CSR at the ready...
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New Stuff...
2/20/2012 - email may be slow or missing in the next few days due to switching internet providers, call if urgent!
2/16/2012 - 2012 Event Calendar has been posted, stay tuned for more additions!
Bike Transport Services to
C/X Nationals in Madison (January 5-8) and C/X Masters Worlds in Louisville
(January 12-15), other events to follow. The first family of cyclocross, the Goguens,
and Team CF New England have joined forces
with me to provide the most exceptional and inclusive transport and
mechanical services for New England racers! Our goal is to make your
experiences at USAC Cyclocross Nationals and UCI Cyclocross Masters' Worlds
more of a relaxing vacation atmosphere than a stressful work environment.
11/30/11 - New shop is up and running!
Aside from being the only drive-in bicycle shop on the planet (yes, you gotta
read about this...your SUV with your bikes on the roof rack can drive
into my shop), see what else makes it unique
here.
10/27/11 - Bicycle Support By Mark is becoming an LLC
9/30/11 - Last? entry from F&#*%burg, closing down shop and moving to a more healthy and inviting community. My new store will be like no other bike store, thankfully. I'll keep the two or three of you who read this updated....
9/14/11 - 1500+ events in the Event Calendar
8/20/11 - Cyclocross season is HERE, see the schedule!
8/15/11 - Entry Three revisited in the Flogspot
6/30/11 - All too common Third Entry in the Flogspot
6/15/11 - 1400+ events in the Event Calendar
5/11/11 - Nearly 1300 events in the Event Calendar and 150 more Multi-sport events added!
4/24/11 - Emergency Second Entry in the Flogspot!
4/11/11 - Junior Racers - a special section just for you (beware, highly controversial)!
3/29/11 - Fitting Services expanded, FitKit R.A.D. cleat adjustments are here!
2/27/11 - I will be teaching the Mechanical Maintenance Clinics at the
Multi-Sport Expo in Boston on 3/19/2011!
No cost, sign-up on their website, topics incude: Change Tire/Tube, Tubular Installation, Shifting and
Braking, and Basic Maintenance and Tools!
1/28/11 - Check out the new Service Plans!
1/1/11 - Happy Holidays!
11/11/10 - PitStyx Redux in prototype testing stages
10/21/10 - What is a Flogspot?
10/13/10 - Huge list of Items for Sale, something for everyone
10/6/10 - New Tech Section added, check it out
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FlogSpot
You've heard of "blogspots"
and blogs, let me introduce you to a new feature that will be regularly
updated with broken, unworthy, heinous, and substandard happenings in the bicycle
industry. Some double floggings, some congratulatory ones covertly disguised, you'll have to
read
them all to sort them out. Featuring bike products, services, companies,
propaganda, and individuals worthy of being called out or praised. Hence the
name "Flogspot".
I hope I don't make the (bad) list more than once, no one's perfect,
but there is no favoritism or discrimination. Anyone, anything, anywhere are
targets. They will be tastefully yet mercilessly flogged with sarcasm,
sadism, and humor. The names may be changed to protect the ignorant and arrogant,
then again a little humiliation and shame go a long way when logic and reason
have failed. Send me your stories, pictures, and parts, this is more than a
one-person job.
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Entry Three, updated - 8/15/2011 -
RIDER RESPONSIBILITY. Similar to entry three, the moral of the story:
know how, when, why, and what your equipment
is, can do, shouldn't do, musn't do, and can't do. On a recent training ride
I encountered an accomplished iron distance
triathlete. Her front
shifting wasn't working. By all appearances she was doing everything properly,
I watched her as she rode by. She knew the procedure to follow to
make the shifter work but didn't know
"how" to shift, kind of complicated, it's a long story and took
a few attempts to figure out what was wrong. A quick shifting 101
lesson after adjusting the front derailleur and away she went. |
Entry Three - 6/30/2011 - Granted, there
are going to be a number of people who participate in cycling events who take
their bike out of the garage or
basement after sitting idle for years or decades, blow off the dust, and head to
the event. No tune-up, no safety check, no air in tires, the bike's safety and
viability are questionable at best.
This is usually something a recreational or casual cyclist would do,
typically just one event or a couple of rides all year long for them.
While usually an older or entry-level bicycle, it is not too often that
someone with a Dura-Ace equipped
top-of-the-line bike comes into the pit with shifting issues.
Simply, the rider did not know how the shifters worked and was "stuck" in the hardest
gear. Literally, he did not know how the bike
worked until I showed him. He discovered this oversight while riding the bike to the transition area
less than 20 minutes before the race started. Isn't this something that should've been
addressed, like, some other day and time?
All I'm saying is that you should at least take the bike for a ride around the parking lot
after buying, tune-up, using it for the first
time in decades or the season, borrowing, or stealing it. Seriously, what is a mechanic
supposed to do to your bike to make it safe? Just how many other people who were
prepared and have a legitimate emergency are you depriving of service because you
were too lazy, inconvenienced, or apathetic to give
a shit.
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Entry Two - 4/24/2011 - WTF, where are the
hidden cameras, clearly this was a setup or a punking. Three witnesses, all of us
neutral support mechanics at a recent race, were discussing the dumbest thing
we've seen in the past year or so. We all agreed that a plastic headset bushing
(they replace the top bearing) was timelessly stupid. Does an extra 10 grams
matter, McFly, for real!? Pure unadulterated junk and garbage, anybody or
any company who thinks otherwise is a phony.
A rider from the Pro/1/2 class came over to
the automobile staging area in a panic. His field was staged, waiting for the
whistle, less than five minutes until the start of the race.
He changed
the spider on the cranks the night before or something, it was one of those
strange adjustable cranksets. No cursory inspection when he finished,
nor when he put his bike in the car, or when he took it out;
none of his friends or other racers were keen to notice, either.
He didn't notice until he hopped on his bike, clipped in one pedal, and couldn't
figure out where the
other pedal was. When he looked down he saw the problem. No warm-up, no ride around
the parking lot, no nothing.
I thought the cranks had slipped or stripped (broken) and
he was running to get a neutral bike. Wrong!
The rider had actually installed the crank arms like a hand-pedal cycle,
not a bicycle.
The non-drive crank arm was the same direction as the drive crank arm.
We
three mechanics have 50+ years of experience and we are fairly certain this was a
once-in-a-lifetime experience. One mechanic said it best, "We could take a picture
and no one would believe us." This isn't a belated April Fools Day joke,
it happened.
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Entry One - 4/3/2011 - Flog ME! Thanks, Paula. Junior
rollout isn't 27ft, it is 26.02ft. Before I posted the Junior-specific page, all my
calculations were based on the incorrect 27ft number. Though rollout
is lame and a waste of time, it's a rule. Fortunately the correction was
simple because only one number had to be changed and the program computed the rest.
Phew! Dumbass as charged!
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