I don’t ride with the earbuds in for obvious safety reasons, but it was going to make me cranky if I didn’t have my tunes when I got into office. Somehow I lost them yesterday, and I couldn’t find them even though I checked where they were sitting in my truck cup holder.
So fuck yes, I am riding to work today. 🚴I could have very much so been back on the road on Friday, had I driven in on Thursday and picked up the wheel after work, but who knows if I would have gotten up to the shop by 6 PM with the traffic with the Corporations Challenge. I just didn’t want bother with it, and I though Saturday was going to be such a shit day that I wouldn’t want to go out and ride or do anything, 🐸 even though it turned out to be a beautiful day. Maybe I just didn’t want to face putting the wheel back together or deciding whether or not to drill out the valve stem hole myself or ask the shop, but it got done. Besides the new rear wheel, I installed new rear brake pads (did the front in February), and bled and topped off the front brakes and cleaned the rotators and pads with brake clean. Should be good for a while though next repair needs to be to most likely replace the rear derailuer which isn’t putting enough tension on the chain though I’ll wait until the chain is due for a change. I’m monitoring that with the chain 🔗 measure tool to recently bought to reduce the frequency I have to replace the cassette.
It’s silly how stressed I get about these 🤪 things. The woke bike shop already had the hole drilled and filled out for the shader valve and it was ready to install. It took my not even 15 minutes to install the hardware, add some more fix-a-flat to the tube, fill it up and be off a test ride. The new wheel rides so much better, and is quieter without the super sloppy wheel bearing and cracked rim. ⚙️ Hopefully I get a few years out of this. I do think now that I’m more confident and knowledgable about wheels, the next time I need to replace, I’ll go online and order a wheel. I’ve been pulling off spokes from the old wheel and saving them for future repairs. 🔧 I might not be a great mechanic yet, but I’m trying to do as much of my work myself, so I don’t have to wait and hand over so many fist fulls of cash to the woke bike shop. 💵 I don’t know if riding to work is actually cheaper then taking the bus, even with the fare when you consider parts, but it’s excellent exercise 🦵and I think good for the mind. People say I’m green 🌎 because I rarely drive my big jacked up truck to work 🛻 but truth is I hate traffic it’s so much easier to take bus, 🚌 or ride 🚲 , even with the transfer between bus and the shuttle 🚀. Hey, got to make up for all that plastic stuff I’ve burnt over the past two decades or so. 😂
So much of the problems is just in my mind. 🧠 I just got to remind myself of that fact. The woke mind virus, which so infects my mind living in Albany is not real, nor is all my delusions and fears. The whole bike thing that’s been stressing myself out for a week and half, was a real nothing burger, it rides great now. 🍔 Hell, if I want to burn shit, plenty of rednecks do that out in country, and in many places, nobody cares. 🔥 Going to have a pretty good fire this weekend, wherever I end up deciding to camp. 🏕️ There is some danger in breaking the law, 👮 but let’s be honest if you’re not smoking out your neighbors nobody cares. Somebody – I think my neighbor was smoking tobacco and weed a good portion of yesterday and stunk to high hell. 👃 I’m fine with smoking weed up in wilderness, giggling with the Dire Wolf next to the waterfall, 🌈 but I don’t love second-hand smoke when I’m not one getting high. It’s just so pungent. 🚭
French toast this morning 🍞 using up some bread I made up last week that was again much too dry and by now had gotten kind of stale. Going to use up the rest of the rice 🍚 and beans I made up last week for lunch. 🧅 I should go shopping at Hannaford tonight or tomorrow 🍌 then I’ll go shopping 🛒 at Walmart for anything else in need on Thursday before heading out for the long weekend. I will probably leave work early on Friday to head up to camp 🏕️, I’m just not at all sure where I’ll end up going. I am so ready to get away from it for a few days! Maybe it was smelling all my neighbors weed this weekend or looking at the big cardboard box the wheel came in an thinking how much fun it will be to burn!
The Memorial Day Weekend forecast looks like a mixed bag 🌦️ not a real washout but certainly cold and not a banner year. Probably real buggy, 🐜 regardless of where I decide to spend the weekend. It always, and definately on the cold side of things. Not sure where I am going, but I do want to get out and have a good fire, 🔥 and smoke some of that stuff that was so nasty when it was billowing in my window yesterday. This weekend wasn’t bad, it was nice at Five Rivers though if I had been smart, I would have gotten the wheel back on Thursday or Friday and been back on the road, as it wouldn’t have been bad to ride Saturday. At some point, I now want to do the Harlem Valley Trail in Dutchess County – near where I was two weekends ago, but maybe not this weekend unless the forecast craps out for the first half of weekend. 🚲 Maybe combine that with hammock or lean-to camping up at Harvey Mountain or Beebe Hill to make a full weekend sometime in the future.
Everybody let’s sing along – The Pope Smokes Dope! And probably smells like cow manure too. I miss Madison County.