Equipment Slagging

( This was suppossed to be Friday 02/29's post.. but I was experienceing resisitance from bogspot...)Yesterday was Beautiful. The wind was 14-16 mph from behind me! The Sun was out. Temperature was perfect at 64. I actually made the light at the end of my bigger hill so I was flying! The left gear was in 3, the right in 6 and the pedals were weightless, almost moving with their own centrifugal momentum. I was stoked and let out a WHOOP!

I felt a TWANG, CRUNCH vibrating somewhere under my seat… Before I could slow down a jerk preempted a horrible loud metal grinding pavement screech! I was now towing my baskets upside down up the street in 5:20 p.m.traffic with no bike lane. The %^$#%$^#metal bracket attaching the front of the rear rack to the seat post had snapped. Even if I had had bungies, or zip ties they would not have functioned for a temporary mend.

I called 3 people and after no answers, began walking. AKWARDLY. Flames erupting from the top of my head, I began trudging along; the left hand trying to steer... the right hand trying to hold the &^*&^&^% loaded baskets to the seat of the bike. A friend returned her missed call! After we wedged The Beast into her CRV, we headed over to the unsuspecting retailer of the apprehensible equipment.

Luckily the lovely companionable stroll with The Beast had given me adequate time to cool down. The door was still unlocked, so in we rolled. Initially the shop guy indicated that he thought I must be ‘overloading or misusing’ the rack & basket set-up. Mute testimony of day’s load was still tied in and offered contradiction.

End result: Cheap full suspension bike frames from Target engage in lots of vertical flexing. I purchased the wrong equipment for my bike. Neither the bike shop, nor the more knowledgeable folk around me, caught this error. New bruises and a few bloody scratches give witness that ignorance is not bliss. I owe Robert, the shop guy some serious appreciation for rigging a double metal replacement for the snapped part... and I still have to save for a new rack as this was a temporary fix. Worse, I am going to look like a 13 year old tomboy that was caught and roped into a silk dress at the wedding I will be attending this weekend!