yes its been awhile...and I have a special talent

That title says all you need to know about the last month or so of my life or maybe it is just an illustration of things that have been going on for much, much longer than that. I received a phone call from my good friend Kevin the other day. He said and I think I quote,"Looking your bike over, it needs a bit of TLC, it seems like the deeper I dive in to this the more I am struck with the idea that you should buy a new bike at the first of the year and at the end of the year throw that bike in the trash and buy an new one....." That is my special talent, it appears that in his brief or not so brief look at my bike he uncovered many, many issues and things that I am not sure many people have seen. We had already taken the bent rigid fork off, he found a cracked king headset, the bottom cup was instead of one piece, two, the Phil Wood Ti square taper bottom bracket was toast, the chain ring was toast, the White Industry cranks had pushed all the way on, so I went back to my old XT's...the list goes on. It appears that I have a special talent for putting parts to the test. Anyone need a tester. On that note I am testing for Boa Technologies ...and I love the lacing system. I really should have photos of all the things I go through, or maybe I could just put up a side bar with all the items used throughout the year. Last winter I must have gone through 4 outboard bearing bottom brackets, and once had a friend that works for an unsaid bearing manufactur say that he had never seen such distruction...he is one of my favorite riding partners and has been along on a lot of said rides, although his ride always seems to be running fine....There that is my special talent, I will find the breaking point of a product or my own body and and mind...which if you have followed this blog you know I have done in the past. What have I learned from all this, not so sure....I have learned that the northwest is not kind to a rider who gets out in it....the grime has a way of getting in to everything, including a chamois but then again that is a whole other story and I will save it for another day....I did get a tax return and plan to buy a camera and take more pics of life in general.....Oh and in all of this, work and play, I decided that I needed and wanted to be part of the founding Members of Seattle Beer Week....mark your calenders cause it is going to be one hell of a week, or should I say 10 days....