Tuesday, June 26, 2007

Bleh

Got out of the house late yesterday so I had to drive. Went home for lunch and rode back since I was feeling guilty. That felt good -- sorta. It's getting hot and sticky, so the Minnesota summer cycle seems to be gearing up. Nice day, nice day, get a bit hot and sticky, even hotter and stickier, yet some more hot and sticky, thunderstorm. Repeat until September.



This morning's ride was nasty. It was already close to 80 (27C) when I left this morning and I had to ride against a mean South-westerly wind that just keep me hot -- no cooling breezes today. But the Weather Service says that there is a 30% chance of storms and tomorrow will be considerably cooler and drier. Nice weather to bike to da bar...

Friday, June 22, 2007

Something Drastic

After Tuesday's wipeout, I finally had a chance to survey the damage to the bike. Not much damage -- brake lever out of place, scuffs on the paint job in various places and, surprise, a broken rear spoke. I have broken 4 spokes in two weeks and it's finally come to the point where I need to something. Something drastic.



(About now, this is where Mrs. Yam starts to shake her head; she knows full well what's coming up -- her husband is going to fly off on some expensive tangent and the budget will be shot to hell.)





"If I'm going to spend all that time breaking spokes, I should just bloody get a truing stand and put 'em in myself," I snort. "This is getting expensive and I can do this, I shouldn't have to keep running to the bike shop for this."



Mrs Yam patiently nods.





"Let's go to REI and get a truing stand and I'll fix this myself"



Sigh, says Mrs. Yam.



$240 dollars later (well, we've started camping and we needed some stuff), I have a stand. So, while the coals for dinner were getting started, I put in the new spoke and trued the wheel. That felt good. I'm getting all ambitious and now pondering the chance of building a new rear wheel. I'll have to get Mrs. Yam's road bike working before I go there. I don't need any more disapproving glances from me darlin' bride for a while. And then there's the Gitane that needs to be rebuilt (or at least fixed up) and then I need to get my buddy's Raleigh from his house and turn that into a one-speed...

Wednesday, June 20, 2007

Biking to da bar redux

Biffed it last night.



Rode from work to Town Hall and on the way, I got a call from my buddy at the liquor store saying that there will be a Belgian beer tasting at the Bryant Lake Bowl and I should attend. Well, who am I to turn down good beer? With a buzz that comes from a coupl'a two-tree beers (the 1800 is on -- try some, it rocks), I hit the curb along Hiawatha and spilled. Twisted up the brake levers and got a scrape on each knee and lovely raspberry on my right elbow. Jammed my shoulder too, just for good measure. Luckily, I wasn't able to feel the pain then and there, and I thanked the concerned driver who asked about my well being and scurried off to the bar...



This morning I didn't bike (go figure) and my shoulder really hurts. So it goes.