I don’t know anything about bikes. I just know I like to ride and I never want to own a car again. I don’t care if it’s a tricycle, a mountain bike, or a motorbike. I like the open air and the speed. I like the feeling of childhood carefree freedom. I like doing bunny hops. I like jumping curbs. I like riding through mud puddles even though I only have one pair of pants and probably shouldn’t do that.
But back to the not knowing anything about bikes thing. I bought a bike at a swap meet a few weeks ago for 180 PLN (that’s like $55 USD). The front brake didn’t work and the gears didn’t shift well, but it was a solid piece of machinery.
Except pretty much every time I rode it for more than a couple hours I’d get a flat.
That was annoying.
I asked the guy at the closest bike shop (who also served as my tire tube replacement guy) if there was something wrong or if I needed a new tire. He said no, it looks good.
But I finally got fed up and asked my HTLA members (in passing) if they knew anything about bikes. I got a lot of awesome responses. Long story short: I took the bike to a different shop and the guy said the tire was jacked up and needed replacing. It was a 2.5km walk to this bike shop as opposed to the 0.5km walk to the bike shop I had been going to. Which one will I continue going to? Probably the one that fixed my bike. ;)
And before you get on my case for not changing my own tire tubes: it’s 20PLN (~$6USD) for a new tube and the labor. New tire and tube and labor? 50PLN. :)
Enough about bikes. Oh wait. Thinking about biking Route 66 next year. I’ll have to learn a little more about bikes before then.
OK, enough about bikes. Sweet linkage awaits!
After 15 Years of Practice by Derek Sivers
You know how I mentioned before that there is only one person I would ever work for? I lied. There are 2. Derek Sivers is my hero and I have done my best to devour every piece of content he has created over the past few years.
I was a CDBaby customer back in the day and I remember reading the bios and thinking “wow, this Derek guy is a genius.” Little did I know at the time how right I was. haha
Fuck it. I’m dedicating this week to Derek Sivers. Other sweet links will have to wait.
5 more must-read articles on Sivers.org:
Why I gave away my company to charity by Derek Sivers
By putting his company in a trust and selling it for $22 million Derek did something most of us could never imagine doing. Yes, he does get 5% of that paid to himself every year out of the trust, but if you dwell on that fact you’re missing the point.
Trust but verify by Derek Sivers
Lessons on delegation from a guy who has been living the world traveling laptop life since most of us were in diapers. OK, that’s not true. Derek’s not that old. But still. He’s been rocking that lifestyle for a long time.
You should feel pain when unclear by Derek Sivers
I love this article. And it’s one of the reasons I edit the articles on this blog so heavily. Wasted words = misconstrued message. That said, I know I’m not doing a good job in all aspects of my message. It’s a constant process.
Why you need your own company by Derek Sivers
Do I need to keep writing “by Derek Sivers”? Yes, I do. Your own company = a platform to test your ideas. Testing your ideas = happiness.
6 things I wish I knew the day I started Berklee by Derek Sivers
All of these are important, but #3 struck the biggest chord with me: Nobody will teach you anything. You have to teach yourself. It’s very Iron Mind-like. :)
That’s enough for today. What’s your favorite Derek Sivers article? Oh, don’t have one? Here are the archives: http://sivers.org/blog
Find one and let me know. ;)