Summer Gunk

I jumped onto the bike this morning, took a few pedal strokes, and realized it was still on the big ring from the prior day's ride.  I pushed on the left shifter, felt it click three times, and waited for the chain to drop down to the small chainring.  It didn't.  I reached down and felt for the cable alongside the down tube to see if it was slack. It was.  That meant that, as usual for this time of year, the derailleur or bottom bracket cable guide was all gunked up.  This kind of thing seems to happen around the end of the summer each year.  After a few months of dripping sweat, and often Gatorade, all over the bike, it's not exactly unexpected.  I know the inside of my shifters must be looking a little gunky, but as long as they keep working I'll probably put off doing anything about it until winter.  I'm quite certain that if I were to remove my handlebar tape I'd find the aluminum bars marked with dusty white clumps of oxidation despite the anodized finish. Just the other day I noticed that Taylor was riding his old bike and when I asked him about it he said that his good bike was at the shop where they were trying to figure out how to get the crank arm off since it had welded itself to the axle during the summer. 

The weather forecasters around here are pretty much throwing their hands up about this weekend.  There's a developing depression in the middle of the Gulf right now and it's possible we're in for a stretch of heavy rain. Or maybe not.  Meanwhile the next storm is about to become a hurricane out in the Atlantic. Guess we'll know in a couple of days if we're in for some trouble.