I KNEW A GREAT MECHANIC, AND YOU'RE NO GREAT MECHANIC

THE PROBLEM WITH TODAY'S BIKES is they are too dawgawn good.  Rare is the breakdown, part failure... shoot, we hardly get flats anymore let alone a busted spoke.

I don't know about you, but my wrenching skills kinda stink... and my wrench collection?... a flippin' mess.

Fearless as ever, I approached swapping out my very worn rear tire on my gravel bike.

No quick release, need a wrench to remove the wheel.

Easy enough, then I removed the tire.

Inside there was plenty of Stan's milk sloshing. 

I carefully disposed of the old stuff.

Popped on the new tire.

Poured in a bunch of Stan's.

Mounted the rest of the tire.

Aired it up.

Jiggled, wiggled, bounced... all manner of movements to get that inside coated with the magic white stuff <- the kind of thing that magically does away with flats and tire changing skills at the same time... here's what I mean...

It was a little tricky getting the wheel situated inside the frame and a dinged the brake calipers somehow.

No amount of fiddling would get it to stop rubbing.

Did I mention I'm a fearless mechanic?... yeah, well, this is the point I should have set it aside and approached fresh in the morning.  But I din't.

Instead, I proceed to... well, I'll cut to the chase... my brake still rubs and the bolts mounting it to the frame are now nearly stripped out.

Ugh...

(Diminished skills + crummy tools) X lack of practice = Bike Down!

Such a drag... I was mounting that tire up to have good romp in the dirt. 

But, there's good news.

PEDALposse member Chris M just moved to town.  And guess what he is?... a pro-fesh-nul mechanic.  And, he's got some time.  And, he's already extracted the stripped bolt... and now we're just waitin' on parts.

Maybe we need PEDALpossePlus... and include service? 

https://pedalindustries.com/pages/join-the-pedalposse

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165.4 lbs 
Live session with Coach Loran - she killed me.
7.5 hours sleep
Got an hour in, but the Wahoo is acting wacko.