There are moments in life that you know you will never be able to forget. Sometimes those moments are great, and sometimes those moments are heartbreaking. We recently experienced the latter. One of our mechanics recently passed away. He leaves behind a wife, a brother, a sister, nieces, friends, and co-workers, who would want nothing more than to spend one more day with him. Richard Florman left us far too soon. We know that he was such a driving force for us at the shop, and one of the most meticulous mechanics that we’ve ever worked with, and that we will never be able to replace him. In times like these it is always hard to find the words to convey what our hearts feel. The terms sad, tragic, surreal, and disbelief have been used so many times the past week and a half that they almost seem meaningless. We are doing our best to remember all the wonderful things, the quirks, and the stories that Richard shared with us. While struggling to find the words for the loss we are feeling, we came across this great quote: "Everyone must leave something behind when he dies, my grandfather said. A child or a book or a painting or a house or a wall built or a pair of shoes made. Or a garden planted. Something your hand touched some way so your soul has somewhere to go when you die, and when people look at that tree or that flower you planted, you're there. It doesn't matter what you do, he said, so long as you change something from the way it was before you touched it into something that's like you after you take your hands away. The difference between the man who just cuts lawns and a real gardener is in the touching, he said. The lawn-cutter might just as well not have been there at all; the gardener will be there a lifetime." Ray Bradbury Fahrenheit 451 Richard was more than a bicycle mechanic, he was craftsman, an engineer, a tinkerer, and most of all a cyclist. So we know that his legacy will be the thousands of repairs, the thousands of bike builds that he performed. We also know that his gift to us is going to be the countless number of miles that we will surely ride in honor and memory of him. Richard, if you are listening buddy, the Billy Goat family, and the cycling community thanks you for the infinite number of miles that you’ve been able to give to us thanks to your amazing mechanical ability. We will be forever grateful.