Eugene Update

When I arrived in Eugene, OR with a bicycle and a suitcase, I had no plan. I loosely wanted to just figure things out. Two weeks later I had a job, an apartment, and a new grandson!

Four days a week I cycle to the bike shop. At first I was in training for the front of the store doing retail. As opposed to what some folks might think during Covid with limited or disrupted supply chains: we have stock. We are a fully equipped bike shop and can kit folks out for a tour, a weekend ride, or a day trip. So it was a LOT to learn. Basically I’d just gotten to the point of organizing the over 50 kinds of helmets we carry when half the shop quit.

To be fair, the guys moved on. After a pandemic it makes sense that there is some fluidity. People are now free to move around.

So I went from clerk in training to being number 2 or 2 ½ as there is another part-timer, an engineering student juggling mechanics and school. To put all this in perspective: I’m whiffing a lot.

For instance when I get a call such as do you have bottom brackets, I’m at the same time Googling bottom brackets and checking inventory. Yes, I say and to give myself more time to get a handle on the item, I’ll ask what size. Now here is where the customer lets me know they know more than me or they are stymied also because they didn’t know they come in sizes (lengths in mm). If we’re busy, which we most certainly are these days, customers lined up at the door and counter, I’ll have to end the call by saying just come in and we’ll sort you out—but if they keep going, I’ll stay on the line and just hope I can go with them. There is SO MUCH I don’t know.

Luckily if they ask me what I think they need for the bottom bracket I can truthfully say, I don’t know because over the phone I can’t assess their need. One thing I’ve learned is that all bikes are different. There is no ONE of anything. There is American threading, metric, and then—Italian! It is as if everyday someone wakes up and makes up a whole new way of building a bicycle.

The worse are fitting racks or child carriers on a frame. I can assure you there is always a struggle to get them to fit. Racks make fenders look easy (and they’re not!).

So imagine me, a 62-year-old lady trying to answer your deep-in-the-weeds bike question. I can’t stop stressing. It is like playing musical chairs for 8 hour and the music stopping and NEVER getting a seat. I’m constantly in motion with no idea what I’m doing.

So like any good writer, I learn to fake it, come up with a narrative. For example, our mechanic is out this week for exams and the owner is down at the showroom (about 100 yards from the shop), but before leaving for the showroom a customer comes in with a beautiful brand new Surly that needs spacers in the headset. The bike is shiny and a periwinkle blue. Inside I am shaking as it is handed over to me. When the customer’s back is turned I watch a YouTube on just what is needed. I get it done. Then we put on pedals. Yes, I can do that. By now the shop is officially closed and I’m working late to finish up. There is a problem at the register bringing the items over from layaway—so more calculations and stress. Sometimes I’m on my feet for 5 hours straight.

At night as I climb into bed I cannot turn off my brain. I’m constantly problem solving or inventing problems to solve. The thing which I most fear: being confronted with stuff I have no idea about is my living nightmare, but I’m doing it and seem to be doing okay. (Maybe.)