more cleaning and maintenance

Besides the house, there are plenty of other things to clean. I used to be notorious for having dirty bikes, but not since i've been working on my dissertation. Now i have the cleanest bikes around (besides my brother-in-law Joe). In addition to cleaning, bikes also require regular maintenance, you know, lubing the chain, truing the wheels, replacing worn or sticky cables, etc. This is especially true during cross season when the mud wreaks havoc on all those moving parts.

First clean:
Since i forgot to stop by the car wash on the way home the other day and my hose was frozen solid i had to wash the bike in the shower.



I had to shovel all the dirt out of the bath.

Then maintain:

Joe has a nice bike work room right in his house. I'm not so lucky, i have to work on my bikes in the kitchen.


Replacing a worn bottom bracket.

Total time spent on cleaning and maintaining bike that could have been spent writing: 2.5 hrs. Total time spent cleaning the bathtub afterwards: .5 hrs. Doesn't necessarily seem like a lot, but when you have multiple bikes to maintain, it adds up quickly. I still haven't cleaned the bottom bracket or changed the cables on my niner since i've been back from Costa Rica. I'll save that for another day over the break when i don't want to write.