Parting is such sweet...

It was the spring of ‘07, I had just worked through a very cold Alaskan winter at a job I really didn’t like in a place I still hate. I was searching for an ‘out’. An invitation showed up in my inbox announcing the wedding of my friend Erinn to her Australian sweetheart, -and they were having this grand event in Moab. Now some may have worried about a flight, arranging for time off, booking a room, maybe buying a new suit, at least some clean shoes- Hell, I needed a new bike!
I put in my notice and bought a plane ticket south and scraped the bank account. A couple days later a 20% off coupon for REI showed up in the mail. Say what you want about REI but they have saved my butt many times. I did the best I could with the funds I had to work with, and it all turned out just right.

Above Seward, AK

The Lithium 3 has since been replaced by a bike costing 3 times as much and is basically 3 times the bike. However, for the time I rode this bike it was the perfect bike for me to have. Like that popular T-shirt says; ‘My bike takes me places school never could’, this bike enabled me to go places and see things I never thought I would. It was just high enough quality to keep on working but just cheap enough to make constant maintenance to it mandatory. I learned a lot from my time with this one, a lot about maintenance, a lot about technique, a lot about different parts, which ones tick together and which ones didn’t, plus I learned a lot about myself and I seen a whole lot of the western U.S. I sent it to Alaska in ‘09 and have used it up here for the last two years, it has traveled an unbelievable number of miles since I bought it.

Above Bryce Canyon N.P., Utah

In the end the seals in the shock failed, because of its age and original quality getting this one rebuilt wasn’t really feasible. The brakes, a constant source of frustration, were on their very last leg also, plus a pretty good rumble has developed in the bottom bracket. Some very expensive components gone out making rebuilding it one more time just not worth it. Several of the drive train parts will go on the commuter and various other parts will go elsewhere.

Oak Ridge, OR

Fruita, CO

There was a bit of an emotional attachment while I was stripping the frame of all its possibly useful parts, all them good time riding memories came flooding back. Then while trying to loosen the last crank arm the wrench slipped and I dug two teeth of the big charn ring into my hand- you know that soft spot right between your thumb and forefinger, yeah. All the emotional attachment left the vicinity at that time.

Sedona, AZ

Talkeetna, AK

Childs Glacier, Cordova, AK

In the end, this frame didn’t land in that dumpster, couldn’t bring myself to do it. I will donate it and a handful of other parts Ive collected up to a bike recycle org here in Anchorage. Maybe someone new to the sport will pick it up and have the resources to put it all back together and begin their own adventure with it. Hey, stranger things have happened.