing and starting to feel the real buzz of another Cirque gettin g off the ground. I was feeling pretty good that morning; but the previo us day upon arrival, late on account of a sudden thunderstorm over Green sboro, I had tossed my cookies into one of those special bags tucked awa y in the seat pocket in front of you. Most of the time I'm just a little green around the gills when we land, but this time the final trip over from Charolotte back to GSO put my stomach over the edge. Then I got sev ere cold sweats and the shivers. My clothes were soaked and the freekin temp felt like 30 below zero because of the circulating air in the plane . Thank God I found a blanket on the plane while we were refueling, or I would have been the first person to freeze to death on an airplane. I w as in pure hell for about an hour. When I finally got off the plane Stev e Kinne was waiting for my late flight. Had he not waited I would have b een in real bad shape. I was white as a ghost when we met on the jetway. He didn't recognize me on account of my (lack of) color and the fact th at my gotee was missing. By the time we got to the hotel I was about 90% normal (which by the way is as good as I get, since I'm 10% wacked anyw ay).
At one point I'm standing there just taking it all in and a gentleman su ddenly approaches me and offers his hand as he says " Hi Brian, I'm Dave ". We shook hands. I think I responded with the typical "Hello Dave, ple ased to meet you; are you from the UK?", having detected a British accen t. I thought it was one of the first time English visitors to out gather ing. His reply was "No Brian, it's Dave Moulton." I turned to look close r, and as he began to speak I instantly recognized his voice. He looks a little different now, I don't think he had that diamond stud in his ear the last time I saw him. It was so great to see him again and talk to h im and meet his current wife. I have sort of maintained indiect contact with Dave through a mutual friend over the years; but seeing him in pers on was really a treat. I also really enjoyed his presentaion a lot, havi ng read the material in Competative Cycling way back in the day, even be fore he came to California. I knew of his book but hadn't read it, since I don't do much reading. Last book I read was about the life of "Who dr ummer" Keith Moon and his rockstar life (and death). I bought my copy Su nday and had it autographed. He wrote "To Brian Baylis, Old friends reun ited, June 11, 2006". So there you go. Read the book on Monday and finis hed it just a few minutes before my plane landed at 11pm here in San Die go. Kept my mind occupied and I didn't even get sick, so there you go. T he book has a musical theme which is something I can relate to as a musi cian from that period. I should send Dave one of my surf music CD's that was recorded in a garage in Chula Vista, CA in 1998. That ought to get a few chuckles out of the old git.
I took the high risk of riding my partially finished experimental protot ype AeroTour bike for it's first two rides ever while at the Cirque. Sha king down a bike with so many unusual fittings and parts, like the stem that I had never made before, was really interesting. I like the way it rides and handles. It seems to coast quite well for some reason; and I r eally like the high quality 650B tires which I've never ridden on before . I'll have to finish the modifications on the stem I had planned on and then move to getting all the racks, lighting, bags, and other crap I pl an to fit to the beast underway. But I am very thankful for one thing th at "happened" while I was at the Cirque that relates to my frames and my framebuilding future. I realized that there are changes forthcomming in my style of lugworking and in my style of painting. Like I had been hit by one of those afternoon thunderstorms, I realized I have been draggin g too much of my racing/Italian style to the randonnuer bikes. I sincere ly believe each bike and each style of bike has colors and patterns that "feel" right for the surroundings of the bike and the use it sees. Fort unately the first AeroTour is a prototype and the subsequent generations will look considerably less like a cheap whore than this one does. Alth ough I like the color combining on this bike, and the judges saw fit to award it "best paint" (HuH?); It's overcooked quite a bit for the subtle style that the rest of the bike potentially has. I should have left out the lug cutouts I think. Those things are difficult to do and take a lo t of time (at least the way I go about it), but on this type of bike the generally don't feel right. I like to have my work actually demonstrate the various things I've learned over the years, but not every bike can have all of my abilities put onto one bike and not look a bit overdone. Most of the things I feel are important about the bike are hidden and so rt of subtle, like the hidden binder seat post and all of the thinking r equired to insure not only a practical and unique feature to the bike bu t also a design that will never fail or cause a problem. The design of t he mounting system is still ingenious, if I do say so myself. The next g eneration will be further improved. In terms of style and craftsmanship, my hand made plate steel custom dropouts really turn me on, and I reall y enjoyed makinf them, without benifit of a CNC machine and each one one of a kind made specially for each bike. The integrel sealed bearing hea dset works super thus far (what else would you expect, and I'm sure long term testing will be likewise) and I think is an interesting way of doi ng something different with standard lugs; something practical and styli sh. I have further variations on this feature forthcomming. I think I'm off to a good start and most of my most practical designs and parts have not hit this bike yet. I'm excited to be headed into a new direction wh ere I can still be creative during the process of building a handmade cu stom frame, expand my skills while I solve some of the basic issues that bikes with fenders and other accessories often present. Making racks an d other components expands my personal horizions while ultimately produc ing a bicycle with an uncommon degree of harmony of both form and functi on. I can hardley wait to build the next one. This is very exciting, it' s like being one of these young whippersnapper gunslinging hotshot frame builders again. I guess a lot of this stuff is't easy to recognize, sinc e the panel seems to have missed a lot of it. Must be the distraction of the streetwalker paintjob; hardly anyone can get past it, It's hedious!
Enough for this evening. But I really had a blast as usual. Love to see my old friends from the East, and yet there's something about comming Ea st I just can't stomach, as my plain flight clearly shows. The disturban ce makes me queesey. But I'll always be back and it's worth every minute of it and regardless of what happens or who is ther; it's always magic and you people are great. Speaking of who's going to "be there". I stopp ed by Joe Bells' place on the way home this afternoon to tell him how mu ch fun I had and all that stuff. He told me he's going to make it next y ear for the final "BIG BASH 07" for the last hurrah. That will be extra fun already. Maybe I can get Bruce to show, that way we'll have the "Gor don Brothers" on board. Gotta have Ed Litton also, so that Bruce has the genius straight man to work his routines with. Some of their antics of '05 were genuinely priceless. Which reminds me, Maurice Bresnahan and Ch uck Schmidt (Chuck, trust me, you DO NOT wnt to miss this one, seriously !!) will be there also. Sign me up for THAT party. Next year will be th e event to top all events, this I PROMISE!
Anyway, I enjoyed talking with Dave Moulton and all my old and new frien ds. I learned a lot about what I really want to do while I was there th is time. There was and always is plenty to learn at these events; about people and about bikes. People are generally good, bikes are always our friends, and the memories of these times together are worth their weight it gold plated Guierciottis and Somecs, trust me. The twists and turns of the show are ultimately a joke in comparison to the real fun we have just being together and shareing our love of the hobby and the pleasure on one anothers' company.
Brian Baylis La Mesa, CA Sorry for my typical sloppy plink and send message, but it's late.