I know you breathlessly await my biking to/from work stories

(Originally posted - in error- on The Armor of God - Thank you, Debi for showing me the error of my ways.  Thank you, Debi, for visiting.)

I did it! I actually repaired my flat back tire. I opted to patch rather than replace the tube. Found and removed the end of a thorn. And put it all back together. Thank goodness for quick release! Bicycles are so much easier than they used to be.

Thank goodness also for good bike lights and reflectors on gear. It was pretty dark before I got home.

However....

I may have done something not quite right. There's a new funny minor little something going on in my already worn and beat up gear system. Rideable. But there is just the slightest hesitation and maybe a little noise.

Hard to tell about the noise though, as my over the back tire rack which holds my much used basket and bike bag is missing a screw (or whatever) that holds a brace. So that thing is rattling around a bit. I think it is a "special" screw, too. But I will visit my friendly hardware store soon and see if they can help.

Also, apparently you guys won't appreciate this because my son says he grabs the cross rod, but I frequently grab the back of my bike seat when I need to swing the bike around or shift it over, say when locking or unlocking up in a crowded rack situation. As I grabbed the seat last night and hefted, the seat came off. The seat has a shaft that goes into a post that goes into the tube of the frame. Some little thing on the seat shaft screws onto the threads of the post locking them together. I tried to put them back together, but could not get the bike seat shaft far enough into the post, Finally I just set them all back together and rode home to ask my boys to help.

I was really glad that my formerly loose handlebars that randomly shifted left and right, up and down had been secured. Riding a slightly swivel seat with loose handlebars would have simply been too much.

But I cannot face hoisting my bike and all the gear I carry on and off a bus and/or light rail even if I could find one with room. And from light rail, it is still two miles to home. Ride, woman, ride.

When I got home, the middle post was GONE! They wanted to know if I had left it at work! No, I had put it in the tube and the seat shaft in the post. How could it fall off with me sitting on it? Where could it have gone?! Only one place, deep down the frame tube. We tried turning the bike upside down - shaking and pounding - to no avail. Ben tried to dig it out and came out with a spring and a couple of other unidentified parts. Where did they come from? Probably inside the middle post, Benjamin said. I was pretty discouraged, but Benjamin is a detemined and resourceful young man. I thought it a bit much when he tried to get it out using a pencil! He refused the use of my screwdriver. He took apart a wire coat hanger and sent it up. (I think that's how he fished out the spring.) If you know Benjamin, you will not be surprised to know that he got the thing out and put my bike back together. (I do not know for sure that he put the spring etc back, or if he did, back correctly.) But the bike is rideable. We forgot to put the reflector back on the seat post, but it is hidden behind the rack, the cable lock, etc. I need to remember to use my flasher lights.

Benjamin said something like "I did you a favor. I got rid of a lot of useless parts." ; )
Another first. One thing I dislike about biking to work is that I prefer wearing skirts rather than pants. I have a "concert black" (that's what the label says) skirt of very forgiving material that I keep in a drawer at work, so I often change upon arrival. Today, I rode wearing a skirt. One of my plaid a-line skirts, not a long flow-y skirt that I like so much. The skirt is long enough to stay down below my knees instead of riding up embarrassingly. It worked out surprisingly well.

Now it is time to earn money for bicycle parts.