Even Tax Day Can Have a Happy Ending

Up front, let me say, this isn't that much of a tax rant. This is about cycling...

It did not bode well that when I completed my taxes (I wasn't procrastinating, it took me until Monday to get a 1099 from a freelance client) I owed everyone. I owed Kansas. I owed Missouri. I owed Federal, quite a bit.

First time I think I've ever owed Federal. I do freelance work, and there's no withholding from that, but I over-withhold at work a bit to balance it out. I don't give huge interest free loans to Uncle Sam, but I usually get a few hundred bucks back. Living in one state and working in another, I usually owe one and get a refund from the other, in similar amounts so they're a wash.

Last year, my regular job cut hours for an awful long time and I made a lot less there. On the plus side, I got some additional freelance income (regrettably temporary in nature).

So I had a larger piece of self-employment income from which I have to pay both halves of FICA, etc., plus income tax. At the same time, I had a smaller piece of regular income feeding the withholding kitty.

I used H&R Block's online software again, and at one point, if I understood what I was reading, it told me I had been assessed some sort of penalty for being under-withheld. And I thought, Over twenty years I loan Uncle Sam more money than I owe, get no interest or even a thank-you, and the one time I owe, Unc won't reciprocate. What an asshole Uncle.

So to prolong things I printed and snail-mailed my returns. Anything to keep what is rightfully my money to begin with (I don't really believe, in an ethical sense, that any of us owe income taxes: the Federal government has given us every reason to withhold all funds until it shapes up and acts responsibly) a few days longer.

Of course I paid a price for not e-filing, which is I had to sit in line at the Post Office to chuck these three envelopes into the bin. That, and there was almost three bucks in postage, fees to another Federal agency that can't justify it's own existence in real world terms.

So I frantically race to the Blue Moose, and as I try to get ready in a hurry I find that my front tire has no pressure and hisses when I try to introduce pressure to it.

I didn't have a spare tube with me, so it was off to the Trek Store. Which is where things started to look up. First tax day, now a flat tire on my bike...

Since I'd last ridden, the Trek Store had put a new cassette on the back, where my gears had been slipping the chain especially in the highest rear gear. I even remember thinking when I picked the bike up Tuesday that I should buy a spare tube in case I had a flat on a ride, and then remembered I was about to do my taxes and figured I'd better wait until I knew what the news was on that front before I spent even more money, even if we're only talking six bucks more.

Tonight I went ahead and bought two tubes, one to replace, one to stow in the bike bag, since sure as shit my next flat won't be one I discover before I head out, but one I discover when I have a blow out 15 miles from my car and simultaneously discover my antique cell phone has failed to hold a charge so I can't even call for help.

Wrestling with the tire in the Trek lot, Mark noticed me and offered a refresher tutorial on the Much Faster Way to put the tube in. What I was doing would have probably gotten it done sometime after dark.

Since there was still (barely) some daylight left, I went ahead and lit out for a ride from Trek. My bike lights, toys that they are, were useless as the AAA batteries that power them were at home in chargers, so I had to be mindful to get back to my car before full dark.

Compared to those Blue Moose animals, I was poking around, but for me, I hauled ass. Just 8.3 miles, but I averaged 13.1 mph for it. I realized as I rode that I couldn't remember the last time I could stand and sprint without the chain slipping. I tried but I couldn't get it to do it. I also noticed that shifting in general was smoother, no chunk-chunk while the chain found a new home. I had been dubious about whether my cassette had really been worn out (even though I let them replace the chain last September based on wear, and even though the Trek store has never as far as I can tell tried to sell me something I didn't need).

Between the cassette and the tubes, the Trek Store got a hair over fifty bucks from me this week. A lot less than Uncle Sam skinned me for, but unlike with my taxes, I actually got something of value (and even delight) from Trek.