We bring many people into our lives throughout the years. I have found only a few that have truly affected who I am as a person both inwardly and outwardly. In 1997 I met Toby Blanck while working at the Fat Tire Farm in Portland, Oregon and I really didn’t like him. I had been working there for months and was fully ingrained in the culture of the shop. As one of the fortunate mechanics who worked in the back away from customer interaction I had surrounded myself with good music, good friends / co-workers, and good coffee. The last thing I needed was some new sales guy bugging me. But that’s what Toby was good at - bugging you, until he broke you down. It didn’t take but a few weeks of being annoyed with him not knowing where anything was and trying to hang in the back with us privileged mechanics before he became my friend. I can’t tell when it happened, but all of a sudden my friend, fellow mechanic and roommate Jeff and I were hanging out with Toby all the time. After work mountain bike rides, after ride Black Butte Porters, and after beer dinners at his house became the norm. Eventually we all stopped working at the Farm and moved out of Portland. I’ve moved away from many places and usually don’t do a great job of staying in touch with good friends as much as I’d like to. For some reason I kept in touch with Toby. Knowing him, I probably didn’t have a choice ! We tried to talk every week, but sometimes the weeks turned into a month or so. Didn’t matter. No time was lost and no real catching up was required. I might as well have ridden with him the day before. When we saw each other they were always my favorite days of the year and I started to realize he had become my best friend. I always had a great time around him, he cared about what was happening in my life, I cared what was happening in his life, we shared the same passions, we made fun of each other all the time, and he truly affected who I am inwardly and outwardly. I didn’t realize how much he helped shape my personality until I found out he had died on March 18th. I sat and thought about the things he taught me and wanted to write them down. After attending his funeral in Tucson I saw how many Best Friends he had made all over the country so I thought the web would be a good place for this list.

Toby thought me the following:

Greet friends with a hug.
Always track stand at a stop light - preferably while looking over at the driver next to you.
How to go on an epic mountain bike ride.
Always finish a mountain bike ride with a pitcher of beer - preferably a Black Butte Porter.
How to be patient with difficult dogs, and difficult people.
How to dance to Blue Grass.
Never run out of red wine when you have friends over to dinner.
How to make a pizza from scratch.
Campagnolo.
How to slack line.
Road biking is just as cool as mountain biking.
How to talk to friends when they have upset you.
How to make friends not be upset with you.
Laugh hard at yourself… first.
Make yourself laugh first… hard.
The beauty of a pun.
Say good by to friends with a hug.
and above all, the only thing that matters is growing old and telling little kids, “hey you, PULL MY FINGER!”

My nose may be big Toby, but your eyebrows were ridiculous!