Wednesday, November 16, 2011

Life in Auckland

Whenever you get a new bike or pair of cycling shoes it will rain.

Saturday, November 12, 2011

Avoidance strategies

Condor, Ron Cooper, Ritchey Swiss Cross, 1995 Benson, Ritchey fixed gear, GT Peace 29r
This weekend I have to assemble road bike from  box of parts so that CTB can ride it next weekend.
A simple enough task that I figured I could swap the Brooks Professional saddle off my '59 Condor onto the Ron Cooper before I got started.

Replacing a worn out Brooks Pro with another, more salubrious, example presented no great challenge; and nor did replacing it on the Condor with a nice 1960s Brooks B17.
The B17 looked a bit grubby, so I gave it a scrub with saddle soap, and when it had dried, a slathering of Proofide.

After lunch, other, similar, tasks seemed to become pressing.
My red road bike appeared unconscionably dirty, as did my Ritchey Swiss Cross. The Ritchey fixed gear bike was streaked with wintry road muck, unused since Gayle decreed she would be riding gears on our next ride and I, bringing only the blunt pocketknife of my athletic ability to that particular gunfight, followed suit.
These cleaned, it was apparent the the 29er singlespeed, neglected since my last visit to Rotorua with CTB, could not remain encrusted with dirt.
My vintage Ritchey missed getting photographed, but got a wash and had its tubular wheels swapped for a pair of nice clinchers.

Eventually I got CTB's Giant into the stand but I needed a beer. Fortunately, tomorrow is another day.