First ride of the year.

Instead of sewing a snap on my new wallet, I went to Zale's Hometown
Pharmacy today. About two miles out and two miles back -- hardly
worth suiting up for.

It's absurd that on the ninth of January, I went out in a linen
jersey. But I should have worn two T-shirts under it instead of one;
I'd have turned back if I'd planned to stay out longer.

It was my first ride of the year, if you don't count riding my bike
home from the shop yesterday.

I was surprised that the bill included two dollars for a spoke and
eight-fifty for installing it. I must be rather oblivious not to
notice a damaged spoke. But then sometime I mount up and roll off
without even thumb-testing my tires.

I should have been more emphatic that "change the brake cables" meant
both of them. In the next paragraph I gave instructions for routing
the front cable; that, perhaps, made the "s" disappear. But I did
instruct them to look for worn parts, and the front brake is the
important one.

I now have an 8-speed chain on a six-cog cluster. The bill specifies
that the chain is "silver" -- they come in assorted colors?

I wonder what "RR" means in "BASKET SUNLT RR WIRE FOLDING STD BK"?
"STD" probably means "standard" and "BK" certainly means "black".

And I found a picture of the basket by searching for "Sunlite". My
new handlebar pads are the same brand.

"RR" could mean "rear".

--
Joy Beeson
joy beeson at comcast dot net

On Thursday, January 9, 2020 at 7:57:06 PM UTC-8, Joy Beeson wrote:
Instead of sewing a snap on my new wallet, I went to Zale's Hometown
Pharmacy today. About two miles out and two miles back -- hardly
worth suiting up for.

Wish I could sew worth a darn. (yuck yuck). I have a heck of a time threading the needle these days. I do replace buttons and mend tears.



It's absurd that on the ninth of January, I went out in a linen
jersey. But I should have worn two T-shirts under it instead of one;
I'd have turned back if I'd planned to stay out longer.

We don't get snow around here (Santa Cruz area) and is has not been excessively cold. Since I'm somewhat retired I can avoid the coldest part of the morning as well.

It was my first ride of the year, if you don't count riding my bike
home from the shop yesterday.
I've been riding somewhat regularlry and have gone over the 100 mile mark for the year. So that means I switch over to my recumbent and give it a turn for the next hundred miles.
His odometer has stopped working reliably and I think I"ll give up fussing with it and simply replace it. Cateye seems to be my brand of choice.

I was surprised that the bill included two dollars for a spoke and
eight-fifty for installing it. I must be rather oblivious not to
notice a damaged spoke. But then sometime I mount up and roll off
without even thumb-testing my tires.

What! You don't replace your own spokes? What would Jobst say?


I should have been more emphatic that "change the brake cables" meant
both of them. In the next paragraph I gave instructions for routing
the front cable; that, perhaps, made the "s" disappear. But I did
instruct them to look for worn parts, and the front brake is the
important one.

I now have an 8-speed chain on a six-cog cluster. The bill specifies
that the chain is "silver" -- they come in assorted colors?

8 speed seems to be the widest available now. They do seem to work fine on my SunTour six speed freewheels. Silver and black seem to be the colours out there.


I wonder what "RR" means in "BASKET SUNLT RR WIRE FOLDING STD BK"?
"STD" probably means "standard" and "BK" certainly means "black".

And I found a picture of the basket by searching for "Sunlite". My
new handlebar pads are the same brand.

"RR" could mean "rear".

I can't think of a good abbreviation in this case.


--
Joy Beeson
joy beeson at comcast dot net

Thanks for keeping the newsgroups alive Joy. I see a lot of urdu script or whatever it is. Seems like most activity has shifted to .tech as usership has waned.

pH in Aptos

On 2/2/2020 2:06 PM, pH wrote:
On Thursday, January 9, 2020 at 7:57:06 PM UTC-8, Joy Beeson wrote:
Instead of sewing a snap on my new wallet, I went to Zale's Hometown
Pharmacy today. About two miles out and two miles back -- hardly
worth suiting up for.

Wish I could sew worth a darn. (yuck yuck). I have a heck of a time threading the needle these days. I do replace buttons and mend tears.

I'm a hack sewer, and my wife isn't interested these days. I've made a
couple handlebar bags over the years, but I'd be ashamed to show Joy my
stitching.

A couple weeks ago it was finally cold enough to wear my new-ish "nicer"
winter coat, bought the previous year and barely worn. I was surprised
to see a couple inches of seam had failed, just above and below the
right pocket.

I spent an hour painstakingly stitching it by hand, tried it on, and
realized I'd botched the job. Somehow, despite great care, I managed to
snag some innerfacing (is that what it's called?) or pocket lining or
something. The coat hung funny.

Fortunately, I have a friend who A) has had me fix her bike multiple
times, and B) is a dedicated seamstress. She actually took some
tailoring classes in college, which surprised me in a couple ways.

She took the coat away and returned a perfect looking coat. Just as I'd
taken her bike and returned a perfect running bike.

There are benefits to Division of Labor.


--
- Frank Krygowski

On Sun, 2 Feb 2020 11:06:01 -0800 (PST), pH wrote:


Wish I could sew worth a darn. (yuck yuck). I have a heck of a time threading the needle these days. I do replace buttons and mend tears.

I did some hack sewing today, cobbling together a split seam in a
pillow tick. Zero attention to appearance, and when the two halves
got out of line, I didn't rip back and do it right, just did it wrong
the other way to the end of the seam.

I used size 30/6 thread. (Normal is 100/6.) This was the first time
in a long time that I threaded a needle without putting on 3.5 reading
glasses. But I had to wax the thread to re-thread the needle to hide
the end when I was done. First threading was done by sticking the cut
end through the eye; by the time it slipped out of the needle, the end
had frayed enough that I had to fold the thread over the needle and
stick the tight loop through, and for threading the short end, even
that didn't work -- perhaps more because it was short than because it
was fuzzy.

I bought my wax direct from a beekeeper at the farmers' market.
Sewing-notions makers often pass off sticky wax as beeswax -- which
works fine for batik, not so much for waxing thread.

--
Joy Beeson
joy beeson at comcast dot net
http://wlweather.net/PAGEJOY/

On Sun, 2 Feb 2020 11:06:01 -0800 (PST), pH wrote:

8 speed seems to be the widest available now. They do seem to work fine on my SunTour six speed freewheels. Silver and black seem to be the colours out there.

I keep forgetting to stop by and tell them that the bike shifts much
better than it used to.

I usually sprint through the village on the way back -- not a good
place to overtake, and I don't need to save anything for later by then
-- so I'm past the Trailhouse before I think of it.

Saying that makes me wonder why I have no trouble leaving the village
when there isn't a festival going on. I think it's because people
prefer to park on the inbound side so that they don't have to cross
the street to get to the businesses, so on the outbound side the
parked cars are in two tight clusters and I can pull over to let
people by.

--
Joy Beeson
joy beeson at comcast dot net
http://wlweather.net/PAGEJOY/