More Weekend Activities

This weekend was an interesting one.

On Saturday, I finished up my new work bench by installing the vise, a work light, and a power strip. Since the floor of our garage slopes, I also had to level the bench top by adding shims underneath the two front legs.

On Sunday, Carlos and I did a favorite mixed-terrain short loop (30 miles) up into the Marin Headlands, over to Miwok Stables, out on Tennessee Valley Road to Sausalito, and then back home. I got back home early in the afternoon, so after cleaning up, I worked on my bike a bit and discovered that the special ceramic bearing in the upper derailleur guide pulley on the XT rear derailleur is cracked. I cleaned the parts up and reassembled everything with fresh grease, and it should be OK for the short term, but I just bought a replacement pulley from Ebay that should fit. I cleaned and re-oiled the bike's chain, too -- the Marin Headlands trails are dusty enough that, even though I use a dry lube that's not supposed to attract dirt, I generally have to clean the chain after every ride -- this is a huge pain, but the alternative is listening to the horrible sounds my chain makes as it gets eaten away by some semi-organic grinding paste. I still had some time to kill before dinner, so after a quick visit to the corner hardware store for some parts, I started working on my next project, a DIY LoFi Porteur Rack. This is still in stealth mode -- stay tuned for details!