Swap 2007

Yet another Madison bike swap has come and gone, and for the second year in a row I rode to the event with all my stuff. Yes, it's possible to haul the entire (if modest) contents of a swap table on an Xtracycle. On the left side is a dual-suspension mountain bike; on the right is a plastic bag containing 2 suspension forks and a rigid steel fork; in the cardboard box is a carbon fiber fork; in the box on the top are a couple of saddles, about 15 derailleurs, several sets of toe clips, some old seat bags for spare tubulars, and a bunch of other accumulated miscellany. I sold almost all of it and came home with just a small box and the mountain bike (anybody need one?)

I had to wait in a line of cars to get into the area behind the venue with the other exhibitors, and got a few looks when I rolled right in through the back door. The guy at the registration desk asked whether I had ridden there with all that stuff. Well, yeah, but it was only about 4 miles...

For the first time in recent memory, I went home with more money than I had come with. I didn't feel an urgent need to spend it all. I did get a couple of things I had been wanting for a while—an Axa integrated wheel lock and a second set of Reelights (batteryless lights that use the Faraday principle to power LEDs—will blog them at some point) some tires and a few other little things.

Saw quite a few people I knew and floated the idea of riding down to tour the Sugar River Dairy sometime this summer, which was quite well-received. It was a big event and a pretty good outing, all things considered.

On the way home, winter returned. Four miles of those sandy little snow particles driven into my face by a fierce headwind. In the absence of windfront tights, I can now recommend Carhartt's flannel-lined jeans. Toasty.