Saturday, June 28, 2008

Ryan Floth! Fix My Bike!


Bike maintenance genius Ryan Floth, supporting team Merrell/Zanfel Adventure at Primal Quest Montana, built his life around bikes that are ridden hard and put away wet. And muddy. Which isn't all that good for the myriad moving parts on today's bikes.

While PQ Montana is Ryan's first time crewing for Merrell/Zanfel Adventure, it's not his first time to the Big Dance. He's crewed for team Subaru at two other Primal Quest expedition adventure races.

Experience has taught Ryan that Primal Quest destroys bicycles. He said there are three things every PQ bike mechanic needs to watch out for. Flat tires, which he avoids by running tubeless tires. Bent or broken rear derailleur hangars, which he says can't be avoided, so he brings spares. And mud, which he fends off by thoroughly cleaning each bike when it comes in from a bike section of the race.

Should the unthinkable happen, Ryan brought along two extra complete bikes. He also has on hand enough parts to build another complete bike if needed.

Ryan tuned bikes for Ellsworth Bikes in San Diego for a time. These days, he works at Performance Bikes in San Diego.

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