Well, There's a set of double RR tracks on sutton street. As I was approaching them I could see they had frost heaved pretty badly over the winter - had to be at least two inches on one side of both sets. I went to find a smooth line that was in the lane of traffic, but there was a truck right next to me. I was going too fast and was too close to hit the brakes hard without risking a header, so I choose to try a double hop. First set cleared, second set the rear wheel came up short. I didn't land on the heave or the rail, but came up short enough so the rear wheel actually landed on the pavement before the last rail. I just didn't have enough speed to clean the second set. I was going slow enough by that point though, that I could just pick up the rear wheel. I picked it up, felt kind of a hard hit, but certainly nothing that I thought should flat the tire. I guess I didn't pick it up enough to clear the heaved pavement though, because a couple of hundred yards up the road, sure enough it felt soft.
Well, shit that was the 5th flat I've had this year, and the third in two weeks. All but the second one have been pinch flats. OK, I'm about 5 pounds heavier than I want to be, but I haven't dropped my tire pressures, always run just over 100psi, WTF?
This last one was brutal, not just two slices, but FOUR. The one on the upper right isn't easy to see, and may not have actually sliced the rubber, but the 'stressing' of the rubber was obvious. To make matters worse, when I was putting the wheel back in the stays, I snapped off the speed sensor. FUCK!
This picture is at home in the stand, with the bike inverted. I didn't even realize I did it until I started riding again and I could hear something in the rear going 'tik tik tik', it was the magnet actually hitting the sensor. At first I thought I just bumped it, but no, I fucking broke it.
This sensor is part of the polar power pod, a $250 accessory to the polar 700 series computers. I wasn't going to be able to replace just the sensor. I'd either have to send it in for repair or buy a replacement. An expensive proposition in either case, and also a complete pain in the ass for when I got the thing back and had to re-install it.
Closer examination showed that the plastic had simply snapped off, and that the sensor was intact. Actually, it worked for the entire rest of the ride. So what's a basement mechanic to do, but break out the shoe goo!
The pieces actually went together quite well and held themselves into place with out additional fixing, so I just degreased everything, slapped on a liberal amount of shoe goo, and left it upside down overnight. This morning it was pretty solid.
Since I was taking pictures I decided to snap a 'panoramic view' of _my_ half of the basement (my wife said it was mine).
(right click and open in new window to follow the lyrics below)
from left to right -
Cheezy squat rack with 200 lb barbell (not use in about a year, now used to hang spare mtn tubes and tires from)
Merlin upside down in the stand with shoe goo-ed speed sensor.
Behind the merlin, top to bottom:
top shelf - spare parts in plastic bins.
second shelf - cleaners lubes and a bunch of miscellaneous crap
third shelf - tools
fourth shelf - 15 years worth of velonews.
floor - a few boxes of old crap parts, and two empty 5 litre beer kegs (heineken and killians)
Moving to the right again:
Tom Kellog custom steel frame with Mavic Challenger disk, fixed gear 52x16 (the bike I rode at the harpoon TT, it's right where I left it after getting home that night)
Magtrainer
oscilloscope & audio spectrum analyzer
tv/dvd/stereo
rollers
nordic track
cheezy back/abs excercise machine (it has a seat, handles you pull on and pedals you push down on but they're fixed so you're sort of rowing while standing up, with an adjustable hydraulic cylinder for resistance. It actually works pretty good, it was free)
vinyl collection ( on shelf, appx 600 albums)
legs from old starwars AT-AT Walker toy sticking out of a box on the floor (it's a long fucking story)
Foreground
Cheezy weight bench (with hand-broadcast spreader and empty bucket of driveway salt)
Neighbors early 90's specialized allez, freshly tuned up and waiting for her to come get.
Hanging in back
Basso Gap
Tsunami (frame & fork only)
Cube Aerium TT bike
Bontrager Cx
Giant XTC
'95 canondale MTB minus wheels and saddle
Continuing right
white extension cord hanging from outlet in ceiling
Door screens (soon to be replaced with storm door windows)
Breaker panels
usable 8 speed freewheel MTB wheel
Old proflex 753 frame with broken swingarm
Independent Fabrications Custom Deluxe Ti MTB
K2 3000 MTB with Girvin LElite fork and Ice tires
toolbox on stairs
(visible above toolbox) spare tires, note old Vittoria Tigre CX tires
stairs to outside and kitchen
Let's Play I Spy - An NEBC 50th anniversary commemorative Pedros bottle opener?
The thrills continued this morning. I went to pull up the zipper on my booties and the fucking thing broke. The zipper is still good, just the little tab broke off.
Riding to work, a car accident occurred _right_ in front of me, like 20 feet. I was on marston st. in Lawrence, and moving from the right shoulder to the left most lane to make a left turn. I had plenty of room behind me, I signaled to move left, and traffic allowed me to move over. This section of road is a downhill, and it's pretty easy to get up to well over 25 MPH before you need to move over, which makes getting into traffic a bit easier. Just before I signaled to move over, a car went by in the right lane (on my left), and just after him one went by in the left lane. Right when I got into the left lane, the car that had just passed me in the right lane tried to move into the left lane without looking, and drove right into the car that had just passed in the left lane. I think the guy in the right lane suddenly realized he wanted to take the next left, hit the brakes and swerved left, so the guy in the left lane nailed him. The right lane guys drivers mirror popped off and cleared about 20 feet. I swerved around them on the left, which was OK because a third lane develops right there for traffic taking a left, then went around the traffic stopped for the left turn on their right. I was probably doing 25 or so when they crashed. I spent sometime fucking around today and made a cute drawing. This is the intersection of Marston and canal streets. Not exactly an urban jungle, but sometimes getting over to the left can be dicey.
(clicky = biggy)
I can't wait to find out what the World has in mind for me for tonight's ride home....
2 comments:
Between the diagram and panorama, the effort here clearly deserves better than a comments goosegg.
The cellar looks a lot more ghetto than I imagined. With all the work you're always doing around that place, I expected something more Architectural Digest for your mantown. The iron is a nice touch though. It's hard to imagine your pencil legs pushing that.
The work I'm always doing, unfortunately, doesn't occur in the basement anymore. Actually, I've spent 100s of hours cleaning the basement up. You should have seen it when we moved in....bugs, mice, dirt, trash...the people we got the place from are pigs. I actually spent an entire weekend scrubbing the floor with bleach (wearing a chemical mask) _after_ I spent a few weekends cleaning all the dirt and debris out. Then there was the week long project of building a concrete wall to back fill one section of the field stone foundation that was crumbling. Remember it's a 100 year old colonial, and at this point the basement is low on the list except as a space for me to escape to.
Iron - 200 pounds is on the upper end of my strength phase. My goal is 200, and I've always been lucky enough to get up to at least 225. Yeah, I know, way fast whitey uses 200 as a warm up. This was the first year in the past ten that I haven't done any weight training over the winter.
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