A link to Boogie and some bike talk

She's posted about her Pat Green Triple Picker, and a near piercing experience. I'm sharing the link so that we can alllll be properly terrorized.


So I've been hearing that some are not completely bored with hearing about my bicycle riding, so it's they that you ought to blame for the following ramble.

The other day Aunty Tink asked me if I was going to ride to work.. and tho I hadn't exactly planned to (because the weatherman was calling for rain), I had to admit that I probably wouldn't die if I got wet, so I put on the helmet and hit the road. It was 'leave your clothing all over' day. I saw jackets, shirts, leather gloves, an attache, a towel.. must have been some strange night, that's for sure.

Not 30 seconds after I arrived at work the skies opened up. I laughed my butt off. Phew.. such a close call.

Somehow, while putting the bike the back room, I got a peddle caught in a chair; very nearly didn't get the two separated, and in the end I had to lay both on their sides to extricate the bike. Didn't seem like a big deal until I was going down HOME ROAD (which deserves capitals) and the brakes didn't seem right. I wasn't willing to do any physics experiments, so I stopped the bike and walked it down... rode to the end of HOME ROAD, and just got on the bike path when the back wheel of the bike completely and absolutely locked up. Tight.

So there I was, at the side of the path with a wrench (don't ask), and no other tools, and absolutely no knowledge of how bike parts work. In a previous life if I had bike problems I had only to utter 'Dad' (ok.. some ancient history), and the problem was resolved. BFML was at BGA's game. Mug was at a friend's house. I didn't have a cell phone... and I couldn't think of any option but to figure it out somehow.

I messed around with the brakes for a while, and I'm sure I have them completely cocked up at this point, but it didn't release the wheel. In the end I lifted up the back wheel, changed the gears, and rotated the pedal by hand. The wheel released.

Phew.. I was able to ride the rest of the way home without incident, but I was too scared to change gears again. I had trouble with gears the year before last, but BFML got things sorted out. All I can think of is that I could have done a really pretty crash if I hadn't walked that bike down the hill..

Who says prayer doesn't work? I know it does.