dirty pony

tonight i rode the DogLoop alone. Ed was busy commuting late, and i needed to spin around in the woods. of COURSE, the day i decide to NOT bring the camera, i get to ride through a whole herd of elk, little baby elks included. damn. did you know that baby elklings jump and frolic and buck and play? yeah. gah. they were CUTE.

so. the delima is this: my bike (Pony) is worked. she feels worked. she feels sluggish -- (i'm chock-full of lethargic energy .... but i think Pony is having sympathy lethargy or something). she feels squeaky and creaky and it sounds like she's maybe even groaning a bit. both front and rear brakes are kinda ... noisy. she made some noise today i've never heard as i banked into a turn at high speed .... that was kinda scary. i think the chain, while really quite new, it all gross and gooey.

truth is, i'm a terrible bike mechanic and i usually end up hurting both myself and the bike when i choose to work on her. sigh.

anyway. since i failed to take pictures of the new-born-spotted-playful-elkies, you'll have to do with pictures of my REALLY, REALLY DIRTY PONY. (and i wonder why she's whining? aren't bikes supposed to be able to work through this kind of ... state of being?)

pix here:

hope everyone is having a super yummy friday night! tomorrow is sunshine, ALL day long! a trail is calling you somewhere, i'm sure of it ;-)

jj