I went over to Dan’s yesterday to drop off the handlebar bag. The bike is stunning so far. He is really doing a fine job. We chatted on cable routing methods and different options that I have to keep my components working on the new bike. Were I made of money, I’d probably be ordering stuff right and left. I’m doing my best to keep the purse strings tight’ish on this one though. I can always upgrade here and there in the future. It has a fantastically classic look that some my Shimano stuff doesn’t really do justice, but I’m really excited about it overall. There is nothing wrong with a little marriage of old and new. Did I mention that it is an attractive bike? Dan started a new blog all on his own. You should go give him a shout out and buy stuff from him. He has been putting together food thermoses with custom cages that fit in water bottle bosses. They would go splendid on any tourer/not weight weenie bike you might own. Ask him about them. I stole these pictures from his Flickr account. It was for a good cause though. I’ve been mind numbingly busy lately. I’m juggling some fresh logos, old work, my full time, lots of cooking, prepping for the 100K and a new puppy. I managed to fix our washing machine yesterday. I had to replace the drain pump. That was the second time it broke. The first time we paid some guy 450 dollars to fix it. I replaced it for 50 and some change. That doesn’t factor in my stiff hourly fee of course. This butt crack isn’t on display for cheap. I’ve also had a bout of crazy sore legs. I’ve had to stop exercising this week. A year ago I would have broke out a tiny violin on a line like that. These days I can’t seem to not exercise one way or another. Taking it easy has never been so difficult. Speaking of crazy, the last minute prep for the The Sound and the Fury has been really intense. The paperwork is no joke. There are forms for forms. I feel like I’m filling my taxes. Everything is really well organized overall though. People are coming out of the woodwork to help piece everything together. It really is an amazing group of people. Provided nobody punches me out after the hill at Seahurst, it should be a fantastic day tomorrow. An element of a Populaire (100K) that slipped my mind was the fact that we will have medals available to the finishers. You can keep it on your mantle next to all of your bowling trophies or just sell the metal for scrap. Either way, it is a sweet deal. The ride is free. You have no excuses really. Tonight I’m baking a boat load of brownies from scratch. I make no promises on their quality. You will just have to come and find out.