My wife had been pleased with how I'd stopped dragging "scrap iron" (known to me as "classic & vintage bikes")home from the Salvation Army and other thrift stores. And she'd noticed that I'd cut up some of my junky old frames into small pieces (brazing practice) and made room in the shed.

She'd also paid me a few compliments for following her advice that there were "other ways to excersize" after I took to taking an hour walk each day along the roads into town.

And she seemed thrilled that I'd found a new hobby in picking up cans that both cleaned the ditches and earned me money on the deposit returns.

I just didn't know how to tell her that it was just too cold and wet to ride lately and that I had found a way to turn this:



Into a new "classic" road bike to ride in Ragbrai this July.





I like this cable routing:



I suppose I'll just have to remind her that once an addict always an addict...