Pedal Strike

It’s funny how on some of the most beautiful days, you end up in the foulest mood.

The ride in yesterday was fine, the day at school was fine, the ride home [the long way] was fine…

…until, getting reckless because I wasn’t willing to accept that a guy bombing down Mass Ave was, in fact, faster than me, I threw my chain chasing him. There was an ugly snappy crackling sound and then I found myself pedaling…but nothing was working. My back wheel didn’t lock up which meant that I was pedaling air for about 5 whole seconds until I figured out, oh, I have brakes [and now might be a good time to use them]!

I flipped my bike over, pulled out the wrench and started untangling the mess. I was planning on stopping into Cambridge Bikes anyway, so after getting my bike operational, I slowly gimped my way there.

I arrived with a stunningly attractive mix of dirt, brake dust, and chain lube covering half of my face. Of course, I didn’t know this until I walked into the uber cool, hip shop that is CB. But, as regular readers may know, I’ve pretty much lost all sense of dignity by this point, so I almost didn’t care that I looked like I had just made out with my filthy chain.

The only thing keeping me from throwing my bike into the river on the way home was trying to keep pace with Pete [I managed to scoot into CB right before closing, so we headed home together]. Dragging a 20lbs+ fixed ‘cross bike, plus an overstuffed bag, plus all my extra weight…I was hating life.

Seriously, my bike’s a tank. Utilitarian, but a tank. I made up my mind today to sell her when the new bike’s done. My friends are sort of right…I should be looking into road bikes so I can do decent rides. And while the tractorino’s been good to me so far, I just don’t see the point of having two fixed gears. And come on…am I really going to ride the tractorino once the dapper Brit’s up and running?

So…anyone want her?

[Just kidding. I wouldn’t sell her for the world…but it is April Fool’s Day :D]

Tags:   Bianchi San Jose · brake dust · cambridge bicycle · grease · thrown chain6 Comments