Monday morning had a good weekend glow

I had a pretty eventful weekend by my standards.

Friday was code complete date for a big project I have been working on. I worked diligently all day. Just as I think I am about to finish, I find a big problem I have to fix. Of course it is 5 pm and I am little bummed I will have to work late. I look up though and notice it is pouring outside. Since I ride my bike to work, I instantly get a lot less worried about staying late. An hour later I have my problem fixed. I look up again and yay it has stopped raining.

I hop on my bike, and I hear thunder. I think about it for a second and decide I would rather get hit by lightning than stay at work any longer. I get about 5 minutes into my ride and the lightning starts. Big suckers booming on all sides. Then the rain starts. I decide I am now in the Tour de France, and I must crush Jan Ullrich in this final rain soaked time trial.



I bury myself. Cutting cars off. Sliding through turns. Bunny hopping fallen branches on my road bike. I get home and the lightning is still crashing down on all sides. I am completely positive I said a new record for my fastest commute ever. My lips were numb I was pushing so hard. :)

Saturday I wake up early. I bought a rohloff for my singlespeed, and I am eager to install it. I start reading the manual. I know this is against the man law, but I am really bad mechanic. I need all the help I can get.

I pretty quickly figure out I got the wrong hub. So I feel kinda bad. I keep reading the manual. Wow this thing is so modular. I can order a new axle plate and solve my problem. I feel much better. I look online for the part, and it is only $30 bucks. Compared to some of my previous screw ups that is a pretty cheap fix. I feel even better.

I click on the link to order the part, and I am told the part is sold out and won't get restocked for over a month. I feel bad again. I scour the internet (one of my better skills) and find out it is sold out everywhere. I start sending random emails to different people who I think might be able to help me. Luckily Neil at cyclemonkey (inventor of the really cool monkey bone) replies back and says he has a used axle plate he can ship to me for cheap. Score!

I am super happy again. I finish reading the manual and learn about all the cool things engineered into my hub. Break a shifter cable. No problem just remove the external gear box and shift into whatever gear you want with 8 mm wrench. This thing rocks.

Sunday I wake up early again. I head over to blankets and ride a couple loops (Dwelling + South) on my still single but soon to be 14 speed. I haven't ridden south loop in a while. It is much more eroded than I remember. All the new rocks are challenging and makes the trail more fun. After I finish, I pack my bike up and head over to my nephew's house. I grab a quart of chocolate milk on the way for recovery purposes.

Bubba and I head back over to Blankets Creek. We rode a bunch of loops around Mosquito Flats. We also explored a little on a couple of side trails. Rode some in the skills area too. Then we played around taking pictures.



It was great ride.

Then I hurried home. Jumped in the shower and drove ITP. Amy and I met my little sister and her husband at Alfredo's. We had a great time talking and catching up. I didn't like my lasagna too much. The tomato sauce was very bland. It tasted like Chef Boyardee's pizza sauce. Nothing was cooked together. It was almost like the ingredients were cooked separately then layered together after the fact. Mary Glenn picked up the check as a belated birthday present so I guess it wasn't bad for free. :)

This morning I woke up thirty minutes before my alarm went off. I hopped on my bike and took the long way to work. I must be in my manic phase, but it feels good for now.