Cleanliness Is Next To Clusterfuck
Posted in Neutral on Apr 11th, 2009
I am never washing my bike again. EVER. I went six months or more without fucking it up with soap and water and everything was fine, but I took it out today for the first time since washing it on Thursday and I seriously wondered if I’d make it home alive. I must have washed off the bike’s mojo along with the dirt, because everything went wrong today.
This started out as a long entry going into too much detail about every step of everything that went wrong with the ride today, but the short version is:
* 472 bicyclists racing where we were riding, forcing us to dodge 10-speeds, Spandex and mooseknuckle most of the day
* Blowing my line on a turn because I was hotdogging for a camera, crossing the yellow line into oncoming traffic, and missing being a hood ornament by inches
* My bike starting to leak gear oil from the primary
* Dropping my bike off a lift — onto me
* Discovering my rear fender has been rubbing on the wheel and using a pry-bar to fix it
The lesson I’ve taken from all this? Washing my bike is bad mojo. Pre-soap? Everything was fine. Post-soap? “Danger, Will Robinson!”
Screw washing it. A clean bike is a dangerous bike.
