I had to go into work yesterday (yes, my birthday.) Fortunately, SpouseKitty and Kitten had just gone with her BFF to see Spiderwick Chronicles. I was intending to rest, to nap, to just while away time. Instead, my boss calls and asks me to come in.

On my way in, I take a turn a little hard and my bike goes down. I roll and am fine - not even scrapes on my clothes. My front tire, on the other hand, looks like it has found its inner pretzel.

This being an emergency, I borrow my father-in-law's bike and head in to work. I do what's asked, then stick around because it seems the poeple I'm doing this for (not my team, but another group that is using our service) is not sure if they are able to carry on w/o me.

After that, I head to the nearby bike store to pick up a new rim. The Black Beast has 700mm x 40mm tires. 700mm wheels are primarily used for racing. However, racing rims are 18mm to 25mm. In short, I have a platypus.

The bike store has 700mm rims, but only 22mm wide. They are polite enough not to laugh when I ask if it comes in 40mm, but they explain that they don't. Perhaps I could try their other store, or their competition?

I need my bike. I need it by Monday to get around. I see one for $260 -- it seems serviceable, and it has disc brakes, which are unheard for for a bike of this price. They're mechanical disk brakes, but that's good. Hydraulic ones are supposedly a nightmare to maintain.

Thus, I'm the proud owner of another bike. SpouseKitty will probably make me get rid of the old one.n Still, a neat unexpected birthday gift.