If you plan to be car free and like me have only the most basic working knowledge of bike

maintenance, you need a great bike mechanic friend.  I was just ridiculously lucky that my buddy Will turned out to be a bike wiz and super enthusiastic to help and/or talk bikes.  I don’t bring much to these conversations but I enjoy the hell out of listening.

Today was just another example of how important he is/has been/will be to my maintaining the CarFree lifestyle.  Beyond things like my random flat and loose brake cables, which I’m pretty sure I could fix but lack some special tools and it would take me 10 times longer, snapping a crank calls for this very specific skill set.  Apparently, cyclists don’t snap cranks on a regular basis and add the fact that I’m riding a 30-year-old custom single speed Shogun(it’s a frame brand name, I think?) so I can’t just pick up a replacement part.

Having Will as a friend allowed me to shoot him a text, swing by his place and before I knew it I had a functioning bike again! So seriously, as soon as you start or before you ditch your car for your bike, GET A WILL IN YOUR LIFE!