that social distancing TT series, ain't feeling it. Similar route to last week, three long slightly uphill segments and I'm just not feeling it this morning - been a long week, tired. Gonna rest and take it easy and just fucking not. Also I don't think anyone has done it yet, and scores haven't been run for the week before. AND the TT bike (aka the paramount) has a front flat. Happy it didn't happen on the ride but now it is just one more thing to do. I think i'm gonna pass on this, save the riding energy for tomorrow's MTB ride.
Sitting outside with coffee right now is pretty fucking awesome. It is that perfect morning to sit and drink coffee and hang out with the dogs and the squirrels.
Not feeling the urgency to go ride. Not a big week on the bike but i managed to get on it every day i think, no assist, a day with nothing isn't so bad.
There is a lot going on out in the world, it is troubling.
A brief bit of happiness is having someone else make dinner. That's what i've done pretty much every night forever. But since the start of the stay at home stuff and the oldest coming back from college, they have been cooking the odd meal or two and baking a lot. It is REALLY nice. Like wow, what is it like to always have really good food made for you. Can't imagine. Lux.
Some what of a new but same routine. Bike shop is changing. Feels odd to have been through this a couple times already. With the same group of people. First it was getting hired at 4th street, working for Caster's. They had long hours and was next door to ballet and kid needed orthodontics and we needed more cash and boom, went from hanging out to working there and haven't really looked back since.
But then there was the transition from Caster's to NBX. There's a good long story behind those and maybe that's for another time, that transition wasn't really much of a big deal. Nothing really changed, but some stuff did. Suddenly we were three stores, and just before that I think I had started just assembling stuff. Schedule was tight and well, bikes came in, I put them together, and a big more than half all wound up being transferred and sold out of other locations. It was a good deal for me. BUT the shop wasn't air conditioned and there were no windows, just a door in the front and a door halfway down. Good ceiling fans but they just moved the gross summer air around. It was not fun in the summer, but I had my own bench in the back, I could hide and do my thing. It worked well. But the shop was always kind of hidden, off the beaten path. And eventually no more dancing.
About the no more dancing time NBX expanded and picked up the EP location, now 4 stores large. And then opened up in a new space on Hope street. Finally high traffic frontage. Downside was the interior layout sucked. I was building using a table and a stand, I'd have to set out my tools before I started and pack em up when i was done, there was no room for bikes and not many were being shipped in to the location and if customers were wandering around in the back they'd ask me questions and I wouldn't build as many. It was a light summer of bikes. Some weeks there was nothing to build. And then that manager went back to EP and asked me to move over and work there, sure. They put together a bench in the basement, I had my own ascend terminal and bench and peg board and i started cranking out bikes like a fucking machine.
That's over now. Saying goodbye to that bench. We'll see where the next bench pops up, take some time this week to not think about bikes, maybe stay on with Matt and the NBX guys, it is a bit of a drive but there is some good MTB riding on the way there and back. The old shop, actually the Hope street, and Warwick as well as East Providence are switching over to become Trek Factory stores. They do things a bit differently and it wasn't going to be a great fit and the hours they are opened are longer and things are actually in s a stable enough place that I am not critically relying on that paycheck to pay bills. First time since I started the second job that I can say that. Took 10 years or so, I'm gonna guess that there was also a good fiscal boost when i stopped drinking. I never bought much of the fancy stuff, but if Torpedo was on sale, well that six pack was good for one night, even the daily six pack of gansett tall boys added up. Actually wound up saving money even though I was probably drinking more, when I switched to vodka. See it is all inter-related. Lots of good came out of the not drinking. Two years later and my eyes are recovering, still not as good as they once were.
So I'm not going to go out and do the same loop with a twist on the TT bike. I'm going to relax (for a change), take it slow this morning. Head in and gather the beer truck bike (needs a chain and probably should just single speed it, gears are dumb) have to decide if I change the fork seals or not. Maybe not, I dunno, but probably should. Go hang out one last time with the old crew before everything gets dismantled.
Maybe I'll grab the book and fill up the coffee and sit outside and read this morning while the rest of the house sleeps.
be well, take care of yourself, take care of others, actively be anti-racists and
Amor Fati Motherfuckers
heddwch
G
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