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September 04, 2004
Biking again
Nathalie got my wheel back from the shop. The guy there finally found a lever long enough to unscrew the freewheel, apparently. It ended up costing my 20 euros and a spoke to have the broken spoke replaced.
And one of us, either he or I, made the freewheel stick worse than it used to. When I stop pedalling, I need to move the chain to the larger sprokets on the back. Otherwise it pops off the end of smallest cog, as the derailleur cannot absorb the sudden jerks and extra slack. Furthermore, if I get off the bike and hold the pedal still after starting the back wheel turning, the back wheel will actually come quickly to a stop. Hope it doesn't break someday in a dangerous fashion.
The ride itself took me out past Myans, where the bike trails let you ride on to Chambery. Since I hadn't had anything to drink before leaving, and it's 30 C (86 F) in Chambery right now, I turned around shortly beyond the point where the trail traverses the autoroute. Maybe I can get out there tomorrow before it gets warm. Chambery is closer than work.
Posted by Mark at September 4, 2004 05:32 PM
Comments
Sounds like you need to buy that new bike now, as in before the end of this week. You are not saving any money by waiting as long as you are going to get a new bike anyway. If there are any end-of-the-season deals, they have probably started by now. If time is the only problem, remember you will burn up a lot of time with a break down on the road (more with a injury, though that is unlikely with a mechanical breakdown.)
My problem with buying a bicycle (it took me three years or more to finally buy the one I have) was really emotional rather than anything else. You began thinking you must buy an expensive item to get the quality you need (and deserve!) and therefore you must make a not just a good decision as to what to buy but you must make the perfect decision. And of course this must be a perfect decision for all time since this item must last the rest of your life since you invested so much money and time into obtaining it. Since one knows that the chances of making the perfect decision are slim and none, you can get frozen into inaction. And realizing that waiting for the perfect solution to enter you mind is not a rational way get on with making the decision does not help that much. So, since sooner or later you are going to bite the bullet and just make a decision there is little rational reason to put it off.
Posted by: Dana at September 6, 2004 03:13 AM
You could be right.
I have all the suggestions I need. Maybe I could justify buying the bicycle before the used bike fair in October that Nathalie has been encouraging me to wait for.
If I buy it now, I could still probably ride it off and on into November.
Rob saw me getting my bike out of the trunk this morning and struggling with two wrenches to get the front wheel screwed back on properly. His first words after, "Hi," were something about how I was going to be loving my new bike when I finally get it.
Posted by: Mark at September 6, 2004 09:48 AM