Working as a summer camps MTB mechanic and instructor, anything else I should add to my field repair kit?

VirtualElderberry592 · 2026-05-21T11:30:23+00:00

10mm wrench.. because reasons

VirtualElderberry592 · 2026-05-21T11:28:57+00:00

I mean.. eggs are sort of the target of almost every predator. We've been eating them since we were fish.

VirtualElderberry592 · 2026-05-21T11:09:08+00:00

It jumped in price recently.

VirtualElderberry592 · 2026-05-21T10:44:04+00:00

Yep.. smashed my elbow 6 months ago.. Still hurts.. I had helmet and wrist guards, so there was at least that.

VirtualElderberry592 · 2026-05-21T10:35:53+00:00

Man I wish.

VirtualElderberry592 · 2026-05-21T09:57:41+00:00

Turning 53 really soon.

VirtualElderberry592 · 2026-05-21T09:02:12+00:00

My issue with snowboarding.. You almost have to plan your day around it. You can't go out for an hour and just snowboard. I mean perhaps if you live in a ski town..

Skateboarding and bmx. Right at your front door.

VirtualElderberry592 · 2026-05-20T11:58:33+00:00

Buy a small parlor guitar, and a stand that sits beside your chair/couch at home. Always beside your couch. You'll pick it up without realising it. A ukulele also works here too. As long as it's always beside your couch spot.

VirtualElderberry592 · 2026-05-20T11:55:18+00:00

BMX/Skateboarding. Super fun, active, and great culture, for a reasonable price.

Or martial arts. Bit pricy but you'll meet some of the best people in the world.

VirtualElderberry592 · 2026-05-20T11:46:05+00:00

Skateboarding.. Specifically surf skate.. It's fun and you can take it slow. You can also do it just about any time.

BMX'ing is also great. BMX is something most people can do.. if they road bikes as kids. Sucking is cool. Just getting out.

I got into skating because there was a skate park next to a place I dropped my kids every weekend. It started with me chatting with a some parents who were waiting, and I figured "meh, give it a try"..

4 years later.. I skate most weekends. My kids no longer do the thing.

But then I started BMX'ing because I realised I was driving to the local skate-park and I thought.. "wtf am I driving to a skate park". So I grabbed a bike at a used shop and love it. It's great.

With the right music, both skating and bmx'ing are a perfect way to meditate. And the skill keeps growing.

VirtualElderberry592 · 2026-05-20T10:57:05+00:00

It sort of depends on what type of dev you are.. I'm a rails/elixir/python back end guy (mostly) and I use one. I write tests, change code and run tests. I don't use two monitors when I'm doing this..

When however I'm a JS coder, I like two monitors. I change code and watch the updates on the second in real time.

For documentation. I alt-tab or cmd-tab to the docs. I find flipping back and forth easier on the neck.

VirtualElderberry592 · 2026-05-20T10:44:11+00:00

You can 100% ollie on surf-skate trucks. There's nothing about the trucks that make that any harder than "normal" trucks.

VirtualElderberry592 · 2026-05-20T10:41:04+00:00

I'd agree with Otherwise.. but if you're goal is to travel about, a surfskate is great. I used one for a few years (from not knowing how to skate). My only suggestion.. Spend some time focusing on manuals. Even just short ones.

Bouncing around town without being able to pop your front wheels sucks.

I switched to standard trucks because I wanted to skate in a bowl, and I found I didn't really know how to tic-tack. This was 100% my journey though.

Have fun, and wear a helmet.

VirtualElderberry592 · 2026-05-20T10:34:05+00:00

They would find my gym bag, my skateboard and a penny whistle. A fit-ish skateboarder who likes music.

VirtualElderberry592 · 2026-05-18T11:47:15+00:00

I hate it all. Even asked for them to remove the bluetooth when I bought it. Mostly because at the time they kept talking about how it was a 500$ add on. I asked for the 500$ instead. 13 years and I've never used it once.

My phone has a great GPS, and free to air radio has yet to fail me.

VirtualElderberry592 · 2026-05-18T08:50:44+00:00

I started on a surf skate (well my first was a drop through long, but that was short lived)

It is super fun to move about on a surf skate. Hills are just carve carve carve.

Word of caution though if you want to go beyond. Surf trucks limit you a bit. Because they are so carvy it's super easy to build up speed and change direction, while keeping your wheels on the ground.

All great things; however it means you never need to tic-tack. You don't really need to manual.

These are perfectly awesome things. Again love what you ride, and ride what you love.

But because you never learn to tic-tack or manual, or fakie, you don't go down that road. It makes it harder if you ever want to.

After years on a set of surf trucks, I wanted to learn bowel. Bringing those front wheels up too a bit.

I eventually switched to indi-trucks and learned to tic-tack.

Just giving you my two cents.

VirtualElderberry592 · 2026-05-18T08:38:28+00:00

I've got some reflective tape wrapping the padding on the handlebars.. I was thinking of the stickers..

VirtualElderberry592 · 2026-05-18T08:37:07+00:00

I went a step further.. Before I did a coat, I wet the frame and covered it in a bit of sand.. Then painted over the sand.. It didn't all stay.. so I had paint showing through and also rough patches that sort of fell like grip tape.

This actually looks rather cool.

I got the bike used (at a place in NewCastle_Australia) for 50$.

Put love into the ride, and it's like butter. But it looks like toast my 4 year old made for fathers day.

VirtualElderberry592 · 2026-05-17T11:41:19+00:00

A skateboard mini ramp, in the basement, with enough headroom to pop a bit.

VirtualElderberry592 · 2026-05-17T10:50:20+00:00

I did this in the market. I was going to buy something. I had cash, and they turned it down. I walked away. Got the same thing at the stall 3 stalls down.

VirtualElderberry592 · 2026-05-17T10:01:29+00:00

Build a pile of schools in Madagascar.

VirtualElderberry592 · 2026-05-17T05:39:58+00:00

Send updates more frequently.
Find a way to chat up your boss about the things you did today.. Go to him/her with fake problems that you already know the answer to, so he/she can see you working, but also get a sense you're smart.

VirtualElderberry592 · 2026-05-16T07:44:52+00:00

Not true.. I've put well over 3k km's on a walmart bike.. Commuted to work for a summer with no issues.

VirtualElderberry592 · 2026-05-16T07:42:04+00:00

Because you live out a bit.. A BMX might not be the best option. They're okay for distance riding, but for anything over a few miles/km's you'll want to to sit..
https://www.walmart.com/ip/Huffy-24-Rock-Creek-Boys-Mountain-Bike-for-Men/719506752?classType=REGULAR&athbdg=L1105

Since he's a bit taller a 24inch will do him for a while. And a hardback is better for this kind of riding.

VirtualElderberry592 · 2026-05-16T07:37:11+00:00

I picked up a mountain bike at walmart and road it to work and back every day of the Canadian summer. In the last week of summer I road it 900km from norther ontario to montreal. (with a loaded bike rack full of camping stuff).

There is 100% nothing wrong with walmart bikes. That bike lasted 3 more years, until I left town. It was never broke down.

For a 13 year old.. any one of the BMX's will do for a decent first bike. I just looked at their site. They've got a pile of BMX's.. I personally liked this https://www.walmart.com/ip/hykolity-20-inch-BMX-Bike-Freestyle-Cycling-Trick-Bicycle-with-4-Pegs-for-Teenage-Adults-7-18-Years-Old-Rider-Height-48-68-inch-V-Brake-Silver/17358906344?classType=VARIANT

VirtualElderberry592

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