Mario ... builds his first bike wheel

After the incident at Lambda Rising on Friday evening, I almost did not go to on Sunday, 16 July 2006. I'd leave my apartment in SW shortly after 4pm and arrive in Dupont Circle at 4:43 pm. Which is where I'd later find and photograph a man, at the west side of the Circle fiddling with a bicycle wheel. After photographing him I'd hand him my card and say that the photos would be posted to flickr sometime in the next day or so. When I asked his name and inquired where he was from he said that his name is Mario and that he had moved to WDC from SFCA in January.

In an email to me, on the next day, inquiring of the photos, he said that he had been building a bicycle wheel. Which is something that I had never heard of nor had ever seen done. Having been quite pleased with the photos that I took of him and wanting to share with others "how to build a bike wheel" I'd email him back, inquiring if I may post his image to my blog, accompanied with information pertaining to the construction of a bike wheel.

In a reply email, Mario would inform me that it being his first time for building a bike wheel, it was "... a huge accomplishment for me, as a mechanic", saying further that it "... turned out to be nice and round, almost no wobble, thanks to the instructions of Sheldon Brown at www.sheldonbrown.com/wheelbuild.html.

In a brief bio, and ... in his own words ... Mario says about himself:

"I'm a former squatter and current urban scavenger. Here I'm surrounded by dumpstered treasures: a bike I restored, wooden box and some packaged juice that looked good and tasted great. I'm a bike mechanic who learned from non-profits in the Bay Area and in these pictues I'm helping a friend build a wheel as part of a free bike workshop that I bottomlined at Dupont Circle."

I am damn glad that I did go to Dupont Circle on Sunday afternoon. And even more glad that I met Mario. It is not that I will ever build a bicycle wheel but, it is something that others may be interested in learning of or knowing about.

I have Mario to thank for this particular Men At Work in Dupont Circle series as well as for the Sheldon Brown's instructions pertaining to how to build a bike wheel.