With all of your experience, I'm surprised you carry your change of clothes without protecting them from rain. Then again, believing it was not going to rain at that time could lead you to believe you don't need to wrap them in a plastic bag. How did you make it through the day with wet clothes?

What is Onion?

As for the through axle backing out, maybe it's time to clean the threads properly and apply some blue threadlocker. Or better yet, VibraTite.

Yesterday afternoon, I drove home to get my bike then come back up to the brewpub to meet my colleagues for trivia night. The team I usually am with (Don't Call Me Shirleys) was a little bitter that I broke off and made my own team. We usually don't do better than about 5th place. My little work team (Snappy Power) took 1st and won a $30 gift card to the place, so a couple of them were kind of sour about that, hehehe.

It was misting again when I left for downtown, but had stopped when it was time to return home. I got 11 miles there on the eBike. Battery was down to 28% when I got home, so I plugged it in and set the timer for 2 hours. It was at 75% this morning when I left.

This morning, it had just stopped raining when it was time to head to work. Back on the eBike, as it has the nice full fenders. I only used assistance to make one stale green light and start from a stop sign where I stopped and then the car (who was supposed to go) waved me on so I was in too high of a gear. So eBike ride but I did 99% of the work. It's 15% chance of rain all day, so the bike will probably get rained on at some point.

In the pic below, I'm the one popping my head out, 3rd from left, to be seen by the camera. The bearded guy, 4th from left, moved to Poland a couple months ago and was able to keep his job and have our European branch pay his salary. He's back in town for a couple weeks, so I invited my work section to come out and play trivia and have some good local brews & cheese curds.



Tomorrow is the Wisconsin Marathon, which takes place in my city (Kenosha) and for which I volunteered as a course marshal. So I'll be riding at least 37 miles tomorrow: 5 miles downtown and back, then 26.2 for the marathon.

I can't decide if I should take the eBike, as the pavement in my city is just awful and it has front suspension and a suspension seatpost, or my gravel bike, so as not to appear to be a wimp riding an eBike while wearing my bike club kit...

Ah, forgive my confusing metaphors. English is my only language. It is an onion.

If there is a likelyhood of rain, I generally take a different bike and have my waterproof Orlieb pannier bags. The forecast called for no rain, so I didn't prepare for that possibility. As it turned out, it rained most of the day, including my ride home. Home isn't as bad though, as I have plenty of dry things to change into there.

My backpack absorbed the brunt of the moisture, so my work clothes weren't completely drenched. The innermost parts where they had been folded up were still dry. When I pulled them out they had these weird patterns of wet spots on them, like some sort of business-casual Rorschach test. By the afternoon the clothes I was wearing had mostly drip-dried.

Blustery afternoon. Would have been irritating for a long fitness ride but perfect for a short commute ride. Got another ghost shift but it's not the thru axle. It's the chain! Amazing it held on so long. These two are not the only ones. I wonder if I did it some damage. I have no reason to think it's a counterfeit. It was two and a half years old. My mileage is frequent but not large. Good thing this isn't the only bike

Jeez, chains are a lot less reliable than they used to be. I carry a quick link because of this.

Due to the above, today I brought the Baconator. When I last put this bike away, a few weeks back, it was running silent, except for a rare whimper from the 48yo saddle. But today, creak-creak-creak on every left downstroke. No difference except the season. I could feel it in my toes. No time to figure it out, had to ride... I think it's the crank arm bolt or the pedal thread. I hope I haven't rounded them out by this afternoon. I will torque it when I get home.

I called 911 today. An electric line exploded right in front of me and the end dangled into the street, about six foot off the ground. I don't think anyone else saw exactly what happened.

Now, my bike club's rides are starting up in earnest. It used to be only my Moderate Monday ride, but today is Wednesday on Wheels, which I also lead. Next week, the Tuesday and Thursday slow rides begin.

The result is that I probably won't be taking my bicycle to commute too often, but eBike or scooter instead, to save my legs for the club rides. Here are my last few commutes:

Monday - No bike commuting, but the weekly 28 mile fast club ride.

Yesterday - I took the folding bike to work. (2 mi) It was a BEAUTIFUL spring day. The kind of day that is sunny, low wind and 20° warmer than average. I got antsy at lunch and went out for a 5.5 mile "outdoorphins ride" on it. Then back home. (2 mi) Then, after work, I went for an easy ride of 16 miles with a bike club buddy. He's one that likes to hit it hard most of the time, but I stood my ground. My legs were a little sore from Monday night, I was on my slower gravel bike, and I was leading another ride that night, so he would surge out front, then realize he'd dropped me, then wait, and repeated that cycle many times before he got the idea that I would not be goaded into burning my legs up for a second day in a row, hehehe. So, 25 miles yesterday, but only four were commuting.

Today - My legs are sore, (should've taken it easier yesterday) so I took the eBike with no regrets. On days like today, it's just what the doctor ordered: I can rest my legs, while still getting some exercise and get to work quickly, and have the best parking spot too. It's actually as fast as taking the car or scooter, because the bike rack is just outside the door. Saves me 5 minutes of walking across the parking lot and through the building, once I arrive. That'll be 4 miles. Tonight, I'll lead our club's Wednesday night ride for 20-25 miles, but I may be alone, as we're supposed to have 18-30 mph winds, and I'm told by a member who's in other clubs that this is "The Goldilocks Club". Sadly, that's been my experience too. I might cancel if I get no commitments.

I was able to put half a turn on the Baconator's right crank nut to reach 25 ft-lb and a full turn on the left. No more creak. Remains to be seen long term if it got rounded. Really hope not. I really like this bike.

That would only have helped one of the several! You can see the next link is cracked, and an opposing one is cracked, and there's at least another that's separating on the other side. And I didn't do a link by link inspection to see how many more because why bother? Def time for a new one.

Oh right, you had more than one break in the same chain. That's hard to prepare for. I do like the extra speeds, but I don't like this low reliability. Try KMC. They may not be better, but hmm, maybe they're less of a target for counterfeiters.

There will be no further updates regarding the onion

Grabbed a much-needed latch for my dryer today. Someone put a dryer out on the curb. Thirty seconds with the Philips screwdriver in my bike multi-tool, and I had my part!

Tears will be shed.

I don't usually go to campus on Wednesdays, but I had a seminar to attend. On the way in, a woman pulled out from a stop sign without yielding to me on the street without a stop sign. She was holding her phone in front of her face, and I wonder if she was facetime'ing with someone. She was going through the motions of caution but not being cautious: she swung her head broadly left and right as if looking for danger but I was just a few feet away from her face in her driver's side window. She saw right through me. Occasions like these make me think I should practice slamming into cars that cut me off in a way that doesn't hurt me. Probably not a good idea, but fun to think about.

Other than that, I'm feeling quite strong on the bike in recent days and going harder for my health and happiness. Maybe the changes my fitter gave me help. I'm still riding with handlebars that are only 36 cm wide. My ideal size is 38 cm, still very small, and I have a set I plan to install. It's weird that it helps so much, if that's what is making the difference. I've made a few other small changes such as farther seat setback, more handlebar height, and shorter crank length.

This has turned out to be a week dominated by kid schedules. I've still managed to ride

• Monday is normally my afternoon with kids. Girly had a softball practice.
• Oldest had an appointment, then a Scout meeting Tuesday.
• He was sick Wednesday and stayed home, which meant I had to go home at lunch to cover for SWMBO instead of the school bell.
• He's sick again today. Chemo kid has clinic this afternoon at the same time girly is rehearsing for the talent show. Oldest was supposed to be an MC for the talent show at the same rehearsal. So now we will be split three ways with wife taking one to clinic, respite worker minding the oldest at home, and me checking in on the girly at the school
• Tomorrow I have a 6am telecon. After that who freaking knows

Commuted twice last week, for he first time this season. As a resolute fair-weather commuter I rode only once this week, yesterday. Rain otherwise.

Re the broken chain, I was thinking this is also a pretty old cassette, dating from my 2018 MTB, with plenty of miles before moving to my commuter in 2022. Putting a new chain on it when the last one got so bad, feels iffy. And I was starting to regret the total in the shopping cart. Then I remembered I have a nearly complete and nearly unused SLX 11 speed drivetrain installed on my tandem. I had been intending to remove it anyhow and return the tandem to original 3x8, as it never gets ridden and needs the kidback removed. See if the kids will ride it with crank shorteners, or I just donate it. So that all can move to the commuter, four pieces (cassette RD shifter chain). Assuming the chain is long enough. It should be similar. And all it will take is a massive amount of work.

I could also steal the chain from my 2023 MTB build that has not been used much at all either. That does not feel as likely, though. That bike still has a future even if it doesn't have much of a present

So frustrated. Out of town guests, a heavy work schedule, weather, car maintenance, yard work and a middle-school music recital have reduced my commuting this week to one, one-way ride.

My main commuter, a 2015 Charge Plug is on the DL with a broken right brifter. I have the replacement, but have had no time to install it. I have three other bikes with fenders, and two of them have racks, but I want my main bike back up and running.

I took the '97 Rockhopper yesterday. The higher gearing I put on it when I bought it last fall was great!...but it just reminded me how much I want to put drop bars on it, but the Charge Plug repair awaits finishing before installing the drop-bars from my old MTB on the Rockhopper.

I'm not going to complain about the kid's music recital...that is a blessing.

Next week should be better.

Yesterday, I had a job interview, and I didn't want to get dirty or smelly or sweaty, so I took the subway. That did include a 1 mile ride on Citi Bike each way.

Today, I have another interview, and it's raining hard, so that's an easy choice. Sure, I can be tough and manage to ride, but it doesn't seem smart on an important occasion like this.

35+km daily, depending on how far I decide to ride on my way home (mornings are always 14km). Recently I've been doing 30km on the way home, and 40km on Friday (I'm done at noon on Fridays) so the distance adds up quickly when you're doing that every day.

Cross-transplant of the tandem and commuter drivetrains was successful for the commuter but did not go as planned for the tandem.

Removing the cassette from the tandem was a pain as there's a tiny lip or something at the edge of the freehub shell that made me work off each cog one at a time. But after that it presented no problem. The 11 speed chain that moved over from the tandem is quite new, but a pretty plain low-end one without a finish or much plate shaping. It looks pretty drab next to the multi-finish and shiny SLX cassette, so it will probably get changed out for an XT chain soon enough. I shook it up good in mineral spirits and soaked it with drip wax. I did not yet but may still change out the derailleur and shifter - definitely the shifter, as the Shimano pod configuration is just so much nicer to use than the SRAM pods. Many Shimano parts are quite good enough at Deore but the XT shifters are one of the things that's really worth it.

Even though I knew exactly where the tandem's original stoker crankset was, the baggie of 24-speed components was not found, so it now does not have shifters, derailleurs, cassette, chain, or the original timing ring, along with some nuts and bolts. I might have taken them to the co-op but I don't think so. This configuration of the tandem is half a decade old at least so the components have had time to burrow deep into the garage. I guess I could throw some of the worn out 1x11 speed parts back on, if I'm just getting rid of it. But if it's going to be a real tandem again and not a kid tug it's going to need the full triple range once more

Yesterday, I replaced the brifter on my 2015 Charge Plug, and put drop bars on my 1997 Specialized Rockhopper.

Rode the DROP-Hopper 6 miles to deliver my mother-in-law's Sunday paper. Just great! These are the same drop bars from my old MTB. The Rockhopper's frame is a little bigger and longer and it feels even better than the old bike. Using the front gear bar-end shifter in friction mode takes the finnicky-ness out of the front shifts which became more tentative after I added a larger large chainring. The rear is indexed and works perfectly.

For now I am not going to add toe cages back on. For one thing I noticed my feet are resting towards the outside of the pedals and the cages would force my feet inward. And in the snow and ice I do a lot of riding on the flat side and the cages will drag in the snow and scrape the pavement. The current pedals have mild pins And I've gotten used to riding flats on my folders.

I am always surprised when my wrenching is finished and functional.

I left the house without my take-a-look mirror and did the ride without a mirror. I wouldn't want to ride mirror less every ride, but it did get me to take some of the city's new bike infrastructure south of downtown. WIter sidewalks that function as MUPS and bike lanes that funnel riders onto sidewalks to take roundabouts and dangerous on/off ramp intersections. And the infrastructure goes further and spreads out more into the neighborhood than I would have guessed. It seemed a lot less dangerous than when this was part of my daily commute from 1992-2010.

first drizzle today since I'm back in the saddle for commuting.

very, very slippery with the extra 30kg on the back (child and bags).

not European continental ice slippery where you break your collarbone by looking outside, but more than I remembered. heavy rain is easier, this oil slick after a slight drizzle is more challenging.