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I was all set to go riding around Lake Johnson-- ice water, fruit cup, trail mix, tires inflated, biking apparel-- when, getting my bike off its rack, it took a rather nasty fall.
I bought this bike rack because it was the only way I could store my bike without hurting either the wall or the carpet; it's a rather nifty design, but the problem with it is that it doesn't work. It's very hard to get the bike off the stand without having something (more usually three somethings) fall on the floor.
So, that happens, and I'm used to it. But this time I tried to wheel my bike out the door and the front wheel wouldn't move. Upon closer inspection... the front brakes are completely bent out of alignment. I straightened them out as much as I could with (of all things) a claw hammer, but there's something else going on there; they're hosed. To use the technical term.
I feel utterly guilty now. I have such a sentimental attachment to my bike, and--guilt, I think, about not being who I was when I lived in Carrboro and didn't have a car and certainly didn't want one, and it was hard but I was proud of myself when it was hard. And I hear the voice in my head of the people on Bike Forums who say "I go 30 miles a day, in the dark, in December, uphill both ways-- and you're a wimp if you won't do the same." I don't want to be that person who has all the biking paraphernalia and never actually goes for a ride. (I wanted to be a minimalist, but gradually you figure out that most of the weird and expensive things people buy actually exist for a reason.)
I want to write an angry letter to the bike-rack people. I want to leave my bike leaned up against the wall and not care about marks on the carpet. I kind of want to go out to REI and put a Novara Randonee on my credit card, but I don't think I'll do that because the amount I'm riding these days really wouldn't justify the price; maybe when I get a ground-floor apartment. At this point I don't even know if I can justify fixing the bike. Maybe I'll go and look longingly at the bikes and ask their techs what it would cost to fix everything that needs fixing?
Ah well, there's lots that needs doing today: laundry and packing and finding a book to read on the plane and getting some little travel-sized toiletries. I should get on that.
ETA:
I must amend this to say that my brakes are not nearly so hosed as I feared. I will still want to take the bike in to get things adjusted before I try to ride it, but the OMG I KILLED MY BIKE was (as usual) an overreaction.
I bought this bike rack because it was the only way I could store my bike without hurting either the wall or the carpet; it's a rather nifty design, but the problem with it is that it doesn't work. It's very hard to get the bike off the stand without having something (more usually three somethings) fall on the floor.
So, that happens, and I'm used to it. But this time I tried to wheel my bike out the door and the front wheel wouldn't move. Upon closer inspection... the front brakes are completely bent out of alignment. I straightened them out as much as I could with (of all things) a claw hammer, but there's something else going on there; they're hosed. To use the technical term.
I feel utterly guilty now. I have such a sentimental attachment to my bike, and--guilt, I think, about not being who I was when I lived in Carrboro and didn't have a car and certainly didn't want one, and it was hard but I was proud of myself when it was hard. And I hear the voice in my head of the people on Bike Forums who say "I go 30 miles a day, in the dark, in December, uphill both ways-- and you're a wimp if you won't do the same." I don't want to be that person who has all the biking paraphernalia and never actually goes for a ride. (I wanted to be a minimalist, but gradually you figure out that most of the weird and expensive things people buy actually exist for a reason.)
I want to write an angry letter to the bike-rack people. I want to leave my bike leaned up against the wall and not care about marks on the carpet. I kind of want to go out to REI and put a Novara Randonee on my credit card, but I don't think I'll do that because the amount I'm riding these days really wouldn't justify the price; maybe when I get a ground-floor apartment. At this point I don't even know if I can justify fixing the bike. Maybe I'll go and look longingly at the bikes and ask their techs what it would cost to fix everything that needs fixing?
Ah well, there's lots that needs doing today: laundry and packing and finding a book to read on the plane and getting some little travel-sized toiletries. I should get on that.
ETA:
I must amend this to say that my brakes are not nearly so hosed as I feared. I will still want to take the bike in to get things adjusted before I try to ride it, but the OMG I KILLED MY BIKE was (as usual) an overreaction.
