bike arghs => bike know-how

my bike's been making creaking noises from (i think) the bottom bracket for about 2 weeks.

a week or two ago i adjusted the front derailler, thinking i was getting chain hits against the FD in some gears. so now i know how to adjust the FD.

sadly, that didn't fix the problem (although i was getting some chain drag, which was then fixed). so last week i went on a bolt tightening mission, and found loose bolts on the chainring, the FD clamp, and the pedals. all tightened. did it fix the problem? no. did it send my FD slightly outta whack such that i had difficulty shifting onto my manly chainring? yep. more lessons!

so real soon now i get to re-adjust the FD limiters, and... i have another suspect for the noise, not the bottom bracket at all, but my seatpost. my knees in the neutral position are suspiciously more bent than they ought to be, which suggests a loose and slipping seat post. now, i get the creaking when pedaling out of the saddle, which suggests the problem is not the seatpost. but i think i can reproduce the sound just by seat bouncing (putting my reproductive facilities greatly at risk) but i'm not positive. it's a bit of a maddening process.

anyhoo, i'll give some more parts a well needed tightening (the bike was at the shop for a "tune up" recently, hell if i know what they did, considering how many bolts were loose right after -- maybe they went and loosened my bolts).

in other news, my staying warm strategy met with mixed results. i got myself some neoprene bike booties, and wore them today for the first time. not only were my feet nice and warm the whole ride, they were actually warmer when i finished then when i started! score for the booties.

the arm warmers kept my arms nice and warm. not too hot, not too cold, but just like the little bear's oatmeal, it was just right.

sadly, the big fail was the underarmor compression shirt. i wear those when i run and while they don't keep me particularly warm, they do keep the beer gut from slapping me in the face. i figured i could wear some UA under a bike jersey and the layering effect would keep me toasty. whelp, maybe it kept me toastier than i otherwise woulda been, but i was still chilled. only my love for the sport kept me warm today.

my arm and leg warmers have some fuzzy microfleece or something on the skinside surface. i need to find an undershirt that has the same material.