I left for work this morning prepared to hitch a ride north with my employer, to go to Gainesville for the weekend to get my car back. “Being prepared” consisted of having a stuffed backpack. However, early on I began to feel that it was just too soon for me to be rushing off again for another long weekend. Truth is I felt guilty that the husband had no clean socks or underwear and I didn’t even have any laundry soap in the house to remedy the situation. Things needed to be done. I needed to stay home at least another 24 hours. Lucky I had the bike with me, huh?

So this time I rode the bike with a backpack on – makes a bit of difference in balance. All the way across the bridge I kept thinking about falling over in a freak accident and tumbling over the rather low railing into the pass below and being sucked out to sea in a rip tide. (been watching too much Anne of Green Gables). As before, I just barely made it to the bus in time.

I think the husband is going to make me take the bike back. Do pawn shops take things back? I don’t know.  I felt kind of bike-stupid going into this whole thing but (my excuses – next) that feeling has only been magnified times over.  As I mentioned in the previous post I wanted something cheap that rolled and that is pretty much all I got. Now that I have had time to closely examine this bike I realize that in order for brakes and gears to work there have to be cables coming from them, attached to the mechanics below.

Gear shift on left moves easily (because it has no cable) Gear shift on right doesn’t move (rusted ).

Why did I not see these missing cables? Because they were missing? Again, I don’t know. I also think the frame is too light for me and perhaps I should not have valued flexibility over stability. Stability is much appreciated when vehicles are a mear 24 inches off your shoulder and blowing past at 50 miles per hour. Made me miss my car.

Anyway, all the above, plus having forgotten my sunglasses and having to squint for an hour and a half, created the perfect recipe for a headache which I’ve been trying to get rid of the rest of the afternoon. Live and learn, right?