Ran into Brian Lopes...

Published 15 December 06 10:06 PM

...at the camera shop (Calumet Photo in Santa Ana).  I was standing at the counter and a guy next to me asks, "...do you ride mountain bikes?"  Mind you, I was in my work clothes: dress shirt, jeans...and 5:10 Hi Impact shoes.  Semi startled, I say, "uh, yeah, how'd you know?"  He replies, "...the shoes, how do you like them?"  I respond, "I like the sticky rubber, but sometimes they are too sticky on the flats, do you ride?"  He says, "..yeah, I ride mountain bikes too..."  Talk about the understatement of the year...sort of like Pele saying, "...yeah, I play soccer..."

I introduced myself, he introduces himself as any other guy who nonchalantely (sp?), "...my name's Brian Lopes..."...finally dawning on me, this is THE Brian Lopes...duh!   LOL.  We must've hung out and talked shop about cameras and riding for about half an hour.  Talk about a humble, genuine person.  I was super impressed by how down-to-earth, and friendly he is.

Talk about someone who is one of the best, if not the best, at what he does, yet he takes the time to talk shop and share experiences about a common passion we share.  One lesson I'm learning these days is that friendly, genuine people are scarcer to find than one would hope. 

Brian, if you happen upon this blog, the pleasure was all mine today.  Good luck finding a camera.

...wish I would've gotten his number to see if he'd like to ride sometime...lol...

Gerritt Slingerland may be Winston's hero, but Brian Lopes just made a great impression on me.

 

by aukmal

Comments

# mtbcat said on April 9, 2007 12:07 AM:
same thing happened to me when I first met glen plake. down to earth good people rock.
# mechmann said on January 7, 2008 1:54 PM:

that is really cool.  i met him a long time ago at a friends house.  same experience, laid back and down to earth.  actually bearclaw was pretty cool at whistler, even though we bugged him to get a photo when he probably just wanted to ride with his friends.

Anonymous comments are disabled