"Lube the hell out of that thing!"

Last week I went to a bike maintenance class at West Town Bikes. I really didn't want to go: that day, I'd been rejected at the pool (I'll have to get even scheme-ier in my ways or drop $80 for a community summer membership...), and the weather was less than fantastic. I was about to say 'eh... maybe next time,' but my co-worker who I roped into this whole triathlon thing really wanted to go and didn't know how to get there, so I caved and went.

Apparently we chose the night they were expecting the highest numbers since they started the class. Of course. There are six bike stands there, and they expected around 20 people. We all gathered in a super small crowded space and introduced ourselves saying our name, how we found out about the class, and what we wanted to take away from it. I wasn't super enthusiastic about the get-to-know-you session, but it was actually nice to realize that most of them had no idea what they were doing either. There were even a few who were doing triathlons and wanted to be able to fix a flat should it occur during their race. So once that was over we spread out to the six stands.
When we'd arrived, the Guy-in-Charge said 'choose one bike between the two of you to work on' since it was so crowded. I'd brought my Craig's List Junker-- which needs more work than a basic maintenance class could begin to offer, so we decided my friend would put her bike up. However, after introductions, the class-helper-man put MY piece of work up there and furrowed his brow as he looked at it. I told him to put the other one up there and he said "This one is already up," and walked away. I apologized to my friend and listened as Helper-Man started telling us how to change a flat. When demonstrating how to de-flate a tire (helloo... it's already flat!) they demonstrated on MY bike of course; Guy-in-Charge (with bruskee in hand! hahaha) who was walking around from group to group just walked up and said "this is an easy way" and took a little tool (a pedro?) and let ALL the air out, then walked away after commenting on how atrocious my tires were. I just stared in somewhat disbelief thinking 'you better re-flate that, son.' Then I eyed the slew of tire pumps not far and realized I could do it if he failed to right his wrong. After we watched Helper-Man change a tire and then got to do it ourselves. I convinced him to put my friend's bike on the stand because I'm never going to change a tire on my junker-beast. My friend and I worked together to change her tire and an hour or so later finally did it with TONS of help. Let me just say that if I am racing and get a flat, that will be the end of my race. Also, to get the proper pressure in the tires, you have to have a floor pump, and there is no way I'm going to try to lug one of those on the bike leg of any triathlon. C'mon people!

After we completed the tire task, we put my bike back up on the stand and I said to Helper-Man 'listen to this' and I started turning the pedals. This is the loudest bike ever (second to IH) which convinces me that it's about to break any second. As he heard the chirping and squeaking his disgruntled expression said 'this bike sucks' and he told me to "Lube the hell out of that thing!"-- (seriously, direct quote). I chuckled and started lubing. I was shocked at what a little (..okay a lot of) lube can do. It's not silent by any means, but the loud chattering has quieted to more of a whisper with a click here and there. Helper-guy walked by and raised his eyebrows, impressed at the progress. He then noticed that my brakes were braking ON the tire, not just the rim, so he offered to adjust it. Bad news: my rear break doesn't work now! Haha-- he noticed it right before I left, then tinkered with it for a quick second, but on the way home-- no dice. It's okay, though, because I never used the rear break anyways because it makes a SUPER loud noise (I'd use it if someone got in my way and I wanted to passive aggressively let them know it irritated me). So the front break is fine, if anything I'm mourning the loss of my makeshift horn.

All in all I'm glad that I went. Even better-- the class was 'free' with a suggested donation of $10. I can support that kind of thing.

In other news:
-TWO WEEKS exactly until the sprint triathlon. This is bad news as I am nowhere NEAR ready. I don't want to even talk about it.
-Costco has restocked with Boca Burgers! Miracles DO happen! I swore to myself that if I saw them there ever again that I'd get two boxes, as they are literally 50% cheaper in bulk than at the regular grocery store. And I DID get two boxes. Truthfully, I wanted three or four, but resisted the urge.
-I went to church this morning, only to find that they switched to the summer hours this week, so I arrived JUST as the service was ending. Send out an email or something, people!