So here we are in July, summer time, Tour time, vacation time, whatever you want to call it. Last year Linds and I were in the Alps on vacation but this year there will be no Cols climbed. The last month has being a tad stressful, well for Linds anyway, she has been the one dealing with it all. But the reason for no post was, one, I was working and I never get time to post while working, and two, just recently we got the final go ahead on a house we bought here, so June was busy and now July is moving time.
But last post I mentioned some work I did in Dubai, so i will give some insight into that as it is different to what I normally do. It was May when I headed to Dubai to oversee the set up of a new store there. A good mate of mine, Lukey, put me in touch with a friend of his that wanted some help with the bike department within the store, so no, not just a normal bike shop. In the end I'm not sure of how much help I was, becuase Sam is a well organised guy and knows what he wants. Sam Whittam is the founder of Adventure HQ, the master mind behind it all, the man with big ideas. A store of 30,000sq ft with it's own climbing pinnacle and high ropes course inside the store. There is even a walk in fridge that can go to -25 to test your snow gear, not that you need that in Dubai on a daily basis, but what the hell. The store is your one stop outdoor adventure store, everything from bikes to jetskis, fishing rods, camping, rock climbing, 4WD, snow gear, you name it this store will have it.

the store logo sits in a brick wall which features as a waterfall.

When I first visited the store it was a empty shell, 6 months later [there were some delays] things had moved ahead at a rapid rate. This picture is taken from where the bike department is situated looking out to the main entrance.
So my main objective while there was to set up the work counter and plan out where everything would go. Also to train the mechanics and maybe do some short video clips for the shops website. I only had 8 days there and I wasn't sure what to expect, with anything. A while ago I had drawn up a plan of the work counter and sent to Sam, so that was pictured in my mind. I arrived in Dubai at 1am, was up at sparrows fart to go for a ride with Lukey, then off to the store. First thing was to sort out the tools. As it was not the Park Tools Kit I had in mind, thou would be enough to do most jobs, I had to sort out what tools there were and see what else extra the workshop may need. In a professional workshop you don't want to be working on a customers high end frame installing BB30 bearings with a hammer and screwdriver. it is important you have the right tool for the right job, this gains the customers confidence and trust for the workshop.

Here the work counter finally gets installed. Now that picture I had in my mind just went out the window. Still, a nice big custom made counter. A stainless steel surface would be laid on top at a later stage. The thing I had to work out was how to store everything. There was a huge amount of empty space inside the counter and trying to figure out how to best utilise that space was a small challenge. A bike shops work counter is unique, it's not something you just order off the shelf. It must be thought out, how all the small spare parts and such will be stored.

I spent much time thinking and planning, putting everything on paper trying to piece it all together to get everything to fit. I had no stock to go off so I had to think of all the spare parts they may carry for stock and think of how it would be stored. Sam was wanting all workshop related items stored in the counter, so that is a lot of stock to fit in.

The next planning out was the tool board, which I first did on this sheet of cardboard by laying out the position of the tools and then outlinning once I was happy with it. Again, I had not all the tools on hand, so I had to figure out the space to leave for the tools still to come. Here two workers hold up my cardboard draft as I stand back to see what it looks like, then take the photo to send to Sam for his approval.
Next big job was to install the Park Tool workstand. Now there was some drama with this. The thing I wasn't used to about working in Dubai was dealing with the workers. These guys work a normal day but get paid peanuts. Their not qualified tradesmen either, they have had no special training or even have the right tools. Workers would be using a nail to file or chisel something, rather than use a proper file or chisel. There was times I lost my patience I will admit, but mainly with their lack of urgency to do something, for me anyway. Once the position was decided for the stand, the tile was cut out. The foreman had drilled the first hole and made a mess of it, then some time when by before he sent a worker to finish the job. I had to explain to the guy 3 times that the 8mm bit they were using was not the right size needed for a 10mm expander bolt, but the foreman said they didn't have a 10mm bit. I was left there shaking my head in frustration. In the end the bolts were not secure enough to hold the stand in place for even a days work of servicing bikes. The foreman had to oversee everything in the whole store, he was a very busy man and only had a small handfull of workers to do things, and the stand I think was the last on their to do list. So after me asking nicely to try have it fixed with failed progress it was left to do before opening.

At least the stand was in the correct position, we could run the air line from the huge 10bar compressor which sits in a storage bay out back. Workers stood way beyond a ladders top saftey step to fix the air line along the roof to hang down at the center of the workshop where the workstand is situated. I had to make some further adjustments but I would use a higher ladder.
I then had to install all the storage draws inside the work counter, in the end I used just a simple Ikea product.

This storage solution just fell short of filling up the huge space inside the counter but it was the best solution. They are screwed in place to avoid moving about and there is 9 sets in total. These will hold all the workshop servicing related items, which should be more than enough. On top of the counter will sit 3 storage boxes, these will store all the smaller parts like bolts, cable tips, headset parts etc.
In the last days there the stainless piece had arrived for the tool board, so I set to work on that with my plan I had drawn up, thou there was a few minor alterations made along the way.

So this was the finished result, although not completely finished yet, the empty spaces are for the tools which were yet to arrive. The hard task was finding the right types of hooks to hang the tools. I wanted something that was clean looking to match the stainless surface and would work with the different tools. The other thing was doing the outlines, some I had to do free hand or with a ruler. I was happy with the end result. The last thing to do was drill the holes in the work top for the Park truing stand and bench vise to be fitted once the stainless top was installed.
So it was a good experince there, something different to working on a team. Now to the main story, I even got to do a race while I was there. A local organiser was running a criterium event, thou it was more like a kermesse. It was at the Autodrome, Dubai's F1 motor racing track. The racing scene in Dubai is not really developed like here in Europe but it is slowly growing, maybe due to how readily accessable it is, thou it is not a sport to do in summer.
I was doing the B race becuase I didn't have a licence to do A, Sam was also doing B. Lukey did the A race which started at 6am, to beat the heat of course. We donned our hot off the press specially made Adventure HQ jersey's to promote the store. Lukey won his race beating the national sprint ace, which he did by hitting him from a long way out. Then it was my turn, a 90 minute race with the temps already in the mid 20's at 8am, with stuff all training in my legs I wasn't real confident. There was an attack right from the line, my immeadiate thought was SHIT, but I settled in ok. As the race developed I was feeling ok, there was a break of 5 away but I wasn't too worried, finishing was the goal. Organisers had people around the course giving out bottles of cold water, not your qualified soigneur [or even experiencd at giving a bottle] but it was very welcomed, especially for one not used to the heat. I managed to grab a few bottles in the closing laps which kept me hydrated. Sam had blown so it was up to me to fly the Adventure HQ flag. I put in a few small attacks but the bunch seemed unwilling to really continue the attacks.
So by two laps to go the break had split, I calculated to be 3 remaining out front. The remaing breakaway riders were in sight, the pace had lifted. Two riders went hard up the last hill, I quickly slotted into 3rd wheel. The guy that led the chase had blown just as we caught the breakaway, the rider on second started his move for the line, I stuck to his wheel as he was giving me the perfect lead out. The race announcer was shouting in the loud speaker "THIS IS FOR THE WIN", but I had the feeling it was not. Out of the final turn I come off the wheel and kicked to win the sprint. I quickly learned there was one guy still out front, he finished 8 seconds ahead of us. None the less, second was good, I was surprised myself just by finishing.
Check out Adventure HQ at www.adventurehq.ae or if your in Dubai stop in at Times Square Center, Sheikh Zayed Road, Dubai.
Til next time