Bidness fo shidness

I'm a big believer in monogamy, I just want that one perfect woman. However, I can not fathom not having less than...well, I've got a few bikes. Enough that one of them (gorgeous Bianchi with gold inlaid spades and Bianchi script on the lugs, and matching gold Deep V's...muey bueno) hung from my garage ceiling for the last month or so because it had a flat tire, and I had just built up another fixie, which I've been digging. It's an old Trek 520 touring frame and it had the dual distinctions of being able to run 35 mm studded tires and riding like silk made out butter. And then, of course there's the Xtracycle, which is a go-to if there's even a remote possibility I need to haul anything lager that a couple cinder blocks (you'd be surprised). The long and the short if it being I'm not really hurting for transportation. Hell, worst case scenario I could drive my car, which has only been started once in about three months and only to move it to the other side of the block (long story).

However, I had set the Trek up geared a little higher for a race we had a while back. Of course that was fine (great actually) with 23 mm slicks. But when the snow started to fly, and I ended up on my ass a couple (ok, like 8) times on my way home from the bar one night, I promptly threw my Schwalbe Marathon Winters on the Trek. Now, bigger heavier tires require a little more torque to get rolling, and today, while trying to beat a car between stoplights, I felt a little pop in my right knee. It didn't hurt all that bad and I didn't think all that much of it, but it didn't feel right.

Then of course came the straw. Once I got home I felt the need to bust out a few miles on foot (I'm not a 'runner' but I do run). When I got back from my jaunt, my right knee was hurtin'. It wasn't hurtin' bad, but it hurt enough, and I decided to gear the 35 mil stud adorned Trek from 42x15 to 42x17 (the 17's been sitting in my messenger bag for about a month, I'm just to frikken lazy to do something til I get a swift kick in the butt, or in this case a pop in my knee).

While I was getting my hands dirty, it occurred to me that one of my other favoritest bikes was just hanging there unusable for no reason besides my colossal procrastination. So, I took the requisite ten minutes and patched a few tubes (since I was at it), pulled a piece of metal the size of the tip of a nail (good chance that was the issue) out of the tire, and got another of my other favoritist bikes back in action. This, of course necessitated a ride...so I busted out just shy of 12 miles around the BZN, which is sublimely quiet on a Monday night at 11:00pm.

I've said this before, but there's just nothing like getting back on a bike you haven't ridden in a while, it's like having a beer with a best friend that's been on hiatus for months, best part of my whole day! I <3 my bike!

Good to have you back Bianchi, I didn't realize how much I missed you until we were flying down Oak at about twenty miles an hour, and I was hammering up Willson as fast as my anaerobic threshold would manage. Careening through campus, and navigating the eerily dark 8th street with just shy of a full charge on my LED headlight batteries, riding a bike is really my favorite thing.



Today's millage: 19 miles bike (total including commute), 4 miles running. I prolly better get back in the pool here pretty soon. It seems like some fat dumbass (i.e. me) once said something about doing some triathlons.