Over the last week or so, I've gotten a fair bit done towards the bike trip - bought new toys, did some work on the bike, bought a plane ticket (Flying to Atlanta on May 12th,) developed a little more of a "plan," and made some progress towards subletting my room for the summer.

Toys wise, I've acquired a shiny new bike computer (as they're calling speedometers these days,) it's a Cateye Enduro 8 - nifty little thing although I haven't quite wrapped my head around the interface yet. Was a little surprised to find that on an average day, I end up riding something like 5-6 miles, which still isn't much, but it's more than I would have guessed as it's mostly just popping back and forth between classes and work assignments. I intend to use the computer mainly for navigation - it has a trip distance function that will be useful for knowing when important intersections are coming up.

Bought a helmet as well - figured it would be good to have one for the trip. Usually I don't wear a helmet around town - have quite a few justifications for that, but I know it's probably not a good idea in the long run to go without one. Managed to loose my old helmet over the winter. Long story...

Work wise, I finally got around to replace my bottom bracket (the bearings that the cranks roll on,) which is something I've been meaning to do for a while. The old one had a crack in a bearing race or something along those lines, and was generally getting worn out. Also trued up my back wheel (even though it wasn't much out of round, I wanted to tighten up the spokes a little and double check it after a little curb encounter. Repacked the bearings in the hub and discovered some pitting in one of the internal races on the hub. Pretty sure I'll be able to scavenge a replacement part rather than having to rebuild the back wheel (which could become a big project as I'd need to find a 36 spoke, 7 speed hub - not too standard of an item if I had to guess.)

The other day I managed to put a ~2" cut in my two week old, indestructible, Continental Gatorskins by misjudging a curb on campus and not quite hopping high enough to clear it entirely. Didn't wreck, but did have a flat about instantly and put a teeny little ding in the back rim. Oops. Fortunately, the manager at University Bicycles sold me another one at cost (half retail - like pretty much anything outdoorsy...) I was pretty surprised that I managed to do so much damage to the tire, although in all honesty it was a really sharp curb and pretty much any normal tire would have fared worse.

This afternoon, I had a bike fitting session up on campus. Basically what happens is the bike gets measured up, you get measured up, then the bike gets adjusted to fit you better and you get adjusted to better fit the bike :). On one hand, it seems a little funny to spend $75 (which is a good deal!) on getting your handlebars, saddle, and cleats scooted around a little bit, but on the other hand those little adjustments do make things feel better! I'm sure the difference will be more apparent when I get a chance to get out and ride more than the mile or so from school to home, but even in that little stretch I noticed a significant difference. Annie and her assistant (whose name I didn't get) did a great job, well worth it!

Suppose that's all for now, hoping to get out for a ride this weekend to make a weak attempt at getting back in shape, might even load up the panniers and call it a shakedown ride. Also planning on replacing the cables on the bike sometime soonish - got all the parts together, just haven't had time yet.