OKAY, I ADMIT IT, I DON'T WANT TO GET MY HANDS DIRTY!

I have to admit that, after folding laundry, my next most despised chore is cleaning my bike chain. That is pretty evident when looking at my bike and comparing it to others'. And I know others who faithfully clean their chains after every ride. In Don's case, its after nearly every ride. But with my increased training volume this year and not being ready or able to invest in a new bike just yet, I figure the best way to keep the bike working smoothly and properly is to not only have a tuneup but a good thorough chain/crankcase cleaning, at least occasionally. And I was willing to pay to have it done. That's how much I hate doing it.

So off to the bike shop the bike went yesterday, being lucky that Don offered to take it along with his that needed a minor repair. I only asked that he drop the bike off; I called the shop and put in my work order over the phone, not wanting him to know what I was asking them to do. What I didn't expect, of course was them giving him the printed quote and then receiving a phone call from him blasting me for paying "$25 to clean your chain! I spend money on things I don't always need, but that isn't one of them I could justify! I'll clean it myself for that much! I'm going to get one of those kits anyway."

Lightbulb goes off. "You will??" I can't tell you how many times he has lectured me about my dirty chain and that I need to take better care of it, and blah blah blah blah." I decided to jump on that opportunity and told him I would buy the cleaning kit if he would clean my chain. Every time. "Well you can do it you know. You just..." My ears tuned him out. No taking those words back now. "I know, but I never think I do a good enough job and I don't always have access to a hose, and..." any excuse I could come up with.

"You just don't want to get your hands dirty!" "You're right. You got me there." I can't help it, I'm such a girl. But it goes back many years, and it wasn't something I learned, but apparently was born with--the need for clean hands. My mom always told anyone who would listen that when I was a toddler in the high chair that I refused to get down from eating until my hands were washed. I would sit there with my hands out to be washed until she cleaned them off. And my own kids have their stories about how I would never held their hands when they were little, just their wrists, if we were out and about and they had dirty or sticky hands. (I had a pretty firm grip too and they liked to make it sound like I was dragging them around. LOL!) To this day, while I'm not a germophobe and don't carry around hand sanitizer to use 80 times a day (like my daughter), I want--need--clean hands. They not only have to feel clean, they have to smell clean.

I guess that's my phobia, but if it gets me a clean bike chain without having to clean it myself, oh well!