Will press bearings for beerings

Saturday, I did not go down the Wizard Staffs Across the Universe road. With my family busy till 4:00 and a daughter leaving for a week of camp the next day and me leaving for the Sun Valley, Idaho Remedy trip before she gets back (do the math, that's 16 days apart)...

I had to be an semi-responsible adult at 4:00PM, so none of this for me:

photo cred: One Eyed Zeke

But up and out the door on the Fire Mare headed to the Treeshaker for some spectating. Using my Smarter phone for navigation, I went with the "walking route." This took me on unfamiliar roads. I passed a castle wall on the side of the road.

Odd...

until I saw this:

Then it got odder (not Otter)

As it was explained to me when I got to the race, these are the remains of Heritage USA. It was a theme park founded by Jim and Tammy Faye Bakker that at one time was a top vacation destination. Six million annual visitors, right behind Disney World and Disney Land.

Jerry Falwell (doh) on the John the Baptist Water Slide to Salvation.

I pressed on leaving the castle in my rear view mirror. Eventually I saw this:

I knew that the Carolina Thread Trail was supposed to link up to the Anne Springs Close Greenway (where the race was being held). The sun-faded map promised to get me close, so I jumped off the googlemap plan-o-gram and headed down the greenway.

Flat, single strip of dirt, overgrown with tick-laden weeds. I gave it a shot for awhile, but gave up when I saw a way out.

Sucked.

Eventually I got to the race... late. It had already started, so I sat around in the Bike Source tent since I recognized a couple of the boys in red and white. Beer was had, I changed a flat tire for someone who was giving me a headache watching him, and cheered on anybody I knew...

including this guy.

Fellow Bike 29 rider, Chris Muddiman was out there rocking it in the single speed class. I said "Way to do some stuff and things." Something like that.

I waited until the four hour race was over, found an old-skool MTBR acquaintance, told her she came in third, and then went home.

I had shit hanging over my head.

Last Monday I mentioned that I never go for weekday rides, then Thursday I went on one just to show people how full of shit and douchey I am. I grabbed the Misfit diSSent Brontoawesomeous Meatplow V.5 since the Dickstickel Meatplow V.6 was front fjorked and my friend Todd's rack couldn't handle my girthy 15mm front end. For the entire ride there was clicking, ticking, and rattling going on. The bike needed some serious love.

I located the rattling first. The rear caliper was loose, but before I fixed that I needed to address some rotor shimming issues to create some cross compatibility between all my wheels and bikes.

My pedals were wiggly. Had they been Crank Brothers, I woulda made a phone call to their "excellent customer service," had them ship me new ones, and shit canned the wiggly ones. Since they were Shimano XTR's, I adjusted the bearings, repacked them with fresh grease, and the let Shimano customer service reps do what they do best... sit back with their feet on their desks tossing back umbrella drinks.

Then it was time to finally replace the two year old bearings in my Enduro bottom bracket. At only $12 for a set, I'm not sure why I spent so much time tearing them down and rebuilding them when they were toasted.

Three taps with a screwdriver and a mallet and the old ones were out. I spent a fair amount of time looking for something with the right outer diameter to press the new ones in.

Then I grew a brain.

I reversed the stepped cup insert and it happened to be just the right diameter. Just wait till my friends see this image. The bike room is gonna earn some serious beer karma very soon.