Treatise on Zen andCare bicycles

Treatise on Zen andCare bicycles

I love mechanics. There is something so rewarding about all the things I can do in the workshop that I never tire of it.

Finding the source of a problem and solving it. Starting from scratch, with a bare frame and spare parts, to assemble a complete bike, then returning it to its owner and sharing the excitement we all feel when taking possession of a new machine. Discovering the inner workings of a mechanism, understanding how a component works, knowing the differences between the Shimano Ultegra 6800 and R8000 generations, the common faults of a type of disc brake, or simply fitting Bar Tape . All these tasks bring me great satisfaction.

The workshop makes me a better ambassador for cycling and a better advisor for our customers. By working under the hood, I understand what's going on inside, and I can better explain to potential buyers the differences between our products, which hold no secrets for me since I've seen them in their raw state and know every intimate detail of how they work.

I don't just repeat what's written in the promotional materials of the companies whose products we carry. I know exactly how they work, their flaws, and their most brilliant details.

It is also there, in the workshop, that I find a sense of balance and tranquility. As much as I enjoy discussing clothes, bikes, and coffee, I also love the calm and concentration that mechanics requires. Since I also spend a lot of time in front of a computer during the day, the hours I spend alone with my machines are an outlet for my mind.

Time flies by at breakneck speed and seems to pass more quickly when I am busy solving puzzles, measuring my movements to achieve perfection, or spreading dismantled parts out on the workbench to identify and replace those that have reached their expiration date.

I have always loved bicycle mechanics. Even in their modern versions, where electronics and hydraulic systems are increasingly prevalent, they are relatively simple yet fascinating devices. Bearings, gears, points of contact with the ground and the body. And I still have this desire to make them work together perfectly, to improve the experience of those who ride their bikes by aligning a series of gestures and adjustments, my growing knowledge in this area making me a cycling nurse, a midwife for new bikes, and sometimes even a savior of hopeless cases.

I don't feel any stress in the workshop. I am completely focused on my lifeless patients, remembering what I did to them in the past, their health records etched in my memory.

Mechanics is a Zen activity. Alone with my thoughts and in the present moment, I meditate on problems and solve them without feeling any external pressure. My level of concentration sometimes reaches such an advanced stage that I lose myself in my work, my thinking, and when enlightenment strikes, when I find a way to overcome an obstacle or the source of a problem, the joy that fills me is pure, authentic, and for a moment, I experience it alone, smiling to no one, proud of my work.

I sometimes share these moments with customers and explain my approach to them, but more often than not, I simply hand them a bike that will bring them moments of happiness, and I am humbly satisfied knowing what a complex journey I have taken to give them this simple pleasure.

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