Wade Patton Velo

[edoz]

Depends, do you prefer old women or old men?

[WadePatton]

What's love got to do with it?

Okay folks, here's the deal: I need more feedback or I'm shutting this down. I cannot justify spending the time I did on post #93 to a half-full closet of people.

If you want to hear more, you must speak up. Make your first post ever or your 900th, I don't care. Your words and wisdom may far outshine mine and you are welcome to display them here--or just help me focus on an area of conversation.

Thanks Erik and Kevin and Chauncey for bothering to put finger to key and hangin' in there with me. I'll meet you guys someday (I'm at NAHBS every year YO). But I'm not going to sit here and rattle aimlessly to half a closet full of folks.

or am I?

Scrappin' ain't easy. (axe me about that one eh?)

[datas_brother]

Hi Wade,

not obvious! I joined the army because I didn't know what else to do. It wasn't a bad choice but one I wouldn't necessarily make again. All through HS I wanted to become an eletronic engineer. My plan was to go to Texas A&M but I lacked the funds and didn't have the grades to get a scholarship (lack of discipline). The army was the most obvious way of getting there.

All has turned out well, though. I have a day job that pays well but at some point when the kids are out of the house I would like to shift directions. PTC feels like the right direction to go.

Maybe I missed it but you wrote about making the wrong decision. With hide sight 20/20, what would you choose today if you were 18 again?

[dcpdpayne]

Hey Wade. I for one knew that I was going to college from the time I was just a wee lad. Having two parents who were in education, I never really had a choice, and never thought that there was anything else. Looking at the time I spent at Ball State I can say that it wasn't time wasted but at the same time it was not time best used. I had amazing experiences all of which were rich and rewarding in their own way, but i'm not sure that I left any better prepared for an "adult" life than I was right out of high school. Every day I still think about what it is that I want to do when I grow up. To that end I continue to work in a job that I sometimes dislike because it pays the bills and the bills must be met before the dream can take flight.

I wouldn't get too down about your current situation (if you are)but look at it as a oppertunity to learn some new things that you might one day use...maybe even in you framebuilding.

Best of luck
Andy

[NoWay Ray]

Wade, been lurking here for a while, first post.

I've attempted a reply a few times over the past few days, the words just haven't come out right to hit the post button.

Your doing the right thing taking a job and putting the dream on the back burner temporarily. Trying to run a business with a lack of funds will only get frustrating very quickly, and could turn you jaded about the whole deal. You need to be in a sound state of mind and not sweating where you next meal will come from, (I'm not a frame builder), but it seems like a job where passion plays a big part, the stresses of trying to keep a business afloat, can turn that passion into another dreaded job. Do what you need to do to keep your sanity going, keep your options open so your not forced into a corner, and keep on that soapbox, I enjoy reading about your journey!

[nahtnoj]

Wade,

Thanks for putting it all out there.

I've struggled for years with my youthful (and I'm still young) decision to pursue higher education. I was at least smart enough to pull the plug on law school before I got too deep.

My issue now is how fast the world is changing. I think it is very difficult for a sober person looking at the long-term to justify education. You pay for a degree for decades to do a job that can disappear overseas at any time. Even professions which were traditionally very stable like accounting and law are not immune. Everything is commodity.

[WadePatton]

Whoohoo! teased a lurker into posting! Thanks Ray.

Got a lot to finish up tonight, but running around all day (hauling scrap and helping a friend). I'll post direct replies later this evening. Thanks for playing, I now go fix some bearing assemblies and work on an estimate for a road frame--BIKE WORK!

[WadePatton]

How do you get the kid to quit ripping the tape off the bars? He's laying some Kung Fu grip on them babies. I've got hockey tape on the metal, tight cork and then Ray's BEAUTIFUL Handlebra wrapped as tightly as I can stand it over the top of that. He twists it off. They said his BB was making noise. I don't have any idea how you could hear that over the dry screeching four-links-too-long chain he was running. Dang Jrs. He's getting a talking to tomorrow--sounds like this--IF you ain't going to learn how to maintain your equipment then BYGUM make a schedule and get it to someone who can. I didn't touch the wobbly wheels and out of whack brakes yet. [end rant]

He's got a development coach and powermeter now. He's loving that. I may have said this before, but this will be his first full-on bike racing year. Bike racing was always secondary to his gymnastics before--before the doctors and parents said --enough tearing yourself up. He has the HEAT (was on the podium every race last year), hope he can learn to catch the right wheel and be in the right place. The only time he had any JR competition besides his brother (who isn't focused this year) was from a Cat 2 Jr. He and his dad are training hard.

What me? oh yeah. Selling scrap metal so I can buy all those beers I owe people at NAHBS. Getting one more good load in the morning.

WRT my stance on education/career and my personal errors there, I asked my closest lawyer friend, one I went to school with--I ask her this 12 years into her practice, when she said she'd actually begun to feel like she was making some money, hearing the hesitation in her voice I asks: Would you rather be doing something else? To which she did not hesitate to reply, Yes, oh yeah, I'd rather be doing something else. And I said thank you, that's all I needed to know. I never really wanted to be a lawyer either. I wanted to be the judge-and would have been if I'd continued in that arena.

@ Kevin, I would have likely netted me a dd or gotten myself killed if I'd gone into the military in my youth. My talent there is sniping, but who knows if I would have made it that far--I had a deep streak (had hell) of "question authority" in me and that doesn't fly too well in chain-of-command situations. And the "no old bold pilots" thing, is exactly how I would have gotten myself and maybe my buddies killed. ADD absolutely feeds on the high-intensity, adrenalin-charged, on-the-edge-of-it-all situations. I think the reason for that is two-fold, first being that the ADD-mind functions extremely well in that situation and secondly being that there in that level of focus there is a serenity. There's a clarity of mind that we don't get any other time. There's a peace in that clarity. I don't expect many folks to get that, but then right after that is the endorphin dump that we all know from pushing our bodies on the bike. So I would have likely returned a hero or in a box. God bless those who make it work.

... what would you choose today if you were 18 again?

Easy peasy, I'd do what I though was necessary to learn how to design and build bicycles. I might have gone to UBI, got a job a big bike company, gone across the pond--maybe all three. Wow, that question is not as easy to answer as one might think. Let me hit it like this. If we rolled the clock back to 1984 right effin' now, what would I do with this mind? I'd seek out someone making frames in a one-hole shop who'd let me apprentice for a few years. Dang, never thought about this so hard--but is the time then or now? That and I should have traveled as a younger person. Still haven't, but will.

Where am I traveling to? Well heck, I have a lot of pals around this continent to go see, but in that "Travel Channel" type of going places, I'm going to Spain, Italy, France, Belgium for cycling and Ireland/Scotland for heritage. There's really no place I wouldn't like to kick around, but I'm not into cities, just good roads and trails and food and people out on the periphery.

Wow, got late all of the sudden. I'll comment to Andy, Ray, and nahtnoj in the morning if the dogs get me up early enough.

As my pal in Brisbane says,

Cheers!

[Rhys]

<snip>

If you want to hear more, you must speak up. Make your first post ever or your 900th, I don't care.

Ok, I think this is my third post in the Salon.
I don't have a lot to say, I'm happy just sitting around with my ears open.
Which is why I want to say something now.

You guys are mentoring people you've never met.

I'm on the other side of the world to you, but I post a question in a discussion and I quickly get half a dozen very sensible answers.
I surf around the forum and I find answers for questions I didn't know I had.

Thank you.

You gotta do what you gotta do to pay the bills.
But please stay part of the Salon.

[Craig Ryan]

Wade, you are still young. Keep that in mind when you wonder about the "what if's." Make a plan from now on out. Good luck!

[WadePatton]

@ Andy Yo there were lots of good times and great experiences through those college/law school years--but it really dragged on for too long. It could have been compressed a bit and I would have grown up all the same. In retrospect, part of that may have been that I wasn't really _driven_ to get out there and start that career. It was more of an "oh shit i'm graduating and the bar and then i've got to go do this crap" moment. The instant riches notion had evaporated as I got older and wiser, just forgot to adjust the tiller and re-set the sail. But let's not dig around in that too much. Maybe it is better than I came to this later in life, maybe the younger me would have screwed up the business end. MOF I probably would have--just like my dad did. Hmph, hadn't made that complete connection yet. Thanks man. We'll ride.

@ Ray Thanks for reading along, sticking to it and making a reply. Yes-no really getting around it (getting outside work/job). Don't have a job yet, but it's much easier to get out and make a buck when we're not under the snowpack like Dixie Dakota. And I'm still pretty upbeat about getting on at the 'chine shop. I've hauled over 3,100 in scrap metal this week and doing some sign work tomorrow and yard work Friday. Methinks I was a bit seasonally disordered and that getting out and sucking up some sunshine and hell, just driving around helps. Sometimes I think better when driving.

Wade, Thanks for putting it all out there...Everything is commodity.

I yam what I yam (this is where i like to pretend to be too simple to keep up a facade-but ya'll wouldn't buy that now would you?). It's just a lot simpler to keep it honest and simplicity is a great effing thing. You want to catch me lying--shuffle up a deck of cards. I'll catch you with a bluff--that's the magic of that game. And I know a lot of honest guys who'll lie to you regularly over a few spotted cards. That's the whole game (if one is to be successful at it). But that's where I like to leave deception--on the poker table where it belongs. Things do change--Carl Strong does some CF now. HOODAthunk?

I'm happy just sitting around with my ears open. You guys are mentoring people you've never met. I surf around the forum and I find answers for questions I didn't know I had.

Thank you.

But please stay part of the Salon.

Heck yeah, man I wish there'd been something like this when I was younger-there's no end to the learning and this is a great place to get it. Just the right amount of intimacy and Folks Who Actually Know Some Shit, as opposed to the other, more-prevalent type make this place rock. You are quite welcome, I'm the token hillbilly/neck (quotas man) so don't pay me much mind. Learn from them other dudes/dudettes.

I'm not going anywhere. I'm wired for the show now, maybe the tipping point has been reached-at least psychologically. Learn well pilgrim.

Wade, you are still young...Good luck!

No hey pal, you're young and we have work to do! Thanks man, being 32 ain't easy (oh wait that was last year). You coming to the Great Taco Caper?


Dang-there goes another evening and i'm still not sure if i switch my car insurance exactly how much i might save.

See me at the show, I sing and dance!

Cheers!

[datas_brother]

...I had a deep streak (had hell) of "question authority" in me and that doesn't fly too well in chain-of-command situations.

Not a good thing and one of the reasons I left. I spent two weeks painting lines on a parking lot as punishment for being an anarchist.

Cheers

[WadePatton]

You know they did a study where folks were paid to dig a hole. And then to fill it up. I forget the wages and all but it started out paying a modest hourly sum. Folks did it for that price for a while, then quit. They kept raising the amount paid to keep people digging the hole--and filling it up. But found that folks would _not_ keep doing meaningless work no matter how much it paid. That was the point.

Finally a tipping point in the WP (potential) job situation. I was given the official "not right now" from the nearby machine shop, so I drove down the road to another "tool and die" 20 miles away. It was locked up as in O/B. Then I _finally_ remembered that I had a radio pal in a small family-run machine shop only 15 miles away (on some of my riding way-back roads). I got him on the horn and I just missed getting on with his company but he's going to see what's available in the "neighborhood". Finally connected with an insider! Maybe one of his new guys doesn't cut it. Who knows, he's definitely not afraid of my lack of 'chinist experience.

And also got myself onto the "short list" for employment at the new distillery starting up in my county. Heck, my vote is one of those that changed the law to make the distillery possible. It is Short Mountain Distillery

Then there's this show thing coming up...

[WadePatton]

logo med negative.jpg

here's a negative of a sketch done for me about five years ago. the artist has never owned a dodge and has no knowledge of bike industry logos. i may use a cleaned up version, what of it?

[Chauncey Matthews]

Dude, I love ya brother, and I think "Wade Patton" is an awesome downtube name....but I think you might want to revisit that logo idea. Ask a 16yr old what it looks like and you'll see what I mean ;)

[nahtnoj]

I saw the design on Facebook. Came rushing over here hoping to see it because I didn't want to announce on FB that it looks, at first glance, like ovaries and a vagina.

And no, I'm not 16. Mentally, maybe...

[WadePatton]

Hey YALL NAHBS ROCKS and I'm still in recovery.

WRT graphic- yes, the camel toe is out. It had been lost for some time. She put a lot of effort into it, so I thought we'd discuss. She knows my full name, most don't. The initials are TWP so that symbol represents the full set.

I'm game to entertain any submissions with TWP, WP, or WPV, possibly just the W. Would like to have a nice simple shape for the badge and bb cutouts.

So enter the contest now and early and often. Winners will receive special mention and full credit and other compensation as is mutually agreeable twixt them and me.
submit here or privately, rewards remain the same, thank you.

I'm happy with my downtube font ("crillee" iirc)--MOF I decided some time back to use that in the vertical position (turned on end) on the HT as so many companies do now--until I find what I like. Just haven't had the printing done yet.

I'll throw some of my personal NAHBS highlights down here later---haven't collected them all yet. Here's a teaser:

me and TR.jpg

Martha Ritchey captured this shot of Tom and I discussing the finer points of our world-famous fillets.






or in the alternative: here's my dumbass standing next to an icon--who happens to be a great (dare-i-say-it, self-taught) guy and who, like most fb's atwo, has a wonderful wife. thanks Martha.

[edoz]

I'm still feeling wowed from the Ritchey seminar. I've been running practice joints using some of his techniques. I'm even thinking about a Gasfluxer in the future.

[kpomtb]

Hey Wade,

I hear you on the college thing. My folks started a college fund for me when I was born, and so it was a 'pre-destined' that I would go. So I went, and goofed off and changed majors and drug it out for a ridiculous amount of time. An embarrassing number of years into the process, I sat down with the catalog and figured out the shortest distance between me and that stage. I've bounced around between careers since then.

I admire you for realizing that the path you were on wasn't the right one, and taking steps to fix the problem. I'm hoping that some day I'll figure out what I want to be when I grow up.

[WadePatton]

Hey Wade,

I hear you on the college thing...I've bounced around between careers since then. I admire you for realizing that the path you were on wasn't the right one, and taking steps to fix the problem. I'm hoping that some day I'll figure out what I want to be when I grow up.

thanks--hey the main thing i'd stress to you is to reserve some resources (avoid debt at all costs and make a bankroll-not as hard as they want you to believe if you have work and a functional budget) for when you find out. that's how your parents did it. they spent less than they made--a concept quite foreign to the modern mindset. interest is meaningless w/o time for it to operate-the first step is saving.

all i have is my charm and great wits to fuel the transition. these metal shops i'm talking to aren't impressed...

@eric, many ways to skin this buttery cat of brazz fillet.