Tag: Mechanic

PBMA Dulles Workshop – Days 2 & 3

20180207_075058[1]The second and third days of the PBMA Dulles Workshop were as packed with information as the first day, if not more so.

All the seminar attendees began Day Two with a panel discussion about the future of service in our industry. Panelists included Ed Reynolds (PBMA Board Member, Clemmons Bicycle Shop), Jenny Kallista (PBMA Board Member, Appalachian Bicycle Institute), and myself. It was a great discussion panel. Several members of the crowd participated, and several participants appoached us following the discussion for more conversation. The buzzwords around the discussion and the workshop seemed to be “service-only,” “mobile,” and, “consumer-direct.” Take that for what it’s worth. More thoughts to come…

Here’s a breakdown of what my group did on Day Two:

SRAM –  Great hands-on clinic.  We did a remote lever bleed on a RockShox Reverb dropper post, overhauled a Charger 2 damper for a RockShox Pike, and bled a new SRAM Guide hydraulic disc brake.  I learned a lot, and Ed and Simon had great tips on how to sell suspension service and upgrades to customers.

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Stan’s No Tubes–  We learned a lot about the history and technology that has led Stan’s to be the industry’s leader in tubeless products.  This clinic taught us a lot about different conversions, materials used in sealant, what makes a tubeless rim and tire combination work, and more ways to be profitable by selling tubeless technology to those that come in our shops.

Magura–  I thoroughly enjoyed the Magura session in Dulles.  Jude Monica, who is really a legend in our industry (and overall great dude), instructed us on how hydraulic brakes work, including some really in-depth drawings of a lever and caliper.  The Magura staff also showed us new technology, like their wireless dropper post (WANT), and instructed us on how to properly bleed a Magura brake.

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Ruckus Composites –  This seminar, although not really a hands-on period of instruction, was one of my favorites.  Carbon, one of the most widely-used materials in bike and component construction, is very mysterious to some people.  The guys at Ruckus spent time explaining the material, then showed examples of their carbon repair process.  The things that they can do to repair and salvage a broken carbon frame is RIDICULOUS.  If you can imagine it, they can probably make it happen, AND paint it to match the old paint job.  I was severely impressed.

We finished the evening with a networking event in the lobby. I got to spend some time meeting with new industry folks, catching up with old friends, and sharing war stories with seasoned mechanics. That was a really fun time, and I hope the PBMA continues to integrate that into their events.

Day Three began with a talk by Mike Reisenleiter (Winged Wheel Development), entitled, “Service Profits and the Future of Retail.” His talk took a look deeper into the state of bicycle retail, both now and in the not-so-distant future. The buzzwords kept coming back into the picture, but Mike presented numbers that demonstrated that brick-and-mortar stores are not all going away, but the landscape of how we do business is changing. I found his talk to be very interesting, and plan on discussing these topics with him more in the near future.

The next presentation was from Brett Flemming (Efficient Velo Tools).  A former service manager for multiple Bike Gallery locations in Portland, Oregon, Brett followed his passion for tools and founded his own company several years ago.  EVT has now become his main job, in addition to speaking gigs around the country with PBMA.  I heard Brett speak in Atlanta at a NBDA seminar around ten years ago, and the message remained mostly the same: your quality and customer service should never be compromised, and that will set you above the rest.  I thoroughly enjoyed the talk, and the conversation with Brett over the course of my time in Dulles.

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The rest of the final day concluded with two three-hour seminars.  The first was the PBMA eTech seminar, taught by Ed Benjamin of the Light Electric Vehicle Association (LEVA).  Ed is probably the BEST resource for general e-bike knowledge in the United States.  We learned a lot of basic e-bike knowledge, parts, and tools we would need to repair e-bikes.  LEVA also offers other advanced certifications to allow mechanics to level up their knowledge and be a better technician for our customers.

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The last clinic of the event was the Campagnolo Tech Clinic.  The Campy N.A. crew did a great job teaching us about the history of the company, EPS (Campagnolo’s Electronic Groupsets), the MyCampy app, and their new hydraulic road disc brakes (which is styled and functions a LOT like a Magura brake… ). I have never seen a rotor with a more rounded edge on it, which should silence critics of road disc technology.

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All in all, the PBMA Technical Workshop was a great event, and offered certifications and continuing education units that will be helpful in maintaining my mechanic certification and increasing my effectiveness around my shop.  I would highly recommend these events in the future, as I’m sure they will expand to other regions of the country and also modify the courses of instruction as time passes.

I Need to Write More Often…

stuck-in-a-rutThe last 9 months has been crazy.  I haven’t posted much of anything, although I’ve had plenty of time on my hands.  Sometimes, I guess we just get in ruts.  Here are the bullet points:

  • As I already updated, In mid-July, I lost my job at BikeStreet USA in Greenville.  Turned out to be a blessing in disguise, because the company announced they were closing up shop at the end of September.  I hated it for most of the people that worked there, because they were pretty straight up.  As for a few people in the company, it couldn’t have happened to better people.  I’ve taken a couple of months and gotten over my harsh feelings about my dismissal, and that’s all I’ll say about that.
  • Six months without a job is hard.
  • I did two contract mechanic jobs with the JDRF (Juvenile Diabetes Research Foundation).  Flew out to Nashville and Tucson for their fundraising rides.  Had a great time, met a lot of great people, and hope to attend a few more of those events in 2015, if at all possible.
  • I found a new job.  On January 5th, I started working at The Great Escape, in Greenville.  I’m not wrenching on bikes at all (unless I can sneak back to change a tire or something…), but rather working the sales floor.  I find a lot of enjoyment in talking to people, figuring out their goals, and getting them started on their cycling journey.  The parent company, Atlanta Cycling, has been nothing short of wonderful to work for.  I have never seen a bike shop with such a solid structure for training and equipping staff to do their job to the best of their abilities.  I love this place.  The shop is undergoing a big overhaul in March, and becoming Trek Store South Carolina.  I’m ecstatic about being present for the change, and seeing how we can elevate the customer experience for all of our guests.
  • School.  Last semester, I took a full load of classes at Liberty University Online.  This semester… same thing, except now I have a full-time job, too.  It’s tough, but I have a goal, and I will finish.

Everything else is so-so.  Family’s good.  I’m not riding as much as I want to, but I’m starting to get back on the horse.  I plan on selling my Scott Foil 20, and picking up a Trek Emonda pretty soon.  Or maybe the Trek 720 Disc or Trek 920 (touring machines).  I think that a new bike might light the fire I need to get my sorry butt back in shape again.

Trek 920
Trek 920 – Mountain Touring Bike. One BEAST of a machine.

Any questions/comments/concerns?  Want to read about something specific?  I’m looking for topics.  Please, if you think of anything, give me a shout at probikewrench@gmail.com.  Take care.

Happy Holidays and Such…

Merry Christmas and Happy New Year to all my friends, family, and colleagues.  I’m thinking of all of you this holiday season, and I wish you all the best for 2014.

The race mechanic requests for 2014 are rolling in.  I’ve already had to turn down a few upcoming opportunities due to scheduling conflicts.  I hate turning the jobs down, but it’s a double-edged sword.  It’s really fun to travel, to see new places, and to work with new athletes on the road.  The downside is being away from the family.  I was on the road A LOT in 2013, and missed my wife and kids very badly.  We’ve both been blessed with steady jobs, and are FINALLY falling into some sort of rhythm in this crazy life.  As much as I enjoy managing all the moving parts and hitting the road, my flexibility to do so isn’t going to be there in 2014.  I haven’t said “NO” to everything yet.  I’m still trying to shift some things around to try and sneak in a bit of race work next year.  Maybe get a little fix during the upcoming season…

I am hopefully going to do some more local races next year.  I changed race team affiliations, and will be racing with Team Energy Velo for 2014.  It’s a team that my shop sponsors, and it’s headed up by two very good friends and customers of mine.  They’re looking after me very well, and I hope to represent them to the best of my ability at the races I’ll be able to attend.  I’m trying to get a few solid results early in the season, in order to get my upgrade to Category 3 this Spring.  I’ve been a Cat. 4 for as long as I can remember, and the tail end of the season I actually had some decent results.  Hoping to upgrade sooner, rather than later.

Gotta get some of my fitness back.  I hyper-extended my left knee the day before the Hincapie Gran Fondo, and decided to ride the entire 80 mile ride with a little soreness in the knee.  That turned out to be a horrible idea.  I severely strained my patellar tendon, and was off the bike for over a month.  There were times I could barely walk, and most nights I spent with my leg elevated and icing.  With some amazing help from one of my friends, Jeff, a physical therapist, I was able to rehab and strengthen the knee back to normal.  My fitness took a serious dive, however.  I’ve been able to ride during the past three weeks, but it’s still winter, and I’m being a bit of a wuss about it.  I’ve signed up for the Strava/Rapha Festive 500k challenge, which entails riding 500k between Christmas Eve and New Year’s Eve.  I don’t see any way to finish it, short of burying myself on NYE, but I’m doing as many miles as I can until then to see if I can regain some of that lost form.  Definitely got some pounds to shed and some muscle to regain in that leg…

Oh… I need some help.  I want to plan some sort of bike adventure for 2014.  I need some ideas.  Leave me a comment here if you have any thoughts for what kind of bike mischief I might get into.

Good talk.  See you out there.

Per the Usual…

It’s been so long since I blogged, I can’t even remember what the subject of my last post was.  I will say this… it has been one HECK of a year, and it ain’t over yet.  Here’s a timeline, of sorts, since I last blogged:

  • I finished up my gig with Carmichael Training Systems at the Tour of California (Holy Cow… I haven’t blogged since May/June!).  It was another great trip out west.  We had a busy 10 days out there, and I got the opportunity to work with a lot of great coaches and staff, and a very talented group of cyclists.  It’s always a pleasure to work with such a professional organization like CTS.
  • For Memorial Day weekend, I missed USPRO Championships in Chattanooga, TN, in order to head to the Princeton/Pennington, NJ area for a training camp for the team I was working Race Across America with.  Team Melanoma Exposed consisted of 4 employees of Bristol-Myers Squibb, all of who were dedicated to raising money and awareness to combat melanoma.  We had a great training weekend, and were definitely prepared for our trip across the USA in June.  I also learned that not all of New Jersey is as terrible as portrayed on MTV.  The Princeton area was beautiful, and had some amazing roads for cycling.  I’d like to get back there with my own bike sometime.
  • While in California, I was asked to work at the Philly Cycling Classic with the Specialized-Lululemon Women’s Team.  I was stoked to have the opportunity to work with them for that weekend.  It was good to see my friend Carmen Small, again.  She was one of the ladies on the Aaron’s team when I wrenched for them in 2007.  She’s come a long way since then, including winning the USPRO Women’s TT Championship the previous weekend.  The whole team was amazing, and after a very interesting race (including temporarily being pulled from the caravan for our vehicle being too tall), we pulled off the victory, with Evie Stevens taking the win.  As a mechanic, it’s always good to get a win like that… it validates the work you do.
  • I flew home from Philly to Greenville, SC, to start my new job as Store Manager at BikeStreet USA.  It was a bit of a weird transition, because I only got a week and a half to work at the store before heading back out west for RAAM.  For two months, I stayed with my best friend, Josh, commuted by bike to and from work, and had to try and buy a house… all while the rest of my family was in Florida, vacationing with the in-laws.  It was tough to be without them for so long.
  • Mid-June, I flew back out to California for RAAM.  This was my first time working the event, so I didn’t know what to expect… and neither did the rest of the team.  We were determined to make it work, however.  After a couple of prep days, we started in Oceanside, CA, and around 8-9 days later, we arrived in Annapolis, MD… ocean to ocean.  The team finished 3rd in the Men’s 4 Person Team division.  It was a surreal experience, and I can’t even come close to describing it all right now.  I will say that once you spend over a week working, sleeping, and enduring 16 people in an RV… there are definitely some bonds forged that cannot be broken.  Take that however you like…
  • Since late June, I’ve been at the helm at BikeStreet USA in Greenville on Woodruff Road.  I think we’ve got the best staff in the business, and I’m dedicated to making things work more smoothly and efficiently around the store.  We’ve done well for the past few months, made some changes, and we’re constantly looking to improve the way we do things around the shop, to enhance the customer experience, and to make our shop the go-to shop in the Greenville area for… well, for bikes in general (No offense to my other buddies at other shops in Greenville… nothing but love for you guys!).

I may recap some of these events in greater detail later, but for now, I’ll try to start posting a little more regularly. We FINALLY got our internet set up at our new house, so I’ll have a bit of time in the evenings to catch up on things.   I post fairly regularly on Instagram, Facebook, and Twitter, so if you just can’t wait for a new blog post, follow the links to those pages.

Thanks for the support.  More good stuff coming soon.

Riding the Wind of Change

I took a brief hiatus from writing on my blog, not because I didn’ t have anything to say, but because I simply haven’t had time to cram another thing into my schedule.  Looking back, I see my last post was before Cyclocross Worlds in February, so I’ve got some catching up to do.  Here’s a few highlights:

  • Sickness – Everyone in my family (with the exception of my amazing wife) got some form of a flu or stomach bug AT LEAST a few times.  Niki had some debilitating migraine issues, rather frequently, which required some added responsibility on my part after work.
  • School – Had one class during the first half of the semester, and one during the second half (which ended May 10).  I did okay during the first class, but the second, I tanked.  The class wasn’t interesting to me, and I didn’t put in the time needed to make the grades happen.  I feel really guilty about it, but sometimes those things happen.
  • Shop Closed – The shop job that I landed in September came to a halt in mid-April.  Free-Flite Bicycles bought a multisport store in Sandy Springs, Cadence Multisport, forcing our store location to close.  It was a great financial move on the owner’s part, and will work well for the company, but a shame for the Canton community.  Half of the staff decided to transfer to the main store in Marietta, and half of us opted for other things.  I didn’t know what I would do at the time, but I knew I could get some jobs in the interim, in order to make it work.
  • We’re Moving! – With all the melee going on with my job, Niki and I decided that it was time for a change.  We informed our landlord that at the end of May, we would be vacating our current residence.  The plan was to head to Jacksonville, FL, to spend the summer with Niki’s parents.  It would give the kids some quality “grandparent time,” and give us a break to regroup and figure out what our next step would be.

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Those were the difficulty-riddled bullet points.  The following are some great things that came along, filled in the gaps, and offered the silver lining to my aforementioned dark clouds:

  • UCI Paracycling Open (Greenville, SC) – I was asked to round up a crew of mechanics to provide neutral support for an international paracycling race near my hometown.  I was happy to oblige, mainly because it was a win-win; I had the opportunity to work on some exquisite machines, meet some absolutely unbelievable athletes, and my kids got to spend some quality time with their grandparents.  The field was filled with World Champions in their individual disciplines (at one point, there were FIVE World Champs in the TT start house at one time!), and other local athletes, who had never competed in road events before.  It was an incredible experience, that I will post about later.  I want to thank my neutral support crew for all their help:  Neal Herring (Sunshine Cycle Shop – Greenville, SC), Tim Wellborn (Cycle Center – Columbia, SC), and Derrick O’Shields (Grady’s Great Outdoors Bike Shop – Anderson, SC).  Honorable mention goes to my wife, Niki, who helped me at the TT start and ran a lot of errands for things we needed during the weekend.
  • Athens Twilight/Roswell Criterium –  Since my bike shop had closed, I had some free time on my hands, so I picked up a job with a pro team, Team SmartStop p/b Mountain Khakis.  I had followed them for a while, and had worked for some of their riders when they were on other teams in the past.  They had a split team, meaning half their team was racing in Arkansas at the Joe Martin Stage race, and the other half were racing the USACRITS Speed Week criteriums in the Southeast.  I provided mechanical support for them over the course of the weekend, and they managed to be one of the strongest teams in the field, putting several riders in the Top 10 each day.  More to come on those events, as well.
  • Amgen Tour of California w/CTS – I’m currently in California, on my way to work at the Tour of California, once again working with Carmichael Training Systems.  I worked California, Utah, and USPRO Challenge in Colorado with them last year, and had a really good time.  I am looking forward to the next nine days of work.  Although there are extremely long, hard days of work ahead, I really am in my element when working like this.
  • Race Across America (RAAM) – A week or so ago, I accepted a position as mechanic for a RAAM team from Bristol Myers Squibb.  These men are trying to raise money to bring about a greater awareness, and hopefully a cure, for melanoma.  After Tour of California, I will be home for three days, then flying up to Princeton, NJ, for a camp with the team.  On June 12th, I’ll fly back out to California and follow Team Melanoma Exposed across the United States, on their mission to spread awareness of this terrible form of cancer.
  • GOT A NEW JOB! – When visiting my parents in SC last weekend, I visited a friend in Greenville, SC, who is regional manager for a chain of stores called BikeStreet USA.  He was in need of a Service Manager at his largest store, and asked if I was interested.  After several discussions and a really great visit to the shop, I have accepted that position, and will start very shortly.  The plan is to spend a week in Greenville after my Tour of California and RAAM Team Camp trips, but before RAAM.  After RAAM is finished, I will fly back down to Greenville and be there full-time from that point on.  This will mean a big move for our family, but we’ve discussed it and feel it will be a good move for us, on several levels.   I am going to try and take some traveling mechanic positions in the future, and it seems by the way the regional manager and I were talking, that scheduling adjustments and vacation days can allow some of that to be possible.

Lots of change is happening, and on some fronts, I’m very nervous and anxious.  I can’t help thinking that when things stop changing, we stop living.  We become stagnant at that point, and fall into a really bad spot that nobody wants to be in.  I’m glad things are changing for us, and I can’t wait to move on to the next several chapters of our lives.  We’ll be leaving a lot of good friends in Georgia, but we’re close enough to make occasional visits, and there’s always Facebook…

We’re currently halfway finished with our move, but will be transitioning over the next two months.  If you need to contact me, e-mail me at probikewrench@gmail.com.  Thanks for your friendship and support.