Tuesday, February 16, 2010

Book, bike, bike, book

Wednesday's edition comes a day early; I'm not waiting to show this off.

What the Cervelo P3 is to time-trial and triathlon bikes, Matt Assenmacher is to framebuilders and painters: groundbreaking, among the creme of the best ever and perfectly suited to, well, me. I've been racing that P3 for six seasons now; I've been friends with Matt since the early 1980s.

Whatever it says about me, Matt has rescued more of my frames than most people own. This year, it was time to rescue the P3. Too much sweat had gotten under the original paint (that's my dubious talent; I can corrode even aluminum); it was time for some reconstructive surgery.

People who know me know that my willingness to shamelessly self-promote mysteriously stops at wearing my own gear. I love Frazz and Trizophrenia shirts, hats and the like, but I feel squeamish wearing them for some reason. So this paint job was a huge step. I wouldn't have trusted anyone but Matt, and I trust Matt tremendously. As good as he is with bikes, that's just his second level of greatness. He's that good a person, and things just turn out well whenever he's involved. And if I did still have worries, they would have evaporated when I saw the frame yesterday.

I can't wait to race it. And train on it. Lord, I'd better train on it. Because there'll sure be no hiding on it.

Bravo, Matt. And thank you.

10 comments:

Steve Stenzel said...

NICE paint job! Sweet!!

My down tube says "Of Mice and Men." ;)

Jim Smith II said...

She's beautiful!! And she looks fast as hell. Well done Matt (and you too Jef)!!

Anonymous said...

Absolutely BEAUTIFUL
....ride with pride!!!
You've earned it :)

Unknown said...

He? She? is gorgeous.

Helen said...

Oooo... pretty! I'll look for it if you decide to add any more Michigan races to your schedule. (I already have to choose between the Dexter-Ann Arbor Run and the AA Triathlon on June 6.)

Unknown said...

That is just way too cool! Hope it brings many fast rides and big wins!

Mark Collis said...

Shirts and stuff...

Heck Jef, I'd buy a Fraz cycling shirt if you had them available. It seems only fair.

Mark

PS. See ya on that beauty at Mussleman 2010.

Jumper 2.0 said...

I love the colors and I love the book! It's beautiful!

Anonymous said...

This is the second time I have visited the new paint job... It's a beauty but I have to wonder if your bike has Colnago-envy... Maybe even Bianchi-envy..... The orange is Colnago orange (circa the '70s- ask Matt) and the blue is kind of Bianchi Green. In the end, the only thing that matters is the motor anyhow.

veloben said...

Very sweet bike.
I'll second owning and maybe wearing a Frazz jersey. But I can see why you might not want to subsume your own identity to Frazz's. He is, after all, only imaginary.