Cycle Shop

Ming, I got my new wheel today after the whole kerfluffle at Penn Cycle, and something occurred to me after I sent you the email about how it was 12:10 and their doors still weren't open.

I originally had one technician involved in my "fix my wheel" use case. She popped the tube, but noted in her notes that it had been her and I shouldn't be charged. She called me personally and recommended a new wheel because of the extra broken spokes and gave me an eta for the delivery of the wheel and the fix. She wasn't involved in the bits in between but, today she put my tube/tire on the new wheel and came out to personally apologize for the problems and that perhaps they'd been caused by her being out of the store in the day between the recommended wheel and the delivery of the wheel.

Contrast this to the men involved. First was the male technician who told me that the first technician to look at my wheel had been junior and "wrong". This didn't jive with him taking her work and doing it for her, while not reading the details about the tube or about the ordered wheel. He's also the one who charged me for truing and did NOTHING to the wheel other than replace the two spokes.

Or the manager who tried to charge me for a tube despite the note on the receipt until I corrected him and said I'd brought in a perfectly fine tube.

Or the manager for Penn I contacted via email who said they'd replace my wheel for the original cost, but who lectured me in email that they'd told me I should get a new wheel, despite that I'd approved the wheel and they'd gone ahead and changed what they were up to without me.

Or the store manager who was rude and lectured me about labor today when I asked if I should stick around or come back later and who had the doors still shut 15 minutes after store opening.

Three to four men involved. All of them obnoxious; two of them pointing out the new, female technician, was at fault; three of them stating it was my fault in one way or another despite charging me for two services at some point that they either didn't do or had caused, and eventually telling me they hadn't done any work at all (although even that was incorrect, there were two new spokes).

If you discount the customer problems, this might be a case of Dudey Free Zone at work.

Bicycle Film Festival

I spent much of the last four days at a movie of some sort.  Thursday-Saturday I was at the Bike Film Festival in Minneapolis.  Thursday for two shows with Kyle and Ming.  Friday for two shows with Kyle.  And Saturday for a show with Kyle, my wife, and daughter.  A lot of bike movies. Sunday I topped it off with the last Harry Potter movie in 3D. We had to go for a convertible ride to the art park north of Stillwater on Sunday just to make up for all the weekend indoor time.

Contrary to Ming's contention that sexism in the bike shop industry seems to be a made up problem, I really enjoyed Dudey Free Zone at the Minneapolis Institute of Arts.  Even though they shut it down two minutes early because the museum closed.  The two things that stuck out were how almost every woman complained about men taking tools right out of their hands.  And the woman at Sunrise Cyclery who said some guy lifted the back of her pants to check out her calf without asking.  Her humorous observation that she'd ventured beyond the no dudes zone behind the counter was proof to me that it wasn't a bitter, made up, problem, but something being faced by people who were tired of it, but still had a great sense of humor.  Ming and Kyle had an extensive discussion about it on Facebook, and I chimed in today that it reminded me of the uproar around the Flashbelt conference in 2009.

Labor of Love, earlier that night, about a woman doing the Race Across America was amazing.  Caroline van den Bulk's 3000 mile trip, where she timed out only about 55 miles from the finish, but went the distance anyway, was an amazing look into what happens to someone who only sleeps 12 hours in 12 days while otherwise pedaling constantly.  It should come as no surprise that a complete emotional meltdown is part of the charm, although having your coach mock cry at you would come as something of a surprise (he did apologize to her on a tape recorder in the car after she finally got going again).

Some other notables. The Bilenky Junkyard Cross:


I liked Le Tour De Kagawa, a search for Udon shops, although that was primarily about the personalities of the Udon eaters/bicyclists, and not the riding.

I've blogged about My Commuted Commute before (thanks to Mean Mr. Mustard), about the bike lane in NYC.

Mark Ronson's Bike Song...excellent music video:


And the Tom Schroeder cartoons about bicycling stories in MN were wonderful, both Bike Ride:


And The Bike Race:


Sunchasers, about disabled cyclists, should have been better, but the editing wasn't very good. So you were often faced with long parts that weren't illuminating of the characters of the women involved.

Sunchasers Karissa Portrait from Irvin Coffee on Vimeo.

Eryn enjoyed how at one point the video started skipping during the credits, and the audience would clap. And stop. And clap. And stop. In time with the skipping. The Bike Film Festival audience is an extremely good-natured crowd.