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Tuesday, June 27

Killing Thyme

If you can actually get to the end of this post, you have proven that you are as proficient at wasting time as I am.  Things are slow here, and unless I take up some sort of additional hobby (or wheelie practice again), my idle hands are the devil's to fill.

When I have too much time on my dick beaters, I start looking at everything in my bike room and wondering...

The addition of the Dynaplug Air tool to my Tülbag added a tiny bit of weight to my load.   As much as I don't like wearing a pack, I really don't like overstuffed jersey pockets... especially when it's hot outside.  Fully unzipped jersey equals quite the floppy stretchy affair.

I took all my stuff to work to weigh the whole everything... because work is kinda slow in June and there's a scale that's accurate to one gram and I get bored.

I carry three loose Allen keys (4, 5, and 6mm) and a 8mm nubbbin.

58 grams

I could carry my Fix It Sticks which are three grams lighter and have a T25, but I find that when I'm in a hurry up situation, I fumble with them a bit.  I don't know how to explain my difficulties, but my race weary brain ends up dropping one bit or the other.  I keep them in my commuter fanny pack and that's where they stay.  I used to tell myself that separate Allens kept the value of the contents of my Tülbag down so its loss would be less painful, but then I bought the Dynaplug.  It's no longer expendable.

On my pegboard, I had the right stuff to make this:

A 5mm Allen, and the bits and pieces for 4, 6, and 8mm.  31 grams.

31 grams

So, 27 grams dropped right there, which happens to be rather convenient.

28 grams

My Dynaplug Air and deep custom spare plug/nozzle holder.

This is the chain tool I carry now (with holes drilled into it, so I can twist tie a spare link to it):

33 grams

I though my other tool might be lighter, but...

28 grams

Not that much, and I like the way that I have the spare link stored with the other tool, so I guess this one goes back on the pegboard until said time that I lose my current breaker.

Then there's the link itself (and twist tie):

5 grams

I haven't broken a link on a single speed EVER.  I still carry a chain tool and link, because I know if I left them at home... I would probably bust a chain on my next ride.

I carry an inflator head... despite the fact that the Dynaplug Air is in itself an inflator, and I also have an inflator attached to the CO2 in my Backcountry Research Race Strap.

21 grams

More paranoia.  I've never had an inflator fail on me, but I've read enough sad stories that have me worried enough to carry multiples.

More crap?

28 grams

A tire boot made from an old number plate, lotsa Gorilla tape wrapped around some packaging material from a Maxxis tire, a $20 bill (because $5 isn't always enough for a beer and $10 isn't always enough for a burrito in Breckenridge), and one glueless patch because...?  Dunno.  Just because.  Never used it.  Mebbe someday someone will.  I wonder if it's even sticky anymore?

And the Tülbag itself?

32 grams 

Kinda mandatory gear since it holds all the things, so whatever, but also this:

5 grams

I put a carabiner on the zipper pull.  If I have keys (house or car), I like to put them on there.  Modern car keys are just too chunky that I don't wanna put them inside the Tülbag, and I can reach back and feel my keys a hundred times during a bike ride so as to satiate that anal compulsion.  I did realize the other day how redundant this is, because both my house keys and car key have a carabiner on them already.

I am redundance personified.

Total?  183 grams.

What does that mean?

It means I killed about fifteen minutes at work and so did you.

Welcome.

3 comments:

Anonymous said...

no weight on key?

Anonymous said...

Virtual Currency will save a gram or 2

dicky said...

Anon #1,

I don't carry a key when I'm racing, so it doesn't count... and I guess I could take off the 'biner while I'm at it.