Busy man about town

CRIPES, talk about negligence! Over an entire month has slid by without even the slightest peep. Disgusting really.

In my defense, I have been terribly busy with all sorts of important life matters. Why just yesterday I had two chunks of bone pried from my skull by a friendly oral surgeon out in Mississauga. Since neither tooth was impacted, I was advised that local anaesthetic would be easier—and cheaper—than going with the more common general anaesthesia. Being the thrifty shopper I am, I opted for local without even the slightest hesitation. At the time it seemed like a no-brainer, but as I consulted friends on their wisdom tooth experiences I grew uneasy. Words like "mashed", "screwed", and "murderous pain" seemed common to each exchange. Naturally, by the time of my appointment I was a ball of tightly wound fear. They drugged me with the baby syringe first, then they pulled out the big honking chrome syringe with the 5" needle. Amazingly neither was that bad. What surprised me most was the method in which the surgeon removed my teeth. He grabbed my head with one hand for stabilization, and with the other shoved some kind of blunt object (nickle plated shoehorn?) into my mouth. He then proceeded to violently jam the shoehorn against my tooth with such brutal force that it uprooted itself from my fleshy gum. At this point I was half laughing half crying at the absurdity of the operation. Thinking I was finally through with this ungodly ordeal, he went in with the thread and proceeded to sew me up. If you've ever had hockey skates tied up really tight by a full grown adult when you were a kid, imagine that same force being applied to your mouth and you might be able to appreciate what I endured through this guys lacing.

Another high point this week was doing my income tax. After countless hours in front of the computer, rifling through folders of receipts and discussing the finer points of writing off 1/4 of 1/4 of my bedroom/office, we concluded that I owe the government $2000. This obviously upsets me, but I deserve it as I've paid nothing all year. Don't cry for me argentina.

Enough with the irrelevent ramblings, yes?


So I've ridden maybe a grand total of 200km in the past 3 weeks. I'm terribly out of shape and it frustrates me to no end. I've been riding the touring bike for the most part, and can now say with absolute certainty that it is the slowest, unsexiest bicycle I own. It weighs so bloody much I can barely lift it when fully loaded. Perhaps I'm just disgruntled because I can't physically perform the way I'd like to and am taking my frustrations out on the bike. I'm sorry bicycle. I'm sure we'll come together as one being over time.

WARNING: BICYCLE NERD-OUT STUFF — SKIP OVER UNLESS YOU WANT TO GO BLIND FROM BOREDOM.

Since aquiring my Fuji touring way back in December, I have made the following modifications:

I rebuilt the front wheel with DT spokes for greater durability. However, I accidently bought spokes 3mm shorter than the originals and hadn't realized this until I finished lacing the wheel. By this point I really didn't want to take the whole thing apart, go spend another $20 on new spokes, and re-lace it so I just built it up. The end product is a REALLY high tension wheel that hopefully won't spazz out once I put weight on it. I did however, get a second opinion from a seasoned wheel-builder who said: "That's really tight, but I think you'll be okay." See. Nothing to worry about.

I also swapped out the stock rear wheel for a new rear with a Shimano Deore hub and SunRims CR18 rim. Not really high-end stuff, but definalty a step up from the garbage that shipped with the bike.

Swapped the cheapo stock rack with an oversized Jandd Expedition rear rack, and a Old Man Mountain low-rider front rack.

Other than those small adjustments the bicycle is completely stock. Some people suggest that I replace the 32-42-52 drivetrain with something more touring oriented, but I simply can't afford to drop more loot on gear.

I'd write more but I'm getting sleepy. More at a later date.