(no subject)

I was more than a little shocked this morning to notice the amount of corrosion that had built up on my chain and rear cassette. I hadn't noticed it Saturday when I was wrestling on my winter tires; I'm sure the exposure to snow and road salt over the last few days has not helped. I do know I'm well overdue for a chain cleaning and lubrication and evidently need to attend to that once as soon as possible after I get back from NJ; obviously I need to greatly improve my (heretofore minimal) bike maintenance routine.

I hope the corrosion on my cassette is just rust from the chain accumulating, rather than any serious damage to the cassette itself. I should hate to have to replace that component in under a year's worth of riding. According to the interwebs, removal of the rear cassette is a nontrivial task requiring some specialized tools, which I do not own. I guess I'll have to see what I can do about cleaning it while mounted.

Now, more than ever, I really feel like I should take a bicycle mechanics' course, such as that offered by the Broadway Bicycle School. A good experimental physicist ought to be ashamed of having as little mechanical knowledge, practical skill, and courage to work on his own bike as I do.