This week I went to two bike shops I don't normally go to and here's the story of what happened.
I'm going to protect the innocent and not mention any names. These were isolated incidents, weren't a big deal and one person a bike shop does not make. I will point out that both shops specialized in road bikes. Roadie Shops if you will. Do what you want with that fact.
Exhibit A.
I broke a spoke on my road bike. Went into the shop and asked them to replace the spoke. Hope it would be done on the spot but completely understood when it wasn't offered. Bike-store-guy was courteous but not what I would call friendly.
Got a call later in the day to say it was finished (hurray!) and that the new spoke was not black like the rest of my spokes; it was silver (oh). While I understand this is no big deal (and actually don't care what it looks like) I believe that if I were some tall, slim, hardcore looking guy he would have called and asked if it was okay first. Am I right? Maybe next time I'll go in in a skin suit and TT helmet and see what kind of service I get.
Exhibit B.
I was fixing the back brakes on my road bike and snapped the bolt that holds the cable because it was corroded and wouldn't budge. No problem, only a small piece of the caliper where the bolt was stuck needed to be replaced to fix this. I took the offending piece a different bike shop than above and asked if they had that piece in stock.
This time very-friendly-bike-store-guy goes to look. Comes back and says no, they don't have it in stock but very generously offers to replace my entire caliper instead with cheap calipers. Seriously?
He asks what bike I have because he assumes I don't know what brakes I have. I politely tell him what the brakes are and that no thank you, I don't want to replace the whole caliper because of this tiny part. Can you please just order the part?
So he assumed:
1. I have no idea what parts are on my bike
2. These unknown parts are crap
3. I'd probably rather replace them with other crap instead of waiting a couple of days to replace the part.
He made all these assumptions just by looking at me.
So the moral of the story for us ladies is make sure you know what you want and what you've got before you go to a shop. And the moral of the story for these bike shop guys is give us ladies a little respect and the benefit of the doubt before you assume we're freakin' clueless.
Saturday, July 18, 2009
Wednesday, July 15, 2009
How do I love Joe Mamma?
....let me count thy ways.
I took my bike in to Joe Mamma for the "Eric-over" in preparation for Intermontane. He found that I had damaged my derailleur where it bolts onto the bike and it was affecting shifting into the two smallest gears. Since I will apparently appreciate those gears on Kamloops singletrack (rumor has it), I wanted to get it sorted.
Many bikes shops (not all of them, of course!) would have strongly suggested a new derailleur as option A. $$Cha-ching$$$ Not Eric. Of course it was option B but he asked if he could try and fix it first by cutting out the interfering piece. Being the frugal, environmentally minded gal that I am, I said without hesitation for him to go for it. No need to unnecessarily bin an XTR derailleur.
Eric called back 30 minutes later with the good news that it worked. Now I can afford to replace a couple of holey bike shorts for the race.
12 days till Day 1!
I took my bike in to Joe Mamma for the "Eric-over" in preparation for Intermontane. He found that I had damaged my derailleur where it bolts onto the bike and it was affecting shifting into the two smallest gears. Since I will apparently appreciate those gears on Kamloops singletrack (rumor has it), I wanted to get it sorted.
Many bikes shops (not all of them, of course!) would have strongly suggested a new derailleur as option A. $$Cha-ching$$$ Not Eric. Of course it was option B but he asked if he could try and fix it first by cutting out the interfering piece. Being the frugal, environmentally minded gal that I am, I said without hesitation for him to go for it. No need to unnecessarily bin an XTR derailleur.
Eric called back 30 minutes later with the good news that it worked. Now I can afford to replace a couple of holey bike shorts for the race.
12 days till Day 1!
Tuesday, July 14, 2009
I have a crush on my hardtail
Took my hardtail out for its maiden voyage last night. Wow.
I think I'm in love.
I think I'm in love.
Monday, July 13, 2009
Summer fun
It was a good weekend. One of the best weekends of the summer so far actually.
Friday was beautiful. We loaded up and headed out for a leisurely paced all-day ride to Silver Lake Provincial Park. Even though our route was only 120km, we took all day as the loaded bikes and our relaxed mindset dictated the pace.
After enjoying over 20km of Ottawa bike path and about the same along country roads, we stopped in Almonte for a pitcher of Sangaria and veggie burgers at the Barely Mow along the water. A couple more hours of picturesque car-free country roads and then we indulged in another stop where we enjoyed too many cookies and the casual, yet prolific, cursing of the local color of Lanark.
As we neared the end of our day, we were growing weary of dragging our heavy loads through the highlands of Lanark County. The hills were steep and many.
When we woke up in the morning, we were greeted by intense thunder storms. I think the video says it all...
Eventually the intensity subsided and we nervously set out. We headed into Perth on nice gravelly, cottage roads to avoid highway 7. It began to rain again so we hid in a cute little restaurant to wait it out. From Perth we took the easy, flat way home on the route that the Rideau Lakes Tour takes to get back to Ottawa. A wicked tailwind helped make this day much easier than the previous.
A mid-afternoon stop was necessary at the subway in Richmond to avoid yet another downpour. We weren't so lucky when we were 30 minutes from home with no where to hide and the heavens opened up one last time just to make certain our gear would need to be hung to dry.
Here are some pictures of the journey...enjoy.
Friday was beautiful. We loaded up and headed out for a leisurely paced all-day ride to Silver Lake Provincial Park. Even though our route was only 120km, we took all day as the loaded bikes and our relaxed mindset dictated the pace.
After enjoying over 20km of Ottawa bike path and about the same along country roads, we stopped in Almonte for a pitcher of Sangaria and veggie burgers at the Barely Mow along the water. A couple more hours of picturesque car-free country roads and then we indulged in another stop where we enjoyed too many cookies and the casual, yet prolific, cursing of the local color of Lanark.
As we neared the end of our day, we were growing weary of dragging our heavy loads through the highlands of Lanark County. The hills were steep and many.
When we woke up in the morning, we were greeted by intense thunder storms. I think the video says it all...
Eventually the intensity subsided and we nervously set out. We headed into Perth on nice gravelly, cottage roads to avoid highway 7. It began to rain again so we hid in a cute little restaurant to wait it out. From Perth we took the easy, flat way home on the route that the Rideau Lakes Tour takes to get back to Ottawa. A wicked tailwind helped make this day much easier than the previous.
A mid-afternoon stop was necessary at the subway in Richmond to avoid yet another downpour. We weren't so lucky when we were 30 minutes from home with no where to hide and the heavens opened up one last time just to make certain our gear would need to be hung to dry.
Here are some pictures of the journey...enjoy.
Friday, July 10, 2009
Going Camping - bike tour style!
I'm off to Silver Lake for a weekend of camping. Ride there in the blazing sun today and back tomorrow in pissing rain...about 110km each way. Taking the backroads on my new cross bike - how's this for a shake down ride.
So excited!!
Tuesday, July 7, 2009
Cause apparently I didn't get enough riding in at the race...
Before the race on Sunday, I had decided that I should also do a long ride on Monday for back to back solid days to prep for Intermontane. I knew I'd find any and all excuses not to ride so I decided to invite friends so I'd have to go.
It worked. When the time came, I was not looking forward to getting out there but knowing Big Ring was going to be waiting for me at Gamelin, I started to get ready.
I looked out the window at the grey sky, wondering if it was going to rain or not. The weather network was waffling all day...yes its going to rain...oops no, its not...wait, maybe it will...okay maybe it won't. A more appropriate forecast would have been: "UNCLE! We have no idea what is going to happen."
I can see why the weather network was so confused because obviously the weather itself was confused. One minute we'd have a sunny downpour, next minute black skies, then sunny skies, and repeat...but in a random order.
We did a loop of the park. I felt pretty good for the first bit; my legs seemed to be okay with the situation. However, this seemed to change as the ride continued. They began to hurt somewhere on Fortune and got progressively worse on the way back down from Champlain. We were supposed to meet Mark back at Gamelin for another there and back to Champlain but I'll admit I did an enthusiastic fist pump when we saw him at the top of pinks. woot, I wouldn't be climbing pinks twice!
The rest of the ride was pretty hard. My whole body ached at this point. I was really glad I had the company of the boys because I would have given up much earlier. Big 'ol rest day today.
It worked. When the time came, I was not looking forward to getting out there but knowing Big Ring was going to be waiting for me at Gamelin, I started to get ready.
I looked out the window at the grey sky, wondering if it was going to rain or not. The weather network was waffling all day...yes its going to rain...oops no, its not...wait, maybe it will...okay maybe it won't. A more appropriate forecast would have been: "UNCLE! We have no idea what is going to happen."
I can see why the weather network was so confused because obviously the weather itself was confused. One minute we'd have a sunny downpour, next minute black skies, then sunny skies, and repeat...but in a random order.
We did a loop of the park. I felt pretty good for the first bit; my legs seemed to be okay with the situation. However, this seemed to change as the ride continued. They began to hurt somewhere on Fortune and got progressively worse on the way back down from Champlain. We were supposed to meet Mark back at Gamelin for another there and back to Champlain but I'll admit I did an enthusiastic fist pump when we saw him at the top of pinks. woot, I wouldn't be climbing pinks twice!
The rest of the ride was pretty hard. My whole body ached at this point. I was really glad I had the company of the boys because I would have given up much earlier. Big 'ol rest day today.
Monday, July 6, 2009
Ganaraska 1 - Vegan Vagabond nil
Tough race today: full-on tummy meltdown at km 60 of 79...least pleasant 19km ever. oh well. As usual I have trouble falling asleep after a marathon so I thought I'd write this up for something to do.
However, I think I can only muster up point form:
- Mari and the True North gang were there. When they aren't at races, it seems like something is missing.
- First 60km was crazy fun single track. I loved it.
- I came in 2nd. I still would have came in 2nd even if my stomach didn't revolt. Sara was very strong today and I couldn't catch her even when I was feeling good.
- Poison ivy is rampant at Ganaraska. I've never seen so much in one place. I'm so paranoid I'm going to be all blistery tomorrow.
- Driving down with Big Ring and Disco Stu was fun.
- A chipmunk ran between my wheels at the 50km mark. I screamed. I was sure I was going to cream him. Luckily I didn't.
- Disco Stu can pack in a lot of food for such a thin guy. After the race he ate more than Big Ring and I combined.
- Single track is relentless when you're not a happy camper.
- I guess I can get my revenge on Ganaraska at Paul's although I have to admit the 100 is sounding pretty intimidating right now...maybe I'll forget by September. Somebody remind me please and strongly suggest that I do the 60 instead.
That's all I got. Time to try to sleep.
However, I think I can only muster up point form:
- Mari and the True North gang were there. When they aren't at races, it seems like something is missing.
- First 60km was crazy fun single track. I loved it.
- I came in 2nd. I still would have came in 2nd even if my stomach didn't revolt. Sara was very strong today and I couldn't catch her even when I was feeling good.
- Poison ivy is rampant at Ganaraska. I've never seen so much in one place. I'm so paranoid I'm going to be all blistery tomorrow.
- Driving down with Big Ring and Disco Stu was fun.
- A chipmunk ran between my wheels at the 50km mark. I screamed. I was sure I was going to cream him. Luckily I didn't.
- Disco Stu can pack in a lot of food for such a thin guy. After the race he ate more than Big Ring and I combined.
- Single track is relentless when you're not a happy camper.
- I guess I can get my revenge on Ganaraska at Paul's although I have to admit the 100 is sounding pretty intimidating right now...maybe I'll forget by September. Somebody remind me please and strongly suggest that I do the 60 instead.
That's all I got. Time to try to sleep.
Subscribe to:
Posts (Atom)
