New Bike
Kinda...
I bought a Trek 800 Sport (2001) from FB Marketplace for like $40. It was left in a garage after being ridden only a handful of times. It was some lady's son's bike.
I took it home in the beginning of this month, and sat on it until last week. I swapped the stem and handlebars for some hipster-chrome stuff. A Nitto flat stem with some swept back ergo-bars. Also gave it a full service and lube. New tires too - some Schwalbe tan-walls.
It looks dope - and it rides like absolute shit (my fault).
I opted to keep the 3x chainring, but I fucked with the front derailleur for long enough to stop caring. It still makes contact with the chain in different shifted positions.
No matter how many times I've tightened and loosened the bottom bracket, it always has play after a ride. I refuse to take the crankarms off to fiddle-fuck with it again.
So now I have a list of finishers: get a modern, sealed bottom bracket. Get a nice 1x road crankset.
But hey - the bike looks genuinely cool.
I love my Schwinn Continental, but it was my very first build. It's the definition of a ratbike with the random parts I used that I could get my hands on. It's minimal, but utilitarian.
It's pretty to me :)
Drunk Father.
My dad got hammered last weekend, fought 3 guys, got detained by the police, then drove a motor scooter home. He crashed on the way home, totaling the scooter, but was able to get the thing home somehow. He cried to my mom saying he was lucky to be alive.
I didn't know about his antics until the night after. The morning after, he came to my house to say hi like nothing had happened. Didn't mention anything about it to me, I heard it from my brother.
He's going through some awesome depressive spell most likely. It's tough.
He's just a normal guy - not the stoic father-figure I saw him as when I was a kid.
He's got normal guy problems - depression, anxiety, addiction, and relationship problems. He doesn't have an outlet to these issues anymore because of his flop of a marriage with my (also depressed yadda yadda) mother. He feels like he can't talk to her - I suspect him as an avoidant attachment type.
After his brush with motor-death, I can see why he didn't really want to try my bike.
I've been trying to stay positive about this - but having your dad do things like this is weird. It makes me sad and angry and guilty. I feel like it's our fault as a family that we don't give him the love he expects. Maybe he feels abandoned.
I'm not necessarily sure how to go about talking to him about it. I don't really want to either.
I just want boring parents.
My friend's parents have old people hobbies. Painting, knitting, car shows, gardening...
My parents sit at home, watching tv or on their phones, refusing to speak to each other, and when they do It always ends in a fight.
They're too old to keep doing this. I'm too old to feel like a helpless kid.
It's his birthday this weekend. Maybe that's why.