Tour de Fleece 2010, Day 20: Beef jerky and bearings

At the beginning of the Tour de Fleece, I had a massive equipment failure. Schacht, having the stellar customer service that they do, promptly mailed out the replacement part on 7/19- it was postmarked the *same day* I called them with a call of utmost urgency. The "RIDER DOWN!!!" hail.

For a brief moment, I thought, "Maybe Schacht has failed me. Maybe they're not as amazing as they were before. Maybe the gal who answered the phone MOCKED my distress, when I declared 'RIDER DOWN!!!' when I called." Ridiculous, I know. Frankly, I'm pretty sure if they could financially manage to send a live tech out to fix each and every problem, they would, given my previous experience. But that's Schacht.

Imagine my surprise when I fetched the mail today and noticed the "apology baggie" from the post office. You know, the one with the preprinted, "Ooops! We damaged your package!" (By the way. The bags being pre-printed has me convinced that this happens more often than it should.)

I was even *more* surprised to find that it was ... sticky. And brown. As one is wont to do when there is a mysterious sticky substance, I walked to the sink and - after a brief internal debate- smelled my hands. Don't act like you wouldn't have. Nobody wants Mysterious Sticky Substance to go unidentified. Because then it becomes the Unidentified Sticky Substance, and that is a thing we don't want.

It was a familiar smell. Sweet, salty, and ... meaty? Beef jerky. Somebody tossed their bag'o'jerky in with the mail and it LEAKED!

I don't want you to think that I'm some sort of Beef Jerky Egomaniac, but every time I had a beef jerky incident, it was only the contents of my *own* backpack that got jerkified in Teriyaki marinade.

Fortunately for everyone involved, it was merely the bag that got jerkified, and my rear flyer bearing housing/bearing (the "ball bearing thingie"'s real name) is made of metal and not wool, a quick rinse, dry, and it took me less than three minutes to take British Mary's off of my wheel, put my new one on, and then reassemble her wheel. I'm ready to ride!