Sharrows!

Sharrows!

Yeah, that's a pretty good one...

Flying Dog Gonzo Imperial Porter

Ironman 70.3

I was invited to fly over to the big island to provide mechanical support for the half ironman a month or so ago. Although it got a bit stressful, it was a great experience. I worked on over 40 bikes in 4 days. Most were either builds or boxing for shipment. They had us wrenching in a pretty classy joint:


This was the men's room at the sponsor hotel, where we were wrenching. The linen hand towels were a pretty classy touch. A few of those didn't end up quite as white as they started.

Here's where they put me up. My own personal master bedroom/master bathroom, complete with jacuzzi:

There were some doozies of repairs:

This fellow came to us about an hour before his bike had to be checked into the transition area. He had a broken derailleur, broken hanger, and his rear brake wasn't working.

This is what I found when I pulled the lever off to change the housing. Two sections of housing put together. No ferrules, no nothing. They weren't even butted up against each other. Yep, here's your problem.

The next day in the support van we came across a flat, the rider had told us he'd already patched and just needed to fill up. I grabbed a floor pump, pumped him up and sent him on his way. We caught up with him a few miles down the road, the same tire flat. We swapped his wheel out and sent him on his way. At this point we were running out of spare wheels, so I was trying to get rider wheels together to hand out as spares. As I was inspecting the tire I found this:

Unfortunately the photo didn't focus correctly, but that's a glueless tube patch on the outside of a tire. Well, I think I've found your problem.

All in all it was a great time, and I met some really good people. I hope to be invited back for the Ironman World Championship later this fall.

Corner Office

About two weeks ago I interviewed for a wrench position at a triathalon shop in town here. I got the job, and I've been working there for just over a week and I'm getting used to things. It's Felt/Cervelo/Litespeed/Bianchi dealer. I get to use words like "torque wrench" and "assembly compound" very reguarly. Pretty classy joint.
One thing I can't figure out though: there is a well stocked shop area on the second floor, in the corner. Windows on both sides. Nobody else wants to work there. It's become my own personal 100 square foot corner office where I tinker away on $2000+ tri bikes. Away from customers. I'm not expected to answer the phone: it doesn't even ring in the room. Out the windows above my bench I can see the Koolau mountains, and to my left Ala Wai Golf Course. I even get a commission on the work I complete while I'm busy not being interrupted. Not a bad gig.

Bad Bike JuJu

Household bike destruction in the last 24 hours or so:

3 flat tires
2 broken spokes
1 crank brothers pedal body ejection.

Week of Adventure

To celebrate my last week of unemployment Tim came to visit and we did a few long hikes. Starting from our door we repeated the hike Maria and I did about a week before, to the top of Tantalus from Manoa Falls trailhead. Things went well. The summit was less windy and we lunched at the peak.

The next hike was a bit more interesting. We headed out along the Western coast toward Makaha to hike a more ambitious route. Eight miles long, same as the Tantalus hike, but with about 3500 feet of elevation gain instead of 1500. Things started to get weird right away. Tim's family came along to drop us at the trailhead with their rental car. The trailhead looked like a car junkyard with a service road. Up we started on the service road. About a mile or so in we turned around to snap a photo of the view, having already gained a significant elevation. After the photo the brush to our right started to rustle. Is the wind doing that? Then it rustled faster, and closer. We sped up. I looked back to my right, fully expecting to see a furious wild boar. I was surprised, but not relieved to see a bull launch out of the weeds. A big bull.
Tim had gained about 10 yards on me. I took out my puny pocket knife. I'd likely have had more luck throwing rocks than trying to use that paltry excuse for a knife. I started both running and thinking much faster. Bush: Not strong enough. Tree: not tall enough. Telephone pole: that'd have to be it. Even if i couldn't climb it, I might be able to use it as a blocker.
The relief of seeing that bull turn its head away from us and enter the weeds on the opposite side of the service road was overwhelming. It was so relieving I couldn't help but laugh about the situation. Another 1/2 mile up I was howling with laughter.
Most of the rest of the hike was not particularly eventful except that it was very steep. We were climbing sections where people had installed electrical cords and ropes for assistance. When we neared the summit things got even steeper. We now had to maneuver over a three foot wide boulder with a 200-300ft drop on either side of it, with the aid of a garden hose. We discussed turning back for a few minutes. We decided we'd move slowly forward and turn around the minute things got any worse. Tim moved to the center of the boulder and it began to rain. We turned back.
About halfway down the ridge Tim realized he'd dropped his camera. I made my way back up the ridge, since I had the better footwear for the muddy climbs. I found the camera about 1/2 mile in, and raced back down. We completed the rest of the hike without incident. You can see Tim's photo's here

A couple of days later Tim and I booked a flight to the big island seven hours in advance. We slept soundly until 3 am, then we were volcano bound. We did a few hikes, saw the petroglyphs, made a stop at a coffee farm and met a wandering hippy who smelled things instead of eating food. All in about 48 hours. Not a bad way to leave the non-working world. Volcano photos here, courtesy of Tim.

Pugsley in Commuting Mode

Not all the bike lanes are bad bike lanes!

Not as nearly as bad as the Hennepin bike lane that vanishes into thin air, but still amusing. I wonder if there was a discussion about what to do about the grates: "Gee, that seems kind of dangerous, all in the middle of the bike lane and everything." "Yeah, we had better draw a line around that one."