today must be Massive Bike Failure Day

[Ben Pfaff]

On my way home, a few hundred yards from the office, I managed to
get my shoelace stuck in the chain. Somehow it managed to rip
the front derailer out of position. I was able to limp to the
side of the road and cut my shoelace off, then lift up the chain
and get the remaining piece out of the chain, then bend the
derailer by hand until it was functional again.

Then, a mile or two from home, I lost a pedal. I coasted to the
side of the road, waited for the line of cars to go by, and
retrieved the pedal. At this point I realized that the pedal
hadn't fallen off; rather, the threaded part of the crank had
split. I had to make it the rest of the way home pedaling with
my left foot and using the right foot to kick the remaining part
of the crank over to start the next stroke. Challenging, but not
exactly fun.

I'm glad that I have a new bike on order. I'm expecting it to be
delivered tomorrow.

--
"If a person keeps faithfully busy each hour of the working day, he
can count on waking up some morning to find himself one of the
competent ones of his generation."
--William James