Wednesday, October 5, 2011

The Crawl, Ride, and Drama of Finding My Way Home.

Yes, I rode to work today.

And, it was another nearly perfect day to ride.

And, it was another day of baseball and lots of activity Downtown.

Saw this little fella' when I went outside for morning break. Don't know what it is.
At lunch it wasn't near as busy as yesterday. The Pita Pit still had long lines. Maybe tomorrow.

These folks were set up outside one of the Hotels.  I wouldn't have had to stand in line here, but I wasn't interested in their food. It seems no one else was either. I don't think it was working out quite as they planned.

After work it was a different story.

There were people everywhere and most of them were wearing red. There were also cars everywhere.
The way I normally go was a parking lot. I tried another way -- out Market to Vandeventer. It worked fairly well.
But, soon the traffic wasn't my biggest concern. My foot pegs were suddenly loosening. On the Symba the foot pegs and the kickstand are all one piece.

Here's a photo of what I'm talking about. It was very disconcerting to have it moving back and forth and up and down under my feet.
I hadn't noticed Billie's foot pegs being the least bit loose this morning and now I was fearing it might fall off. I was closer to Maplewood Scooter than I was to home at this point. I hoped it was a loose bolt but if I'd lost a bolt I knew there was a much better chance they'd have a bolt than I would.

When I got to Maplewood Scooter it was after hours and Mike was busy adding a Nitrous Oxide System to his Vespa. Zoom! Zoom!!
I knew better than to interrupt and so I watched and waited.

It wasn't long before he looked at my bike. I had lost four bolts. It was a good thing I found my way to the shop. I would not have been able to fix that at home. As it was I was back on the road in a couple of minutes and headed home. Thanks Mike.

  • 48F/ and not a cloud in the sky for the ride to work.
  • 81F/ and clear for the crawl, ride, and drama of making my way home.


2 comments:

  1. Ouch! I hate to think what might have happened if that assembly had fallen of during the ride. Good thing it's all buttoned up nice and tight now.

    Here in Montreal there are a fair number of electric mopeds that are restricted to about 20 mph. As long as they have pedals they are legal on bike paths. Many look like motorscooters. They are a bit of a menace since they are too fast for the bike paths, too slow for the roads, and too freaking quiet to be heard.

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  2. Here that sounds like some of the riders that fancy themselves road racers but ride on the bike paths. Your description of the moped riders fit them perfectly, " . . too fast for the bike paths, too slow for the roads, and too freaking quiet to be heard." Oh well, excuse the inline skater's rant.

    It could have been a diaster if that assembly had fallen off. I didn't realize at the time the kickstand was part of it. It all turned out well.

    Thanks for stopping by and I appreciate the comment.

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