i think our thermometer is broken, Quality Time, and march-hero parts bin bike

even in the best of times, the mtn bike trail situation in Door Cty is this: they mostly suck. the reasons for that are many, but point being for now is that in winter, they are ski-trails in any case. we ain't riding up here.

and, if we broke zee-ro all weekend it wasn't by much, and it was fleeting.

so then - to the Lab !! nicky needed a project bike. since retiring from racing other than the occasional fun-run, he has been constantly working on his small quiver of dirt-jump/BMX/pier-jump/urban freeride/SS rides in the studio. he knows his way around a bike pretty well from building frankenbikes, and is mostly self-taught. so, i turned him loose on this little surly we've had for 7 or 8 years - it had last been been his road bike, but was going unused for the most part.

we ended up working on it together, putting it into a new mode, and that was crazy-fun. i can be at one end of the bike, and he is good rummaging around and setting up the gearing and fixie-cog chainline situation at the other end. nice for an old dad !! and, we even managed to sneak in a few "south parkesque" bad-taste jokes about the skiiers pretending to be snowboarders in the x-games or even ( poor taste ALERT ), cheer against ( OK, and make jokes about . . . . ) the one parapalegic x-game dude flailing with distressingly bad stink-bug style down the boarder-X course on his sit-ski. Fate intervened nicely here, and the para with the smooth, low rail-ing style beat the flailing stink-bug guy for the gold.

in the end, we are close to having MK's new march hero suffer-machine done: a soft 'cross tired road going fixie that she can go old-skool with on the frozen wasteland of southern door cty come march and april. much pain awaits her on the playboy-blue machine. and BONUS - nicky's little spark-in-the-eye was not lost on me as he hopped on and sized the sweet little fixie up . . . . . . . . . . . could it be the road-going machine finds its way way back into his quiver come summer, and i ( re- ) pick up a new riding partner . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . ?? could it be that is what i had in mind the whole time ??