Tourist

I haven't traveled much but I will. Serendipity seems to step in front of me a bunch.  I must be open to it or something.  Whatever the case, it stepped if front of me again last night.

Andy Levine is a friend, touring cyclist and fellow Kents Hill Alum. http://www.kentshill.org/page.aspx?pid=472. The Hill shaped a lot of who I am today.  Its a special place to me and I try to maintain close ties. Andy graduated a 'few' years after me so we hadn't met until a school event in Boston's Back Bay a couple years ago.  We've been good buds ever since.  Andy is the is the founder of DuVine Adventure; a high-end bike touring company for the Uber crowd. http://www.duvine.com/ .  He started Duvine with nothing but his bike, cut offs' and a dream. 17 years later he does it better than anyone and is loving life.

Yesterday he posted this on Facebook "Want to bike in Ireland in 2012!? Tonight, join Padriac, our Ireland bike tour manager @ The Independent Restaurant in Somerville, Union Sq. Come and drink a pint with good old Padriac from Ireland, 630pm to 8pm. He is a real hoot (said in an Irish brogue)!"

I couldn't have been more ready for something precisely like this yesterday so I shot him a message that I'd be there if he'd be there for sure.  I barely hit send before he pinged that he would.  A few minutes later he also forwarded this promo to lube me up. http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=z49vHNBPTys&feature=youtu.be......and it worked!

When Andy and I connect our chat always migrates to high imagery around elegant bike tours. Scouting them, running them, the people you meet, the wine etc.  Andy overlays all of it with a peppering of snippets like. 'Pfff... dude you've got to do this....Are you kidding me right now Bro, this is your thing'....and like that.  It's not that I haven't been interested.  It's been more a question of timing, just timing and some positional stuff.  Regardless, it's been an ongoing conversation, similar to a friendly game of chess played when moves are made only when the players are actually face to face. (I once lost a 2 years chess game with a Russian guy working the Ski room at Waterville Valley, NH....another story)

The setting, time and group of people last night at The Independent was a prefect environment for me to formulate a clear feel for DuVine as a whole organization, it's culture, commitment, enthusiasm and such.  I met the whole gang, shared good spirits with them and swopped stories.  The low amber light of a warm Irish pub is a fine place to accelerate backgrounds, aspirations and intent.  It would be fair to say that last night I transitioned multiple moves closer to doing something with these guys.  To Andy and the gang, Thanks and Cheers we'll do it again in the near future! 


As I was driving back to Harvard "You are a Tourist" (Death Cab for Cutie) came on radio.  Serendipitous, no?   http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=z49vHNBPTys&feature=youtu.be This song talks, reminds me of lots of things.

Peace & love.