Adjacent [rowing]

The same day I found the lucky $$, I noticed something else as well: there's a plot of land with a small building on it available for lease immediately adjacent to the Warehouse of Doom*:



(let's just admire the Warehouse of Doom for a minute again, shall we? There's some sort of toilet-themed installation art going on at the moment - I haven't gotten any closer to try and see what to make of it, though. It's the white circular thing next to the stair stack)



...anyway, this other plot of land has Location, Location, Location going for it. Kind of. I mean, it is next to the Warehouse of Doom, after all. And next to the interstate, and the train tracks, in a spot that isn't especially inviting. But - if the rowing club could figure out how to lease it (organizationally + financially), it could be a Huge Opportunity! But I doubt the rowing club can figure this one out. Fun to daydream about, though. If nothing else, it would be a place belonging to the club, not the city. It's further away from the water but still close enough to be workable, if necessary. The existing structure could potentially work as equipment storage space, if nothing else, and we're in bad need of equipment storage space. At the moment we also don't have anywhere lined up yet for winter training. Plus! Neighbors with the Warehouse of Dooooooooom!!!!

I'm seriously on the fence about whether or not to mention this to anybody else, or whether to just let it drop. There are so many squirrels to herd already.


*Oh hey look! The most recent auction attempt appears to have been put on hold!

Weak links [bicycling]

Yesterday when I was almost to the very top of the steepest hill on my bike commute home, bad noises happened and I suddenly couldn't pedal anymore. I managed to wheel Frodo to a driveway at the top of the hill to investigate further.

Apparently, I broke my chain, and somehow in the process, my front derailleur got wedged/twisted/entwined with the front chainring. Yikes. What a mess. Even more messy because it has been raining lately and so rather than a full bike clean I just added more chain lube last week. Let's just say "caked on" would be phrasing things mildly when attempting to describe the state of my drivetrain.

In any case, I eventually managed to extract my multitool from somewhere deep in my pannier, and was able to loosen up and reposition the front derailleur correctly. Whew. The front derailleur was NOT destroyed, as I'd initially feared. The driveway wasn't the best spot for dealing with the chain, though, so I coasted down the hill and around a corner to a better spot, where I was miraculously able to remove the broken links and rejoin the chain. I even more miraculously managed to softly pedal Frodo all the way home after that. Shifting even worked.

I didn't have enough time/bandwidth last night to give Frodo a good cleaning and once-over to evaluate what maintenance steps to take next. That's going to have to wait until the weekend.

And so, Princess TinyBike to the rescue!