Cleveland, Alex and Joy Machines Bike Shop (July 8, 2012)

Pata Coming Across the Bridge

We entered Cleveland, OH this morning.  It was a much cooler morning (especially compared to the 100 degrees day of yesterday).  It is Sunday so the streets were quiet as we rolled in.  There is something daunting about being in a relatively large city, far from home, on the bicycle.  David and I keep feeling amazed that we were here.  Somehow it seemed surreal. 

Pata and the Priest.

Once downtown we stopped for water at CVS which happened to be next door to the Catholic Diocese of Cleveland’s office. At the very moment a priest was leaving so I asked him for a photograph. It turns out he lived in Arlington Heights, Massachusetts when he was younger.


We stopped at a light right before we crossed the Detroit Superior Bridge when we caught up with two riders.  They were on mountain bikes.  David joked with them saying he would race them across the bridge (a contest he would surly lose on his sixty plus pound bike!).  Anyway, one of the fellows asked about the trip and if we knew about Joy Machines Bike Shop.  I said that we were on our way there at that moment.  The fellow said to say hello from Louis (which we did).

Outside Joy Machines Bike Shop

We rolled up to the shop and there were riders from the shop’s team outside.  One of them was Renato who is the co-owner of the shop.  They had just finished a group ride it seemed.  We admired their road bikes and kits and talked shop.  Alex wasn’t there yet, so we went to the Bonbon Café (See next post).

Alex diagnosing a bike.

Pata looking at all the cool stuff in the shop.

 Bike Parts Art.

Pata and Alex.

When we returned to the shop we met Alex who made us feel right at home.  We loved the shop which was full of great bikes and parts and fun art on the wall.  He checked out our bikes and made sure my front wheel was okay.  (We had taken off the dust caps because they were rubbing against the frame and replaced them with rubber seals from home depot.)  He consulted with David on the fit and comfort of his Surly Long Haul Trucker. Alex also owns a Surly LHT and rode his from Cleveland to San Francisco in the space of two months.