Sundays Race

There was a race Sunday. Right here in my back yard!

Well, not actually in my back yard. The Tahoe Donner home owners association would never allow such things.

For me, the race went like this: I got out of bed just like I always do before a race. I drank some coffee and ate some breakfast, again just like all the other races. I did a quick prep of my bike, came back inside and packed my gearbag. This is where the similarities stop as the racer path of life zigged one way as I zagged in the other direction.

Right about the time of registration I had my feet up on my desk and was watching motocross. About the time where I would've been needing to get warmed up for the race, I headed out my front door and took the dog for a walk. At 10:00 the race started. Instead of turning myself "inside out" trying to be in the first group going into the woods, I was lazily loading bikes in the car. At the theoretical halfway point of the race i had just arrived at a distant trailhead with Megan for a ride. We rode for quite a while. Long enough, in fact, to miss the theoretical awards ceremony of the race.

We came back to the house and as I cracked a beer the theoretical racer path of life merged back together with the other choices and options we all make on our day to day navigation through the road map of life.

Not racing never felt better.

Kids These Days

Now, I don't know who's job it is/was to come up with names for bikes at this company, but this one had me doing a little head scratching. This bike had 16" wheels. Probably meant for someone around 4yrs old/young.

I'll zoom in a little bit so you can really see what's going on here.

I don't know what the word "Vaporizer" means to little Bobby, but to most of us here in Tahoe it usually suggests stuff like this.

Keeping with the theme here, I'll leave you with this.

FTR Pics

Pictures. Finally.
If you came. Thanx. Good times.
If you missed it. Bummer. Maybe next year.
Maybe.

Odd Requests

"Dude, can you help me with my sack? It's really sagging." This was my first repair request this past Sunday doing support for "Merica's Most Beautiful Bike Ride". Fortunately for him, and me, the "sack" in question was this:


This guy had about 10lbs of gear somehow crammed into this thing which proved too much for the single screw/plastic interface of the retention clip who's job was to hold all that crap up against the saddle rails. So, out came the duct tape. First job completed and I've yet to touch a tool. Nice.

Then, for the next two hours, there were a steady stream of riders with miscellaneous issues. It's common to see shifting issues and squeaky chains but this was the year of loose bars and stems. More than a couple of riders came in with handlebars twisted down at the stem. The issue on all of these was that they were carbon and had been put together with no carbon assembly paste between the bars and stem. I know this because I took the face plates off of all the stems in question and they were all dry as a bone in there. Carbon assembly paste is sort of like a light petroleum jelly with sand (or some similar small particulate) in it. The sand helps to grab onto the parts in question and give a solid grip on the components in question. This is especially important because the maximum torque on the stem face plate bolts are usually quite low in order to not crush or otherwise damage the carbon bars or crack the face plate of the stem.

Another thing I saw a few times was loose shift/brake lever assemblies. The bolts that hold the brake levers on the bars (and you on the bike while holding onto them) is concealed under the lever hood. I don't necessarily think the mechanic that "just tuned the bike last week" doesn't know where the clamp bolts are located, but he/she certainly didn't check them while "tuning the bike just last week".

This was also the year of the "cut tire". Damn. If you're riding Hwy 89 between Truckee and Squaw and you're not carrying a spare tube, you're setting yourself up for failure! Also carrying, and knowing how to use, some sort of tire boot can really save the day. Here's a youtube video of how to boot a tire. I actually didn't watch the entire thing, but the guy doing the video is from Pennsylvania so I immediately put my trust in him within the first 15 seconds and copied the link for your viewing pleasure.

Till next time. Keep it real folks.

Watch out folks

Looking ahead in my appointment book tells me that I'll be spending the first half of Sunday doing support for "Americas Most Beautiful Bike Ride". For me this means flat tires, broken spokes and bikes that won't shift. For you this means that you'll see 3,000 of my closest friends (kidding) riding five wide on the hwy 89 and the entire perimeter of Lake Tahoe (unfortunately not kidding).

If you're doing the ride, great. Good for you. It's a bute. Personally, I'd suggest just sticking to the 74 mile loop around the lake and use the extra time for cocktails and hanging out. Adding the out and back on Hwy 89 just to make it a century is sort of a buzz kill if you ask me. Cars. Poor road surface. An almost garanteed headwind. Yik.

 
Regardless of the option you decide to pedal, please do the other bazillion people operating vehicles on the same roads as you a favor and ride single file. It's not a race, the roads aren't closed to traffic and there are bad drivers everywhere.... PROBABLY TEXTING!!! WTF!

Whatever you're doing this weekend, have fun, be safe and see ya next time.