not name dropping... tangent hopping


the other day I posted about an old friend and his involvement in this project

les was the executive producer
I was curious if he goes by Leslie across the board
or just went by Leslie when paired with this film
as it is a chic flick
maybe the viewers would feel more comfortable thinking a chick was involved in each and every step of this film's creation

then I realized
so often I like to try and bring my stories full circle
I try to give the story some sort of relevance
then it dawned on me
it was les that first introduced me to the mountain bike
well.... it was first an article in Boys Life and then it was a commercial for a Huffy mass produced with Joe Murray's name on it... The Baja Bike.... by Joe Murray
but then during my senior year of high school it was Les who was paging through the back pages of various magazines trying to find a deal on a mountain bike

in his enteprenurial efforts he tried to get me and another friend to go in on a purchase
thinking that if he had three people order these bikes we could get a deal
if I remember correctly there were Shoguns, Specialized, or Cannondales
my savings were not as grand as his
or perhaps
my tastes were more humble

les went with the SM600 with the 24 inch rear wheel
I ended up buying a lesser bike, a Mongoose ATB
the Chrome finish was nice... I broke over a dozen of these bikes
Mongoose was good enough to warranty them each and every time
perhaps if I had purchased a more expensive bike I would not have suffered these issues
(actually I broke some higher end bikes as well)

les and I went riding at various local spots
we got mud on our bikes
it was a humble beginning to the sport of mountain biking


in addition to bikes
les was also into photography
les worked a short stint as a messenger doing runs for a camera store
during that time he took photos of various messengers
hmmm....
I wonder if he would find any amusement in the fact that I am still riding a mountain bike and that I enjoy taking photos of messengers?

funny...
I could not catch air then
and
I can not catch air now
not much changes