I think the Dude's secret admirer said it best best when he pronounced that, "Sometimes you eat the bar, and sometimes, well, he eats you." Well today, I was the all-you-can-eat buffet.

After my night in Bonchester Bridge, I awoke to find myself coming down with a cold. Not surprising considering the mileage I had been riding in the pouring rain despicable rain. However, it looked like the sun was breaking and I was only 60 miles outside Edinburgh, then if I wanted wimp out I could jump on the train and get into St. Andrews for my first conference with time to spare.

Plan sounds feasible, right? After all what could go wrong?

So I don't quite understand it. Its not like I am a hulking mass as I tip the scales at a measly 150lbs. Its not like my thighs are the size of some peoples torso (just head to the track and you will see some of those folks, they are called sprinters). Its not like I even pedal in squares, believe it or not I am quite a smooth spinner.

Despite all of what I am not, somehow, through some unspeakable physics that just don't add up, I was able break a chain ring and crank spider on my first fixed gear bike. On bike that had a perfectly straight chain line, a bike that I specifically built too take a beating.

From the largely amusing Surly bikes blog

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Fat Squirrel Season

Everybody knows that squirrels store nuts for the winter. They store them in the ground, probably up in trees and they eat them to get a nice fat belly for the winter. But what I notice most about squirrels this time of year is that they are particularly slow, sluggish, indecisive, unpredictable and psycho.

Case in point, I'm riding my bike in a quiet residential neighborhood this morning (with a 100+ pound trailer in tow) and I see a squirrel walking her dog. She's stopped on the corner of an uncontrolled intersection while the leashed dog sniffs around. From a distance, I ring my bell to get her attention and we make positive eye contact. Knowing it's fat squirrel season, I have my fingers on the brake levers as I approach. About 12 feet before I enter the crosswalk, the squirrel decides that her and the dog are going to test their right of way across the street. I skid the rear wheel and start drifting sideways, just barely missing squirrel and pooch. You know when you're skidding and all you can think of is "did that squirrel want to commit suicide?" but you're glad you have brakes and skills to spare it's life.

Yes kids... It's time for the black stallion (as its known) to be released from my bike stable.

frame+fork = surly pacer 54cm (aka 55cm squared)
cranks/bb = campy centaur
chainring = campy 42t
cog = surly 16t, DA lockring
front hub = shimano integra
rear hub = white industries eno eccentric hub
rims = alex DA30
headset = cane creek aheadset
seatpost = kalloy micro-adjust
seat = kalloy or selle italia (wonderfully broken in, but needs a little love)
stem = ora
tires = IRC Redstorm (front), schwalbe blizzard sport (rear)

this was my first fixed love... its changed a bit since i straddled it outside mighty riders.

new seats, cranks, bb, bars (risers, classic drops), pedals (x2), tyres (x i wouldnt want to guess), fenders, brakes, bells... its now my daily commuter/wet weather bike.

it rides stable as a draughthorse, slow off the mark, but once she starts rolling on the open road its a comfortable ride.