Much Happier Now
Sep. 21st, 2007 06:40 pm![[personal profile]](https://www.dreamwidth.org/img/silk/identity/user.png){kind=small}
catsittingstillI posted, I guess it was back in April, about riding my bike. I've been riding my bike into Jefferson City (about 4 miles) nearly every day (except when my brother and my dad were visitng) since then. I'm in way better shape than I was, and I think I've shaved about 10 minutes off my round trip time. I know I've lost about 8 pounds. Here is a picture of the bike in question (kitted out to go the Carson Newman library at the time, complete with a curious mimmoth.)
Yesterday I actually rode in twice. On the way home from the second trip, I was coming down the little hill just outside Jefferson City, trying to keep my speed up for the long run up to the traffic light at the turn for Jefferson Memorial Hospital. I saw the board—it has been lying on the shoulder for weeks. I'd always avoided it before, but this time I noticed it a bit late, and I was kind of tired---and I didn't swing wide enough around it. There was a loud pop, which I thought might be a piece of gravel, and then the bike got harder and harder to pedal. I got off and looked. The rear tire was flat. Flat like a pancake.
I was halfway between Jefferson City and home. I could walk back to Carson Newman College and ask Kip to drive me home. Or I could just walk home. So I walked the bike home. At least I was getting plenty of exercise, and it wasn't all that hot yesterday, and I had already taken the groceries home.
But, when I got the bike home and got out the tools, figuring I would remove the rear wheel, buy a new innertube (and maybe a new tire—the tires are about 10 years old anyway, and are getting kind of worn) I realized that my bike has a 3 speed hub gear in the rear hub. I had no idea how to take that loose so I could get the wheel off. I grumped my way back inside and called the guy who tuned my bike up last week. He makes house calls on Fridays. I was hoping I could get him to come help me today. But he didn't call back that evening.
I drove to Carson Newman to use the gym stationary bike today. Whew doggies, I used to set it up to 9, and now I can set it up to 10, but it's lot's more fun riding a real bike with real breezes, and more interesting too. I came home feeling out-of-sorts because I hadn't heard from the bike guy. But then he called this afternoon just as I had run out of things to do, and said he was outside my house. I walked out to talk to him and he had an innertube in my size (the rear wheel is 20 X 1.75 inches, which is a bit non-standard). He disconnected the rear derailleur so he could disconnect the hub gear, so he could remove the rear wheel, (and I think I have a fighting chance of doing it myself next time now that I've seen it done) and put in the new inner tube, and I'm so psyched that my bike is fixed. I was feeling kind of crippled without it.
Yesterday I actually rode in twice. On the way home from the second trip, I was coming down the little hill just outside Jefferson City, trying to keep my speed up for the long run up to the traffic light at the turn for Jefferson Memorial Hospital. I saw the board—it has been lying on the shoulder for weeks. I'd always avoided it before, but this time I noticed it a bit late, and I was kind of tired---and I didn't swing wide enough around it. There was a loud pop, which I thought might be a piece of gravel, and then the bike got harder and harder to pedal. I got off and looked. The rear tire was flat. Flat like a pancake.
I was halfway between Jefferson City and home. I could walk back to Carson Newman College and ask Kip to drive me home. Or I could just walk home. So I walked the bike home. At least I was getting plenty of exercise, and it wasn't all that hot yesterday, and I had already taken the groceries home.
But, when I got the bike home and got out the tools, figuring I would remove the rear wheel, buy a new innertube (and maybe a new tire—the tires are about 10 years old anyway, and are getting kind of worn) I realized that my bike has a 3 speed hub gear in the rear hub. I had no idea how to take that loose so I could get the wheel off. I grumped my way back inside and called the guy who tuned my bike up last week. He makes house calls on Fridays. I was hoping I could get him to come help me today. But he didn't call back that evening.
I drove to Carson Newman to use the gym stationary bike today. Whew doggies, I used to set it up to 9, and now I can set it up to 10, but it's lot's more fun riding a real bike with real breezes, and more interesting too. I came home feeling out-of-sorts because I hadn't heard from the bike guy. But then he called this afternoon just as I had run out of things to do, and said he was outside my house. I walked out to talk to him and he had an innertube in my size (the rear wheel is 20 X 1.75 inches, which is a bit non-standard). He disconnected the rear derailleur so he could disconnect the hub gear, so he could remove the rear wheel, (and I think I have a fighting chance of doing it myself next time now that I've seen it done) and put in the new inner tube, and I'm so psyched that my bike is fixed. I was feeling kind of crippled without it.
