So we used a toothbrush and applied CLR to the chain and gears, washed it off, sprayed some WD-40 and then took the bikes out for a ride. Keep in mind this was a bike Lauren got maybe 8-10 years ago by her estimate. So the bike is a little bit small, and for most of the ride I felt like a bear riding a tricycle. The ride was good, aside from the fact that I couldn't really ever fully extend my legs. Also I think the rear brakes were rubbing the tire a little bit, so it was basically like being on a mobile spin bike.

Which leads me to the tuneup. I was so convinced that the bike was in need of a tuneup (as opposed to just being a bike made 10 years ago) that I brought it outside, grabbed a ratchet set and the WD-40 and began loosening, tightening and lubricating every part I could look at and understand. For the better part of 2 hours I did all of this and it made zero difference. In fact if anything I made the issue with the rear brake even worse. I relaxed some of the tension so that the rear brake handle was easier to press, but in the process I loosened or tightened something to the point that the brake doesn't relax from the wheel when you release the brake handle. It is very frustrating. I think about it multiple times a day and it still bothers me. Bikes aren't that complex. This should be easy. If I don't find a bigger bike on Craigslist in the next few days, I'm going to take another crack at the grease monkey thing and see if I can't figure out that rear brake.

Since most of my energy this weekend was spent being a faux mechanic, not much was spent in the kitchen. Saturday night we made chicken caesar salad, and last night we made Hawaiian Chicken Kebabs:

Along with the skewers we had grilled asparagus (a summertime staple) and yellow rice. Grilled pineapple is obviously great, but the surprise for me was the grilled vidalia onion. It was so good that it made me consider roasting whole vidalia onions as a part of a future dish.