BICYCLES: The same appreciation I had for vintage cars led me to collect other old junk as well. My interest in balloon tire bikes soon resulted in a crammed attic, and I began to restore some of them. I also did some low rider customizations for neighborhood kids. Hey...it was fun metal fabrication!
   I then began riding more, and, in 2003, began commuting by bike. I met Jon Kendziera of Jonnycycles in 2004. He had just started building custom frames in nearby Madison and was looking for a painter. This worked out well because I really enjoyed painting bicycles, and thought it would be a good opportunity to perhaps get a nice frame for myself. The frame he built for me won "Best Track Bike" at the NAHBS in 2006. 
    I also started doing  paintwork for a few other local frame builders and fellow cyclists , but was still working full time.
    2006 was also the year that I took the Lugged Frame Building course at United Bicycle Institute in Oregon and built a frame for a friend. My thinking was that it would not only be helpful to me as a painter to experience things from a builder's standpoint, but also a fun way to spend  vacation!