Pay forward

It was about 5 degrees warmer today than yesterday and the western sky was cloudless. That sun thing really works. It demonstrated its power again today and the ride was only cold, instead of too cold.

Street sweeping has begun. I was a bit surprised about 2.5 miles into today's ride to come upon clean streets. Then shortly thereafter I came upon the actual sweeper. And then on the way home I ended up riding on streets left wet by the sweeping process. Sweeping is a good sign but it doesn't mean that my summer bike will be coming out any time soon. The total amount of my 22 mile ride that was swept was less than a mile and some of the rest of the ride was still pretty heavily sand covered.

Today I tried to put 20+ mile rides back to back for the first time this year. It is a little early in the season for that and I felt my lack of fitness. On the inward leg I needed a little pop to conquer one of the numerous upgrades and it was a huge chore to summon the energy. But if the weather holds I will probably go out tomorrow shortly after noon and try to make it 20+ miles back to back to back.

The turn around point was at Grass Lake. This is a little different angle than other photos of this lake.This photo shows what the problem is with Grass Lake: it is right exactly immediately adjacent to the freeway. But the water level is up and with the brilliant blue sky and blue water I still think it makes a nice photo.

Just after passing the Library on the way home I came upon a forlorn looking occasional rider. She was stopped in the middle of the street gazing uncomprehendingly at the drive train of her hybrid. I slowed and asked if she needed any help, bicyclist's code and all, and she immediately responded in the affirmative.

She was pretty old, which TOPWLH and I increasingly notice means that she was probably a bit younger than I am. She reported that she could not turn the pedals forward. I looked at her rear wheel for a bit and finally figured out that her chain had jumped off the pulley between the rear wheel gears and the derailer. This is almost always a result of pedaling while shifting.

I suggested that she try to back pedal and indeed, that freed up the binding chain, allowing it to remount the pulley. Then I used her shift lever (friction shift, thumb levers on the handlebars) to move the derailer back over to where the chain was still engaging the cassette. I then held the rear wheel off the ground while she forward pedaled enough to get everything back into operating condition. I told her that she should be fine to get home as long as she did not put any heavy pressure on the pedals when in the process of shifting. She gazed back completely, totally without a shred of understanding. But we got her back on the road and I followed her for a block or so. The bicycle was functioning again and I am pretty sure she probably made it home OK. I base this partly on the way she was dressed. The clothes she was wearing were not going to be warm enough for a very long ride, I doubt that she was more than 3 or 4 blocks from home.

I am Bicycle Repairman, hear me roar.