M'kay, one random thing.

Back in 1988, or was it '89? Monogodo will have to verify the year because it was when he'd moved from California to Dallas. Anyhow, I was working at Athletic Supply when they had a retail front on Preston Road near SMU and the Dallas Country Club. If you go by there now it's become a soccer store and a tile store.

Back then Athletic Supply was weird. Working north to south in the building you had the "Team Sports area" which was the baseball and football area (which is now the tile store). There was a dividing wall and then the tennis and running clothing area. the west wall and south corner of the wall was shoes. Basketball, football, soccer, baseball, running, tennis, cross-trainers AquaSocks and a few pair of cycling shoes. Nestled against the display windows were the two bicycle work stands and tool benches. We had three lines of bicycles, Bianchi, Panasonic and Centurion/Diamond Back, and most of the road bike line occupied the floor. But then we had the rest of the bikes, DeRosa, Basso, Gios, Vitus, Ciocc and other italian steel. We were an early boutique shop. We did a few repairs but mostly we did blessings and sold bikes.

Blessings? Yup, those were the early days of index shifting for Campagnolo. Quite a few of the bikes we sold were Record, C Record, Croce D'Aune, Chorus, Athena or Victory equipped. So learning how to massage a shifter insert for Syncro 1 or 2 was a skill and nearly an art. The recommended insert rarely worked with the deraileur and then you had to try different freewheel combinations. Yeah, Shimano and Suntour were the only two mainstream cassette systems and customers didn't want asian parts soiling the artwork of Italy. Oh, Maillard cassettes were out too, but them there's French parts so make of that what you will. Anyhow, someone like Brooks and Patty would come in with their fine custom bikes before a century, tour, triathlon or road race and we'd run through the bike stem to stern. A little lube and a wipe-down later it was ready for the road and for that they paid us handsomely and never batted an eye.

We tried to stay in the shop area. Most days were quiet in the shop and we'd just point the customers to the area of the store where they could pick goods to charge on their Amex. Sometimes there were autograph signing days for Dallas Cowboy players and the like. I remember the chaos on the day when Tom Landry came to sign autographs and do a radio interview. Athletic Supply was the official dealer of Cowboy's stuff so for a jersey or ball you had to go through them. Players would call us for stuff, like a dozen jerseys so they could autograph them and hand them out to whomever. Like I said, it was weird working there because on a given week you could have a Dallas Cowboy player, a Texas Ranger player, a gaggle of euro-trash shoppers, SMU students or the son of the President of the United States...

yeah... That guy.

W used to have an office just up the street from us. He was sobering up back then by running, so when he needed shoes, shorts or shirts to run in he'd come in with his Secret Service entourage. It wasn't any big deal really, W and a couple of fairly big guys with ear pieces and Aviator glasses went unnoticed among the other customers.

One day I'm working on a road bike in the stand. I'm fiddling away on it because I'm sure it had Syncro. The other characters in the shop besides Monogodo were Brian Spencer (the manager) and Matt C Wiggans PhD. Matt and I hung out occasionally so he new what buttons to push. We'd go on road rides before and after work together. He had a Basso with a blend of everything. Asian, Italian and French parts kept it mechanically sound. Any bike with a mix of parts was affectionately called a "Matt Wiggans Special" by others in the shop.

Brian was off that day because Matt was sitting at Brian's desk reading the paper while I worked. We took turns sitting at Brian's desk when he wasn't around. Yup, we were hard workers. So I'm working hard with my nose in bike when Matt pimps me with something like "so what to you think of George Bush as President?"

Without lifting my head or taking my hands off the task I launch into a passionate tirade of the flaws of Bush #1. Matt put his feet up and tried to keep from laughing as I went on for a few minutes. Anyone in the shop area or beyond could have easily heard me because I thought we were customer free that morning. I pause momentarily and I hear a throat clear "ahem." I look over to see a Secret Service guy looking at me with W directly behind him tying his shoes. The Secret Service guy is smiling but the Aviators are telling me I can stop now. I finish my commentary with "and as an American voter with all the protections of the Constitution that's my opinion."

I swear both the Secret Service agents chuckled.

Matt was rolling on the floor behind the desk laughing as W left with a couple pairs of shoes. He came back plenty of times after that but at the time I figured I'd insulted his father enough so I could hold my tongue.

If I'd only known.