Along came a spider…

I don’t know what it is about West Marin, but it seems like we have an awful lot of spiders out here. I’m constantly cleaning spider webs out of the eves, any corner, and even the wheel wells of the car if it sits for more than a few days. Anywhere there is a harboring corner, you can find a spider web.

And bikes are no exceptions. I can’t tell you how many times I’ve had a bike in for a tune-up and while wiping the bike down, a spider scoots out of some nook or cranny on the bike. It seems that spiders especially love shifters to hole up in. Not just any shifter. Old Shimano push-push shifters seem to be their favorites. Those shifters are also the ones most likely in need of a lube bath as the grease on the pawl pivots turns to glue with time rendering the shifter non-functioning.

This old bike came in recently for a tune-up. It seemed to also need a fumigation. As I was wiping it down, I started cleaning out some junk from one of the brake pads, out comes a little spider. That must have been nerve-wracking for that spider when the brake was activated (the owner rode the bike to the shop). That’s when you want to pay attention to the announcement “keep your arms (all eight of them) in the bus at all times.”

And as if that little bugger wasn’t enough, he had a friend ensconced within the bowls of the right shifter (the left shifter was spider-free). The spider in the right shifter had built itself a very cool tunnel into it’s lair. There was one remnant of a meal in another part of the shifter.

With a little prodding, the spider showed itself and was evicted from the shifter and it was back to normal.

And as a bonus, I got to get out on the road bike yesterday to enjoy the incredible spring day – out and back to Heart’s Desire beach, what a cool name for a beach!