I didn’t start drinking coffee until my mid 30’s. Micheal Engleman, my friend and a team mate on Wheaties-Schwinn, pretty much mainlined it when he was living with me in Boulder, but I never drank it.

The first time I drank coffee seriously was before a NORBA National in Spokane Washington. Paul Biskup, a friend that I’ve known forever, raced with me on the Levi’s team, and was working for SRAM at the time, insisted that I drink a double espresso right before the start of the race.

That was it. I finished 5th and felt pretty incredible the whole day. Now, I have no idea if the coffee made me feel that much better or if I was having a great day to begin with, but it started the consumption of mass amounts of coffee.

I never never race without drinking coffee before the event. I don’t necessarily drink espresso before every race, but I definitely drink coffee.

I drink black tea in the morning when I wake up. I’ve always done this and I just don’t feel like drinking coffee first thing. But when I’m going to be moving, coffee is the hot beverage of choice.

I was thinking of this yesterday when working. It almost seems more important to drink coffee when I’m doing other physical labor more than riding. I drank a ton of the stuff a couple years ago when I put that rubber roof on the building for two months. It was every couple hours on the hour. Building this fence is the same way. My energy level is normally good for a few hours in the morning and then starts deteriorating. A couple cups of coffee spaced out through the afternoon makes the productively quite a bit more.

If I was sitting around and doing non-physical labor, coffee wouldn’t work. I have to be doing something physical. I sometimes drink coffee when I’m driving, but it’s not a necessity. Driving is just about the least amount of physical exertion I can do and still not be jittery from drinking coffee.

I’m starting to get more and more into the snobbishness of coffee for some reason. I don’t know why that is because I have virtually none of it concerning wine. But hanging with the guys at the Flying Monkey/PT’s Coffee, it kind of rubs off. I have to put a stop to it, because it’s not in my personality to be concerned about silliness like that. It should be, if it tastes good, then it is good. Enough said.

These guys sell coffee and bikes in Europe.

I’ve been replacing this fence down in Richardson Texas the last few days. It always amazes me how important that the proper tools are for each and every situation. It isn’t only in construction, but everything you need a tool for.

I’d say that a large part of doing construction is having the right tools for the job and always having the necessary components when they are needed. Nothing slows a project down than running out of anything. It goes in a certain order and when that order is interrupted then the project sometimes comes to a complete stop.

The same when dealing with bicycles. More so. Can you imagine not having a chain tool when one is needed? There is nothing that can replace that. Maybe in “wartime” you could use a punch and a pair of pliers to get a chain back together, but not in a race situation.

Park Tool company is now taken for granted, but they have been innovators in bicycle tools. When Thomas Frischnecht first came to the US from Switzerland, he barely spoke English. It was about the same time that Park came out with the tri-tool, the y-tool with the 4-5-6 mm allen keys on it. When Thomas came to Boulder and stayed with me and saw the tool, he wanted to buy 50 and take them back to Switzerland and give them to his friends. He was that impressed with it. I have to agree. Life is much easier for me because there is a Park Hex wrench in the world. It holds true for lots and lots of tools.

Specialty tools are just that, special. There are many situations that there is nearly only one tool that will work for a specific situation. And if that tool is missing or unknown to the person that needs it, then there is nearly a zero percent chance that the task can be completed.

I guess this post is for me to acknowledge my appreciation to all the people out the that have thought through the process and made tools for each and every situation. It makes my life much easier on a daily basis. I always look for projects that “force” me to acquire new tools. If that is the case, then the project is usually always a success.

This Paslode nail gun is can virtually build a house by itself. It is a framing nailer, but.....

it can also be used here with a non-mar tip to use on fences, etc.

This Park tri-tool and Shimano chain tool, in this completely organized tool box, are two tools I could never do without.

The Campagnolo Tool Kit. I still want one, even though most of the tools in it aren't used for modern day bicycles now.