All the things that keep me from riding.
I'm going to try and post a little more frequently. I've been plenty busy, both at home and work, so that hasen't added to my blogging output. The other thing is that after a short while, I'm starting to run out of things to say about bicycling. I'm trying to avoid a daily commute/weather report as that would get old quickly. If I decide to get the camera out there's lots to talk about with equipment. But I've said that before and it's goping to be a while before that happens.
So what are these things keeping me away from all this. For one thing, we've been working on our home remodeling pretty staeady. Plenty o' orange and yellow shag carpeting/wallpaper/you name it to gut out and start fresh. The 70's were fine for me, but I have no desire to live there. Painting has been taking a lot of time. Color selction is a slow, sometime painful negotiation with the better half. We had a carpenter finish some of the items that had stalled all progress. Only problem with that is there's no excuse to stall anymore. Definitely chewing into my biking time. The Pig is in need of some maintenance. Doesn't shift worth sh!% at the moment. Likely fairly goobed up on the cables. The chain is a rusty disgrace but it seeems to recover surprisingly well with a little lube. Don't ask me why I can't take the 5-minutes it would actuallly take to lube it. I did check my tire pressure today and was sitting just a little shy of 30 lbs of pressure. Sort of explains why the hill to work seemed to get steeper every day. Pumped them up to 55 lbs. Should ease the knee strain.
The Surly SingleSpeed project has stalled. I've got a sizeable list of small part needed to get it up and flying. Did have it ot on a test ride but the gearing was a bit long for me. Better to spin a little quicker than blow a knee out. I've had trouble with my left knee so it's an all-too-real possibility.
Enough for now. I hope you're enjoying your winter commuting. It's been a piece of cake lately. When will we be paying for this?
So what are these things keeping me away from all this. For one thing, we've been working on our home remodeling pretty staeady. Plenty o' orange and yellow shag carpeting/wallpaper/you name it to gut out and start fresh. The 70's were fine for me, but I have no desire to live there. Painting has been taking a lot of time. Color selction is a slow, sometime painful negotiation with the better half. We had a carpenter finish some of the items that had stalled all progress. Only problem with that is there's no excuse to stall anymore. Definitely chewing into my biking time. The Pig is in need of some maintenance. Doesn't shift worth sh!% at the moment. Likely fairly goobed up on the cables. The chain is a rusty disgrace but it seeems to recover surprisingly well with a little lube. Don't ask me why I can't take the 5-minutes it would actuallly take to lube it. I did check my tire pressure today and was sitting just a little shy of 30 lbs of pressure. Sort of explains why the hill to work seemed to get steeper every day. Pumped them up to 55 lbs. Should ease the knee strain.
The Surly SingleSpeed project has stalled. I've got a sizeable list of small part needed to get it up and flying. Did have it ot on a test ride but the gearing was a bit long for me. Better to spin a little quicker than blow a knee out. I've had trouble with my left knee so it's an all-too-real possibility.
Enough for now. I hope you're enjoying your winter commuting. It's been a piece of cake lately. When will we be paying for this?
posted by Jim at Tuesday, February 07, 2006
1 Comments:
Jim, I know what it's been like for me trying to keep up with the the bike maintenance. If I'm riding on sloppy roads for more than three days in a row with my geared commuter, it just gets completely gunked up. That's a major reason I got my Surly fixie. It requires a lot less maintenance. But it's not much good in the snow due to the hills I have to get up. So I still have to ride a geared bike on those days. I force myself to do a complete drivetrain cleaning at least once a week during snowy times. It requires a lot of time. But you know what? I found I love commutng by bike so much, it's worth finding the discipline (and time) to keep my favorite rides cleaned and lubed. Although I admit, there have been days when the chain doesn't want to go through the derailleur because I've neglected it too long.
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