I was thinking back a ways to a ride on Seymour with my friends JacAttack and Mr. Lungtastic. Jac, in her typical, helpful, manner had just finished giving me some friendly advice on how not to be a wuss and Lungtastic was, at that very moment, moved to ask: “Jac, how did they ever fit such a big heart into such a little body?“
And it’s so true. Jac is such a giving person. Why I don’t know anyone who has ridden with her more than twice, maybe three times, who hasn’t received a completely free flat repair tutorial or how-to on the use of tire plugs. It’s remarkably generous really.
And all that generosity is not without a cost to Jac-no-kie! Forgoing tire inserts, running low tire pressures, and an endless supply of tire plugs and tubes. I asked around I couldn’t find a single mutual friend that hasn’t witnessed a clinic. I myself, with no investment other than my time, have stood in the pissing rain on a number of occasions while Jac plugged her tire or installed a tube. And that’s just counting the memorable moist-weather flat events.
And it’s not just the flat repairs. Don’t forget that JacVenture is also happy to help with solid life advice like Jac’s Guide For Dudes. Oh, and I also have to mention helping @ThePrettiestMuddbunny carry heavy sh*t to build his masterpieces, at night, in the pissing rain, with no whinging! Plus all the coaching.
At any rate, I really wanted to think of a way that we, Jac’s friends and community, could come together to say thank you. And sure, we’ll never be able to repay her for all the time she’s invested changing flat tires, or plugging flat tires, in front of us, but at the very least a token of our appreciation. I’ve come up with two ideas.
The first is quite simply a voluntary bacon tax. Every time you buy a new package of bacons, or Dynaplugs, or Stan’s Darts just put one in a little baggy and hand it to Jacx next time you see her. Now I know the true cost of taxation varies wildly with the Darts being about $6 a pop, Dynaplugs coming in at around 1/2 that per unit, and Bacon’s coming in under a buck a piece, but I still think there’s value anyway you break it down.
The second thing I’d like to do is start a living archive of photos of JacAttack giving her free flat repair clinics. Only one problem, I seem to have misplaced the dozen or so photos I remember taking – never mind all the times I didn’t snap a photo, and Jac clearly isn’t the kind of self-promoter with a HUGE archive of pictures that would include a ton of flat photos.
Big thanks to Andy and Toucan for already having a dig through their archives and if you have a photo of Jac fixing a flat that you’d like to share just drop me an e-mail. I’m okay to post it anonymously if you prefer not to share the spotlight, but I’d love to provide attribution if that’s okay with you. Feel encouraged to include a snippet of text to act as a caption.
Flat Repair Clinic Archives:
