the international shop of mystery (and other stuff you probably won't care about)

   here's the story:  a couple days ago an Asian fellow came in and was shopping.  he was asking a few questions about parts and whatnot and we could tell by his less than stellar English skills that he was probably not from around here.  he told us his name is Takashi and we asked what he was in town for and to our suprise he said he came all the way from Japan just to see our store!  we couldn't believe it either.

with a little more conversation we found out that he came to the U.S. actually to visit some friends in New York but wanted to come to Albe's so bad that he took his life into his own hands and jumped an Amtrac to Toledo then rented a car and drove up from there.  it's funny because we frequently get people who complain about having to drive almost a half hour just to get here.  all you locals are spoiled. he seemed especially entertained by our autographed Jay Miron poster (Jay wrote something funny on it) and i thought he was going to pop when we told him he could take some pictures of the shop, me (Todd) and Flip...or Frip as he called him.  he was a very cool guy and now another friend from far away that we would have never met had it not been for a small bike.  this is the kind of common bond stuff that the sport is about,  not the lightest stem, glow in the dark cables, having Ruben's name inside your shoe or bitching that you can't do turn downs because your top tube is 20.6 and not 20.5. 

in non-BMX news: me and Albe's own A.D.D wonderboy, Rusty Keys spent last Saturday at a "rat rod" car show.  for those not familiar with the term, a rat rod is a hot rod without all the fancy paint & wheels and stuff.  built with one thing in mind: going really freakin' fast!  i was asked to cover it for the fine fellows at the Esaych clothing company so if you interested check it out on their blog.  if you'd like us to post more stuff about things that are fun but have absolutely nothing to do with bikes and/or riders let us know.