Some Things Aren't Meant to Be Lived Down

So I had a layover in the Denver Airport earlier today. I was on my way to Pratt, Kansas to visit my mother. I was in the middle of crafting a blog post about how outrageous airports are, and how fucking ludicrous it is that I got charged $175 to get my goddam bike on the plane, when I check my e-mail (thanks to DIA for having free Wifi) and find the following message:

Question: what really sucks about paying $175 for your bike to get it on the plane?

Answer: forgetting your seatpost/saddle at home in your bike repair stand.

I hope Pratt has a good bike shop. I'm headed to Fedex today if you get desperate.

Sent from my iPhone

Well there it was. This, mind you, is my new Blue Rc8 -- my BRAND NEW, FRESH OUT OF THE BOX BLUE Rc8 -- my first new complete bike since 2004. I finished building it yesterday, and because it was raining, didn't take it outside (it's a crime to get a new bike filthy on her maiden voyage!). I rode it on the rollers for a bit to adjust my position, and then packed my brand new bike into a travel bag (sans seatpost and saddle of course). Thanks to the fact that our Blue bikes come with standard sized 27.2 seatposts, I decided to at least try to find a loaner post in Pratt (the notion of paying for overnight shipping now a lot less appetizing after getting totally reamed by United Airlines earlier in the day).

Once we arrived at my mother's house, my mom called her cyclist neighbor and asked if he had a seatpost and saddle to loan me. He didn't, but he called his cyclist friend, and a few minutes later Dan, this crazy, scruffy-lookin' guy with a custom-made pedal platform to compensate for his 2-inch leg length discrepancy, and what appeared to be 30 year-old spandex showed up at our door with a saddlebag full of seatposts. Yes, he did have a seatpost that fit me, but brace yourself, and don't say I didn't warn you:


I give you the Thud Buster. Horrifying, I know, but it fits goddamit. And it's free.