The McLean Sisters

Jack Gabus stayed with us for a day before his RAGBRAI run. Here are our McLean bicycles resting after a spin around Fountain Lake this morning. McLeans are rare and special machines. With two in one place you could feel the electricity in the air!

Yesterday we spent the afternoon sitting outside the Growlery, talking, smoking cigars and probably drinking too much beer.

Late yesterday afternoon we visited the Rydjor Bike Shop to look at the jaw-dropping vintage bicycle collection. Jack bought a couple of Rydjor water bottles and a Rydjor Bike jersey with a facsimile Ulwelling signature. I'm not a racing jersey type of rider, but the Ulwelling signature shirt is very cool. Jack had problems with the Cinelli stem on his bike. The bar clamp bolt threads into a socket which had stripped out. We made a run to the hardware store and jury rigged a setup with a stainless bolt and nut. When we were at the shop, Jack asked the manager, Chad Burma if he had something better. Keep in mind that over the years Cinelli has made dozens of variations on their stems - the odds were not good. Chad looked at the bolt and socket and said, "Wait a minute, let me look." A few minutes later he came back upstairs out of the dungeon holding a virtually NOS stem, just like Jack's. What are the odds? Jack bought the stem. Good man, Chad.

The evening had us back in Austin at the Old Mill restaurant for steaks (and an incredible beer who's name I've already forgotten). Jack is not a stupid man; he invited Lorna too, then picked up the tab for the dinner. And thank you Jack. It was a good time.

Jack's observations?  The Rydjor Shop is very clean and much larger than he thought.  And the Growlery is much smaller.