Thursday afternoon I came home from work in a bad mood and then proceeded to thoroughly botch the bolts on the bottom of my bike cleats. The fitting dude had recommended moving the cleats back on my shoes. I couldn't get one of the bolts out and practically stripped it using I drill.

So I took the shoes to Bikes and More Friday morning. There was a palpable electricity in the air. Paul was in an ebullient mood joking with everyone. The whole place seemed fired up. Then I remembered that the cyclocross race they put on is this Sunday. They were buzzing around making plans. Other Christian's arm was in a sling from a biking accident. Mountain bikers seem to get hurt a lot.

Anyway, Dave gave me back the shoes with new bolts adjusted to my specifications. No charge. I feel bad when I wander in with my latest screw up and they stop what they are doing and help me out. At my job it annoys me when I have to unravel some numb skull's problem at Walgreens. I suppose it's a different environment.

Before leaving I asked Dave how to switch pedals between the Sempre and Cortina so I could wear my bike boots on the Sempre for when it's really cold. He said to just bring in the bikes and they'd be happy to swap them out. That was Dave's genius polite way of saying, "Christian, you are a walking clusterfuck. Instead of trying to explain to you what to do, then you effing it up and then me trying to fix your disaster. Just bring it and I'll do it right the first time." You have to give it to the guy, he's absolutely right.

I blew off my planned Millhopper ride. There just wasn't going to be enough time before work. I rode into work around 1:15. I took off the panniers because I was biking in my work clothes, there was no chance of rain (no rain gear) and I didn't have any food to carry. The decreased wind resistance was noticeable. The bike was making an odd purring noise though. I guess the rack is a little loose.

You know what I hate? When I'm biking along at a decent clip. I'm on the sidewalk because the section of rode is narrow and has no bike lane. Then I car is blocking my path trying to turn out on to 34th. I have to brake and try to maneuver around them. I realize they have to pull out that far in order to see traffic because of bushes and crap. I do the same thing when I'm driving. Still it's annoying.

Left work around 10:15PM. It didn't feel nearly as cold as I thought it would and I was over dressed. I stopped by Sweet Dreams on the ride home and had the Grasshopper which is mint ice cream with Oreo crumbles, fudge and whipped cream. The 2 people that work the night shift are really nice. I feel guilty being such a dick to people at my job. Maybe if I sold bikes and ice cream I'd be a lot better off mentally. Oh and I ate the Grasshopper on bench outside the store. I was expecting the bench to be kind of hard but was pleasantly surprised that it had just the right amount of sag to it.