It may not be the steel Surly of my dreams, but I am now the proud owner of a new-to-me mess of a mountain bike.

It was hanging out at Pullins, flipping through dealer catalogs, that Mike heard me bemoaning my continued lack of mountain bikey goodness. “I’ve got a frame you can have,” he said, “it’s too big for me and has just been sitting unused in my garage.” A miracle! Maybe not a miracle, maybe just the incredible generosity of friends.

A well beaten Motobecane Outcast 29 then became mine, in all its aluminum fully-rigid single speed glory. Paul chipped in too, big time, supplying me with a wealth of new and used components, and promising to take me out on some of the easier trails in the coming weeks.

Today I built. Thursday my knobby knobby knobby tires should arrive, and this weekend I will taste dirt.