06.28.11

AIDS LifeCycle 10

Posted in Uncategorized at 10:52 pm by Tyson

AIDS/LifeCycle is a fully supported, 7-day bike ride from San Francisco to Los Angeles.  It’s a life-changing ride—not a race—through some of California’s most beautiful countryside.  “AIDS/LifeCycle is co-produced by the L.A. Gay & Lesbian Center and the San Francisco AIDS Foundation and is designed to advance their shared interest to end the pandemic and human suffering caused by AIDS.” http://www.aidslifecycle.org   This year was the 10 year anniversary of the ride, with American Cyclery supporting the ride from day 1.

I’ve supported the ride 9 times as a mechanic, only missing ALC 7, plus doing the precursor to the ride before as “Bike Tech,” we perform the full spectrum of repairs, from fixing flats to overhauling anything.  The working day starts at around 6 A.M., ending when the last bike is repaired, being anywhere from 9-11 P.M.  It is a marathon of repairs, getting “rest” as you are driving from camp to pit stop and back to camp.

Every year people always ask me how many bikes I work on?  This is mind boggling to even keep tally since you barley raise your head up to greet your next repair.  Most riders change flat tires by themselves, but to put it in perspective, I change more this week then I do the rest of the year working full time at the shop.  Plus, I always get the question of what is the biggest/toughest repair on the ride?  Well…I’ve done everything on the ride that would be performed at a shop including: wheel builds, Campy Ergo re-builds, COMPLETE overhauls, etc…  Well this year I had to photo-document an “easy” repair that went wrong, turning into a major repair.   If I would of been at the shop, it would of been fixed easy once a small part broke, but we didn’t have any spares…

It was just a normal chain installation…until the guide pin partially snapped… This happens to the best of us, with the proper tools, technique and focus, but on the road, it is another story.  Normally you just grab another pin, but on the road, you have to make due with what you’ve got.  So I carefully remove the pin in the opposite direction to inspect the damage, not being that bad, knowing I have a smaller margin of error on the next attempt.  So I go for it with Jedi focus and the pin start to bend even more, realizing that I’m screwed.  To paint a picture, it is starting to get dark and my work surface is on wood chips, which is hazardous if I drop it on the ground.  Even though we have lighting in the work tents, I see the real opportunity to utilize all of my resources.

Once I set up the new work station, it was time to track down some Super Glue to make the pin as good as “new” so I could try to insert it again.  It takes a bit to get everything aligned, ground down and I go for my 3rd attempt.  Well the pin start to bend under high stress, immediately removing it, starting the Super Glue process again.  Take 4, same thing, realizing that this minor situation has turned into a “SITUATION.”   I consider myself “determined,” while most of my friends think that I might be a little obsessive when I make up my mind, knowing it was time for plan C.  It was perfect timing as Pearl Jam started on the speakers, knowing it was sign from one of my co-workers, Scot who passed away 3 years ago. He was one of best mechanics that I’ve ever come across, also working as a race mechanic on the road, enabling me to get to upgrade from semi-pro to pro. What would Scot do in this situation? as I heard his laugh, while shaking his head, telling me to use the proper tools.   All the sudden it hit me, the 1st generation Campy 10 chain tool, being a small vise. Well no one is going to have one of these on the ride so I go over to the Cannondale big rig and see if I can borrow one.  Good thing that it wasn’t mounted on the work space inside the truck, so I took it to my new work bench.

So Plan C starts by removing the screw on the vise clamps, allowing the guide pin room as the chain pin connects the links together.  It’s all about even pressure when pressing a chain pin and I know this is going to work, with failure not being an option.  Well it worked getting the guide pin in past the chain pin junction and I finished it off with the chain tool.  In the end the bike worked perfectly, taking over an hour, plus the bike was not harmed in an way while shooting this documentation.

 

Thanks again and see you on ALC 11

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