Life's a Breeze: A Story in Three Parts

PART ONE:
In 1953, Joe Breeze was born and grew up in Mill Valley California at the foot of the Marin County mountain that would become known as the birthplace of mountain biking. In his early teens he was touring California by bike. At 16 he began road racing bicycles, and at 17 took a cycling tour of Europe where he was impressed with the cycling infrastructure of Holland. His father rode his bike to work, and these two things seemed to put him on the course of his life. In 1974 he built his first road bike frame which was soon in demand. In 1977 he agreed to make a strong, light mountain bike frame for his friend Charlie Kelly to replace the old bikes (from the '30's and '40's!) he and his friends were riding around offroad and that were not holding up to that challenge well. In order to work out the kinks he built one for himself first, which he raced at the Repack downhill time trial and won. One thing led to another, and he continued his groundbreaking work and was inducted into the Mountain Biking Hall of Fame in 1988, it's first year. Fast forward where his interest in bicycle transportation outweighed his interest in recreation, where in 2002 Joe began producing a line of bicycles made for transportation type purposes.*
PART TWO:
In 2004 after deciding to move halfway across the country to South Bend Indiana, we also made a decision to become a one car family. Moving to a much smaller town would make that a possibility. Less impact on the planet, less impact on our pocketbook. We did fine with one car for quite a while. If I needed the car for any reason, Ava and I would take PJ to work and pick him up afterwards. If we were fine without the car, he would drive to the office. I actually have fond memories of waiting outside the City/County building in downtown South Bend anxiously watching for PJ to come through the doors and when Ava would spot him she would squeal with glee. Squeal. Glee. Really. But when I ballooned out of control with a tiny James in my uterus, it became clear we needed another form of transportation. It would become too difficult to transport Daddy with two small kids, and with doctors appointments etc. it would become messy with him taking the car. So PJ got himself onto the internet and started researching bikes. He knew from his college days a couple of guys who thought that Joe Breeze was the King of Bikes, so he started there. The Breezer quickly not only made the Short List, soon it was The One. So the next step was to head to St. Joseph Michigan, about 45 minutes away by car, where we purchased the Villager. This bike was seriously impressive. It was strong, lightweight, comfortable, had a built in generator light for the front and rear. A commuter. It was a no brainer. We took it home and PJ rode without fail. He actually enjoyed riding. When we purchased the bike we were living on Adams Street, about 1.5 miles from his office. I made the rule that there would be no riding in thunderstorms, so on days were there was too much snow or ice to ride, or on days that there was lightning he would take the car. Otherwise he enjoyed the ride. He was also asked to serve on a panel about riding to work during Bike to Work day. When we moved to Fort Wayne we made a conscious decision to only look for homes in neighborhoods where it would be a reasonable distance for him to ride to work. He has made an impression on several people in his office building who cannot believe he is as dedicated as he is. Due to his belief in riding, he has also been responsible for adding a trail linking downtown to Renaissance Pointe. Recently, however, the love affair foundered. The lights stopped working in the rain. Now he tried tightening the connections. Or jiggling them, I can't remember. I do remember having the bike up on the stand watching him spin the wheels with one hand while spraying water at the thing with the other hand while Ava and I stood watch making sure the lights worked. We thought all was fine. Until last night when PJ got home and there was a lot of grumpiness due to the fact that he rode home in the rain AND in the dark because the lights didn't work. After some gruffness, he decided to take my suggestion and contact the company. The shop where we purchased the bike no longer carried that brand, and there is nowhere around here that does, and since it's such a special type of thing it's not like any old person could fix it, so I thought, just go to the source. So he did. He stormed upstairs and sent an email, calmed down, we had dinner and we all went to his playoff game of soccer (another post on that next). We came home from that and put the kids down, and he went out for a drink with the team. I relaxed in front of the t.v. for a while with my secret crush when the phone rang.
PART THREE:
The time was 9:58. And I thought it was PJ. And the caller ID did not say Fort Wayne with PJ's number. So I was ready to let it out for whatever telemarketer was calling (it would have to be those darned FOP since I am on the do not call and they call me monthly looking for more money). But the caller ID said "Joe Breeze". I did not immediately make the connection. I answered and the caller asked for PJ. Which I thought was weird because I am the one who usually talks to the FOP. Then he told me why he was calling. I about fell over. He was the nicest man, and said that although he rides in a lot of rain and has not had that problem, he felt that we would be able to correct the situation. It was amazing. Truly the nicest man. I could not wait to tell PJ. He was pretty excited. He kept asking if I knew who I had spoken with. I have to admit I did not, but was impressed with him nonetheless if for no other reason than HE CALLED US AT HOME TO HELP CORRECT THE PROBLEM!!! That, my friends is the epitome of customer service. And that is the long and long of it. If you ever need a bike, I Highly recommend purchasing a Breezer. It's quite a bicycle, and the service is awesome.
*Borrowed HEAVILY from the Breezer website. Very interesting reading!
FOLLOW UP:
Joe was able to figure out the problem, and offered to correct it! A true gentleman and a true class act.