Again witht the absence!

Well this entry is long overdue. That goes without saying. So, then, one may ask, why say it? Good question. I don't have a good reason for stating the obvious, other than it's a ploy I often administer to cover up the fact that I'm stalling for something someone might actually consider worthwhile to write about. There are few things more effective for boosting a writer's ego than  putting words on the page that really don't say anything, but yet give the "putter" the feeling of accomplishment for actually putting something on the page, even if they don't really say anything (see previous sentences).

Ah well, I've exhausted the humor in that intro. On with the real meat of the entry:

I find some things on the side of the road while riding my bicycle. Yes, gravel, sand, litter, clipped fingernails, fast food wrappers, fragments of glass, obsolete cigarette lighters etc.one might remark. In addition to these worthwhile and stimulating finds, I occasionally find items which at least a small percentage of the population might find useful. For instance, I have a rather impressive collection of black rubber bungee cords I'm pretty darned proud of and of which I currently have no use for, but rest assured dear reader, when the day comes when I need a black rubber bungee cord, or twelve, I'll be adequately prepared for it.

Mixed in among my Craftsmen socket and ratchet set I received as a boy from my dad which now resides in unorganized disarray an old blue metal tackle box , and whose handy plastic travel case it came in has long since broken and been discarded, are some sockets and end wrenches which do not bear the Craftsman logo. That's because I've found a small collection (no more than a dozen) of different sized metric and English sockets and end wrenches. I don't care if you're English or Metric, those things are useful; in the right hands.

Most recently I've come across three valve stem extenders. I'm unsure if that's the name they'd go by, but that's the most accurate name I could come up with, without doing any pesky research. I didn't measure them, but they are probably six to eight inches long, made of a chrome metal tube, and have female threads and a Shrader valve on one end of a machined nut; on the other end, a smaller machined nut and cap which threads onto male threads which all cover another Shrader valve. I presume these are for dual wheel pickup trucks and tractor trailers. I found three of them lying in the gutter in a residential part of the town I live in. I'm certain there were four of them purchased together, then forgotten about on a tailgate or toolbox, until a corner was turned by said vehicle or they bounced off after encountering a particularly rough pothole. Anyway, I threaded two of them onto my bicycle. Why not? They're really not all that noticeable, and I can see no difference in performance. I've not seen any bikes on the internet which have these, so I might just be the first.

It's kind of a random find, I realize, but nonetheless, there is a certain amount of satisfaction which goes along with finding things. If I could begin finding hundred dollar bills instead, I'd be even happier.

What do you find riding on your bikes?