A Tale of Incompetence

…a many-years-overdue apology and a pinch of philosophy

Many years ago, the local public television station carried a comedy program called ‘The Red Green Show’. It starred a gravel-voiced back-woodsy guy who was always trying to live as cheaply as possible, and one of his tactics was inventing ingenious DIY workarounds and shortcuts which invariably failed in humorous ways. But those endless failures never got him down. His motto, spoken at the very end of every program, was: “If the women don’t find you handsome, they should at least find you handy.”


I only remember watching a few minutes of a couple of episodes but this fellow’s comedy, attitude and sympathetic philosophy somehow stuck, so here’s a Mr. Subjective story about me and our Aerostich company motto (which has graced the back cover of our mail order catalogs since the very first one was printed and mailed). You can still get a copy of the printed Aerostich catalog here, and they’re still free. Inside, you’ll find a photo of the original Aerostich T-shirt, which also carries this motto.

The story began back in 2020, and it concluded earlier today with this email, here:

Andy - LOL...better late than never. Thanks for the reply. I did wear the Darien in the 2018 Cannonball, 2019 Chase, 2021 Cannonball, and the 2023 Cannonball. And wear it for my everyday jacket on more modern bikes. I think my Cannonball days are over after completing four of these types of events. I love the jacket, and it was money well spent!

To begin this story, yesterday, I received this email message, which included an embedded link:

On May 28, 2025, at 7:42 PM, Rod wrote:
Andy,
You ever see this documentary? These guys have some amazing mechanical skills - and endurance. Across the country on pre-1915 motorcycles.
- Rod
White Knuckle: The Story of The Motorcycle Cannonball

I’d never seen this 2012 one-hour movie, so immediately after enjoying it, I replied to Rod:

On May 28, 2025, at 9:58 PM, Andy Goldfine wrote:
Rod,
Thanks for sharing this link to this terrific movie. I’ve been aware of the event for many years, but had never seen this documentary, and it was wonderful to watch it now. It might be the best motorcycle event documentary I’ve ever seen. Really great photography, editing, sound, everything.

One of our customers did run in this event at least twice in his Darien jacket, and I think also pants. Chris Tribbey, in 2018 and 2020. Attached below is one of the photos he shared with us back then, and I know we’ve put him on the cover of the Aerostich catalog at least once. Also attached is a forwarded email from him requesting sponsorship for the 2020 event. I’d flagged that message for follow-up the day it was received, but didn’t find any record that I ever replied to his request.

Some days back then, I’d get overloaded with email, and if I didn't circle back within a day or two, a few of those messages were abandoned and left sitting in my computer's email inbox forever, which is where I found this one. Embarrassingly, as of tonight, there are 31,614 messages in my email inbox, with 15,885 of them unopened. The oldest one is from 2009. 

I’ve written and sent 145,504 replies since then, but I don’t think I ever thanked Chris or replied to this one. These days, business is slower and I’m almost always able to ‘zero out’ my email inbox every day, but back in 2020 and earlier I couldn’t always do this. See the photo of Chris riding in the 2018 Cannonball above.

Chris, cc’d - If you are reading this now (?), please accept my long overdue thanks for sharing the great photos of your Cannonball ride, and my sincere apology if I never responded to your request for sponsorship for your 2020 entry in this great event. I hope you are well, and had a successful ride in that event, and are still riding. And I hope your Aerostich gear is still meeting your requirements. 

Andy

PS - Our motto, which has been written on the back cover of every catalog since the first one, is: “Potius Sero Quam Nunquam”. This is Latin and translates as: ‘Better late than never…’

...Well, it turned out Chris was still around and was still riding, and the email address I had for him still worked. The very next morning, he sent me the reply and photo, which are at the top of this blog.

Three takeaways:

1. Motorcycles and motorcycling can give you a heck of a wonderful life if you put a little effort into it.
2. The Darien is a very good jacket, especially if you like to ride a lot. You’ll find the full story about it here.
3. If you can’t be efficient, at least be kind… (with apologies to Red Green)

- Mr. Subjective, May 2025

PS – Doing a little math using the email mailbox total-message numbers, it turns out I’ve been averaging writing about 25 emails a day, seven days a week, for the past sixteen years. Ugh... (Please don’t suggest I use an A.I. replacement.)