Whoops

So I knew it at the time but yesterday I found out just how silly it was to leave my bike uncleaned when I got home from Burning Man last summer.

My first year I spent my first day back cleaning everything... clothes, bike, gear, but this year I didn't.

I think I just wanted to come home and rest.  Yes, I washed my clothes and sleeping bag but I left the bike.  I sprayed it down with some vinegar I think but I knew I should do something about it.  It had been through several dust storms after all (which means it would have been covered with playa dust) and it had been rained on on the drive home (which means the playa dust would have turned to mud and/or rusted things I didn't want rusted.)

It's been so nice lately and I've been wanting to get out on my bike so yesterday I pulled it out of the storage locker... and realized someone had apparently tried to take the back wheel.

Sigh.

Poopy people aside, I got it outside (by dragging it and lifting it) and took a look at my poor bike.  It was icky.

Rust on the chain and thick, dried messy playa mud crusted everywhere else.

I'd gone out with cleaning cloths but... no liquid/water (duh) so I just sat for a while and put some chain oil on the chain and wiped off what ick I could from the gear things.

I'm going to have to find some time to actually wash the poor thing down, soap and water style as I probably should have done in September (although it's much easier to do in the sunny Spring than the rainy Autumn, true...) and then I may ask Jason if he'll take a look at how it's all working.

I may have lost the front tube, I couldn't seem to inflate it, but then again, I'm not madly in love with my "hey I'm compact and can therefore fit in your backpack" pump.

I'm sure a lot of people don't do much to their playa bikes but I want mine to be in reasonable shape for riding around town here and to make life easier back on Playa.  I also don't have buying another bike in my budget right now so this gal will have to get me through another Summer before I look into buying a cruiser or something.

But yes, I knew it might not be awesome when I got my bike out in Spring and it wasn't.

Not the end of the world... could have been worse, but yeah.  Whoops!  My bad.