Super Bum

Yesterday I was up at 4:30AM. If you were my facefriend you would know this already.

When I opened my eyes all I could think about was my rear brake. I had not fixed it, at least not in a proper manner of brake fixery. PMBAR looms, and my partner is depending on me to not arrive with a shit wagon for a bike. Something had to be done.

By 8:10AM yesterday it was fixed.

CSI type analysis was used to figure out what was going wrong the whole time.

September: Crank the Shield killed the brake with it's mud and muck and shit. I get home and ride the Superbeast until I get hurt... and then I ride it some more.

January: Short track racing starts, and I ride the bike as is.

February: I try to fix it by swapping the pads. I pretend that it's better and go to SSAZ.

March: I am well aware that it is not fixed. I leave it that way.

April: I race the 6 Hours of Warrior Creek with a shitty brake. I vow to fix it soon.

Mid-April: I get a Hayes small parts kit from Mike Stanley (Niner rep) and some new Strokers from Peter. Not wanting to admit defeat, I decide to fix the old rather than mount the new.

Late April: I swap the pistons and seals, consider it fixed, feel iffy about the whole thing, but do nothing I should do. I ride my road bike and leave the bike untested.

May 1st: I ride the bike in the mountains. I confirm that the brake was not fixed.

May 2nd: Feeling the pressure, I inspect the rotor and find huge grooves. I replace it with a new rotor. It still doesn't feel very fixed.

Yesterday: I wake up at 4:30AM knowing it still isn't fixed as there was no sign that the brake fairies had entered the house. I head out the door to the back yard trails with some tools and a spare set of pads. I decide my stem needs flipped before PMBAR, so I do it on the trail. As the mosquitoes bite me all over I freak out and drop the four stem bolts in the dirt. I locate the bolts, put my shit back together, and start to ride out. Then as I'm about to exit the woods, I swap the pads.

My brakes work now.

I figured out that my seals were bad enough to leak fluid, that (unknowingly) contaminated the pads, I put the new seals in with the crapped out pads, swapped to a new rotor, and then finally I changed the pads.

My fucking brakes work now.

I was up again at 4:30AM today to head out for my weekly TSE training road ride. It was raining and dark, so I went back to bed. I'll squeeze in some miles tonight while The Pie gets her yoga on.

I would say that I've been missing out on the Topeak Ergon Basecamp, but as I've been tagged in at least a dozen or more photos I feel as if I'm there, but I'm not. I shoulda pulled a George, bought a plane ticket, and crashed the party. Baller move.

Here I am not hanging out with George, Michele, and Dejay.

Here I am not having a glass of wine.

Here I am not sharing a tub with George.

Here I am not receiving loving affection from Sonya, Nam, and Michele. I will refrain from making every inappropriate comment I can think of, and trust me, there are lots and lots of them (so hard to refrain).

Here I am... not.

Assholes.

I'm super bummed to not be there. Can't wait to be super bummed this fall.