Sometimes the Rebound Sticks

In basketball, it's not always a game-winning field goal that stamps the victory. Sometimes it's a turnover or a steal.

And sometimes, it's just the good old rebound.



My R1 - the rebound bike - after first picking it up
nearly four years ago.

   I've never denied that for all the rewarding experiences I've had with my R1 - undoubtedly the most out of all the bikes I've ever owned - that this bike was just a rebound. To quote myself from three and a half years ago:

"I absolutely loved (the Aprilia), which is actually a good reason why I won't have another one so soon. I remember random times during the day when I would come out to my garage to do nothing but simply look at it. Really. I couldn't get enough of that bike, whether on it or off it. It was borderline unhealthy (though harmless), and while I'm not exactly complaining, I've realized that I'm ultimately better off moving into another machine that doesn't evoke such zaniness from me."

Oh, how we speak so soon...


Happy Birthday, you large piece of inanimate object!


The birthday bike's tasty treat;
a six-layered carbon fiber slice of pie with epoxy resin filling!
The R1 turned ten years old last month, literally, and in putting in the latest bit of rare aftermarket part I could find for this dinosaur, it struck me again at how much I've transformed this bike physically and emotionally. Its emotional value is two-part, more understandably anchored by having transformed it into a moving billboard for TAAF. But before, during, and beyond becoming a tool to help raise awareness for TAAF, my incessant tendency to pull and plug bits and pieces (ok, some are LARGE pieces) into and on this damn thing almost surreptitiously turned itself into something far more valuable than what my Aprilia ever was to me.

I wanted to replace the Aprilia with a bike that I would no longer catch myself staring at in the garage during random times of the day, and yet that's exactly what I continue to do with the R1. The difference is that the Aprilia came to me already in a manner that I wanted.

I had to turn the R1 to the bike that I've always wanted.

That to me, I think, is what really outweighs the Aprilia in value. I may not have wanted to replace my Aprilia with another when I lost it, but truth is, I could've; there continues to be plenty more of that bike around for me to get.

But this bike, the R1?

Through time, effort, patience, and creativity, I will not find another bike just like it.



So sometimes, that last rebound you get will win it for you, so you should hold on to it, forever.

Need more proof?

Just ask my wife what her last rebound got her.

If you love something enough, they never really get old.