Ploafmaster General

BREAKING: President Trump signs EO ordering Americans to acknowledge that he definitely strongly wipes his own butt, and never needs help contrary to the very bad lies told by Demoncrap toilet traitors.

In the throes of grief as my mother-in-law approached the end of her life, my wife said to me, nearly in tears, “Just please don’t get hit by a car on your bike. If something happened to you I would fall apart.” I haven’t ridden my bike, really, since a 7 mile ride on February 23rd.

I have felt a bit unmoored these past few week. Supporting my wife is my top priority, but cycling—particularly outside, not on the trainer—has become a real benefit to my mental and emotional well-being the past 3 years. Sharing some of the grief with Valerie, sharing the lack of proper or at least uninterrupted sleep, and not wanting to make her any more worried, I have stayed off the bike. That comment really hit me. You see I have been hit by a vehicle on my bike. More than once. So I understand why she’s worried. But every time I’m out and about and see folks riding around town it hurts a little.

I have distracted myself by working on bikes in place of riding them. Stripping down the Diamond Back. Tweaking the Trek. Today I did a whole bunch of stuff, like radius-ing the rear fender on my Space Horse, swapping chainrings on the Bombora, and changing out the shitty grip shifter on my son’s bike. I rode three of my bikes around the back yard a little bit to check some of my adjustments. The weather has been extraordinary and looks to continue for the next week and a half. I have come to the conclusion that I need to get back on the bike.

I talked to Valerie about it and she’s cool with it. She’ll continue to grieve and process the passing of her mom as we await the funeral and burial, but she’s not terrified of me getting struck down in the immediate future. And while I can’t predict every driver’s behavior, I’m not so worried about it either.

Adorable 3…4 year old? Strolls singing into the bagel shop. She spots embroidered Tweety on the employee’s blouse and exclaims, “I know that bird! It’s from, uh, from…Space Jam!”

My mother-in-law passed away this evening. As it happens, it’s 18 years to the day from when my dad died.

Grateful for the ability to take some time off. Grateful for her that she could be present with her mom as she passed. Grateful for helpful and caring friends.

Would you, uh…would you buy a jar of, um…Vaseline…from Facebook Marketplace?

Distracting myself from the impending bad news by trying not to buy all the nice, old SunTour components I find on eBay.

I will gladly spend money on quality bike tools, but for certain items I just can’t justify it. I’m not even gonna buy a used Park Tool or Unior headset press unless I’m pressing in 10 headsets a day.

WFH (working from hospital) this week so my wife isn’t alone here while my mother-in-law is on hospice.

It’s been dark enough dealing with all the national bullshit while my wife’s mom is dying, but now while she’s in hospice near the end, we get a new war for breakfast. Too many fucking horrors at once.

Dang, these new Shrike bars from Crust are super dope, and may work for the resto-mod of the Diamond Back. I’m sill partial to the Fun 3 Bars from Sim Works (love them on my Space Horse), but I can check these out in person at the source.

Yesterday I got a wheel set for $60 with 90s 8-speed-era Dura Ace hubs. The rims are too-skinny-for-me Mavic Open Pros (decent shape), but the hubs are fantastic and the price was worth it for them alone. I’m probably going to take the hubs out and re-lace them to wider rims for some wider tires.

ACAB

(all cops are babies)

I have a tire size checker tool from Rossman Cycles, and it looks like I could fit 650b x 50mm tires on the Diamondback!

Also, I was able to strip everything off with minimal issue. Probably gonna need to replace the headset, though. Not urgent, but it’s not all that smooth.

Somehow, quite unintentionally, I have ended up having #bikes that all have integrated seat post clamps.

The more I read up on Deore DX, the more hyped I get about the components on this absolute STEAL of a bike I got today. Again, 25 bucks for the whole bike. Dang.

I sure wish Delta Sleep would tour in the US.

Ah, the roller rink, where it actually smells better in the bathroom.

I swear I’m not going to become a bike collector.

However…I did see this bike show up on Marketplace for $25, listed as a “kid’s bike”, but the seller measured the seat tube and it’s 19" from BB to top. Fits me just fine! So it’s totally filthy, and there is some surface rust in a few places. Maybe some delicate paint on the top tube? I’ll tread carefully. But the seat post and stem can be loosened and removed, the breaks work, and I’m pretty sure the shifting will all work once I clean up the derailleurs and chain. Wheels have plenty of brake track left, and I believe I just need to adjust the front hub to take out some slight lateral play. The whole thing has Deore DX components, replacement seat, generic rear rack, but there are mid-blade mounts on the fork! The whole frame is double butted Tange cro-mo, and the fork is cro-mo as well.

I plan to take this one very slowly, cleaning it, polishing just a little, and slowly gathering the right parts to make this something fun.

Today is windy—perhaps too windy for a good bike ride, and I don’t really have the time for a full ride anyway. But I needed to get more spinach, and I figured it wouldn’t be too bad heading out on my new-to-me-and-updated-by-me 1990 Trek Antelope 800. So I cruised against a 19mph headwind to Whole Foods. It was almost noon when I got back to the bike and I didn’t really want to go home yet, so off to The Cask why not? Overall I ended up with a little over 7 miles. I think a few changes are in order:

• I need to tilt the saddle up slightly given my riding position
• I would like to replace the tires with something fatter and maybe some TPU tubes for lighter rolling and comfort.
• I hadn’t quite tightened the stem enough, so near the end of the ride it kept tilting down slightly every time I hit the brakes! It’s fixed now. Ain’t budgin'.

Anyway, here’s what I’ve modded on this puppy:

• Nitto Technomic stem, 120mm, 26.0 clamp diameter
• Ron’s Ortho Bars from Crust
• Wolf Tooth Fat Paw grips
• Suntour Power Ratchet shifters (they are as awesome as people say)
• Suntour Radius front derailleur
• Shimano XTR M952 rear derailleur
• Cheapy Sunlite front rack with a Wald 1372 basket bolted down
• Those cute little Blue Lug front and rear lights that bolt on
• My resurrected Berthoud saddle, now with cro-mo rails
• 26.2 seat post from Velo Orange
• New Albion cranks, 42-26 with the chain guard removed (it looked a little goofy for this particular build)
• the cheap-o green plastic platform pedals I got when I bought my Space Horse back in 2023

I kept the Dia Compe brake levers because they look sweet and feel great, and for my first time setting up cantis, I think they stop my lard ass pretty well. I would maybe like a liiiiitle more range on the freewheel in the back, but damn if it doesn’t spin smooth. The wheels aren’t in the best shape, but they are true enough for these rim brakes, and they roll forever on their bearings. Overall this whole update process was terrific, and I think the build has largely been a success. I may still pursue a 650b conversion with the right set of v-brakes down the line, but I’m in no rush. This thing is fun to ride a fit for purpose (that purpose being chill rides over short distances).

Looking more like Carson Yearly these days tbh

Great day for #bikes; managed to get in a nice long ride AND get the front rack and basket installed on the old Trek.

The spicy chicken sandwich from Wawa is nose-runningly hot, and pretty tasty.

Ski mountaineering makes me think of cyclocross on snow. It kinda rules.

Got the front fender installed on my Space Horse. Gonna try to get the second one on there tomorrow morning if possible before the rain stops, and then I can test them out on the wet roads in the afternoon!

There’s a weird but kinda neat sensation that comes with applying a nice, waxy lip balm right before hopping on the #bike in cool weather. You can feel the wax set up in a slightly hardened, protective layer as the air moves over your face.