I go to Manhattan today to see a client. I park my motorcycle in a garage near Grand Central. For an hour. When I return, the guy tells me he's giving me a Special Price. $26. That's a typical Pcad Business Trip.

My pal Don flies to Taiwan. Big flat reclining leather Business Class seat, computerized entertainment system, any movie you can imagine at your fingertips. What does he watch? 5 hours of Simpson reruns.

I liked my Biz Trip better. 150 miles of m/c riding, much of it on the back roads.

70 miles on the MC Sunday around the pine barrens. Hot, I even took the jacket off for the second half.

My dad did international travel for 20 years at the end of his career before he retired. First class planet tickets, top notch hotels. But two weeks out of every month traveling, plus another half a week just recovering from the stupid jet lag. And I don't care how nice your seat is, 14 hours in a plane sucks. I visit some pretty unscenic places for work, but they are all within a few hours driving and usually in my own time zone. That wins.

perhaps, but it continues to compare well to the alternative.

One of the downtown garages here is $5 all day.

How do you like that?

Let the record show that my last one-hour parking cost about $3, not $26.

Figure that into your per capita income.

Really. In my city, for $26, you get the day and walk out with a smile if you meet the right person.

We had rain blow through this afternoon so my evening ride wasn't in the upper 80s, as I had hoped.

Oh well, maybe tomorrow.

As per an earlier recommendation in this thread, I examined my rear wheel to see if there was something loose that was causing derailleur woes. I noticed the end of the skewer inside the cassette was turned so it was contacting the curl in the rear derailleur cable. I loosened and rotated it so there's no more contact.

The thing still doesn't shift properly going down, but it is better and a lot quieter. So that helped.

You have your handle of the skewer on the drive side?

No, not the handle, the little knobby end.

Oh, mine is round, so rotating it would do nothing. I was amazed at how much tightening the skewer pulled the hanger in. I had a shifting problem after my derailleur locked up and went into my spokes. I replaced it, but had issues. I then compared it to another like bike, and found the hanger was bent. Bent it back, and now no issues. Chasing problems down is a pita.

That Ti is a cheapy. My riding ability does not justify splashing out on expensive gear. If I did that I would be a poseur and I would despise myself even more. I'm a small businessman now and business sucks. It sucks hard.

he's a genius

My last parking in central london cost me £80. oh wait, that was the fine.

Riding a motorcycle in NY City is like the most fun video game EVER except you can get killed.

On the other hand, for Mets fans death holds no fear. It would be a release.

what if you added 2 more wheels and enclosed yourself in a steel roll cage?

oh wait...

I'd be a friggin stupid Cager.

Time to ride.

Addiction to bike gear does not cause leg pain. Addiction to riding does. Why are my thighs still hurting 2 days after the weekend rides? This has never happened before.

If you ride every day like you should, you will never experience pain that lasts more than 24 hrs from your previous ride.

darn, I always kinda imagined you were a bus driver ( a double decker of course!)

I'm in loverly Clinton, NJ for the next three days with nothing to ride but a hotel gym.

isn't that the alcoholic's answer to hangover?

Wow. After all you said about how you love your mountain bike, you're going to sell it to get a no name frame?

i was thinking more along the lines of how he went from buying a madone 6 to a no name carbon frame.