Constant state of flux

OK well I don't really like to repeat myself when I post stuff, but I am not going to go through the effort of actually reading through my old posts. You see I sometimes forget what I post and what I am just thinking about posting and what I really do. Like right now I cannot remember if I actually said anything about cleaning up my bike. My poor poor winter bike has been brutalized this winter, as happens practically every winter. The snow, salt and sleet just kick the poor bikes ass, turning nice new parts into rusty messes within such a short period of time it boggles the imagination to think about it. I had a chain go from being brand new to stiff as hell in about a months time. Now I probably could have taken a little better care, cleaned the drivetrain and lubed it up periodically through the season, but I just didn't Something about having to carry my bike through the entire house, dripping sand and salt every step of the way in order to reach my basement bicycle room just isn't my idea of a good time. So instead I just parked the bike in my 3 season porch, with some old towel underneath to catch what ever dripped off.

Long story short, the bike was seeming a little neglected and was practically begging for some loving.

Now I really like working on my bikes, and I especially enjoy when I have something dirty and decrepit and make it beautiful again. Here is a quick break down of what I did in order to make my bike better.

1) Scrubbed the whole bike down, removed all the grit and grime and left it clean again.
2) Removed the old rusty chain and replaced it with the stainless steel chain that I got for my birthday.
3) Took off the wheels and did a deep toothbrush/orange degreaser cleaning, it took a while but really it was worth it.
4) Took the bike into Parts Washer and had him true them up, which needed to be done. When truing up the front wheel, he noticed that the reason it was a little out of whack had to do with a broken aluminum nipple, so one spoke was utterly useless.
5) Lubed up the entire drivetrain making it smooth like butter, like it should be. Given that I spent well over 500 dollars to build the Phil Wood/Open Pro Wheelset, there is no reason my bike shouldn't just fly down the road. It is amazing how a poorly tuned drive train makes even the best of componentry sub-par, chalk one up to maintenance I guess.
6) Replaced the batteries in my bike lights, this wasn't needed exactly, but I like to be bright as I ride my bike. Felipe road pizza isn't a role I care to play anytime soon.
7) Switched saddles, now my ass isn't as sore (mind out of gutters people) probably the most important and personal part of a bike yet I figured I could get away with a crappy random generic POS saddle. Now I have one of my favorite saddles, a Terry Liberator, which I bought probably a bit over 2 years ago. It isn't my absolute favorite, but in the top three.

I think that is about all I did, I wasn't really working on the bike for that long, so I cannot imagine what else I would have done. Now the bike rides perfect, better than perfect in fact. This bike I built up just to be a winter bike, but I just have the feeling like I might end up falling in love like I have a proclivity to do on a semi-regular basis. The front wheel being with a broken spoke had kept me from riding the bike for the last couple of days, so now I really have no excuse.

Like I said before, I cannot remember if I said any of this before, but I am sure I didn't go into as much depth as I am going right now.

Work was well, slow but well. We didn't sell many Prix Fixe at all, which was depressing for me, after I go through all of the work getting the menu ready and doing all of the prep work. It is just seeming a little futile to run the pri-fi on Mondays, I am going to petition for a moving of days to Thursdays, I hope that will spur a little interest. Part of the problem is the perception that people have of our restaurant, which I might not be able to change myself. We just do too much business given the facility to focus as closely to each plate as people would expect in a more upscale place. So I have to deal with how things are right now and count my chips as the lay, just be happy I am doing such a good job of running the place despite the limitations.

FYI I am at the Chatterbox again, and again there is a high proportion of females to males. Too bad I am not really looking for anything right now, I probably could work my MoJo on a few of the women singing Karaoke.