Incoherent Blogging

Tonight is going to be a tough one. It's the first night I haven't really wanted to write and haven't had a good excuse not to. This post might be sub-par, but it'll have to do.

Bike news:
I fixed the squeak on my cross bike yesterday. The upper derailleur pulley has been complaining ever since I put it on about a month ago. I've tried disassembling it and greasing it, buffing the bushings, all the usual suspects, but to no avail. The squeak would just return within 15 miles or so. Last night I pulled out all the stops and replaced the stock Shimano 105 pulley with an XT ceramic bushing pulley. This seems to have done the trick. Thirty miles and not a peep.

I'm also giving the Rock 'n' Roll Lube one last shot. I've been experimenting with different lubes to try to keep my chain cleaner and more efficient for TI and other races. I've always used Finish Line Wet (aka. Cross Country, Century Lube) before and I like it, but I want to try something lighter. I tried Pedro's Liquid X and pretty much hated it. It lasted about one good ride before giving out. The Finish Line Dry was a little better, but still wouldn't last a week. I've wanted to try Rock 'n' Roll for a while, but the shop was out until last week. So far it's still up in the air. It seems to be wearing out a little already, but I'll give it a few more days. I do ride in all conditions rain or shine, plus a fair amount of gravel and some dirt so that may have something to do with the stuff wearing out fast. Still, I want my lube to last at least a few weeks or preferably months like the Wet stuff.

In other biking news, I think I've talked my co-worker and riding buddy Eric into signing up for the Endurosnob Epic with me. He's been mulling over different bike options: a C'dale Cross bike, a C'dale Rush, or an old Raleigh Grand Prix with cross tires. I say go for the bonus points and fix up the Raleigh. I like seeing people do races on bikes that aren't exactly ideal, but get the job done. There's just something about riding the bike you have and making due that I like. I think Matt Chester wrote something on his blog about this a few times. That said I feel like a bit of a hypocrite as I have a bike for every day of the week.

In other news:
I played a game of Go with my friend Pinky. He's still recovering from a broken hip suffered in a hellatious scooter vs. suv incident and it was good to see him up and about and in great spirits. He beat me 80-something to -18 with a 9 stone handicap for me (he's about 12 kyu and estimates me at 27 kyu). Pretty sad on my part, but he gave me a few pointers and I should do better next time.

I also had a pretty good talk with Alice tonight. The topics ranged from the causes of the US Civil War, to Modernism in philosophy and art, and on to Existentialism vs. Nihilism, and finally speculations on the afterlife. While none of these topics surprised me, what was unusual was that we didn't argue (though we did disagree) or take anything too personally. I think I may have just BSed all the stuff on Modernism, but the rest of it was pretty well thought out. Some of this discussion should come out when I finally write about Menand's Metaphysical Club. Maybe tomorrow.

Finally, I updated my Blogger profile. You can check it out if you like.