return of the scorcher

the year was 1987. saw glass tiger and cutting crew at my first daytime outdoor concert in tucson. rode off base on my first road bike to this fiasco. imagine a pseudo glam athlete hopped up on the smiths and morrissey mixing in a little big daddy kane and doing 4 rides a week with a future member of the 7 eleven team. all of this while 13 years old. running cross country and still getting gates two nights a week at sports park back when the bmx track was still there. man, where did i get all of that energy? i couldn't even spell fatigue, much less identify with it. the scorcher was the first bike not named pk ripper that i fell in love with. 87 miyata 912. shimano 600 components, which were the shit at the time. i was too poor to go italian, plus andy was riding a japanese bike. when your 13 and a 21 year old is talking to you like more of a human being than your parents are, you pretty much emulate that dudes every move. i remember going to the bike shop to pick it up. andy drove me. he pretty much convinced the owner of speedway bikes to sell me the bike at wholesale. first ride was gates pass. i have never been so sore. good times.

so the scorcher is back. finally home after a long nap in a storage unit in tucson. at some point the shimano 600 stuff went away and a mix of 105 and deore lx was mixed in. i was in a different place when that unfortunate change happen. something about a pennywise tape, surfboards and wanting to move to hawaii. desperation almost cost me the scorcher. changes were made, but the buyer never showed. good thing.

now that he's home, i just let him grow a fresh moustache and overhauled the bearings. trued the wheels and threw on some rubbers. tonight, in the rain, the scorcher rides again. ipod was blaring "don't forget me" . emotional shit, people.

youth is forever. thankfully, though, the glam period was not.