R2...do you?

Now here's a story...

At the end of last year, I had the privilege of going to Trek World's Backstage with a few of the guys from the shop that I was at. It was a great event put on by Trek and was geared towards shop guys and not so much the shop owners and managers. The reps and the Trek employees were a bit more laid back and we were able to learn up on all of Treks products, go out and test the new bikes and then hang out a bit.

Part of the festivities involved were having a band play, and few beverages, which had nothing to do with one of shop employees deciding to take the ice cream trike over some of the BMX jumps that were set up. Another interesting thing that Trek set up was a tattoo shop to come in and do FREE Trek themed tattoos [and if you look closely at the top picture, who's in the corner of the picture? That's right, this guy!]. Yes, real tattoos. There were some crazy enough to get Mirraco permanently placed on their bodies

Well, one of the co-workers with me was Ryan aka R2 [seen on the left]. Ryan and I were really in quite an outgoing mood for those few days. We were able to find a loop hole from getting a Trek logo stamped on us... We both loved the 1 World, 2 Wheels biker logo which is a Trek design and decided to sign up for the pain. But in working this loophole and getting the design, we went from being 4 and 5 on the list to 12 and 13. Because of that we lost out on getting them for free because the shop was only able to punch out 5 sessions in the time that the band played. We were a bit disappointed to say the least.

Ryan just moved out to Colorado to start some thing new and fresh with the wife but before they headed out, Ryan totally beat me to the punch and got the tattoo done. Pretty stellar to say the least.

On a personal note, Ryan has been a great co-worker, roommate, riding partner and friend since I moved up here to the glove over 2 years ago and although I am extremely happy for R2 and his wife Jen but I do selfishly wish they were still around. In the few weeks he has been away... getting the Saturday rides together hasn't been the same or having someone to bounce off crazy bike projects off of or simply sitting at Founders for a drink or two just solving all the problems of the world are all things that I'll definitely miss. I'm already thinking road trip!

But if you're in the Denver area you must hit him up at his new shop, Littleton Cyclery. He'll take care of you. Which might have the coolest shop website I have ever seen.