you know, more bikes

what do you find in the bottom of a jug of maple syrup after it's been sitting for a while? a crystallized pancake!




i had my doubts about amaryllis bulbs, but they were a) unfounded and b) wrong. towards the end of last summer susan (george's mom) gave us a bunch of them and naturally i brought them all the way across the country and about a month ago decided to give 'em a go. the result was this great bloom - however, it was too heavy for the rest of it so it fell over and broke off. so the leaves in the background are still in the pot and the flowers are actually in a blue thermos. we fooled you though.




after discovering a flexible bondo-like substance, george got to work remodeling our new/old dash! he cut some custom vents and applied the aluminum strip (at the bottom). we haven't decided what color to paint it yet, the front-runner right now is beige (because it'll match the color of the roof inside.) the other option would be black, but we have a theory that a lighter color would help keep the car cooler in the hot summer sun.

saturday we made a trek out to walnut creek to check out rivendell bike works with karl and lindsay and it was a tremendous success. the guys there were really nice, really helpful- nay, ridiculously helpful. the rear spacing on my new/old frame is narrower than bikes these days and someone invented a pair of tricky little tools to a) increase the spacing and b) re-parallel them. the best part is that i got to do it myself! that way i couldn't blame anyone else if it fucked up the frame, wouldn't have to pay them to do it, and i got to do it myself. we walked away with a bunch of snazzy new bike parts and a rear wheel on order. i froze on the saddle choice; i've been eying the brooks b.18, but didn't realize that brooks makes a womens version of the b.17, which is less cruisey and more roady. lindsay got a b.17 for her 1980-something schwinn le tour, which she was super psyched about (apparently the current saddle is really dirty and suede thanks to the bike's previous owner.) hopefully by the time my rear wheel is ready to be picked up i'll have made a decision. instead of getting me new handle bars we got george new, wider, handle bars so i'll have his old ones.



(click for a larger, readable version)


after work today i was ready to start trying to assemble some bikey things and decided to start by putting a tube & tire on a wheel, a nice simple place to start. everything was going fine until the tube exploded! being captain cool/clueless that i am, i forgot to put the rim tape on the rim. it's this nice cloth tape that goes around in the inside of the rim and covers the end of the spokes so they don't....pop the tube! it was a shocking, headache-inducing pop and it's still in my head. then george got home and enlightened me regarding rim tape and we set out for performance bikes for some springs for the brakes, bar tape, and a bottom bracket tool. on the way home we stopped and picked up sushi for dinner and got liz o and mike's message asking to crash on our couch tonight.

george is currently dismantling his handle bars. boy is sleeping on the couch. girl is stalking around outside. i'm sitting on the couch.

p.s. - we think girl may have ringworm again.