Every bit as much as God(dess) must’ve hated me yesterday, ze made up for it today.
In moving here, Luke and I rescued my bike from where I had it locked up after my spill, and getting it back here, I soon discovered that the front tire’s tube was ruptured. Bad news. The nearest bike shop is a mile and a half away downtown, and I wasn’t excited about squeezing in that errand along with work.
Yesterday, it was raining all day, and with great reluctance, deciding I could no longer put up with walking everywhere, I got my umbrella and determined to get down there before work so I could get the tube I needed. I had no more than gotten to Prince Avenue when the umbrella in my hand broke. Getting to the bike shop, I’d looked like I’d gotten out of the shower, but I bought the tube I needed and walked over to work.
Eventually I got home that night after nine, and around ten, I went and replaced the tube on the bike, a job that took about twenty minutes, but went fine, and so I thought I was all ready to ride it tomorrow to work.
So this morning, I come out to the porch to check it out and ride it a bit, maybe go to work early, but before I can get out of the driveway, the spoke of the back wheel caught the rear dérailleur, bending it quite severely. I was determined to get some use out of the thing, after yesterday’s exhausting trial just getting the damn tube, so I grabbed some pliers and bent the dérailleur back enough to allow the wheel to turn and the chain to stay in place, at which point I discovered the back wheel had a slight wobble. That’s why it caught the dérailleur in the first place and why, now, it wouldn’t turn freely.
Nevertheless, it could somewhat be used, and so I knew this bike was on its last leg. I tried to get it to where, at least, I could get downtown with it. After going almost no distance, another problem presented itself: my back gears were popping out of place on the cassette, and the whole thing was threatening to come undone. I managed to secure it on a gear to where I could pedal towards town.
As I was passing the Potter’s House Thrift Store, I noticed a huge pile of bikes outside with people standing around, carrying them in. I went over and walked inside to where the store manager was having his employees line up the bikes. After asking around, I figured out that I had just somehow rolled up a matter of minutes after the cops had dropped off a bunch of bikes, by some amazing coincidence. Before they could even look them over, I picked one out and the store manager asked for $50, which offer I gladly took.
It’s a 21-speed Schwinn Sidewinder, a relatively new one, and it even had a bike light attached to it when I got it. It’s in like-new condition, with the exception of a clicking noise the left pedal makes as it rotates. It rides so much more effortlessly than my last bike. In fact, climbing is almost effortless, compared to the old one.
After the store manager pumped it up for me, I paid for it and went to leave, and remembered my old bike was still sitting outside. I asked what I should do with it, and they said they’d take care of it. Great!
So when I got back here after work, of course, I took some pictures!
The trip from work to home on bike is a breeze, less than ten minutes, and absolutely effortless!