EOS

It's that time of the year - End Of the Semester. beginning of continued family chaos. tulips are blossoming, cardinals are claiming their turf, dogs are chasing squirrels up on rooftops. dogs are also eating pans of chocolate peanut butter bars and vomiting it up in my bedroom the following evening but that's another blog.

So much going on that i'm not even sure where to begin.

So perhaps i'll start at the end and continue forward.
A good friend has been teaching me how to mountain bike. It's more about building confidence for me and she's been encouraging. It's been pretty awesome until i went out on the trail after a long hot 95+miler on the road and introduced my knee to a lovely pile of ridge-top rocks.

crack!

my knee, which suffers from a minor meniscusal tear that will never heal) was less than thankful. while i've fallen a bunch and am no worse for the wear, this time, the onset of pain-induced nausea post-impact and the throbbing burn riding on suggested minor setbacks were to come.

something inside is bruised - perhaps a tendon - who knows. it hurts, i'm on the ice - the cold stuff (not the white stuff)... and it's slowly getting better. Needless to say, i've been on the riding d/l for the past 2 days and counting. May brave it in the woods for a short spin today. i've got that itch that only hard packed gravel can scratch. (hmmm that's a bit weird huh?). yea, whatever.

tomorrow is the final day of bird-shit classes for the semester. It's bittersweet as i've learned more (shit about birds) from these classes than most others i've taken - and loved every moment of it. They've also kicked my ass with hours of in class lab time and hours of out of class work / studying. 2 finals next week and i'm officially off the shit rehab style. sweet.

And then - the wedding!!! I'm off to ARK-KANSAS the following week to hang with e & g and provide pre-wedding moral support. oooh -- good times, and many, many margaritas are in store!

Finally - i think i'm hitting this show this summer... can you say NAS??? hell yea!

This summer will be devoted to three things:
1. research (no class) -- data processing and final proposal writing
2. work (Cali here i come!)
3. bikes (in the forest - NINER!!)

and ofcourse good friends make it all that much better....
the end.

trials skills

WV sent me this today. Talk about unbelievable handling and tricks.

stop!

Stopping can be a good thing. Knowing you have the ability to ease up is especially comforting when cruisin at 40MPH+ down a mountain on the road. So, given that the Serotta hasn't gotten much love in a while as i'm been somewhat cross-obsessed, I decided to rehaul all of the cable and housing.

The brakes were the biggest concern as they involved unwrapping my bars. Leroy had showed me how just a few years back. So I was partially confidence, but still a bit unsure. Turns out the bars were the least of my concerns.

I unwrapped the bars -- done no sweat.
However, when pulling out the cable, parts came flying out! Turns out there are a few little pieces in the shifter that keep the ball rolling. They were rolling - just all over my garage floor.

@#$@#$@#$

Chaya left the room given my outburst.

So, i put it back together as best as i could given one broken and one missing piece. This required some serious precision as it kept falling apart and each time it split, pieces fell down into the base of the shifter and the only way to retrieve them was to turn the bike upside down and shake it all out. Strangely enough, it worked without the plastic disc. But I knew that part must serve some purpose.

The next day i visited my friends at FreezeThaw. I knew that Justin or Sparky would have the part I needed. Those endless bins of bolts, screws, washers and more have never failed me in the past when i've needed something random.

And ofcourse, they came through. Sweet. Or so i thought. I was like a kid in a candy store, stoked about my little bag of shiny new washers and plastic disks. I went home, pulled out the cable, released the little metal cable holder and tried to slip on a disk. only to discover the diameter of the disc was...

TOO SMALL

@#$@#$@#$@#$

Chaya left the room. Just my luck it wouldn't fit. I was frustrated and put it back together again. No sooner had i reinstalled the broken part, I had a glorious thought that involved POWER TOOLS.

YES! This project was becoming much more interesting.

So i busted out the Black and Decker and showed that plastic disc who's boss. (that would be me to clear up any confusion) I started with a small bit to open up the hole just enough to fit a larger bit in for smooth rounding.

Worked like a charm. Problem solved, cable holder (whatever it's called) returned into the shifter with ultra-precision, and the Serotta - as good as new.

Some new tunes that i've been down with lately:

Braintax -- listen or listen here (check out biro funk album)
Lootpack -- listen (not on last.fm in full :( -- entire album is awesome)
Eyedea and Abilities: Speed it up (check out the scratching).... then slow it down.