Phew... Today has been a very long adventure. It began at 6am with a stiff cup of coffee followed by a quick breakfast and then straight to work. The last couple of months have been taken with building the business: Methow Cycle & Sport and today was no different. I had two out of town customers picking up custom built bikes which I still needed to finish--and truth be told, had hardly started on. In addition I had a tandem with S&S couplers which needed an overhaul along with retrofitting some very cool Campagnolo cantilevers--still housed in a sealed plastic bag.

One of the daily struggles is weaving repair work with helping customers, answering the phone, and corresponding with suppliers. Today I managed to get a bit of a head start with most of the tandem and Bianchi custom ti bike complete by noon or so. After placing a couple of orders and a quick bite to eat it was back in the shop to make some more progress. I worked on four kids bikes which belong to a local ranch. The ranch often hosts extended family and friends and they needed all their bikes ready for this weekend--Memorial Day. All in all there are 12 bikes we've prepared in the last few days for the ranch.

Around mid-afternoon a customer came in to pay his bill and began talking about how a friend of his wasn't acknowledging his waves and "hellos". Turns out his friend has a small shop about 10 miles west of mine and he didn't appreciate my customer buying a bike from me. I always struggle with not wanting to step on other businesses toes but at the same time confident about what I'm doing and its place in the community. I guess I'll become more used to it over time.

Finally at about 4:30 the out of town customers showed up to pick up their bikes. Of course I needed to do the final fit and subsequent adjustments which always takes longer than one thinks. Finally at about 6:30 they finally had fastened down the bikes on their rack and were off. I suddenly felt exhausted! Oh--one more tune up for a local doctor here. Once that was finished it was inside to wash my hands and relax a bit. Tomorrow will come soon enough with more work to be done...