goodnight, sweet prince

i'm here today to bid a very reluctant and untimely farewell to one of the few great loves of my life.

it seems he never really recovered from "the dog incident" of feb '06. after a winter of regretful neglect, i took the blade down to dre, my friendly neighborhood bike specialist, for a general inspection. apparently, i have stress fractures in the fork and it's due to break any day now. that, and for all its many wonderful merits, it's still basically a rusty piece of shit i bought for $15 at the salvation army. dre seemed a little concerned that i was riding it all, and recommended that i stop doing that.

one bonus: i get to buy a shiny new set of twowheels. thank you tax refund.

it's pretty pointless to develop emotional attachments to inanimate objects, but i have a lot of shit attached to that bicycle. i remember being with tom at the thrift store and seeing it, thinking that it couldn't possibly be more perfect, riding it around the parking lot, falling in love immediately, and carefully packing it in the back of the pathfinder so it could come live with us forever. i remember riding around to parties and bars and finally home, my right pant leg rolled up, and maybe it was the fact that i was drunk but i felt sexy as shit on that bike. i loved riding with tom back to germania street at the end of night, and i loved how having a road bike made me faster to the point where i could almost keep up with his competitive ass. i remember being able to get back on it after my shoulder surgery and how amazing that felt. then i remember crashing it into a dog.

sigh.

goodbye, spalding blade. sure am gonna miss you.