I submitted a request to the city’s 311 system 4 days ago about a sign leaning over in front of my house at risk of falling over (loose in the ground like a truck maybe backed into it). They just showed up in the last 30 minutes and took care of it!
Picked up some Odyssey/Vans slip-ons at an outlet this past weekend. In the past I could never get Vans slip-ons on my feet because of a high upper part of my foot, but these worked somehow and feel great. And you know what? I totally get why folks like biking in these things. Super comfy.
As previously noted, I haven’t been able to ride much the past couple of weeks, but today I was back on two wheels, and the weather in Richmond was just the chef-est of kisses.
Latest Pink Sky Rides vid combines my love of film photography (with an RZ67, no less!) and bikes as she photographs her husband’s dope GT: www.youtube.com/watch
Stopped by Crust today and picked up the new 800mm Shrike bar (so it also has a 31.8 clamp diameter) in black along with some matching stem spacers. Gonna use this bar on the Diamondback Apex I’m working on. Pumped!
Lotta great sounds out there, but I’m pretty sure a laughing baby is the best sound.
Cutting it a little close, but we booked a flight for the family to LA for spring break. Gonna go see my grandma while we still can!
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.
Emotional Support Bicycle
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.
Apex
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.