the tao of cycling: tooting someone's horn

Thursday, June 9, 2011

tooting someone's horn

I can change a flat tire, clean and lube my chain, change tires, check my brakes for clearance and remaining life, and clean my frame.
I'm not so good with cable tension, though my cute bike shop boy has shown me and explained how it works more than once.
I haven't yet attempted to re-tape my handlebars, and I stay far, far away from chain repairs.
I carry tire levers, a spare tube, two cartridges and a cartridge holder-thingee, a small amount of cash, and a teeny tube patch kit.
I don't carry a chain tool because I would have no idea what to do with it.

yesterday during my ride ruby would occasionally slip gears, jumping to a different gear when I had not asked her to do so. this is usually (in Susan's Bicycle Maintenance Book) an issue of cable length: some cable needs to be tightened or loosened. yep. it didn't happen too terribly often, though, and I just placed it in that awesome bin of information called To Deal With.
today, I set off for my ride and ruby had a hard time holding steadily in a gear, beginning with the first block. hmm. well, I decided, I would just stay in my baby gears, spin more, try not to put too much load on the darn girl, and maybe mess with the cables when I got home.
yep.
two miles later, pulled off to the side of emigration canyon road, I discovered the real problem: a bad link in my chain.
argh.
I don't mess with chains.
well, not much, and not well. I pushed the problem pin back in but the link still looked fat and distinctly different from its neighbors.
the next twenty feet up the road went smoothly but the twenty-first foot was a problem: the chain failed, locking up, stopping me instantly.

I caved. I smushed the pin back in and limped ruby back home. where I then placed her gently in my car and drove to the bike shop for help.

where Mike Hanseen, owner of Millcreek Bicycles, fixed my chain immediately and charged me less than the price of a Domino's pizza. (this happened after his shop tech suggested I leave it until tomorrow evening, my face fell, and I moaned, oh, I can't possibly live without my bike that long....)

mike just made a new friend. me.
I will tell every biking friend I have about what he did for me.
I will shop there.
I will buy unnecessary things, just to support this guy who went beyond what many would have done.
because he cared enough to make a ten-minute repair on the spot so that I could ride my bike
tonight.

millcreek bicycles.
3969 south wasatch boulevard, slc, ut, 84124
801.278.1500

ask for mike, tell him you made susan's day.

4 comments:

Holly said...: Congratulations, you deserve this and many more awards.

You get the award, but we in the blogging community have the prize—YOU! Pop over to A Life-Sized Catholic Blog and check it out.; June 10, 2011 at 8:57 AM
Holly said...: Opps, I probably should tell you ... I’ve presented you with the Sunshine Award!; June 10, 2011 at 9:00 AM
connie1751 said...: Hey. I heard there is a great guy at Fischers as well. His name is Mitch. Just an innocent plug for my guy.; June 10, 2011 at 3:38 PM
susan said...: oh, you are so right: I'd forgotten! guess I'd better be spreading my business around . . .; June 11, 2011 at 4:48 PM

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the Male Ego

The other day I was coming down a canyon in my drop bars (two years ago I would have said, 'what's a drop bar?'), working hard, when I came up on two guys who were also heading downhill but at a more leisurely pace. I passed them, said hello as I did so, and pulled back into the bike lane. a few minutes later they went flying past me, faces looking dead ahead, not a single bit of acknowledgment that I even existed on this planet let alone was involved in and enjoying the same sport they were.
I have to attribute this to the male ego. what else can it be? now I know we all have egos, myself included. and mine even shows its ridiculous little head once in a while, or perhaps more often. but the difference between mine and say, those of certain men on bicycles, is that I KNOW mine exists and I can LAUGH at mine. I know my ego was quite excited to pass those guys, and I could also smile because I knew if the men had really been working like I was, they would have kicked my butt down the hill.
I think I pissed them off.
and I'm sure I will be sharing with you much more of my thoughts about the male ego . . .

a little history

I was married, and I had a mountain bike which I rarely rode. we separated, I moved out, and four months later someone stole my bike. the next spring, 2005, I bought myself a new mountain bike. I rode occasionally, and in april 2006 I rode in my first century, the Cactus Hugger in St. George, Utah. I made it 54 miles on that mountain bike, and it took me about 6 hours. I think that included the rest stops where I prayed that someone would steal my bike again . . .
in june 2006 I started riding my mountain bike five mornings a week, a 45-55 minute loop that was intended to be all about exercise. and what I found was that I loved the quiet, peaceful morning full of bird chatter and barely breaking sunrises. by that fall I was hooked, and began considering the purchase of a road bike. I rode up emigration canyon for the first time that Labor Day of 2006, panting and plowing along on my trusty (heavy) bike, and a month later I was the proud owner of my own road bike: I had become a two-bike girl!
a 17-week-long "power camp" over the winter and a handful of new friends kept bicycling front and center in my life, and when spring of 2007 rolled around I was ready to hit the pavement. I rode my first century the end of april, when I again went to St. George and completed that Cactus Hugger. it took me about 7 hours, but this time I rode the entire 100 miles with about 9300 feet of vertical gain. woo hoo!
I started riding canyons around our area, emigration and millcreek, city creek, big cottonwood, little mountain and big mountain, and once--yes, only once--little cottonwood.
then in september of 2007, I rode from Logan, Utah, to Jackson, Wyoming, in the slightly infamous LOTOJA race. I rode, I did not race. and I completed the thing, crediting my good training buddies, the incredibly perfect weather, my support team, and an amazing convergence of all things positive in the universe.
I put in about 3500 miles last season, and as of today, july 19, 2008, I have about 1700 in, adding to it every day.
I have again signed on to ride the LOTOJA race, and my goal is to have just somewhere near as great a ride as I did last year. oh, and to have someone fun to talk with along the way as I got incredibly bored last year . . . star valley is still a nightmare scene in my biking memories . . .
and here is a picture of the machine that has helped me reclaim my life.