Easy Come Easy Go

Thought really hard about commuting to work on the Atlantis this morning, but I really need to clean the chain and lube the thing first. Should run a chain check measure too. So I didn't, I wussied out and rode the bus so I could read. I'm reading one of the books in the series about Hannibal Lecter and Clarice. I can hear Anthony Hopkins saying her name from the movie Silence of the Lambs. Loved the creepy way he'd say it. Well, at least I didn't drive and this way I'll have energy to get after the QuickBeam.

Last night I did get out for quite awhile after a trip to Menards to get some citrus cleaner and a quart of denatured alcohol to clean the shellac brush with. The citrus is to clean the Atlantis chain. I also got more pegs and stuff for the tool board so my workshop doesn't look like such a horror all the time. I simply need to organize the beegeebers out of it. Ha! Simple! Not for an anal retentive bloke like me. Bloody hell.

Back to the story. I spent a lot of time trimming up the brake cable housing. You know the drill, measure once, cut, oh, string of curse words. Nah, I measured twice and got them trimmed out nicely with the dremel cut off wheel and opened the hole with an awl. Then I used electrical tape to keep the housing running smoothly along the handlebar.

Now I still didn't like it. See when the brake levers were made for a drop bar it was great how the housing would exit on the inside of the bar. Now with a mustache bar it exits on the bottom of the brake lever. Hits your fingers in an odd place. So I got this bright idea of swapping levers left to right. Then the housing would exit on the top more like normal. So I pulled it all off and tried it. It didn't work. Nice in theory, but horsebleep in practice. Fine. Take it off and swap them back. Good thing I had the sense to mark the positions on the bar using a Sharpie so I could quickly get them back into place where I had found that I liked them. Taped everything down again.

Pulled out the Audax kit and went at it. Measured and played and looked and tried taping into place a variety of ways. Trimmed up one side and began with the cotton tape. Looked horsehit. The bar comes off looking square in profile. Either I've got to pull really hard on the tape to compress the stuff or something. Seems like that would defeat the purpose of the foam. It was getting time for dinner, I needed to swap tapes in the VCR, the Simpsons were on, and I was getting disgusted. Maybe I'll try again tonight.

Regarding cycling shoes. I have clipless pedals and shoes to go with. I was hoping to make this a simple bike in that I would need less gear to ride. Shoes that don't stick out as funny looking and don't click when I walk down the tile halls at work or in the tile floor in grocery stores. I just want something different that doesn't speak cycle with every step and glance. I like both clipless pedals as well as clips. Its just I don't have any sneakers or other shows left in the house that might work.

Okay, here's the deal. I'm a shoe whore too. I own more shoes than most guys. They have winter shoes and maybe summer shoes. Three pair tops. I ain't counting how many I have. It would scare you. I have a couple of pair of hiking boots I wear to work most of the time. I have some cycling shoes. I have a pair of sandals. I have a pair of old hiking boots that look horrid, but still fit okay so I use them only in the garage. I also have a pair of sneakers for the gym. I don't' want to get them grungy cause they gotta go in the gym bag. I have a pair of shoes I can slip into quick to go get the mail. Fine, color me embarrassed. Yeah, and I still covet another pair. Go ahead, leave comments on what a girly man I am. Fine. Guilty as charged.