A Day in the Shop

This somewhat mild weather has been bringing the repairs in.

The sand/beach bike. Brought in to finish the build. I had the wheels in Tuesday to pump up.

The old school Schwinn in for a tune-up and kickstand.

As I started getting into the Schwinn tuneup, I couldn’t stop myself from tearing all the bearings open and repacking them. It always starts with the wheel bearings. This is one side of the bottom bracket bearing and cup. Nice, clean grease!

See ya soon!

A Great Time Was Had in Maryville

We fired up the jalopy, Mom and I, and pointed her West. Off to the Ville of Mary.

Our first stop was to visit an old neighbor with a new child. As Mom busied herself with the newborn and mother, I enacted my brilliance of lowering my mental age to hang out with a 3 year old.

We played catch with a squishy basketball. Then the Tonka service station was brought out, where the top level became a “microwave”. Over to the mini-trampoline, then playing guitar and singing (him, not me!). Somewhere along the way the old snotty nose would rear it’s ugly head (him, not me).

3 year old’s mother, “Get a tissue, don’t use your shirt!”

To which the 3 year old wiped it on his shirt. This happened 3-4 times.

Here’s where I step in with my brilliance.

“Hey, 3 year old, wanna wipe your nose with a tissue and then go flush it?”

“Yeah!” Let’s just say their water bill may go up this month!

Next, the coffee house…

After the visit, Mom and I head over to the Vienna Coffee House. A place where they roast their own beans, bake their own pastries, make their own lunch items. Click the link to see the place.

On the menu for today was a creamy chicken & rice soup (fantastic), pimento cheese sandwich on wheat (homemade again), lava cake (divine), and my raspberry white mocha. This is my favorite away from home coffee house…sorry still love my Tin Roof Cafe…and I’ll be back. An added bonus is the fact that a block over one can pick up the Maryville Greenway and ride to wherever.

Next trip grab riding pal and hit the pavement.

By the way, did I mention that I’ve actually been working at loosing some weight? Simple plan, watch what calories I put in and what I bun. If I go over, I adjust how long I need to exercise (ride my bike). I make some better choices, but mostly eat what I want.

Moderation.

Yeah, so I’ll pop in with some numbers from time to time. At the moment, I’ve lost 9 pounds and don’t intend to find them.

Hope you’re all having a good ‘winter’ of riding…catch ya later!

Today was full o’ wheels!

Strange to be in January and temperatures hitting 60. But it seems to be driving people in for service work

Tires and tubes were the word for the day. Mostly of the road bike variety.

Mental note to self…order more road tires.

It would seem that I now have another fatbike brethren in town. More to the point, a sand cruiser. The only thing I did was pump his tires up. Presta valve=confused. We’ve all been there.

I’m off tomorrow, so I’m visiting a friend. Then I’m off to a new (to me) coffee shop. It’s located in an old house with wooden floors. I don’t know why this fascinates me, but it does. I hear there are some greenways around the area. Will check out as well.

Quick check in, gotta go!

So simple, yet effective…

I had to share this idea from BikeCommuters.com.

Sitting in a Coffee Shop.

The past two days have been a little dreary and I’ve felt a little like poo. So I went with my mom to a coffee shop just to get out and about.

Don’t worry, nothing contagious.

I don’t remember what got us talking about it. It occurred at the bike shop that I worked at up north.

Let me gather my thoughts for a moment…

Okay. Several of us at the shop were friends with a customer and his wife. We would go riding together on the weekends when our schedules permitted. He would hang out at the shop from time to time.

We carried a certain brand of helmet that has the full price range covered, though we didn’t carry all of it. We were a little more picky on the upper end. And even though we didn’t carry all models, we had no problem ordering any helmet for a customer.

So we did. In fact, we had ordered 2 different models so she (said wife) could get the one that fit the best.

Now, I’ve never had a problem with customers ordering a product that we couldn’t get. We’ve all done it. I know customers order elsewhere when they find a deal. It happens. In general, our customers bought from us locally.

So, the helmets come in. She stops in and tries them both on. Not sure why (I wasn’t there) but she doesn’t pick one up right then.

The next time we go riding, she’s wearing the helmet she picked.

The two helmets were still waiting at the shop.

We were told she had found them cheaper online and just wanted to try them on somewhere. Yes, she never had the intention of buying one from us!

With that thought in mind, I also know customers have come in and tried something on just to buy it online. But, it was product we already had in stock. Not saying this is acceptable, as it does waste time, but it doesn’t blatently waste as much money.

We stopped special ordering for them without payment up front, btw.

So, I’m wondering what others think about the situation. Would you or have you done this?

Myself, no. If someone spends that much time and effort to get something I so desire and a proper fit, I’m going to pay a little extra for that service.

On a different note…

I was live tweeting Stage 1 of the Tour Down Under and heard my name in Adelaide Radio ABC. I may have geeked out a little.

Have you seen this…

online book about urban cycling.

It’s a new year…

and I’ve taken the first couple of weeks to get myself in order.

At this time of the year we cut back hours at the shop…so I have a little more time for other things.

I have gotten myself a good start at my eating habits and getting back into the habit of consistently riding (trainer for now). I plugged myself into My Fitness Pal, and for some reason I am easily able to follow and log my food and exercise into it. I don’t know…it just works. I’ve now realized just how much brainless food I had stuffed down my pie hole! I’m also not hungry. And with the help of my “bookshelf” installed onto my trainer bike, I’m cruising along!

Current read: Omar Bradley:General at War, by Jim DeFelice.

New Product

We started carrying Nebo flashlights at the shop. I’d had some experience with them at the hiking store where I used to work. My boss decided to bring in their Redline Bike Headlight. And each of us has taken one home to try out. I’ll do some testing and shoot some pics of the light and it’s output later. So far, while playing around inside a dark room, it’s brighter than any others that I have. We’ll see!

Catch ya down the road…

FYI…dropping domain name

Just in case one of my 5 readers wants to know, if you’ve been following through gnarlees.com I am getting rid of that domain name. For future reference, look me up here directly at gnarlees.wordpress.com.

Hope everyone had a Happy Christmas and have a Happy New Year!

I Found A New Use For An Aerobar!

The new Gnarlee’s World Headquarters!

Another aircraft from the USAF Armament Museum…

The AC-47 Spooky aka Gooney Bird. The military version of the dependable DC-3. One of my favorites in the civilian world, and they’re still flying in some parts!