Presenting the Well Tempered Bicycle…

Sorry, J.S. Bach. Seriously, though, bikes can seem quite ornery at times. There was the time the tricycle threw me.

It was a misty morning; and apparently it had been misty for hours. That let the dampness seep into everything, including the trike’s brakes.

I had always heard/read that bicycle brakes grip less well when they and the wheels’ rims are wet. With the trike I found it to be the opposite: they grabbed harder when wet; and I had front-wheel brake only.

That morning I started out on my ride; and was braking as I approached the stop sign a block from home. Before I knew what was happening, I was on the ground with the trike on top of me. It”s not as though I had been flying along at 20 mph, either. Under 10 mph, probably.

Luckily I wasn’t hurt; but the thought that flashed through my mind was, “The old gal’s developing temperament!”

As to J.S. Bach, I bet he would have been glad to have a bicycle. The story goes that he walked 200 miles to hear Buxtehude play the organ. Mark Twain, I suspect, would not have thought, \”the well tempered bicycle\”. Quite the contrary, in fact!