Small thought hardly worth posting

The perception of distance
I often ride a 20-25 mile loop near my house. It doesn't feel that far, and I'm never far away from home. Yesterday I started at home and did a long ride in a less usual direction. At 25 miles I was thing "This is a long way." I had a similar experience driving to Northstar ski area. It's a long drive. When we got there I told my daughter "We just drove 180 miles. I've ridden my bike farther than this in a day." I'm not sure that she was impressed after I did the Davis Double, but our ski trip drive put 200 miles in a different perspective.

Photos
I took my camera on my 70 mile ride yesterday and didn't make one photo. I realized that it's because I wore full finger gloves. I need to take them off to fish my camera out of my jersey and use it. I like to shoot on the bike and the gloves make it impossible. I was also on a solo ride, so I didn't have Tricia to photograph.

Wet roads
I spent a lot of time on wet roads in the drizzle yesterday. I'm always amazed how much I dislike wet on my road bike, and how it doesn't bother me at all on when I'm commuting. Maybe it's that the commute is shorter, or that on the road bike I'm constantly thinking how much road gunk I'm sending into my finely-tuned drive train. Those skinny tires sure get exciting riding over wet metal grates too.

Chains and clothing
Is it just me, or have chains become a lot more expensive over the last two years?
And what about cycling clothes? A reasonable cycling jacket costs almost $200 new. If it wasn't for eBay, BonkTown and closeouts I'd be riding in sweatshirts jeans. I'd love to try some CapoForma bibs, but they are so out of my price range. I'm not even bring up Assos.

Cables
The Gore shifter cables I ordered came today. In theory (and product marketing) they a slicker than... something really slick. They will make my shifting so smooth the bike will shift when I just think of shifting. We'll see. Film at 11.
UPDATE: Doh! I clicked the wrong button and bought pricey brake cables instead of shifter cables.

Specialized Roubaix
I'm still looking for a great deal 2009 or 2010 Roubaix Expert. I want the white one with Ultegra and a triple in 52cm. You'd think one would show up on eBay or Craigslist, but I guess I have too specific requirements. I haven't seen one anywhere. The search continues.