Recently, while preparing for a bike ride, I discovered a hole in the bladder of my hydration pack. I was upset because hey, nobody needs a hole in their bladder. On the other hand, the bladder had lasted through five years of almost daily use and cushioning several back-first crash landings. Hooray for Platypus, but I digress. I need a new bladder for my pack. The problem is that I don't think they make Ultimate hydration packs anymore, and none of the replacement bladders I could find are narrow enough to fit my pack. Shit!
So, I realize it might be time to replace the whole pack. I never really liked my Ultimate pack anyway, but I hate having to buy new stuff when I'm broke. I took a trip down to my LBS and discovered that a Camelbak Lobo would be the perfect pack for me. Problem was they cost $65. "I can do better!" I thought, so I looked online. Sure enough, there's my new pack on eBags for $44 and free shipping. Order goes in, everything will be great, I can't wait.
Time passes, the expected delivery date comes and goes, no pack shows up. I didn't even get the promised email confirmation of shipping. I waited an extra day for good measure, and then I waded into the Customer Service department at eBags. It took them a day and a half to respond to my inquiry, only to tell me the color I wanted was out of stock. No problem, just send me the other color. Four more days elapse before word comes back that they're out of all of them, regardless of color. Fuck!
So, what's the point here? I don't know, but I'll never order from eBags again. They blow, and I encourage them to go fuck themselves. Failing that, they should at least improve their customer service so that they might address customer problems in a more timely manner. Assholes...
Anyway, two and a half weeks have elapsed since I busted my bladder, and now I'm back at square one. I guess I'll have to lay out for the full price pack and just suck it up. Grrr...
Monday, August 30, 2004
Wednesday, August 25, 2004
Ouch
Today is Wednesday and my ass hurts. On Monday I fell off my mountain bike in Lincoln Woods and landed squarely on my tailbone. It was the dumbest thing because I was just spinning along, climbing a fire road sprinkled with baby heads. I've been up this way many times before. I guess I spaced out or something, but both my tires hit rocks at the same time. I felt the fork compress as the back tire spun out, and down I went. It happened quickly. Usually I fall well, laying the bike down and rolling onto the ground to spread the impact, but this time I fought it and landed awkwardly. Ass to rock impact, but at least it was a round rock instead of a sharp rock.
Tailbone shots are a special kind of pain. It seems like every muscle in my body is attached to the sore spot so it hurts to do just about everything. Yesterday it was bad enough that I would just break out laughing at my misfortune and that would only make the pain worse. Laugh, swear, laugh more, swear more, laugh, cry. Today is a little better, I can move around more easily and I think I'll jump on my road bike today and see how it feels.
I have three bikes. My mountain bike is a 2001 GT Avalanche 1.0. My road bike is a 2004 Specialized Allez Sport. I also have an old beater bike, a 1990 Trek 830 with a bunch of mismatched parts on it. Almost every day I battle internally against the commercial forces washing over the bike industry. One obviously can only ride one bike at a time, and I have three, yet I want more bikes. I wish I had a trials bike, a big "freeride" (I don't really like that word... everything is freeriding unless somebody is pointing a gun at you and telling you where to go...) bike, a cruiser bike, etc. etc.. The magazines tell me I need the newest, the greatest, or the next, and I believe it. I hate that, but I love it too. It's like my own little fantasy world but it doesn't involve dirty, socially taboo stuff. The problem is that a) I'm a grad student and therefore broke, and b) I can't reconcile always wanting new bikes with my environmental/life philosophy of living lightly on the planet and being comfortable with as little as possible. I go through cycles of trying to rationalize putting another two thousand dollars on my credit card and then feeling bad about even thinking about it when I should be saving my money for a ring for my girlfriend and who needs four bikes anyway. Maybe I should just ride the bikes I have more. Then I would become a better rider and would fall on my ass less.
Tailbone shots are a special kind of pain. It seems like every muscle in my body is attached to the sore spot so it hurts to do just about everything. Yesterday it was bad enough that I would just break out laughing at my misfortune and that would only make the pain worse. Laugh, swear, laugh more, swear more, laugh, cry. Today is a little better, I can move around more easily and I think I'll jump on my road bike today and see how it feels.
I have three bikes. My mountain bike is a 2001 GT Avalanche 1.0. My road bike is a 2004 Specialized Allez Sport. I also have an old beater bike, a 1990 Trek 830 with a bunch of mismatched parts on it. Almost every day I battle internally against the commercial forces washing over the bike industry. One obviously can only ride one bike at a time, and I have three, yet I want more bikes. I wish I had a trials bike, a big "freeride" (I don't really like that word... everything is freeriding unless somebody is pointing a gun at you and telling you where to go...) bike, a cruiser bike, etc. etc.. The magazines tell me I need the newest, the greatest, or the next, and I believe it. I hate that, but I love it too. It's like my own little fantasy world but it doesn't involve dirty, socially taboo stuff. The problem is that a) I'm a grad student and therefore broke, and b) I can't reconcile always wanting new bikes with my environmental/life philosophy of living lightly on the planet and being comfortable with as little as possible. I go through cycles of trying to rationalize putting another two thousand dollars on my credit card and then feeling bad about even thinking about it when I should be saving my money for a ring for my girlfriend and who needs four bikes anyway. Maybe I should just ride the bikes I have more. Then I would become a better rider and would fall on my ass less.
Tuesday, August 24, 2004
The Beginning
O.k., this is new to me so it'll probably suck for awhile.
Why "The Cycle?" That's easy. I spend alot of time thinking about riding bicycles. I spend alot of time riding bicycles. Bikes are cool, and they will save us from all of the social and environmental problems around us. This thought leads to the other part of "The Cycle," the part that includes life, philosophy, politics, news, art, beer, whatever else is on my mind. Everything ebbs and flows, comes and goes, begins and ends and begins anew. Round and round we go in a giant cycle of, um, everything. What? I don't know. I'm just using bike riding as an excuse to write about everything else in the world. We'll see how it goes.
Why "The Cycle?" That's easy. I spend alot of time thinking about riding bicycles. I spend alot of time riding bicycles. Bikes are cool, and they will save us from all of the social and environmental problems around us. This thought leads to the other part of "The Cycle," the part that includes life, philosophy, politics, news, art, beer, whatever else is on my mind. Everything ebbs and flows, comes and goes, begins and ends and begins anew. Round and round we go in a giant cycle of, um, everything. What? I don't know. I'm just using bike riding as an excuse to write about everything else in the world. We'll see how it goes.
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