We had a few nice days, but now we've got snow again. I hope it's the last snow of the Spring.

I keep my my bike our on the balcony, locked to the railing. When I see the snow on it, I kind of wish I'd brought in in before the snowfall. On the other hand, I've ridden it in worse weather than that. It'll just need a little oil and all should be well.



The wheel is off because I noticed a slight wobble and brought it to a bike shop for truing. I can do a lot of maintenance on bikes, but wheel building is still pretty intimidating to me.

I wasn't sure where to take it. To buy flat repair stuff, I'd gone to a place called Dutch Cycles, which, lacking any better way to decide, I picked because of the name. The sales person I talked to seemed like a typical professional-looking salesy guy, but I wondered if there was any evidence that any particular mechanic around the city might be better than others. I'm being particular about this wheel because I had it custom made with heavy touring stuff and it was pricy.

So I drove out a few days ago to go to a place called Kaz Bike Labs. I tried calling their number first, but the voicemail I got was just some guy. Wrong number maybe? I dunno. So I figured I'd just go there and ask him questions. I got to the address and it was just a house. Well, if he works out of his house, that explains why the website said to make an appointment, but between that and the voice mail I got anxious and tried the next place.

I drove from the north side of Regina to the south side (not really that far) to visit YQR Cycle Repair. YQR Cycle Repair was *also* somebody's house. I don't *think* I had the addresses wrong... Are there a lot of people running businesses out of their house around here? The person I'm seeing for electrolysis works out of her house too.

So I looked at the other option, a place called Western Cycle. I pulled it up on street view and decided not to go there. It's probably not really rational, but something about the shop looking like an Auto Zone made me decide to just drive up to the north side again and go to Dutch Cycles.

I think that turned out to be the best choice. The mechanic on the repair side of things seemed to know what he's talking about, plus he had a certain look. It reminded me of an episode of Car Talk, where someone called to ask a question about a classic Volkswagen Beetle, and Click and Clack asked the guy if his local mechanic had all his teeth. They suggested that if the mechanic had all his teeth, there's a good chance he's not a good Beetle mechanic. I think the bike mechanic I talked to had all his teeth, but he also looked a lot like an older Jerry Garcia, and like someone who has a lot of fun doing what he does. I think these are good signs.

I picked the wheel up today. He pointed out my tire actually has more of a wobble than the rim does and probably has some separated plies. He trued the rim and didn't charge me for it because it was minor. Said it was a "welcome to Regina special."

I'd also asked about ordering replacement spokes for my wheel, just in case I need them at some point. I have extra-heavy duty spokes on that wheel along with the extra-heavy rim. Supply chain disruption is a thing in the bike world too, it seems: the lead time on those spokes is out to August. By then, my parents can probably bring my little box of bike tools and parts, which should have my spokes in it.

When I took Rufus out this morning, I encountered about a quarter-inch of some kind of slush-pellets. I decided it was a CTA day. Here's the view from Evanston - Davis station this morning.

That drive home from Madison was just awful. And I spent a lot of it being concerned about how Danae was handling her own drive. Fortunately, she is warm and safe at home, as am I.

Tomorrow is my first day of classes for the semester. I still don't really feel ready. But it starts with Relaxation at 10:00, so maybe that will help. *laughs*

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Anyway, I'm feeling a little bit down with the end of a lovely weekend spent with Danae. But my parents had hot food ready for me, and one of my favorite foods at that. They're wonderful people.

Unfortunately, it had to be delayed while we dealt with the car. No cars may be on the streets to do a snow emergency. My mother came out to move her car out so I could park mine ahead of hers in the driveway, but she got stuck at the end. We dug her out, and she got stuck again in a snowbank across the street when backing out. She'd gotten a shovel out the first time, and we went through a few rounds of digging out the back wheels and moving a bit until it was finally loose. It's a rear wheel drive land yacht with little weight in the trunk. I suggested buying some sand tubes to put in there.