i stopped by the community garden. on such a hot day, there was nobody else in the garden. the last time i was there also happened to be the last time i went out for a run, last thursday. it'd rain so much this past week, there wasn't any need to do any watering. i went there today primarily to check on my plant progress. my two squash plants have grown so long, i needed to retrain them onto the trellis. i also removed any vine borer eggs i found.
i got back to the house by 11am. lauryn had already left for work. when i weighed myself, i lost about 2 lbs. just from sweating. i used the bathroom then took a shower. i didn't have any lunch, so around 1pm i rode the bike to market basket to get a few things. i had a craving for sushi, for greek salad, and for pasta salad - cold foods on a hot day.
after eating the sushi for lunch, i went back outside to install the sunlite monostay adapter (1-1/8" $11). amazon delivered it two weeks ago but i finally had time today to install it. so the reason why i need this is because my two rear basket attachment arms always come loose from their eyelets on the bike frame. the vibration of the bike would tighten the right screw, but loosen the left screw. i also discovered the threads inside the left eyelet have mostly been worn away. that's where the monostay adapter comes in, provides me with two new eyelets to attach the rear baskets frame.
i first removed the old screws, nuts, washers and lockrings. i then opened the clamp of the monostay - the side that attaches to the bike frame. i was afraid it'd been hard to open, but the metal on this side was pliable. on the other side was a thicker piece of metal, u-shaped with two eyelets to attach the baskets frame. i screwed the clamp onto the bike frame first. it took a little doing, as i had to hold the clamp together with one hand while threading the screw through both holes. once i got the nut attached, it was a simple matter of tightening it, using a 5/16" crescent wrench to hold the nut securely. the monostay adapter itself is rubberized, so it won't damage the finish on the bike frame (though the frame already has enough damages).
i then attachment the baskets frame to the two arms of the monostay adpater. the provided screws were 4mm hex-types with matching nuts. no washers were provided. it also came with two attachments for extending the arms (if necessary), but that'd require two more sets of screws (that weren't provided), and i didn't need the extension.
an advantage of the monostay adapter is now the rear baskets are more leveled, compared to before when they were slightly tilted forward because they had to attach to the eyelets on the bike frame. the monostay adapter felt pretty solid, everything felt secured. when i further tightened the P-clamps holding the bottom arms of the rear baskets, they were even more secured. now i can't wait to take the bike to haymarket/chinatown tomorrow, see how it performs out in the field. i inflated both tired before going inside.
i had all the windows closed because it was hotter outside than inside, but ran a fan to circulate the air. i guess i could install the AC (it is july after all) but i saw the temperature for sunday-monday will drop down into the 70's. it wasn't too bad, indoor temperature was 82°. then at nights when the temperature drops down into the 60-70's, i open the windows and try to recirculate some cool air into the house.
lauryn came home at 6pm. she didn't make dinner today, so there must've been a pizza party at work. i had my greek salad around 8pm, made my own greek dressing using a glass jar with a lid to mix the ingredients (red wine vinegar, olive oil, lemon juice, garlic, oregano, mustard, pepper, salt). i also had some macaroni salad.