Thursday was a day off the bike and a day in the bike shop to earn some cash money. The shop was fairly busy and I found myself building up another Weehoo (Weee Hoooo!!). Thankfully I only f’ed up a few things along the way–way better than the last Weehoo build which took me forever due to a parts issue. The rest of my work day was spent getting my balls busted by Napper and Terry, unpacking and checking in inventory, and pimping bikes to folks; including a couple of Mennonite kids that I initially helped out a couple of weeks back.
The last time these two kids were in, they were with their mom looking and test riding. This time the three of them returned with dad in tow, and after his approval they left the happy owners of two new bikes. The boy in particular was stoked with his X-Caliber. Of course I wept a little bit when he wanted a kickstand installed. I waited until they left before I buried my tear filled eyes and chubby cheeks in my dirty palms.
I had time in the late morning to flip the Boone’s rear brake rotor the correct direction after screwing it up when I hurriedly mounted it to my wheel the other day. Then Napper did me a solid and got my rear brake caliper dialed in after “someone” loosened it. Soon my Boone joined Napper’s semi-custom Trek Stache 5 29er plus to hang around behind the shop (probably to smoke cigarettes and drink cheap wine while making cat calls at the cougars entering the nearby beauty salon).
You may ask “What makes his Stache “semi custom?” Well, not much, other than taking the least expensive of the Stache lineup, swapping out a few parts and opting to install a Rock Shox RS-1 on the front end instead of the stock rigid fork.
I’ve only ridden this Stache around the parking lot and it seemed pretty swell, but Napper (the bike’s owner and co-owner of the shop) says he hasn’t had this much fun on a bike in a long time. In fact, he equates the trail riding fun and handling he’s experiencing with 29+ to when he first made the switch from 26″ to 29″ wheels some years ago. I cannot confirm nor deny this claim, all I know is that he’s pretty stoked on the Stache and is riding the hell out of it. Your mileage may vary.
Friday The 12th! Almost as bad as the 13th
My plan for Friday was to get a nice ride in on the Boone, but Ma Nature didn’t cooperate by pissing down heavy ass rains all morning. Lady Luck was also a bitch and our washing machine’s drain is backed up and needs to be snaked n’at later today. I just had it looked at the other day and nothing. Today: something. Piss! On top of that my temporary crown cracked off last night BUT my permanent one was in today, so I had to make an early dentist office visit too. Did someone say “PISS!!”
On a better note, today is Wifey’s birthday. Happy cuarenta y cuatro baby!
Back to the shop to sling bike tomorrow. Bike ridin’ is questionable until Sunday morning.
Later.