The Captain’s Log

December? What December? Since we last met I’ve mailed out 6000 completely redesigned alumni magazines, posted multiple photo galleries on the school website (with much frustrating FTP interruptus), designed two play posters and two playbills and got the kiddies shooed out of the dorm and back to their homes around the world. They’ll be back on January 8th with a fresh batch of cooties from such exotic locales as South Korea, China, Japan, Antigua, Mexico, Spain, France, Iraq and New Jersey. I’m so glad there were enough flu shots to go around this year.

After I write this, as dog is my witness (gotta see about that dyslexia), I will load those Specialized crankarms into a pouch and address it to First Flight Bicycles’ Jeff Archer, owner of the most fabulous mountain bike museum masquerading as a bike shop, so he can finish the 1985 Team Stumpjumper restoration project I helped him start last August. And tomorrow they go in the mail. Then that’s it for me and the to-do list for 2006. The rest of the week is mine. Sort of. Carlotta needs to work some and play some tennis, so I’ll be on kiddie duty. But I’m hoping to get some saddle time in, if it will just stop raining for a day. Weird stretch of warm weather we’re having. Ski season is a no-show so far.
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So, remember that new chain on my old pal, Big Pink? Big Pink is my 1988 custom Ibis mountain bike that’s hauled my heinie all over the place and back again. The other day the Man Van (our 1999 Dodge Ram Wagon 1500, purchased in protest the year my wife was trying to foist a minivan and a vasectomy on me) needed service, so I left it at the wizard’s house down the hill and rode back up to work on Big Pink. That’s when I discovered that not only the middle chainring was hashed, but the majority of my climbing gears as well. I muddled up in the tiny chainring and whatever cog skipped least. It was tedious.

So I go shopping for cogs and a chainring. West Hill is out of 12-32 8-speed cassettes, but tell me they can order one. Well, so can I. (Sorry guys.) So the hunt is on. I find the cassette, but can’t seem to score the chainring. Then I find the chainring, but for another nine bucks I can have a whole new crankset with three new chainrings. That’s what I did. The punchline? They toss in a new chain for free. No worries. I’ll need another one in a year or so.
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Great big old bike shops with lots of cool items…

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