I Ride Bikes On Weekdays So You Don't Have To

So the Tresca I was expecting yesterday...

...didn't come.  Not sure what happened but I think it has something to do with customs or something like that (it's coming from the UK), so I'm just going to go ahead and blame Donald Trump and Boris Johnson for it all.  Anyway, Tresca have been very attentive throughout the process, and I'm confident it will arrive soon.  Rest assure I'll let you know the moment I've thrown a leg over it.

Meanwhile, yesterday I mentioned I'm going to miss the Jones SWB once I've given it away, but having spent this morning aboard the Jones LWB I'm feeling much better about it:


Today's ride was a plainclothes ramble featuring mostly dirt and some token singletrack, and it was so pleasant I'd probably have gone even further if only I hadn't spent the first part of the morning finally converting the wheels to tubeless, which is something I should have done as soon as I took the bike out of the box, but which I didn't, because I'm lazy.  The tube-ectomy was a fairly straightforward affair--the bike comes with tubeless-rated tires and taped rims so all you've got to do is supply the valves and the sealant and that's it--but one of the tires was a bit more snug than the other so getting it seated properly took a little bit of doing.  However, you should bear in mind I was using just a regular old-fashioned floor pump, and I'm sure if I had been using one of those tubeless-compatible pumps I'd have shaved a good 15 minutes off the process.  (I really should get one of those already, I don't know why I create the extra work for myself.)

Anyway, theoretically a tubeless setup has less rolling resistance, and there's no doubt that dispensing with two massive 29+ inner tubes nets you some weight savings (can you net an absence of something?), so between that and the smugness that comes with completing a tubeless setup with an old-fashioned floor pump I was feeling positively buoyant--until I rolled through a great big pile of crap roughly 10 minutes into my ride:


This was a tremendous distraction and it mocked me with every wheel revolution, so I stopped at the first available water source in order to wash it off:


This may look bucolic, but it's basically a litter-strewn stream in Yonkers that comes out of a pipe:


First I gave it a little soaking, then I placed the wheel between two rocks where a little eddy was forming.  This sort of served as a spin cycle, and after a few moments of agitation aided by my judicious application of a stick my tire was clean again.
The rest of the ride was blissfully feces-free:

Though I did, despite giving plenty of auditory warning as I approached, scare the absolute crap out of someone walking on the trail.  I'm talking actual terror.  Like the memory of her screams will probably keep me awake tonight.
I think I just need to wear a cowbell from now on.