Am I Dreaming?

I have bad dreams about racing all the time.  It's just part of my anxiety filled, anal compulsive nature.  I'm used to them by now.  I have more of them during the "season" than I do in the off "season."  Wednesday at around 4-5:00AM, I had an ORAMM dream.

Of course I was late for the race.  That's an ongoing theme in my race dreams.  I was in the parking lot getting ready, but it wasn't the normal parking lot.  The worst part was that I had forgotten my bike.  Out of options, I decided to mount a set of XTR SPD pedals to my Nalgene bottle and make a go of it.

I'm not sure how I rode it to the start, but I got there late.  The race had already begun, and I had to work hard to get through the pack fodder.  When I got to the part of the race course that went through an old barn and crawled out a window, I was glad I only had to manage a pedal equipped bottle.  The section where racers had to swing from one pivoting corrugated metal shutter to the next would have been impossible on a real bicycle.

Oh, but when I had to remount my bottle at the bottom of Curtis Creek Road in front of a very large and taunting crowd, I had no idea how to get back on my bottle and ride. 

I think that's when I woke up.

Over this past weekend, the weather was insanely beautiful... so I figured why not do one of my "rainy day" indoor projects to make the most of it.

 *irony*

Since I had a new Industry Nine bearing kit in hand, I went about the business of making my Pink I's as good as new.

All you need is two 5mm, one 1.5mm, and one .05" allen keys, some happy grease, and something similar in diameter to the bearings to "press" them in with.  I use an old socket and a piece of steer tube.  This was the first time in a long time that I've bothered to do a full rebuild on a set of I9's and the first time I've used Blast Off in the process.  The upside was that everything, and I mean everything, was as clean as the day the parts came off the line.  I've never been able to get all the old, nasty grease off the tiny parts and out of the little crevices.  The downside?

When spraying Blast Off at a bike part with many grooves, concave surfaces, and crannies, you should wear eye protection.  The degreaser comes out with so much force that there is about a 50% chance you're going to get it in your eye if you're not careful.  I'm not, and I did.  It was only mildly unpleasant, and I enjoying splashing cold water on my exposed eyeball anyways.

My Pink I's are ready to roll into next "season," assuming I don't do a little upgrading, or do something even more ridiculous.

Now to figure out how to mount them on my Nalgene.