Haggling Over Price

So last week ended up being an abbreviated three post week.  It was not intentional or planned.  Thursday night after skipping out of the last two thirds of the Madonna concert (which happened after I skipped the initial third), I picked up Harlan Price at the Megabus stop.  Once the five current canine residents of our house mauled him, he set to work on assembling his bike from the pieces contained in a drum case and a piece of stolen hobo's luggage.

photo cred: Harlan

The amount of disassemblement required to circumvent the Megabus "no bike" rule was impressive. I wasn't paying very close attention, but I do believe Harlan pulled a seatpost out of his pants at one point.  Small bolts and bits that were somehow lost in transit were replaced with loose items from my toolbox, and it started looking more and more like a rideable bike.  Sooner or later, his car traveling compatriots arrived and then we had four beer drinking cooks in the kitchen.

I was quickly reminded why I like single speeds.  Although I can not disassemble one to the point that I can put it so many shoe boxes and hop the night train to Memphis, I can have it together in minutes and there are fewer parts to disappoint me.  I witnessed two loose cogs on a carrier, the disassembly of the innards of a clutched derailleur, and the replacement of cables, which I was told was akin to something sexual.

I don't get these geared bicycle riders and their preferences for complicating things.

The building of the bike was not completed when we went to bed at 12:30AM.  The next morning, I watched with bleary eyes as Harlan aired up his tires and made his squishy bike fully squishable.  By 8:30AM, they were packed up and on their way to Paris Mountain for a weekend of racing, and I was on my way to work...

Still without a solid plan for my weekend.