Dylan's second installment of The Sabattical Chronicles; he sends his best from Idaho...

Still sabbaticalling something fierce.

Currently nursing a rock-skipping wrist injury—apparently went out a little too hard at Priest Lake, the unofficial skipping-rock capital of the world.

There were so many perfect rocks I just couldn’t stop myself.

In a perfect world I’d be writing in to report about a glorious victory at the Boise Twilight Criterium or a dashing win at the Idaho State Championship Crit—but turns out reality is much more… realistic, and quite a bit more cruel.

So this blog’s about customer service—not victory. But great customer service is a victory in its own right. I love the smell of quality customer service. Smells a lot like victory. And we all know victory smells like bacon.

The Idaho races didn’t go so well because they simply didn’t go for me.

I started the twilight crit but only lasted a few laps when it became apparent my bike had a mechanical issue that the guys in the neutral pit weren’t going to be able to help me with unless one of them was a level-8 wizard (not sure if I got the level ranking correct—my apologies to the D&D folks out there).

It hurt to sit up and pull out of the race ten minutes after it started—especially when some guy in the crowd yelled “You’re done dude,” as I drifted off the back. But taste-testing Boise’s pavement didn’t seem like a good way to kick off the vacation so I pulled the plug and called Eric immediately to see if he could send some replacement goods my way lickety-split. Eric got what I needed out to Wyoming so that the day I arrived in the Tetons, I walked right into the Adventure Sports shop in Moose and picked up my parts.

Eric rocks, but we already know that. Turns out the crew at Adventure Sports rock pretty damn hard, too. Not only were they happy to receive the package, they even offered me a stand and the random tools I needed that I didn’t have in my travel tool kit.

So a day after arriving in the Tetons, I once again had a rideable, raceable Salsa Podio. And the Adventure Sport crew’s generosity made it all happen so easily. A big thanks to Fred, Michele & Taylor!

Sure, I’d rather be reporting about a win at the races and the mouth-watering scent of bacon. That would have been a fine way to get the road trip rolling.

And now there’s no real racing to be had around here for a while; but just having my bike back in one rideable piece makes everything feel right again. And it was a pleasure to spend some time in the little Adventure Sports shop. Turns out not racing can still be a positive experience every now and then—and bacon’s readily available at most grocery stores.