A weekend of choices made

Saturday I decided to not drive my Element an insurmountable distance to Asheville for the Bike Rumor Schwag Toss. The idea of driving 2 hours to stand in a parking lot and have various items of cycling oriented goods lobbed in my general direction did not sound terribly appealing. Well apparently there were fun and games and not so much actual tossing to be had. I kinda sorta opted to go to the year end party for one of our local trail building clubs, The Tarheel Trailblazers. I mean kinda sorta because I came early, dropped off a set of skewers I'd sold to a fellow member, rode for a half hour alone, returned to the parking lot, missed the "advanced level" group's departure, headed out with the "advanced women's and a few other guys who missed the first group" group, split off with just the guys, hung out in the parking lot after one lap and talked about bikes and bike racing while watching the more motivated folks head out for another lap, and skipping out on the party once it really started. I had places to be and people to see... oh well.

We already knew I was skipping the Swank 65 on Sunday for yet another year. I headed to The Big Stampede swap meet here in Charlotte, NC looking for deals on non-lobbed cycling oriented goods. I had a small shopping list of items and came home with nothing on my list. I have very few needs that need filled (thanks to my great sponsors and years of hording) so at the end of the day my take was quite pathetic.

Giordana base layer ~ $10

I think everybody should have a base layer shirt. It's a brilliant item for cooler weather, and nothing else (that you can get for $10) makes you look oh-so pro.

We should all channel our inner Thomas Voeckler.

Shimano PD-A520 pedals ~ $30

I've got Shimano SPD's on all my bikes, even my road bike which sports some XT pedals I picked up at the swap last year.

These pedals will look a bit more "roadie" on my "roadie,"and with my XT pedals now freed up I can get rid of the most worn out set of the five remaining sets of SPD's I have on my current bikes. One of my fixed gear bikes has a set of pedals that aren't quite so bindy anymore , and popping a skid is only done with a fair amount of trepidation. The best thing is that the pedals come with SH M51 cleats which retail for $15-20... you do the math.

And finally...

Finish Line chain cleaning tool w/lube and degreaser ~ $5

I used to have a chain cleaner years ago. When I went full time single speed on the mountain bike and was riding a fixed gear at work it became pointless (the chain has to be slack to make it through the mechanisms) . Now that I've got the Superbeast and a road bike I might ride more than five times a year (recently named Panacea thanks to the 19 page long carbon argument thread on our local forum) I'm gonna have to actually maintain them and their respective drive trains. For only $5 for the whole kit and kaboodle I consider the little bottles of fluid that came with the cleaner gravy, flammable gravy, but gravy nonetheless.

So I hardly made out like the proverbial "bandit." Does this mean I'll go to the Swank 65 next year? Dunno. I still need some small knee warmers, a side loading bottle cage, and a beanie... but I hardly need them enough to go out and pay.... unghhhh... retail.