Josh's Salsa La Cruz

I have been meaning to get photos of some of the interesting bikes we build up on the website. As you may know if you browse the website, we have not gotten that done. Consider it one of those New Years resolutions that never happens!

Here is at least a start:

My son in law Josh wanted the ultimate commuter bike for transportation around Portland. He started with a Salsa La Cruz frame and specified the bike you see below. It features an 8 speed internally geared hub (Shimano Alfine), disc brakes from Avid, Shimano dyno hub & light set up on the front, Nitto North Road bars, a Brooks Flyer saddle, . A great, low maintenance commuter bike!

I voted - did you?

This long and historic election season is nearly over - all that is left is the most important part - actually getting out and voting! If you have not yet voted, stop reading this, go out and vote NOW! None of the rest is worth anything if you don't vote.


My wife and I are both part of (I thought) a small group of people in our community who still go to the polls. Most folks in Washington State mail in their ballots. In point of fact Pierce (our county) and King (the states most populous) are the only two counties that still have public polling places, all the rest have gone to mail in ballots. After today, the entire state will have mail in voting.

I, for one, will miss the public act of voting. I have many fond memories of going to the polling place to cast my vote. It is a ritual that is important to me, and voting will not be quite the same for me. I remember going to the polls with my parents at a young age, where I first learned about the privilege and responsibility of voting. I remember voting in my first presidential election. I remember the years of taking my children to the polls, one daughter proud that she had "voted three times!" (Once with me, once with my wife, and once with my mother-in law. There was the time one of my daughters pointed out to my mother in law that she was voting for the "wrong person" because that was "not who mama & papa voted for!"

It has been rare for me to have the experience of waiting in line, most of the time when I vote on my way to work in the morning there are few people at the polls. Usually only three or four other people occupy our polling place. I park my bike walk in, and am usually greeted by Paula, a family friend who has been a precinct volunteer for years. I cast my vote and cycle off to work.


This year it was very different - I have heard of folks waiting for hours to vote, but have never experienced such a long wait, maybe 10 or 15 minutes. This year I waited for nearly two hours in order to cast my vote. Yes, mailing in my ballot would have been far easier and more convenient, and I would not have been late opening the store, but I would have missed a lot. I would have missed visiting with my neighbors, in particular two UPS professors, one of which had my daughter in class last year. I would have not been able to meet the nice woman from Honduras, who after living in this country for 25 years has just become a citizen and is voting in her first election! I would have missed saying hello to Paula as I do each election. I would have missed the public act of voting. It was worth the wait.


In many ways, the longer wait was a real blessing, a long lingering chance to experience something for the last time. For me, voting will never be quite the same.

However you choose to do it, mail in a ballot, drop it off at a polling place, or physically go to the polling place - just be sure to get out and vote! Oh, and if you are voting at the polling place, give yourself some extra time, it looks like you will need it!

Jim "Dr Spoke" Couch