About the book
When was the last time you really gave your bike a good
service? Like, stripped down all the components to the bare frame, checked
every weld for cracks, cleaned every link of the chain, trued the wheels,
changed the fork oil, and then lovingly reassembled everything, polishing it as
you went?
Exactly. Bikes are seldom cared for that way because few of
us have dedicated professional mechanics that we can hand mud-caked, thrashed steeds
to while we sit back with a cold beer. Instead, we do our best to scrape the
worst of the grime off and promise to get to it the very next morning – and all
the time that beer is calling to us from the fridge.
Next weekend, ten minutes before we’re due to set off for
the trails, we remember the state the bike was left in. A quick brush off, a
super-fast squirt of lube, and we’re on our way again.
It’s a testament to the manufacturers of bicycle components
that parts resist the abuse we dish out as well as they do. It should really
come as no surprise to us when they do fail. The least we can do is be prepared
to deal with the failures as and when they happen.
Obviously, failures happen at the least appropriate time and
place. Have you ever had a pedal fall off the crank arm just one hundred yards
from your car? Ever had a saddle pop off its rails “just riding along?” Of
course not. That wouldn’t be fun. That wouldn’t turn the three hour ride into
an all-day epic.
What you can do though is be prepared. If you carry the correct
tools, a spare tube, and enough supplies to see you through, you can learn the skills to fix
almost anything well enough to get back out to civilization.
You can count this book as part of “being prepared.” It’s
probably not going to be much use to you if the first time you read it is while
you are sitting on the side of the trail next to a broken bike. The pages
aren’t very absorbent, so they won’t make good wound dressings. Neither are
they very nutritional as emergency rations.
Instead, the pages are filled with brain food - tips drawn
primarily from real-world experience of biking calamities which, if read and
inwardly digested (maybe with that post-ride beer) may just trigger the correct
memories when something similar happens to you. No miracles, no guarantees (you
did read the disclaimer,
right?), but hopefully the kind of inspiration that will lead you to a repair
that gets you home before darkness falls.
Happy trails!