Big Bikes

you go to [ride] with the [parts] you have, not the [parts] you might want or wish to have at a later time

Much like my last entry, this post has a moderately clever title which overstates the case while paraphrasing a famous/infamous quote. What followed in my prior post was a description of an event and the equipment which was involved in the event. No further aspersions were cast outside of the title. If I wanted to "dis" White industries the title would have read "Cheap, Light, won't disintegrate (and dump you on your head in the middle of an intersection) Pick ONE". Because those chainrings aren't cheap. Now that would have been harsh.
Sorry if the title of my post offended, it was meant to be silly. As far as the idea that I shouldn't have even written about what happened...that's ridiculous.
When Donald Rumsfeld uttered the statement which I chopped up and recycled into the title of this post he was criticizing soldiers who came forward and brought attention to serious flaws with the equipment they were using in Iraq. I think people should know that they should check their White chainrings for stress cracks at the spider. Silence equals Death! Or serious injury...or near serious injury anyway. No further questions!

Until I get my new chainring from White (which was warrantied, no questions asked) I'll be running the Truvativ cranks from my Rig. I had to cobble things together just to get home the other night, single speed chainring bolts were unavailable and time was short, so I ended up with this thing of beauty:



Hey Sweet Fixie kids, this is where it's at, the "Too Small Bash Guard Look", it's about as functional as a top tube pad. Do it. Beats the hell out of how I got to work. Had to space my 105 cranks out 3mm to the right to get the chainring to clear the chainstay. Damn 135mm spaced 'Cross bike. Don't try this at home, it is bad mechanically because there is very little spline engagement on the left side crank, and bad bio-mechanically because you are off center over the pedals. Bad.

Me and my bike actually went out for a ride other than a commute. I bugged out for a lunch time ride, taking advantage of the warm weather (40°) and the deadness of the shop. Took a photo of me eating a banana, unintentionally using a McMansion construction blight, uh I mean site as a backdrop. Later I saw it as a visual metaphor.
Some people are "good" consumers, they buy lots of big, expensive cars, and big,
ugly houses with lots of useless space to heat. They can afford to do that, or maybe they can't and that's why America's credit card debt dwarfs the national debt. I can't afford to buy houses and cars with four DVD players in them but I can afford bananas, so I buy and consume bananas. Big, ugly houses have very little potassium in them (unless they have a bowl of bananas in the kitchen) if you were in a bike race and you tried to eat a McMansion your muscles would cramp and I'd beat you.
I think that my form of consumption is superior. Call me crazy, just don't call me late for dinner...especially if we're having "Monkey" (a hybrid of a Monkey and a Donkey, much tastier than "Donkey", a hybrid of a Donkey and a Monkey).