Best Laid Plans, All That...

In my mind, I was going to get so much more done with this Saturday. I woke up early enough given it was the weekend. I had a dream our next door neighbors were trying to get in touch with me because someone was jacking with my car in the driveway and setting the alarm off.

And that this did no good since they hadn't reached me immediately, but that the cops found my car in Waldo a few hours later.

In the dream, they meant the salvage title 1997 Honda Accord that ran away from home on me last August. It heard Corinna's attitude about cars, saw me start commuting by bike, and had a car tantrum. You don't want me. Fine, I'm going. Don't come following me, go ride your little bicycles. I'm gone. I'm not missing you.

I've instructed CW to be nicer to my new car. I've wanted an xB for years. I had actually left the Scion in Waldo the night before, so when I woke from this dream, and realized I had some distinctly "car" errands to run, I figured I better go get it before dreams came true.

Coming up through Penn Valley Park, I saw a sign saying Indigo Wild was having a sale. I love their soap, though I hate to pay full retail price for it (or anything else, really). The factory sells odds & ends that aren't shaped quite right to wear the wrapper in retail for a discount. Not a huge discount, but with the sale on top of that, I came out okay. I also see they've got at least one bike commuter working there.

My next stop was Midwest, who built the Frankensurly. In my mind, this was a quickie stop. I'd ordered a kickstand, which was in. I know, a bike that has been laid down cannot fall over, but a good Pletcher two-prong kickstand is a handy thing when you're doing certain roadside mechanic work, and a few other situations where I'd just as soon not lay my bike down. But since it has to be cut to length, it's not the quickest install. And I also had my rear wheel trued and my handlebars re-wrapped, so the Frankensurly spent the bicycle equivalent of a long visit at a spa.

So I guess I was on a car oriented adventure, because I'd been trying to figure out a rack for the xB prior to having the girls this week. I commute by bike wherever possible, and that ends up putting me in situations where I need to haul my bike and have a couple of back seat spots for honyocks. I'd purchased a Loco Joe 3 off Craigslist (new in the box, though the fit guide stopped with the 2001 model year and Yakima hasn't even made that model since 2004). Consulting the instructions and two calls to Yakima hadn't got that sucker on the xB where I could trust it with a bike.

I thought maybe a hitch-mount rack, but U-Haul wanted $200 just for a hitch. I'd looked at Midwest's racks while the Frankensurly was getting worked on, but I decided to swing by the Trek store to see if maybe they had a strap-mount Yakima that would work on my new ride. It's where I bought the last rack I bought new, the one that was on my Honda when it Bermuda Triangulated.

They had a strap-mount rack with a lock both on the car mount and the bike mount, a tray-type thing that was more than I wanted to spend but far less than a hitch mount rack and hitch combined. And Tyler went ahead and figured out the install on the spot so I was ready to roll. I'm sure if a thief sets his eyes on my bike, it's already gone, but this will secure it against the lazy, would-be thief, keep the bike from getting tossed off like it was on a city bus rack, and will accommodate Corinna's small-framed bikes, even her queerly shaped mountain bike (a Cannondale double-delta from way back).