el corte de madera mtb's!

shop was closed for MLK day, so my coworkers and i rode mtb's at el corte de madera, about 40 miles south of SF.

FIRE!

there was a fire in the building adjacent to mine tonight.

i was talking on the phone with my mom when i smelled smoke, looked out the window and saw fire in the alleyway, and then heard the fire alarms go off.

you never know what you would do in a situation like this until you are faced with it. here's what i did:

1. stuffed my laptop in my messenger bag.
2. put on some jeans, shoes, and a hoodie.
3. grabbed my track bike.
4. grabbed my car keys.

my rationale:
1. this is gonna take a while, so if i can't come back, i can ride my bike somewhere to wait it out.
2. if my building catches on fire, there is irreplaceable shit on my laptop. i have photos too, but i didn't wanna carry that crap. theres photos of my dad before he passed away (most importantly) on my laptop.
3. if i gotta go somewhere, i can throw all my crap in my car to store it. hell, i could even sleep in my car if i have to.


i'm also the resident manager for this building. however, i didn't take it upon myself to:

1. make sure all 40 units worth of residents are evacuated, if they are home. i figured the alarm, smoke, and people running down the stairs was fair warning. i'm no hero.

2. i didn't know how to turn off the alarm. after the fire was out, it seemed fine to return to our unharmed building, but that damned alarm was still going off. i called the building maintenance guy and was on hold when other tenants had already rounded up a fireman to turn of the "fire box," which i didn't even know we had.

3. note to self: next time, it would be good to grab that key. and also the building keys too.


i'm lucky i live alone now and didn't have to rescue any pets. and although its not my most expensive bike, i learned that my favorite is my track bike.

Buying and Selling on Craigslist

The whole city of San Francisco is only 7x7 square miles, and very densely populated. Therefore almost all places within San Francisco proper are accessible by bike. Traffic is a nightmare, public transportation, while effective, is not very efficient. It can take over an hour to cross town via train and/or bus. Naturally, bikes are the most efficient means of transportation. There are tons of people on bikes. One would think that the larger number of riders per capita would dictate more used bikes on the market, which would drive the price down, right? Wrong.

The used bike market in SF is ridiculous. Its capitalism at its finest. More riders= more demand for bikes = higher prices (both in shops and by private parties). High rent and overhead attributes slightly to the high cost for a used bike at a shop. Sadly, these factors also lead to more bike theft.

In today's used bike market, you have only 2 real options. 1) Craigslist, or 2) Ebay.

Sure, there are other bike-related internet forums out there that you could sell your item on, but they are often slow and are only going to attract someone who is interested in your item. This only happens quickly if your item is 1)low or under- priced, 2) highly collectible or rare.

On top of all these factors, is the strongest deterrent to non-local sales is shipping. Shipping a bike doesn't have to be super expensive, but its always a hassle. Boxing it up carefully takes a bit of time and finesse, and the possibility of the buyer receiving the item damaged in transit may render your sale null and void, therefore making the seller lose time and money.

So, in a nutshell, if you are selling a pretty common used bicycle or part, it may not be worth your extra headache and/or wait.

Craigslist is the most commonly used local sales website. Its great. However there are certain unspoken rules of etiquette/common sense that apply when buying and selling bicycles.

Here is my rant about the sale of Melissa's bike (pictured above) that occurred over the last couple days.

1. This transaction is typically between 2 private parties.

What does this mean? This means that the seller cannot and will not be expected to receive payment in check or credit card. CASH ONLY. I know its the old fashioned way and kind of archaic, but its the only way to be safe out there. Its simple. Please come ready to pay if you intend to buy. Don't be surprised when I decline your offer to accept either of the other payment methods. Have you never bought used crap off Craigslist before?

*Side Rant: Who the fuck uses personal checks anymore? They are only good for paying rent. If my bike shop doesn't accept checks, I sure as hell won't from some dude I don't even know. . . The only people that use them is people who don't have the money to pay (yet), and are hoping they will acquire more funds by the time the transaction is finalized, by nature of the fact that this payment method takes forever to process. I'm not a gambling man, and I'm certainly not willing to get involved.

2. Selling your car and deciding to commute by bike is an admirable and noble thing to do. Buying a bike is a step in the right direction that many should take, and I applaud your commitment.

However, I'm just a guy selling a bike. You cannot expect me to teach you how to ride a bike. I understand that riding road bikes is a little weird at first, but still, 45 minutes of my time is a lot. I did everything short of putting training wheels on it for you. If the bike fits, you should buy it and have a good friend hold the saddle for you and push you off like your dad did when you were younger.

3. A bike mechanic friend or any "bike guy" can definitely be a useful resource when purchasing a used bicycle if you don't know anything about bikes.

However, if you plan on having your "ex-bike mechanic" friend take a look over the bike before you buy it, please bring him with you the first time you meet with me. That will save you the trouble of having to make 2 trips to meet me, and will save me a lot of time as well.

Bikes are not like cars. They are much simpler machines. Its not like there are some hidden defects or repairs going on that you don't know about. If it works, it works. If something is messed up, it can be replaced. On a steel frame, you can reweld it if its cracked.

I AM a bike mechanic. Bringing your friend over as a scare tactic isn't going to make me disclose other pertinent information I might have otherwise left out. I'm not trying to sell you a fucked up bike, that would be seriously morally reprehensible, and bad karma at that.

4. Lastly, if you are going to bring an "ex-bike mechanic over," please bring one that actually knows stuff about bikes. I've been doing this for a long time. I could tell the friend you brought over didn't know ANYTHING about bikes. He didn't even touch the bike. Any competent person that knows at least a little about bicycles/componentry would have at least squatted down to see what type of deraillers/shifters/hubs the bike has, since they weren't visible from the photos. If it were me, I'd ride the bike, check the hubs and bottom bracket for play, check the shifters, squeeze the brakes, and look the entire thing over. I've done that before for other friends, it only takes a minute or two. I asked him if he was familiar with bikes like this, and he replied, "Uh, not really." That was like bringing over an "ex-car mechanic" who didn't even look under the hood.

OK, enough ranting for now. I'm tired and sick. Am I really this bitter?

I'm glad you were able to obtain $40 less than my asking price in cash from the ATM and cash-back from your debit card. I let you have it for cheaper because I was sick of dealing with flaky people and wanted it to be done with. Like I said, I was selling it for a friend, therefore the price isn't exactly flexible, and its not really my decision. Meeting you 3 times was 2 times too many for me- I'm a busy guy with 2 jobs. I hope you enjoy your new used bike. See you on the streets!

happy new year

last night was fun.

my resolution is to be more open minded and down for whatever. i've turned into a grouch lately, it comes with age i suppose. i'm so set in my ways that i shoot down anything that is outside of my normal routine. thats lame. i'm working on it. . .

here's some dialogue excerpts from my night:

1. (at a party)


alex: "what do you think about that girl with the cardigan, she seems very nice. . . "

ken: "yeah, but she's a fag hag."

alex: "true, she did come in with 2 or 3 gay dudes."

(girl twitches and rubs her nose)

ken and alex, simul-fucking-taneously: "oh shit? COCAINE problem!"



2. (by the bacon dog cart)


vanessa: "mmmmm bacon-wrapped hot dogs!"

rando short dude: (that is trying to strike up conversation with vanessa) "they are so good, have you ever had one before?"

ken and vanessa: "fuck yes!"

dude: "i dunno if they're real though, they might be imitators. . ."

ken: "dude, they've got a cart, some hot dogs, and bacon. . . what more do you need?"

role models

an ex-intern stopped by today. he actually stops by about twice a week, just to hang out or whatever. we enjoy his company (a lot more now, especially since he's just there for the hell of it, and we don't have to put up with his 23979383498 questions if we don't feel like it).


youth: "i got a suit today. it was free, from this program at the place i'm staying."

me: "FREE?"

youth: "yeah, and they have these counselors that help you find a job and stuff. . ."

me: "damn, i never got a free suit . . . you should sell it. and buy. . . . stuff."

youth: "what?! why? it might be useful for finding a JOB, you know?"

me: "oh yeah, thats good. get a good job, then sell it."

youth: "boy, you really are a good role model for at-risk youth."

me: "well, you're no longer an intern, so we aren't required to be good role models for you anymore. just regular role models."

youth: "you don't have to worry about that, i've got plenty of 'regular role models' in my life. . . "


that made me laugh.

supermarket street sweep 2008

we did this charity alleycat race yesterday, to collect food for the SF food bank. 5 checkpoints(grocery stores) throughout the city, with a manifest listing what specific items to pick up from each store. it was SO fun.

clare and i decided to do the entire course backwards, which ended up tacking on 8 extra miles to the loop. oops. the cool thing was, as always, we got to explore parts of SF we'd never been before. we rode a total of 29 miles, lots of climbing. the farther we rode along, the heavier our bags got. it was fun. i typically only ride about 2 miles with a full bag of groceries. . .

i did it on my track bike, she took the fuso. it was fast and fun. when the afterparty wrapped up, we grabbed dinner in the tenderloin, then i slept for 11 hours straight. seriously.

wheels, rims, and tires. . . not the same thing

rim= the rear hoop of a wheel, the outer aluminum ring.
wheel= the collective build of a rim, hub, and spokes.
tire= the rubber part that mounts on the outside of the wheel.


guy: "hi, i wanted to see what the price of a rear rim would be."

me: "just the rim, or the whole wheel?"

guy: "uh, i guess the whole thing."

me: "ok, what kind of bike do you have?"

guy: "uhhhh. . . ."

me: "is it a road bike, mountain bike, hybrid?"

guy: "well, its wider than your average tire. like if you cut it in half, see, it would be like 2 feet.""

me: "uhhh. . . .tires are measured by width, in millimeters. not by diameter. if its a road bike, there are 2 diameters of wheels, one is called 700c, and the other is 27 inches. you can tell by reading whats on the side of the tire. the price differs between them, as well as you choices of options."

(somewhere in there, the dude hung up. he probably resorted to yelp to write a bad review. fuck.)