Gettin' down and dirty w/ my ride.....

I've been a very bad bike parent of late. But I vow to change my ways, starting today....

Went to a basic bike mechanics workshop at Cynergy last week, which mostly covered the hows and whys of keeping a clean machine. Boy did I need this.

"A happy bike is a clean bike" was the overall message. A little weekly maintainance saves big time on long term heartache (and $!) and prevents the scene you see here - one hour and three filthy rags later, I could finally see a glistening chain 'neath the crud buildup.

To avoid this, a simple wipe down with a dry and a wet rag will mostly do the trick - wipe the chain clean with a dry rag before lubing, add your lube of choice, then give it another wipe down after a few minutes. You can certainly get more involved, a quick google search on cleaning your bike yields TONS of results, with detailed how tos for more hard core hygeinists.

Treat your bicicleta like the goddess she is - keep her lubed and purring, she'll thank you in the long run.