Day 2. I already talked yesterday about how learning makes me feel energized; today I realized that it also builds my self-esteem. There’s something very empowering about knowing how to do something and sharing that knowledge with other people. It makes you feel special; I suppose, in a way - at least in as much a way as anything else - it does make you special.
I don’t have as many specific, factual learnings available at the moment because, unfortunately, I left my little notebook back at school, but it was a great 11 hours of learning all about pedals, chainrings, chains and bottom brackets. Bottom brackets in particular was one of those topics that I was always a bit afraid of, but it turns out they are easy as pie. One thing I am really starting to take to heart is the importance of, and reliance on, tools. The bike industry - in a way that I imagine parallels the car industry - has so many manufacturer and job-specific tools. My bottom bracket, for example, which is made by Shimano, is trivial to remove, if you have the tool, and essentially impossible to remove if you don’t. If you wanted to have all the tools for all the bikes that exist, you’d have, well, you’d have a bike shop.
I spent the evening talking with this awesome guy, one of the instructors, named Rich who helped me with trying to figure out what, if anything, I should buy to help support Bike The US For MS this summer. Here’s a short list of his recommendations:
Bondhus hex key set
*Cone wrenches
Mariposa torque wrench
*3 spoke wrenches
*Shimano TL-CN29 12-Speed Consumer-Grade Chain Tool
Cable cutter Shimano tl-ct12
Torx 10-30
There’s so much to learn! Yay bikes!
