Looked over my bike carefully this warm afternoon. I've put about 1000 miles on it since July when it was new.
I saw lots of black grime and then realized that there was lumpy crud all over the silver brake parts and a few dried earthworms slung over my brakes and fork. YUK. Also other unidentified UFO slime pieces here and there that might have been bug guts at one time. Never noticed it much until looking closely (except for mummified Mr.Froggie a month ago who was removed separately).

Ok, so I got out a bucket with hot water and SimpleGreen mixed 1 to 1 like the directions said for degreasing....and got to work with sponges and brushes. It actually didn't take long. With sudsy brushing twice over, the worms and the black grease melted away and everything looked bright and new again. I rinsed thoroughly with a gentle hosing (no blasting any water into the hubs, mind you!). So nice! I will be working more intensely on the chain, rings, and cassette etc. next week with bike chain degreaser and totally new lube, but this was nice to get the general heavy cleaning out of the way in the meantime. Even my tires are clean now. A good feeling.