The weather wizards have been spot on lately. When they say “a quarter inch of rain,” they do not lie.
In fact, if anything they seem to be hedging their bets a bit, because our widget reports we got something like .39 inch overnight. And it’s still raining.
I will never be smart. But at least I was not stupid yesterday when I decided to go for my first bike ride in 10 days instead of settling for another plodding hike or p’raps daring to risk a short jog.
As I said, the wizards have been batting a thou’ lately, and when yesterday started looking like my only option to ride without mudguards and rain kit for the foreseeable future, I got right after it.
Before the Snotlocker Surprise paid me a visit I’d been planning to check out some upgrades I and the Two Wheel Drive boyos had made to my old Soma Double Cross. After replacing its chain, chainrings, and cassette while trying (and failing) to accurately diagnose and resolve an annoying skipping issue that occurred under load, I finally discovered the actual cause, which was that its ancient Dura-Ace freehub had gone to its ancestors.
Resurrecting the freehub was beyond my limited skillset, and even the pros at TWD shook their heads in disbelief, as though I’d dragged in a pennyfarthing and asked whether they stocked a 53-inch tubeless-ready carbon disc wheel.
While it was possible that some eBay velo-troll might be squatting on a stash of eight-speed D-A hubs, they mused, it might be simpler (and quicker) to rebuild Captain Retro’s wheel with something, uh, newer? Given the choice between cheap and handsome I went with the latter, a stylish Velo-Orange, which goes nicely with the other shiny bits.
What the hell, it’s my second-oldest wheelset, an Excel Sports Cirrus with Mavic Open Pro rims and DT spokes, and it’s been a faithful companion. So we gave it a new heart and it ticked along nicely for a gentle hour in yesterday’s dwindling sunshine.
Speaking of shiny new bits, you may notice that I pulled the ol’ presto-change-o on the blog this morning. I took down the custom header, a scenic photo with the “Mad Dog Media” moniker, and replaced it with a smaller logo and a text header, which makes it possible for me to add a small additional overlay of snark without having to deploy any fancy-schmancy photo-editing software.
Mad Blog Media 
1.1 inches of gentle rain here in the last 24 hours. It was exactly what the doctor ordered, and the ground soaked it up like grout sponge. Snow above 8000 feet, which is at the very top of the highest peak at 9400 feet in the Huachuca mountains.
Booyah! We’ve gotten 0.46 inch in 48 hours. We’ll take it. The ceiling is so low I can’t tell whether we’ve gotten snow in the Sandias but I’m guessing yup.
Site looks great. Keep tweaking, cuz, as usual, you got this…. Happy Holidays to all at the DogHaus!
Thanks, B. Just slugging along, trying to keep the wheels on. Happy happy joy joy back atcha.
The accurate numbers must be from smarter more accurate female meteorologists because if i it was a male weather person they’d be throwing out numbers like 6-8″ maybe even a foot not to mention what their snow numbers would look like lol
You know how the dudes are. Always thinking three inches is eight or better.
Sadly in the Mitten State the rain continues and the snow? Not…. So my xc ski plans are kaput. But at least holiday drivers stand a chance of getting to Grandmas house without first spending time in a ditch.
Curiouser and curiouser, Herb old kick-and-glider. We’re not supposed to be getting rain here, either. Yet here we are. At least I don’t have to shovel it. And we should be back in the mid-40s directly.
Bright and sunny up here on the Columbia river in Or-a-goner. It’s nice to see other colors beyond the whiter pale of gray.
Unless you like to retain old scrap bike parts, you might coordinate with Herself the Expert and list the old DA freehub on Eeee-Bay. It might bring in a six pack or two of Clausthaler. When I have bits I’m thinking about tossing in the recycle bin, I first toss them onto the web and see what kind of pesos fall from the sky.
What I need to do is hand over all the stuff I’ve “been meaning to do something with” for the past couple of decades. Cranksets, bottom brackets, pedals, derailleurs, shifters, bars, stems, seatposts, wheelsets, you name it, I probably got it. I could reclaim about a third of the garage, is what.
Patrick has a few spare parts in the garage. Problem is he would not let Herb or I in there alone. Followed us around or told us to keep our hands in our pockets is what.
Mine! Mine! Mine! (I have a few spare bats in my belfry, too; y’can’t have them neither.)
Meanwhile, after a daylong rain with a little bit of snow we got a nice warm sunset to close things out.
Wow, that sunset shot is nice. I hope the stars are bright and clear for you this evening.
Parts? Lot’s of parts? When was it that you are going on vacation? No, just kidding. I wish you no thoughts of such deeds in your neck of the southwest.
I was lucky a few years back in that there was a bike co-op that had bikes for those that really need them. As in no money, no car and low wage job to boot. So they loved getting my (at the time) abundant and reliable bike parts and tools so they could get more bikes operational. I still have a stash of vintage parts but hell’s bells….we are still riding some vintage bikes here. 126 mm rear hub spacing anyone?
Rain and snow up here most of the day. I too got off my ass and rolled around town on the LHT in the wet. Picked up a bag of dog kibble along the way and got pelted with corn snow going home. Was excellent.
Blog looks great. Very artistic, if I may say so as someone who would not know art if it smacked me over the head.