Where the f**k is it? It’s not in the tin mug on the workshop bench. It’s not in the other tin mug. It’s not even in that Ibis Cycles pint glass I blagged from Interbike in 1995. Definitely isn’t in the drawer of ‘small things that need to be kept close because I’ll use that soon’. I’ve searched that three times now. I even did that thing where you creep up and open the drawer suddenly before whatever it is you’re hunting can scuttle into a dark corner. Not in the box of ‘things that need to be tested next’. I’ve checked that twice. I’ve behind most of the places such small but vital things like to live, crawled around on the floor looking for fresh perspectives while embedding dropped brake bolts into my knees. All the flat ‘I’ll put that there for a minute’ surfaces, random tubs, even the ‘well ordered spares box that never actually gets used' and the internal storage sausage of the bike itself have been frisked, beseeched and sworn at to no avail.
And the more frantic and further away from likely success, the more the swearing increases and the more I realize that if I can’t find it, then I can’t fit that entire drivetrain I need to test. And that converting that wheel to the correct freehub was a waste of time. Obviously, after fitting the tire I had in mind for that specific build beforehand. Idiot.
