New Bike Bling...

A Year...

Well its been a year, a year of contract, a year of work, a year of paycheck, a year of ridding to work.

What I have learned in a year.

1) Never, ever, try to tie your shoes while sitting on a bike, and putting the offending foot up on the back of a park bench. This would be a sound idea, if, and only if you un-clip your off side foot. This is a sure fire way to fall over.

2) Some bugs taste, well not so bad when eaten on a bike.

3) Some other bugs, taste really, really, bad.

4) Riding while it is snowing can be quite fun, ridding while there is ice on the road is quite "sporty"

5) You can never have to many of the following in your bike bag:
-A spare, spare tire
-Patches
-Either an extra CO2, or a hand pump
-Spare change of clothing, or at the very least, extra underwear
-Snacks

6) Ridding past motorist that are stuck in traffic on a beautiful day is about as good as my work day gets.

7) Beer after any bike ride, is always a good beverage.

8) Never under any circumstance ride thought a section of bike path with goose poop on it with your mouth closed.

9) Notes on squirrels:
-They can run at about 15mph over short distances.
-They do not react well under pressure, always expect them to dart, scamper, or otherwise move in some squirrel like way towards you at that last critical moment before you pass them.
-Squirrels teach all rabbits on the proper technique for dismounting a cyclist, its just rabbits get more practice. (See darting/scampering note above)
-Ground hogs are HUDE up close, and have lots of teeth, but they move nothing like squirrels.

10) Although I will admit that A&D ointment and Toothpaste both come in the same type of squeeze tube, one should always, always confirm which one is applied to ones toothbrush BEFORE putting said toothbrush in ones mouth and giving it a good healthy scrub around the mouth. (For anyone wondering what A&D ointment tastes like, it tastes EXACTLY like it smells. As a public service announcement, if you ever find your self the position of having A&D ointment in your mouth, it takes no less then three cups of coffee, a banana and a brownie to remove that baby bottoms like flavor.)

New Bike Bling...

So after a year of ridding I have killed some hardware, so last night by the grace of my loving mother I got a new paid of shoes, cleats and helmet.

Shoes...

I give you the Shimano SH-MT32, the replacement of the Shimano SH-MT31. Seems that it is policy at the Shimano corporation to replace ever bike shoe ever year with a new and better version. I will also note that the new and better version costs about $20 extra. Today was day one with the new shoes, and all I have to say is WOW. New shoes, It is hard to believe that amount of break in that happens to a pair of shoes over the course of the year. By comparison to my old pair, this new pair is like peddling with a 2x4 tied to my foot, very stiff, very nice, and very not broken in. So far I am still very happy. I need to go back to the shop tonight, they were nice enough to put my cleats on the bottom for me last night, but they ran them on with the long screws. This morning I could feel the screws biting into the bottom of my foot like a little stainless steel vampire.

Helmet...

A new brain bucket was also in order, and luckily enough the same helmet I have had for the past year, is still available. What can I say, it has kept my head in for a hole year, lets try for one more shall we. Just a plane jane Giro Atlas II in black. In my option a helmet should only come in two three colors, Black, Black and Red, and Black and Yellow.