rainy days and chain lubes

yeah yeah, a week of cold rain. Not a big deal, though I did get the long johns out of the drawer (all but two pair of the winter wear had been boxed off but last week or so we got snow and this week its just in the 40s for the morning ride) for the last couple days. Nonetheless the plant life has exploded - grass is green, every weed ever planned is growing the Lilies of the valley are coming up between the bricks of our back porch. The peonies grow about 3 inches a day, its a shock - you don't want to think about plants moving that fast (what was that lame movie about the attack of the plants triffids?no, Dr Terrors house of horror) but they do. If you ever talk to Northern folk and they say they don't bother about the weather, what they mean is: long johns. A pair of them, from the flimsy, one layer Jockeys to fuzzy, polyprop mega-fiber Patagonia Cadillacs under your jeans will change the way you deal w/ cold. Er, chain lubes. Don't know much about them, my bike guy says "buy the cheap 3n1 stuff and wipe the chain off, now and then" which works pretty well. The whole cleaning/fancy lub stuff seems unlikely - cheap is a buck an ounce. How fast *can* you ride? Did want to bring up the 60-80 cents
cost of driving per mile recently - SUVs are up to 80 cents and that's at 2.25/gallon (ever slow boil a lobster?). So, this makes the 3.60 latte and 2.75 piece of Sofia's Raspberry chocolate cream cheese a bargain compared to 10 miles (RT) of driving and parking and health issues (my own and the rest of you'all) leaving aside the fact that I'd have the latte and cake even if I drove. Hmm, maybe, smug and all, I should get, er, maybe I *deserve* two pieces of cake ...

Showing my self-righteousness

Okay - the other morning I was riding to work, after a "climate change" snowstorm here, which dropped 8" though, due to the 30+ temperature, only stuck on the grass etc. and cars. That is, the roads were clear w/o any plowing. Now, lets be frank, I've been called a self-righteous bastard (in so many words) for many years now, but I've also ridden my bike to work, year round, for close on 20 years. Its not a big deal - they do a much better job of plowing the bike path (or at least my bike paths) than the streets and, while, yes, many's the morn I ride past the main drag now a "parking lot" (or a "mule race") of commuters inching thru the snow w/ a "Oh, aren't I clever?" grin, its still just a nice 20-30 minute pedal into the coffee shop and there I am, at work w/ a warm latte, ready to start reading email. My current bike is (ah, the scent of lavender here) a 1937 (so the guy tells me) "Sterling Sports Tourist" (Westfield Mass - "Built like a watch" un-google-able though) one speed, a sweet, sweet bike. The great thing about one speeds - you just can't go any faster. This looks a lot like the wicked Witch of the west's bike, while still in Kansas.


Right, so I'm coming down a residential street and this white Caddy backs out of the drive, 3 of the four sides of windows completely covered in 4" of snow, the windshield clear only where the wipers had been active. Its a soft easy snow, you could clear the windows w/ your hand and not be cold, so I say (okay, the driver's side window is down 4") "You should scrape your windows ..." and, as I ride past (after making sure he's not going to run me over) turning and shaking a school marm finger at him. Yes, snotty etc but geeez. So, the block and a half to the stop sign (ignoring a honk) and then left and a half a block to the next stop sign at a school crossing (the school being right there) and he pulls up and mid-intersection, yells "your self-righteousness is showing!" Oh, I wish I were able to make snappy retorts - "yeah, but you couldn't see it", "for all you know I'm a Catholic priest, but you still need to clean your windows!", "it took you 3 block to think of that?" hmmm, maybe I'm retort challenged here. I did ride over and bicker, trying, I'd like to believe, just to point out that he was backing out of driveway w/ no possible view and driving down the street w/ no peripheral vision. "They give out tickets for that, you know" His reply; he had a sick child at school to pick up.

Yeah, so ... no justice (a cop car came the other way a half a block later and I just barely didn't hail it and explain the white Caddy needing a ticket just around the corner), no peace and I'm left riding to work stewing over the whole shebang. There was a couple crossing guards there, even, I could of appealed to them, "should this guy clean his window?", its a school zone etc but something about being wrong, making a mistake was so overpowering ... funny thing is, yes, I know I do this but our son, just 8, he's always done this. Like Chomsky's grammar here, the necessity of not being wrong requiring the "accuse the messenger" thing ....