u/blumpkins_ahoy

Any time y’all have Marcos on for a guest, I know I’m about to listen to some of the most unhinged wisdom known to man. I’ve listened to Homie Vulgaris multiple times, but there’s something about the show format that just didn’t do it for me. But when you add Marcos to any KtC episode, it immediately elevates the entertainment experience.

The only thing that pushed me out the door to work this morning was the fact that I got to listen to a Marcos episode during the drive to work. More of that please.

Pretty much the title. I pulled a muscle in my lower back last month and haven’t been riding since because of the pain. Now that my back is slowly starting to feel better, and I’ve almost got my gravel bike back together, I’d like to get back to riding sooner rather than later.

I suspect that my injury may have been caused my riding as I had just been back to riding for only a few months. Now that I am close to recovering, what is the best way to ease back into riding to prevent the injury from reoccurring?

I’m running the service department of a local shop that is heavily invested in service. The owner and I have been rebuilding the shop since he purchased it, and as part of that, I’m realizing bounce backs are an unavoidable reality. While nothing egregious has come back, we have a small number have come back for issues that were either our fault or of the customer.

I fielded a phone call from a displeased customer over the weekend, and it’s had me thinking about how it may cover us down the road to formalize our service warranty. My previous shop did not like warrantying service because the owner was frugal. I believe he refused to accept any refund requests after 2 weeks.

I want my customers to have confidence in our work because we are such a small shop. Since I arrived, multiple customers have reported back to us about hearing about my reputation as a skilled mechanic. I feel a little pressure from that. The only way I can think to do that is to have a robust service guarantee on our work. With that in mind, I’m wondering what other shops are doing for their service guarantees. Do y’all have something formal or do you take things on a case by case basis? What’s the warranty period you’re willing to honor?

“Doing Terminator”

I’ll try to be brief. I’ve gotten back into riding my gravel bike several times a week, and I keep getting numbness in my hands. I use roughly the same “post-cyclocross fit” that I’ve used for the past decade or so. Numbness has always been an issue, but it’s keeping me from some of my riding goals.

So, I’ve always used a 44cm bar since I was fit for my road bike 15 years ago. At that time, my standard fit was 44 bar with a 110 stem. After I “retired” from cyclocross, I shortened the stem to 90 for a more comfortable fit, which is what I’ve used since.

Now, I’m caught between the idea of swapping my stem for an 80mm or going to a 42cm bar. I’m a bit torn on which to try first.

Thoughts?

Strava AI: “You crushed this ride….”

Strava AI: “You crushed this ride….”

Strava AI: “You crushed this ride….”

Strava AI: “You crushed this ride…”

Older men who say “S-RAM.”

Bonus point for “the 105s”.

As the title says. I’ve been racking up miles on the C&O for the past month, I’d like to share that with some people. I’m specifically looking to keep this exclusively limited to LGBTQ+ cyclists and their partners or family. Any takers?

I’m thinking Sunday mornings at 8 for 15-20 miles at gossip pace. Meeting location TBD, but I usually start from Swains lock (closer to DC tends to be more crowded).

Or is that just me?

Me: 🎶WE CARRY THE FLAME.🎶

I have a customer asking for a quote on a Shiv build with Ultegra, and it’s made me realize I’ve never had to actually put together a Shimano tri build before.

I’ve perused S-Tec and they seem to have zero trainings related to Tri-specific components. In the B2B, I see the TT DA levers, but no complete sets.

What’s the best way to get a crash course?