Hee Hee

1. I have new wheels on my bike.

2. The Tour goes up Alpe d'Huez tomorrow and La Toussuire on Weds. I hope to be completely hoarse tomorrow after rooting someone up that little hill. Floyd? Yeah, sure. Wouldn't mind an underdog attacking though . . .

These are all good things. They'd be great things if the cumulative outside temperature this week weren't roughly 500 degrees.

UPDATE: I just rode on the new wheels for the first time. It may sound weird, but I can feel the difference. I trust them more. Oddly, they are slightly lighter than my old wheels. I'll be curious to see how a full ride will feel on them.

My short ride around the neighborhood made me realize a lot of things. The dealer who sold me this bike is, without a doubt, a terrible bike builder. A lot of problems that I was suffering have been due to a poor initial build. Brake issues? Due to the lazy build. Crank issues? A quick reassembly cleared it all up. Overall, with the new wheels and all the other fiddling my favorite bike shop did, it's like the bike I actually wanted. Go figure.

How much did they charge me for all of this? Nothing. Zero. They've been servicing a bike bought from another shop, fixed the rear wheel three times, fixed my bottom bracket, shifting issues, adjustments, and even checked over wheels I bought on the Internet (at their suggestion), installed them and sent me on my way for $0. Of course, I've sent them three bike sales in that short period of time as well. Plus I keep buying gear. Of course,

When I brought my bike into the original shop to get a quick adjustment before a ride a week after I bought it? They gave me nothing but grief about how I had to wait 30 days for the cables to stretch and told me that usually it takes a week for them to turn these things around, despite the fact that their website says: "Getting ready to ride and discovered a flat tire? Hit a pot hole and your rim is out of true? Sometimes you can't plan when your bike needs attention. Why not bring it in? If you need a minor adjustment and we can fix it on the spot, we will."


The thirty day rule is true, of course. However I generally consider it to be a problem when you can't shift from one chain ring to another. That's not natural stretching. And it renders the bike virtually unusable. I believe they never had the proper cable tension in the first place.

Touring Cyclist, my St. Louis friends. Their show rooms are mostly Fuji and Trek, but ask about their special ordering abilities. From Surly to fine Swiss bikes that may win the Tour this year, they can hook you up. Go to Bridgeton and ask for Mike, George or Zac. They're good guys.