Does anyone but me actually give a sh*t about the superfluous and unavailing plastic pedals that ship with budget mountain bikes? The few dollars that could be spent elsewhere on the bike. The idea that some folks may be getting sent on test rides with them installed, or worse leaving a shop with their new mountain bike as such makes me cringe. You need high-grip or clip-in, pedals to match your slow, knobby, tractionful tires or you need faster, lighter, slicker rubber to match your smooth pin-free pedals. In my mind, there is no both ways here. 

But, then, that’s a discussion from another day. Here, I’d like to try to explain for a moment why I wrote it anyway, even though I know most folks probably couldn’t care and there are at least a few people who treated it like a big joke. Believe it or not, even with my thick, leathery skin it’s never easy to hit submit on stuff I write and send it out into the world. Even if it is just tens of people judging it, and me. 

It’s simply how my process works. Sometimes, more often than I should probably, I write whole pieces and then delete them. Sometimes I submit them anyways or post them on MEATengines, because I think they might be interesting to someone. But I have to write them in order to move on to the next thing. I’m just flowing my stream of consciousness onto the computer screen. Putting aside what I’m writing on to work on something else and then come back to it really doesn’t work for me.  Case in point, I was about halfway through a piece about ButterCups, and the past and future of elastomeric ‘noise-canceling’ products, when I decided I wanted to write this post. But, I had to get it done first. I’m supposed to be working on a fresh Min-Max Your Mountain Bike submission, but I need to finish this little journal entry.

I don’t enjoy everything I write so I certainly don’t expect anyone else to. A lot of what I put up is editorial which is generally written from my experience and/or opinion. It’s okay if you disagree or have different experiences or simply do not care either way. It’s awesome if we can talk about it. Once in a while, hopefully, something I write hits you and makes you laugh, smile, and/or ponder. I’d like to think you wouldn’t check out my writing here or on NSMB.com if that wasn’t the case. 

Thanks for reading the stream. Hopefully more, actually, interesting stuff soonish.