grotty inside and out

According to Wikipedia's entry on gritters and gritting, "the grit is sometimes mixed with molasses to help adhesion to the road surface" which would, were it the case here, help explain the nature of the evil brown gunk I've removed from the underparts of my bicycle this evening. It seems much more unpleasant when coating a cycle frame than it does in the form it usually takes, coating the piles of compacted slush at the side of the road. There was something particularly gummy-looking and unpleasant on my mudguards, though this was removed easily enough by sticking them in the bath with some Tesco apple-flavour shampoo, the nearest thing to hand. The chain has only had a quick wipe with some degreaser on a kitchen scourer/sponge combo so isn't particularly shiny but should be better tomorrow than this morning's rather sluggish ride in, abetted by a complete lack of sleep since about 3am. The front mech was sufficiently gummed-up to prevent being able to shift down to the small chainring even when lightly prodded with a foot, making it necessary to not take the most airily refreshing route, which might have stopped a few of the morning's yawns. I also forgot any form of payment when I went for a short walk at lunchtime so couldn't get any nice reviving treats. It is now later than I wanted it to be when I tried to sleep but I had to re-coat everything with protective greases and re-attach my mudguards to avoid morning-faff.