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Day’?s Verse:
From noon to three, the whole earth was dark. Around mid-afternoon Jesus groaned out of the depths, crying loudly, “Eli, Eli, lama sabachthani?” which means, “My God, my God, why have you abandoned me?”
Some bystanders who heard him said, “He’s calling for Elijah.” One of them ran and got a sponge soaked in sour wine and lifted it on a stick so he could drink. The others joked, “Don’t be in such a hurry. Let’s see if Elijah comes and saves him.”
But Jesus, again crying out loudly, breathed his last.
Matthew 27:45-50
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All week, I refrained from posting in the hopes that something blog-worthy would happen.
I was disappointed.
I know that most of you don’t have the slightest interest in my bicycling news, which is just about the only news all week. I can sum up the rest of my week thus:
- Sleep poorly.
- Get up tired.
- Ride to work in bad weather.*
- Work.**
- Ride home in bad weather.
- Go to bed early.
Repeat steps 1 through 6 five times, and you have my week. For those few who have some slight interest in my bike-related news, you can read under the fold.
My saddle (it isn’?t a seat because, unlike with a seat, you don’?t rest your whole weight on a saddle; the one I’?ve ridden on so far is a Specialized Jett 143) has served me pretty well, but it’?s become a pain in the butt — quite literally. So I stopped by my local bike shop and tried out what felt like dozens of different saddles, none of which felt even remotely comfortable. I tried out a Terry Damselfly for a couple days, but eventually went back to try more saddles. Eventually I found a Selle San Marco I liked that tied with the Specialize Alias 130 (shown in the picture above). Given that the Alias cost way less than the Selle San Marco, I went with that. I have ridden on the Alias for about 40 miles and found it pretty good, but I will go for a couple longer rides this weekend to give it a real test. I may have to go with the Selle San Marco in the end; only a long ride will tell.
In addition to saddle shenanigans, I brought Davey in to the bike shop for a quick look-see to make sure my fall in February didn’t damage him. Sadly, it turns out several things in the derailler broke or got bent, which means that Davey is in the bike hospital right now. The day after I left him, I got call from the bike shop telling me that he had several other issues that they highly recommended I deal with before starting the season on him. I agreed to the repairs, which will cost in the $300-range, because Davey and I will be spending quite a lot of time together in the next three months.
On top of Davey’s repairs, I also found out that Charlotte will require not only a new chain at the end of winter, but also a whole new rear cassette. Probably she will also need all new cables, given the corrosive beating hers have taken all winter, and her rear wheel is out of true. Goodness knows what other costly repairs she’ll require when I take her in, but it’ll be worth it. She’s a fantastic winter bike that I intend to keep riding for errands and in bad weather even when we move back to Seattle.
That’s it for now.
* The type of bad weather varied from cold to ice pellets to 35-degree rain to high, gusty wind.
** Work has not gone well for a variety of reasons that I have no desire to rehash here.
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