Urrrrrrrrrrrrrrgggggggggghhhhhhh.

I shall be blunt: right now, my life is a big ball of stress.

I’ve got too much on my plate. I work full time, five days a week. Then I have freelance stuff for my free (ha!) time. I’ve got art assignments for a few different people, both running late. I’ve got a book assignment, also running late. (Thankfully I have a little extra time now, thanks to the publisher.) I’ve got rides to plan. I’ve got a house to clean, laundry to wash. And, of course, a blog to write. Of course, while I’ve made my share of lists, and will still make more lists, lists don’t get things done, I get things done. And I’m not always productive, if you know what I mean.

And bikes? Oh yeah, that. Not only do I need to ride my bike(s) more, I need to do more stuff to them. There is the fabled Wayfarer 2.0 project in the works, but that’s a bit less out of my control. What’s more in control is what I can/am doing with my other two bikes. Like the Crested Butte.

I have plans to camp out at Stub Stewart on Tuesday night, meaning tonight. (While I should be doing something else, I also need a mental vacation. See the first line of this blog post.) I was planning on taking the Crested Butte, because I wanted the widest tires in the stable if I was going to tackle the sometimes rough Crown Zellerbach Trail. But I wanted to re-tie the basket to the front rack, as the zipties were becoming slack, causing rattle. I started to cut the first ziptie, but I didn’t realize what I was cutting instead, until it was too late: the dynamo wire connecting the headlamp to dynamo. Shit! Now the lights on this bike don’t work, urrrgggghh.

Not only that, but I’ve come to the realization that while I like the new fatty tires, the CST Metropolitan Palm Bay deals, they are just too fat for this mid-eighties mountain bike. I can’t inflate them over 30 psi otherwise they rub on the dropouts, but even at that pressure I notice that it rubs intermittently, most likely due to the tire not being “perfect”. And I can’t go in the super-low gear because the chain rubs against the tire. I realized that the width (2.35″ or 60 mm) was not optimal, but with all those factors in play, I now have to suck it up and admit it: I need some smaller tires. I’ll probably switch back to something like the Rubena Cityhoppers, at 52 mm they were amply fat and didn’t cause the clearance issues or chain rub. Oh well.

So realizing that getting the Crested Butte ready was now futile, I needed to get the XO-3 ready for the camping ride. There wasn’t much I needed to do, except change the saddle. The old Brooks Champion Flyer, while once comfortable, has moved more into “ass-hatchet” category and is beyond adjustment. So I purchased a new B-17, but hadn’t gotten around to installing it, until of course now. Now some of you may see installing a new Brooks saddle then going on a long two-day bike ride as foolish. But what’s more foolish in this circumstance: ride out on a new saddle that might not be comfortable, or an old saddle that I know is no longer comfortable? I’ll put up with the new saddle, thanks. And due to my weight and ample ass, I should break the new B-17 in in no time!

Of course, all this might be moot point. I originally had a few folks going with me. But now one of them wants to bail due to the forecast: every day for the forseeable future shows sun or clouds, but dry with highs in the 60s. Except Tuesday night, when it’s supposed to rain. The night we’d camp. Come to think of it, I don’t want to camp in the rain either, and could move the camping back to Wednesday, but it would alter the trip somewhat because I have to be at work at 3 pm on Thursday. But he may not be able to do Wednesday, and the other friend for sure can’t do Wednesday. So do I camp in the rain tonight with someone else, or camp in the dry on Wednesday with maybe someone else or probably no one at all?

Welcome to my life.