Repairman's Rants and Raves

The day the Music REALLY died...

2009-08-13T16:57:00.001-05:00

Les Paul died today.
http://www.gibson.com/en-us/Lifestyle/News/les-paul-passes-away-at-94-813/
The world will never be a little bit sadder without him, and his wonderful talent.

Austin BFF

2009-08-09T22:44:00.004-05:00

Just got back today from Austin, after enjoying the 1st "real" vacation in 18 YEARS...
Damn, the riders in ATX do it up RIGHT!
When i rolled into town, made a stop at http://www.fastfolks.com/FlashGallery/manifest2.htm
to loan them my ancient Polaroid, for an alleycat race they were putting on, but alas, my shit's too old.
But I did get to meet the entire crew, including 2 shop dogs, and I think they'll all do well. Good vibe, lots of shiny candy, knowledgeable/passionate folks.

That night, the opening party for the Austin stop of the Bicycle Film Festival was really fun, good music, cool folks. After the party, i made it to the monthly Full Moon Cruise ride, which had probably 100+folks on it at the start. Tall bikes, cruisers, bmx bikes, fixies, you name it, they rode it on that 25+ mile ride. Wound up in a local swimming hole at 3:30 a.m. under a full moon, then a short ride back to the Austin IYH hostel. Not a bad 1st day.

The rest of the week was more of the same, good folks, great coffee, FOOD, and bike movies!

They had 3 alleycat races in 4 days, not to mention a bike polo tourney, and spontaneously erupting rides.

When the BFF comes to anywhere even NEAR your hometown, GO, you'll be glad you did.

Shaggy, out.

FML alleycat...

2009-07-13T18:43:00.001-05:00

another year, another alley cat.

Sunday, August 23rd. 6:30PM meet up, race begins at 7PM. Location of meet up is TBA.
$5 to race. 4 of every 5 dollars will be donated to the womens shelter.
SO PAY UP!
If you want an estimate of miles you should probs just hang out by the beer.

YOU NEED A BAG FOR THIS RACE (no pannier bags, sorry. wahh)!
YOU WILL ALSO NEED A SENSE OF HUMOR AND BE READY TO COMPETE!
It's called FUCK MY LIFE for a reason.
This race is open to everyone (den10/dallas/where ever welcome!), not just single speed / fixed gear riders. Although, this will probably be way more fun on a fixed gear. Just sayin'. Prizes might be divided a little differently, if need be, but we'll see.

$300 GRAND PRIZE!! Seriously!

PRIZES FROM:
Gallus Cycles
Panther City Bikes
Colonels Bikes
Spiral Diner
MASH SF
Fast Friday

PRIZES PENDING FROM:
RELOAD
Cadence
King Kog
Bikes INC.
Swrve Cycling
MACAFRAMA

IF YOU KNOW OF ANY WHERE ELSE THAT WOULD LIKE TO DONATE A PRIZE, HOLLERRRR AT ME. 817 9661760

If you don't want to race, but help out in any other way, HOLLEERRRR AT ME!
I've already talked to a few people that are in it to win it, but I could always use a hand <3.>

Full Moon ride

2009-07-07T23:38:00.002-05:00

Well, went and did a 2-ish hour ride tonight, watching the full moon come up. Rode with a long time buddy, whom I happen to work with. Light breeze, not so oppressively HOT like it's been lately, so it was a good ride.

We had an easy pace, just rolling along talking about whatever came to mind.

My mind is clearer than it's been in weeks.

It just reminds me that when life gets weird, the weird need to RIDE!

On the bike...

2009-05-21T07:36:00.003-05:00

Well, I've managed two 2 hour rides so far this week, and I must say it's wonderful to be back on.
It's funny, a few years ago, a 2 hour ride would've been not even the halfway point of the ride. I used to ride 100 miles every Sunday, and at one point, did that for 3 months in a row, not missing a beat. Right now, I'm doing good to get 100 miles a week. But this too is changing, for the better.
Muscle memory is an amazing thing to me, no matter how out of condition I am, the legs remember what to do when I'm on a bike, and the position is assumed with no drama.
The main thing for me to do at this point is to be consistant with it, and I'll bump it up to 3 hour rides, then 4, then... who knows.

Wow, it's been way too long since I've updated this thing!

2009-05-15T21:12:00.002-05:00

A lot has happened in the interim, for sure. I've changed jobs, and have been at http://www.bicyclesinc.com for over a year now. It's been good, with very few bumps in the road, which is nice. Back in March of this year, (2009) I finally got my USAcyling Race Mechanics License, which makes me part of a pretty dang elite few. I'm the ONLY one in Tarrant county, TX, and one of only 11 in the entire STATE!

What that does for me is enable me to work support for bigger bike races, which has been a goal of mine for quite a while now. Eventually, I'd like to earn a position with either a Neutral Support program,such as Mavic, or Shimano, or become a full time team mechanic.

Nothing is quite like being the guy on the back of the Moto, or the guy working the pit, especially during an important race, it's really stimulating!

It's Bicycle Repairman!

2007-11-17T22:52:00.001-06:00

SERIOUS fixed gear skillz

2007-08-31T19:48:00.001-05:00

2007-08-13T22:23:00.001-05:00

My Playlist, enjoy!

2007-08-13T00:28:00.000-05:00

slideshow from ron

2007-06-24T22:42:00.000-05:00

A good friend asked me, "do you know any bike messengers in Fort Worth?" Well, as a matter of fact, I do.
This is the slide show that he did.

Old and new

2007-03-03T21:43:00.000-06:00

Well, Spring is almost upon us, Daylight Savings time too, and the repairs are coming out of the woodwork.

Worked on a circa 1990 or so Gary Fisher that was the epitome of what was trick then, from the short-lived 1 1/4" headset standard, to the red anodized drilled out aluminum derailleur pulleys, thumb shifter, the whole bit. The funny thing, everything still WORKED. True the fork is almost a rigid fork by todays standards, but the 'average' person doesn't really need 5 or 6 inches of suspension to ride on the bike path.

I can't help but wonder how well the latest greatest carbon fiber Uber bike will hold up 17 years from now...

It'll probably be in a landfill somewhere, at least that's my gut feeling. I doubt if it'll still be ridden on a regular basis.

In my back room is the bicycle that was my 17th birthday present, and while it's long in the tooth, with minor work it'd still be ridable today.

Anyway, it was a beautiful day today, I'm glad I was riding.

Shaggy's in the mix

2007-02-21T17:56:00.001-06:00

Well, it's official, I'm now a professional part time courier.
I got two runs today, with the first being one of the mythical super rush runs, which was completed with four minutes to spare. I was pleased, to say the least.
Also, I was christened with my courier name, henceforth to be known as Shaggy, due to my shagging butt.
I like it...
This looks like it's going to be a "good thing" for everyone involved, and I appreciate the chance to be a part of it.
Thanks guys!
Shaggy, clean and green.

1st Post

2007-02-20T08:06:00.000-06:00

Well, this is the 1st post of hopefully many.
I'm a Bicycle Repairman, that loves all things bike, working on them, riding them, and in the past, racing them.
Now I enjoy, in addition to working on bikes in the shop, providing race support during criteriums and road races, both static and from the back of a motorcycle. It allows me to stay close to racing without all of the training and suffering...
I think because I raced for so many years, it gives me a good perspective of what's going on in the competitors head during the event, enabling me to give better support.
I'll be adding content about races I work, in addition to day to day stuff.
More to come...
BR