I’ve been fixing bikes for over twenty years. I like to think I’m a reasonably competent bike mechanic. But holy shit. Seven broken tyre levers and the stupid fucking tyre still refuses to go on.
Ok. I’m getting ahead of myself. So this is what happened.
I’m doing mechanical support at TriAthy. Apart from Ironman it’s the biggest triathlon in the county. Two thousand athletes, a large proportion of whom are first timers, beginners, newbies, tri virgins. It’s been my favourite event to work at for years.
It’s the same every year. Someone (actually usually it’s about thirty someones) shows up with a bike that’s broken or not safe to race and they’re turned away from transition and end up over with me at mechanical support panicking that they won’t get to do what is usually their first tri.
I get a big buzz from saving someone’s day. I feel like a superhero with an Allen key and a track pump.
Anyway a woman showed up to get a puncture fixed, easy one. So I peeled off her tyre, pulled out the tube, cleaned the tyre and replaced the tube. I started re-fitting the tyre and needed a tyre lever to get the last bit on.
“Man this is tight” I think to myself and then there’s a snap and the levers broken. “Shite” I think. I haven’t done that for a long time. “No problem, I’ve brought eight levers with me” I think to myself.
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