A Day In The Life

"What's a typical day of work like for you"? I often get the question. So.... here goes.

It's early season, so there's plenty on the schedule. Before any actual work on bikes takes place, there's the ritual of prepping "Steve" (the van). Prepping Steve entails emptying the trash, restocking supplies, plugging in the compressor and loading the dashboard storage area w/ cookies.

Work has me in Tahoe City. On the drive out, I catch up on some news while driving along the Truckee River and ponder things such as; at what temperature does something become "damn hot" and what is the hokey poky all about? A glance in the mirror reveals the driver of the Lexus is tailgating me (my pet peeve) while simultaneously digging deep into the left nasal cavity with her finger buried to the 3rd knuckle. Awesome.

9:30am. Arrival at first job. The 5 bike tunes turn out to be a little closer to 8. Hmm. The estimating begins. Pretty normal stuff. Air in the tires. Lots of lube. A couple of cables and housings. Some misc parts swapping between bikes. I save the most complex jobs for last. One of which involves overhauling a coasterbrake hub on an ancient tandem that pushes the weight limits of my workstand. It's now 1:30 in the afternoon and my stomach has been demanding a burrito for the past two hours. I pack up and head to town for lunch.

2:30pm. Next. I'm two hours late for this appointment. Two bikes on the schedule turns out to be just one. The wife's out riding the other bike....good for me. Fork and shock service. Front shift cable. Loctite some pivot bolts. Straighten brake rotors. Measure chain (bad). Top off tire sealant. Sag suspension for customer. Re-schedule the other bike. Pack up,. high five and I'm out.

4:30pm. Next. RockShox Reverb install. Sag suspension. Couple of minor adjustments to brakes to eliminate rubbing. Clean up the drivetrain. Lube chain. Customer adds kids bike that involves replacing shift cables and housing front and rear. It's 6:00. I've managed to get myself almost back on track for scheduling.

6:15pm. Next. I stop by a customers house that I'm shipping a bike for. The job's all done. Just need paid. I could've just had him mail a check, but the guy's super cool and I want to stop for a quick visit before he heads off to Hawaii for the summer. I'd say he's a lucky bastard... which he probably is. But we do have it pretty good here in Tahoe during the summer. At least I think so.

6:30pm. I need to stop by the first job again. Customers have decided to reward my efforts w/ beer and cookies. I like both and I'm close by so I stop. An assortment of IPA's and chocolate chip goodness await my arrival. This was a good move on my part.

7:15pm. Arrival back at Mighty Mobile headquarters. It's time to drag myself in the house and wash off the work w/ a nice long, hot shower. Then get some sleep.... 'cause we're gonna do the same thing all over again tomorrow.