Learn Bike Repair or FAIL!

When I first began reading about the Great Divide Race and the Tour Divide, it quickly became obvious  that if you’re gonna do this thing, you better know what’s what about bike repairs in the field.  You’ll be  75 miles from Everywhere more often than not, and if you smash your derailleur on a rock in the middle of grizzly country, it will be up to you and you alone to get your rig rolling again. 

I’ve never been a mechanical minded guy, and I never really picked up bike repair skills during my weekend warrior hay days.  If my bike needed attention, I just took it to a shop and never bothered to learn myself.  So when I decided to race the TD, I knew that I better attain a certain level of mechanical mastery…I can’t bear to think of the scenario where I’m racing, feeling great, getting in 120 miles a day, and then have to pull out because of some hardware mishap that I can’t fix because I don’t have the tools or the know-how.  I’d feel like the most dejected dunce on Earth if that happened.

To that end I’ve used several really good bike repair web sites to bone up my skills.  Namely:

BicycleTutor.com 
Sheldon Brown’s Bicycle Technical Info 
Jim Langley 

All these sites have helped me to learn about specialized bike tools and figure out how to repair some stuff, but it’s one thing to watch videos and read how-to’s.  I felt I needed some grimy, hands on experience, but I was afraid to really get in and experiment on my new big money Orbea without having a master bike mechanic on hand to keep me from permanently destroying my components. 

So I rounded up the future winner of the 2010 TD, Pat Smith, and we took an advanced bike mechanics class at REI!  It was a two night course, 3 hours per night, and it costs $80 if you’re an REI member.  We basically disassembled our bikes, cleaned everything up, and then reassembled and tuned it all to perfection.  We learned how to true our wheels, set limits on our derailleur, center our brakes, replace shifter cables, and a ton of other stuff, all very hands on.  Our instructor was Patrick, who was a very cool and patient dude.  We got to use professional tools and we learned a lot of valuable info.  I would definitely recommend this course to anyone looking to hone their skills. 

Check out an REI in your area…besides bike clinics they have lots of other events and presentations. 

Just want to mention one more thing that I am extremely grateful for.  When I was in my early twenties, I was an avid weekend warrior for several years, then I just kinda quit.  About 13 months ago, I hopped back on the bike and, near as I can figure, I’ve put in about 1800 total miles of riding on equal parts pavement, gravel, and technical trails over that time.   Last Saturday, I got my very first flat tire EVER.  I shit you not.  I can’t explain how I went so long without getting one…in order to get in some practice changing a tube, I had to just deflate, remove, and then put it right back in.  Well let me tell you, this is a big relief!  I was becoming quite certain that I would not get a flat for the next 8 months, and then get blasted with 10 flats a day when I started the Tour Divide.  Law of Averages, you see.  I seriously thought Fate was jacking with me, casuing me to confidently think I was flat-proof or something, only to unleash a vicious FlatFest upon me when I least wanted it.  When I saw my tire flattening against the gravel last Saturday, I gleefully exclaimed, “YEEESSSSSSSSSSSSSSSS!!!!”  

Or hell, maybe I’m just THAT good at avoiding them!   

See you in the wilds!

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