Shopaholic

When it comes to shopping, I'm sort of an average dude. Most of the time, it's all about getting in and out as quick as possible and only going with the intent of making a purchase of something I need. No frivolous browsing or lazy strolls through the designer isles. It drives my fiance crazy and I really have to put on the gameface to spend that "quality" time with her. She loves to shop and spend time just browsing, chatting and striking up conversations about the newest fashions, gossip, and some weird Italian fabric for the new pillows we certainly don't need on our living room sofa. 

I do have an inner secret though. I can get lost in an interesting bike shop. Unfortunately, the cool ones are far and few between. Most have caved in to the economic woes that have turned Mom and Pop shops in to big WalMart retailers with about as much soul as Celine Dion. But, once in a while you can still stumble on a cool boutique shop like the one in Sausalito. The town is located across the Golden Gate Bridge in Marin County and has a strong bike culture with liberal thinking. On weekends you'll see bikes all over the place and the local affluent cyclists tend to gravitate toward the exotic. 

Owner Tony Tom opened A Bicycle Odyssey in 1975, when he was 19 years old. The original shop was at 2001 Bridgeway in Sausalito, and was named after the movie 2001: A Space Odyssey. That original location was formerly "Mom's Apple Bikes," where Marin bike legends Joe Breeze and Otis Guy had worked in the early 1970s. Now the shop is packed to the gills with every imaginable frame, part and accessory you could ever drool over. No you wont see Giant, Trek, or Specialized (unless it is some crazy collector's piece), but instead find true craftsmanship in products you have only seen in a picture or some pixilated image on the internet. They are best known for their road bikes; their stock includes bikes by Ron Cooper, Bernie Mikkelsen, and local builder Paul Taylor. You can also find those exotic carbon fiber Italian offerings from Colnago, Pinarello, and Bianchi. It doesn't stop there either, they have racks of cool Wool jerseys and every imaginable memorabilia from the Giro de Italia, to a 1984 Coors Classic. I could get lost in here for hours.