Tuesday, July 7, 2009

Again

I haven't posted in the past couple of days cause I really haven't known what to say. On Sunday I went to work at the shop and while I was there a bomb was dropped on me and everyone else working. Greg Dunbar the owner the shop passed away on Sunday morning. This came as a shock but at the same time it didn't. Greg had been battling Parkinson's for years and lately seemed to be having other problems and complications. The last time I had seen him was about a month ago and he didn't seem well but I had been told he was doing better but that is what he wanted everyone to know so that they didn't worry about it. It was barely over a year ago that we lost Bryan his partner and co-owner of the shop and know to lose Greg it's pretty rough around there.

Greg was a phenomenal mechanic. Kind of like one of those bike guru guys. Pretty layed back and quiet and new everything there was to know about bikes and how to ride them. I was always amazed at how he would look at a bike. He seemed to look at a bit differently than everyone else. I would always think about how fortunate I was to have someone like him helping me with my bikes and taking a bit of time to tell me what was going on and how to fix it. When I got my mountain bike in last year and was getting it built up he said that he would true the wheels and everyone said that it must be nice to have the best wheel guy around truing your wheels. His handbuilt wheels were always a work of art. He was an Olympic caliber mechanic. He was supposed to be the lead mechanic for the 1984 Olympic cycling team until the US boycotted. It was nice to work with someone like that who was a mentor to me and was always giving me advice on my riding and racing. He had a great love of eating seafood and shellfish and I will miss those slow Saturday morning chats about food and bikes.

I always said I was fortunate to race for his shop and for him to always be excited and interested in the racing we did.

Harp

1 comment:

Judi said...

man, i am soory for your loss.