The King, 2019

It would seem I'm quite willing to let the blog slide these days. However, it would feel wrong not to post a picture of this Autumn's King; I have been doing it for 10 years!

Here he is, lookin' great as always, although the picture is from a couple of weeks ago and he's probably nearly naked now.

I've moved back onto the Fat bike with the big pogies and everything.

Outspokin Cycles assisted in rebuilding the wheels that were misbehaving in colder temps; the rear got a lovely new Hope Fatsno hub that I'm confident won't act like a jerk. It has a nice loud ratchety sound (the pawls, I guess) that I really like. I'm finding that my advancing age combined with a loss of dexterity due to silly brain stuff is resulting in a newfound willingness to pay others to wrench on my bike. I suppose that's not a bad thing, since local bike shops seem to be in jeopardy all the time. I must confess, though, that I bought that fatsno hub online for way less than the LBS price, once again from across the ocean. As much as a good LBS will always be of value to me, my own cash is also of value to me. As such I happily pay the LBS for the things I can stand to pay a little more for and buy the other stuff online. We got Mrs. Rantwick a nice bike at an LBS a couple of years ago, so we're not all bad. Note: You can't buy a good bike mechanic online. A relationship with a good LBS (or three) is always a good thing.

If you're considering riding right through the winter this year, do it! You won't be sorry. Or maybe you will. How the hell would I know? How about this instead: Try it, you might like it as much as I do!

Yer Pal,

R A N T W I C K

God Bless the USA

Hey, just touching base. Everything is going great, riding weather is beautiful. I've been riding to work and back most days, but not much else. For the one or two people who are friends on Strava, I haven't quit riding, I've just stopped with the app.

Yes, life is pretty good. So good I have very little to say it would seem. I've got some video of animals and friendly people I mean to stitch together, but evening laziness has kept me from it.

Sitting in front of CNN watching the slow-motion car crash of American politics remains one of my favourite yet depressing activities. Sometimes I pause the TV as household distractions arise. I am often entertained by the images I get with these random stills^*, like this one:

This poor fellow looks like I feel sometimes when I hear what is (and is not) happening in the USA. Canadians and Americans have always been good friends as far as I'm concerned, and it both confuses and pains me when I see friends hurting each other or losing their way or both. I wish there was something I could do. Instead I just watch and wonder and hope. In short, Thoughts and Prayers, USA, Thoughts and Prayers.

Yer Canadian Pal, 

R A N T W I C K

^*As fond as I am of doctoring photos and stuff, it would kind of defeat the purpose of funny pause images if I made them funny via artificial means. As such, I have not messed with this image, which is just a picture of my TV taken with my phone.