Welcome to Fantasy Island

I mentioned a coupla days ago how I had to build the new Meatplow over the course of quite a few nights in between doing my assigned duties around the house. Since I was in such a hurry to complete each task there was absolutely no opportunity to clean up after completing each task, so things got quite untidy in the bike room.

Damn, I didn't realize I left my shoes turned on.

I had shit everywhere. Saturday morning I was left with a mess to deal with that was reminiscent of cleaning up after a party back when I was in college.

The bleeding/chainring swap area looked like the back room of the party where all the "bad things" took place. Weird paraphernalia strewn all over the place, discarded questionable rags, and what looks like a botched attempt at making a bong litter the floor.

Tools, parts, and what-not clutter the workbench like an overflowing ashtray and the telling evidence of a bottle cap flinging contest.

An unwanted cockpit lays in the corner like the fat guy that's still passed out in the living room that no one knows.

I've done my best to get my room clean and everything ready for project number two for 2010. Assuming UPS follows through as promised I'll be putting it together Friday night, and riding it in the mountains this weekend. This particular project has been in my brain for quite some time (years??), and it will be nice to finally see it come to fruition. Don't think for a second that I'm gonna miss another weekend on the new Meatplow. The plan is to squeeze some riding in aboard the new race vehicle as well... maybe a little short track action??

I had mentioned that "if I am correct in my assumptions I may be in love with my new Niner 32 tooth chainring" in a previous post. Why would I be in love with a hunk of machined aluminium?

When I went to install the ring to the inboard position of the crank it wasn't the same old procedure I was used to. The ring did not line up with the bolt holes right away as the ring had to be popped up onto the ramps for the middle ring. The fit was uber tight, and the ring stayed on without any bolts. I pulled out a couple other cranks (old Race Face and polished XT's) and tried the same thing with the same results.

What does that mean? Assuming you have half decent cranks you won't have to spend any time centering the ring to get rid of any loose/tight scenarios. If you're an SS'er you know what I mean (unless you have spent your entire SS career running Middleburns or White Industries). It's thick, it's sexy, but only time will tell if it will hold up to abuse so I won't make any assumptions there until I've spent the better part of a year on it.

Since I didn't have a bike to work on last night I asked Fajita to help me cut my hair. Having a lot of hair on my head is like having a lot of gears on my bike, lotsa maintenance and very little reward for all the effort.

The sideburns were going on 75mm+ long, and I think that although chops are indeed money mine had been played out. It was time for them to go.

Fajita wanted me to keep the chops. She thought this was a good look:

I asked her if she wanted me to take her to the daddy/daughter dance looking like this:

She said yes.

I decided to break her heart and chop the chops. No sense letting her think the world is all ice cream, blue birds, and sweet chops.

I know you ladies can't get enough of these screen saver shots.

And yes Andrew Brautigam, that would be a thru-axle on the new Death Stick wheel.

You do not win a prize for guessing, but if there were a prize it woulda been really sweet. I will be making a long time fantasy become a reality very shortly... not the fantasy where I'm Mr Rourke and everyone's fantasy is to get with Mr Rourke either.