Posts from — June 2009

If, hypothetically speaking, your bike broke down (chain fell off) 10 km from your house, what would you do?

a) call your husband, who is 40 km away playing disc golf and force him to come pick you up
b) walk your bike home
c) call a cab
d) take public transit
e) phone a friend

If you are as stubborn as me, you probably chose ‘b’ like I did. I just left work yesterday and I’m trying to bike all week as part of the University of Calgary’s commuter challenge. Turned one corner and the chain just snapped. I called Jeff but I didn’t have a chain tool, so there wasn’t much I could do. Next thing I know, a dude pulls over and pulls a sign out of his car “bike race in progress”. I ask him if he knows of a bike shop around and he tells me he’s a bike mechanic, but unfortunately doesn’t have his chain tool. He tells me ther are 70 bikers showing up for a race sot he chances are that somebody will have one. I head down the street to the race and another very friendly guy spends about 20 minutes trying to fix my chain but now dice. it is screwed. I weigh my options and decide to start walking and come up with a plan en route. Finally I just decide it’s easiest to just walk my bike home. Took me about an hour but I managed to get home just in time for my soccer game (no goals scored as I was pretty whipped form my 10km walk). It was a really nice walk actually as the weather was amazing and I stopped along the way for a Gatorade and a chocolate bar. My only complaint was there wasn’t enough downhill sections to coast along. Also, would have been nice to have my orthodics as my bike shoes aren’t the best for long distance walking.