Nice day for November

Personally, I was hoping for a little more October first.

TOPWLH observed before she had to go to work that today is 10-11-12. That's a nice statistical anomaly which is only going to occur once in almost everyone's life. What does it mean? It means it is a nice statistical anomaly.

I rode out to Lake Vadnais today to discover a slight change since yesterday.

Take a look at yesterday's photo. Well someone drove a car through that plastic barrier across the road and completely shredded it. I rode on down towards the lake.

And still couldn't get there. That part up at the top of the park that looks way more like a road than a trail looks that way because it is a road. It leads down to this parking area and vehicle turnaround.

The road part of the construction project looks complete but the path part is only just beginning. It is still bare dirt from this point on down to the lake.

*sigh*

No swans for me this fall, I guess.

Bicycle maintenance update. The manufacturer of my wheelset will not sell a replacement part to the local bike shop. Apparently they are of the opinion that their wheels are so complex that a mere bicycle mechanic will not be able to successfully complete the replacement. My bicycle mechanic is a bit more than slightly insulted by this attitude.

So my options for original manufacturer replacement are a new rear wheel, only about $610, or a new hub and spokes which they will sell, I can reuse the rim, about $450. I hear all of you out there who cannot believe that an entire bicycle costs that much, certainly a part of a bicycle cannot cost that much.

Trust me, it can. I will just retrace here a bit, I bought this bicycle used on eBay and paid less than the combined new cost of the wheels and the component set. That means I essentially got the frame and all of the other parts (seat, seat post, handlebars, handlebar stem, brakes, bar tape, tires and tubes) for nothing, nada. For comparison purposes here is a link to a quite similar bicycle currently for sale on eBay.

I paid a lot less.

I digress. The third repair option is a non-original manufacturer item from someone called "The Hub Doctor". Apparently the Hub Doctor specializes in just exactly this sort of thing.

$43.50 plus labor.

So we are going to try the Hub Doctor.

Here's a little reward for everyone who hung on through that: then completely unknown "composer" Frank Zappa appearing on the Steve Allen Show in 1963.

It was many years before he became the Dancing Fool.