Finally got a long run in after a long break. Perfect day for it.
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Beginning bike maintenance
I took a beginner bike maintenance class a couple weeks ago through our local city Parks and Rec program. The instructor was 89-year-old Tom Martin, who is a local legend (see Tar Heel Traveler: Raleigh man pedals 200,000 miles on bike). Needless to say, it was great.
I had no idea going into the class who the instructor was or what to expect. I’ve just always wanted to know more about how to maintain my bikes. There were only three of us that showed up, and we had over 2 1/2 hours with him to ask questions and learn some of his techniques for maintaining his bikes. We went through a progression of items, starting with tires (how to change a flat, etc), chains, shifting components, brake components, and general cleaning and upkeep. We brought our bikes in, and he took a look with us. My bike didn’t really need too many adjustments, just a good clean, but we made some small adjustments to derailers and disc brake shoes on another bike.
I made a short list of things I need to pick up to start getting a level 1 toolkit together:
- Flat repair solution (aka patch kit, extra tire tube, frame pump/CO2 pump)
- Silicone spray
- Pareafin/wax-based cleaner and lubricant – Tom uses White Lightning
- Cleaning bushes
- Bike stand
I’ve gotten ahold of most of that now, and spent a chunk of time cleaning and tuning my bike today. It was gross but feels good to be on top of it now.
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Jalapeños!
Kav’s raised beds are going crazy and I am unreasonably excited about the jalapeño peppers that are on the way.
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Running in Istanbul
Travel running might be my favorite thing about traveling. Seeing a place waking up at 6:30am while weaving through unknown areas is not for everyone, I guess (my wife especially would not be keen), but I love it.
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Flea, Aaron Shaw, Blu & Exile, and more of my favorite albums from April 2026
This month was a bit of a blur. I went to Istanbul for a week. I was sick for a week. Music still kept me company. There were some pleasant musical surprises for me, in particular the three albums mentioned in the title. Flea!? So many great jazz and jazzy dance-adjacent instrumental albums this year, that one included. Enjoy, and let me know what I might have missed.
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The thing about Marathon (the game, not running)
The new shooter, Marathon, is proving to be pretty great against all odds and conventional logic. Rather than the Goldilocks rule applying (it doesn’t here at all), it’s actually great because of how imbalanced and hard it is. But only if you have a good crew to play with (and I’m lucky enough to have that). For any solo players or those not into painful learning curves, be afraid. Be very afraid.
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Mammal Hands, Alexis Taylor, Champagne Bubblebath, and more of my favorite albums from March 2026
This music update is way late. I’ll blame spring break and the nice weather here in North Carolina for keeping me away from my laptop. There has been no break from new music, though, and here is what I loved most in March.
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The Sun Never Sets on A8C Relay X
Today we had our semi-annual relay at my all-remote workplace (Automattic). In case you don’t remember (see my past runs here and here), here’s how it works: instead of us all meeting and running together (which we can’t because we’re all remote and all over the world), we sign up for time slots over a 24-hour period and try to have at least one person at the company running at any time to “complete” a full relay as the sun goes around the earth, never setting on our race. This was the 10th edition. I’ve done quite a few of them. It’s pretty cool.
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