Onwards Upwards Thatwards

On the plane ride home from Denver, I was twiddling my hair in my fingers.  I do that.  Anal compulsion.

It's time to let it go.  The joke is over.

I had promised The Pie that I would cut it off in the Fall anyhow.  I was saving it for the Marji Gesick 100, but I'm not doing that anymore.  Besides, I was pretty sure she'd shit her pants when she finally saw my shorn head when she came back from her volunteer work in Haiti.

FYI: She did.

I was anxious to get my bike back Sunday evening after Breck, so I could sort out the groaning noise issue that was bugging me all week long.  Convinced it was the bottom bracket cups that I slightly wallowed out a long time ago allowing the bearings to creak around, I went right to that first.  Of course, I went to the bike shop Sunday for a new Cinch screw to replace the one I rounded out in Breck before picking up my bike when it arrived that evening (that's confusing, whatever)... only to head back to the shop Monday to buy a new stock Race Face BSA30 bottom bracket... that did not fit on my bottom bracket shell the way it was supposed to (it required an extra 2.5mm spacer on the non-drive side)...

Anyways, that wasn't it.  Meh.

Take off the back wheel, remove the drive side endcap... dammit.

I guess that bearing requires maintenance more often than once every 2.5 years.   I was much too late, and ignoring it for... ummmm... I dunno... weeks?  Months?  It was no bueno.  Muh bad.

And then I still needed to sort the bike out so I could ride it in a manner befitting the Fool's Gold 60 if that ends up being a thing I do.

An evening full of 70% of all the things that can go wrong while setting up two tires tubeless and fiddling with narrow spacers trying to get my cranks equidistant to the frame and dealing with some stem bolts that got rounded out in transfer from Colorado and a frok/fjork swap procedure...thinking mebbe I race this?

Only to go for a ride at the Backyard Trails and discover that although I still feel like the Step Cast is the best 100mm fork I've ever ridden, it's not how I like to ride this bike.  I had planned on riding it in DuPont on Sunday, but by 10:00PM on Saturday night, I got my "mountain bike" ready for the task.

Much better.

As soon as I got home from DuPont, I addressed the creaky headset (those need maintenance too?) on the By:Stickel Meatplow V.6 and swapped the fjork for a frok on the Vertigo Meatplow V.7.  Washed up the Step Cast, found the box, volume spacers, paperwork and Fox decal... so I can sell it all proper like  It's probably never a good sign when I keep everything so handy for resale.

Non-Boost Step Cast fork with 186mm of steer tube.  44mm offset.  Used @2 months last year.  One ride in '17 (since I'm being honest here).  Almost perfect condition.  Couldn't find a scratch on it.  $450 shipped to your door.* Money lost.  Lesson gained.

It's not you.  It's me.

*EDIT: SOLD.  Sorry not sorry.

Oh yeah.

Tomorrow, I'm off to West Virginia with Bill Nye to meet up with Andy and John from New River Bikes for some Fayetteville riding, then mebbe Seneca Rocks, perhaps Davis... dunno.  Snowshoe?

Then over to Stokesville to get some riding in as well as volunteering for the Shenandoah Mountain 100 where we've been asked to "bring the party" up to Aid Station 5... which means?

Also dunno.

I know what I think it means.

And I think I'm capable of doing that.

See yinz in a week or so.