Idle Threats

Last night I decided to stay dry rather than get soaked riding any bike. Today after a brief pit stop at Revolution Cycles to order a couple odds & ends for the 1x8, I felt the need to be on the Rig. After a costume change in the phone booth I found my front tire lacking air pressure. This is the third tube in the last month for the front. The two previous tubes were cheapo Kendas while this one is a long stemmed Bontrager. I'm hoping the cause isn't the same as the Kendas. They suffered from having the valve stem pull out of the rubber. I attributed the age of the tubes to those flats but this is a relatively new tube. I wonder if running narrow road rims causes the tire to exert leverage on the valve stem and pry it from the rubber. Anyhow it wasn't dead, so I pumped it up and headed over to Hyjstand Park to do hill repeats. There was a lack of frizbee golfers with the high winds. Oh yeah, there was a "Tornado Watch" for the area. It's June in Wisconsin. If there's clouds there will be "Tornado Watches" until mid-September. So an hour later my back was telling me to spin home before getting wet. The legs felt tired but fine.

As I pulled up into the driveway, I notice my Euro-goof neighbor Matt fussing over his new bike. Matt's cool. He's Swiss but sounds very English. He speaks to his 3 year old son Oliver (Olivier) in French when Oliver is chasing our big cat Fella or when he's into other mischief. Saturday morning Matt asked me to be his adviser at the St Vinnie's big bike sale. His lovely wife Tracy watched Sephie and I brought 2 cups of coffee. Gotta have a back-up if it takes too long. We enter upon opening and he finds a mid 70's Fuji road bike in his size. It's in good shape with a steel frame and period correct SunTour components. Center-pull brakes with newish pads are comforting with the chrome-steel rims. For $35 it's a bit much but he's comfortable buying it so what's he need me for? While he purchases the Fuji I make a quick lap of the bikes. I spot a early 1990's 14" Trek 830 for $10. It looks pitiful. Green/purple fade paint and a Trek Bike Shop sticker are the main things not needing TLC. I'll end up emptying my parts bins in the garage to make it ready to ride, but in a year or maybe two, Sephie should fit it well.

Sorry, got off an a tangent, back to Matt. The other night he was asking me singlespeed questions. I guess he decided to take matters and tools into his own hands with the Fuji. In his driveway sits a very clean looking Fuji. He's removed the front deraileur, shifter, rear brake and its lever. He's eyeballing his handlebars as he asks if he can borrow my hacksaw, and he wants to remove the little chainring but doesn't understand how to proceed. Tracy rescues me as she reminds him they have a dinner date and must be going..."NOW Matt, put the tools down and clean up Matt."

He's got it bad. Apparently singlespeeding can be transmitted to others. Someone should quarantine most of Madison.