so the d2r2 is coming, complete with 25 and 24 percent grades and 70 miles of dirt.  trouble is, i dont have a bike to ride yet.  my new hubs for the b-stone are in the mail, and i havnt sourced spokes yet.  my trek is at local frame guy dunklebarger’s getting new fittings brazed on… then it needs to at least be primed and then reassembled, and when it is, it will be completely untested, new brake set up, cable routing ect.  tack that onto the fact that my 4 other bikes are sans fenders, so riding in the rain is nasty at best, hazardous (with glasses) at worst.  so training is out.  i tried to get some prebuild stuff outta the way, wrapping the trek handlebars (the old cinelli tape i was using, old as in it was sitting around for a year or 3 broke repeatedly, more than any tape i have ever used, and while i dont wrap bars everyday, i havnt torn tape since i was a noobie), retapping the nervar cranks to take english threads (that worked thank god, i am gunna need the 26 granny)  and scrounging to find my suntour bar cons.  rob: did i give them to you? if so, thats fine, i just wanna know where they went.  i still havnt resolved my rear shifter issue on my b-stone, but i think i am gunna put my super long cage paul mech on, so i can run a 34 tooth super low gear.  11,000 feet of climbing?  fuck!  did i mention we arnt leaving until 5 pm, so we’re gunna roll in around 1AM for a 4.30 AM wakeup call and a 1 hour drive to the spot where the ride starts?  fuck a fucking fuck.

also, my basement resembles the amazon river, but with giant ear shaped fungi rather than killer anacondas.

in other news, my iron E has been fabricated, so i can move on to phase two:  peeing on it to patina it.  its 40 inches tall, 20 inches deep, and made out of cold rolled steel.  mmm mm, can you taste the irony?  i mean, iron E?  pics to follow.

to all those at home: pull out yer wool sweaters and watch the X files, its gunna be a rainy ass week.