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For anyone who hasn't heard, Ronnie Thomson passed away over the weekend.  I had the pleasure to meet Ronnie on several occassions and every time I went away with the feeling of amazement at how humble and kind he was.  Thomson parts have played a very key role in my time spent on a mountain bike and I don't just mean by keeping me connected to whatever bike it is that I happen to be riding at the time.  My first mountain bike as an adult (which was my second mountain bike ever) was purchased from that same summer camp that I seem to be mentioning an awful lot these days.  It was a Trek 4500 that was used in the camps mountain bike program and purchased for $250.  I can't keep track of the amount of miles I put on that bike and money I sunk into it, it became quite the joke around the Roswell Bikes shop as Chad dubbed it "the most expensive Trek 4500 ever created."  You see once I got bit by the mountain biking bug, the poison spread like wildfire through me and upgradeitus took over in a major way.  Those cheap bontrager cranks, gone and replaced by a set of Shimano cranks w/ the new external bottom bracket.  Those cheap wheels, gone and replaced w/ a set of Mavic wheels.  However the parts I was most proud of were my Thomson seat post and stem, I remember Peter and Chad both telling me about how Thomson parts were made in Macon Ga and how there wasn't a better made stem or post on the market.  Bombproof was how they described them, I can remember thinking "damb, that sounds badass, I need that kind of part on my bike!"
  Soon after those purchases I was told that the Thomson facility was going to play host to a birthday party and festival for Ronnie.  My friends Joey and Stephanie Polk were planning on going and invited me along, never being one to turn down a party and having the opportunity to see how those parts I was so proud of were made I jumped at the offer.  It was bitter cold that day but a good turnout none the less, the first time trial was being held and Ronnie himself was giving tours of the factory.  Me being a gear nerd, I was in heaven walking around that place seeing how they lazer etched the Thomson name into every part and how they shaped and formed the components for all their parts.  Of course my favorite stop on the tour was how they tested the strength and durability of their stems by dropping them from over six feet up w/ weights attached and onto a sharp block of metal.  The competitors stems snapped like twigs while the Thomson stem stood fast w/ hardly a mark on it.  "Bombproof" I thought, damn right!
  That day was also fateful b/c it was the same day that I met the BODbikegroup that as you all know has come to be like family to me.  Sitting around a campfire at Dausett, telling stories and drinking, me with a bottle of Capt. Morgans......and a coke.
  Several more festivals have passed since that first one and each time I remember being amazed at how humble Ronnie was.  He was a quiet man and you would sometimes have to lean in to hear what he had to say, but a kinder man I have seldom had the pleasure of meeting.  Even taking the time to find out how I was doing after I broke my collar bone at last years Thomson Day Festival. 
  Im told he could be quite the giant in the business room and held fast and tenaciously to what he thought was right for his product and the business.  Ronnie and everyone at Thomson have been largely instrumental in growing grass roots racing in the Southeast, rarely would you ever go to a race that you didn't see the Thomson name listed on the sponsors banner.
  This weekend the show will go on, and the festival will happen.  People will gather at the Thomson facility in Macon to ride bikes, swap stories, meet new friends and remember the man that was and still is Thomson.  Ronnie would have wanted it that way.
POAS,
Matt-