This morning I tried to ride to the supermarket; but it turned into a bad trip.

There had evidently been heavy rain; and the path I was using was totally awash in some places. For a short while it rained hard again; and that made a mess of my glasses. Then the mini-bungee that secured the right-side pannier to the rack came loose. It caught in the rear derailer; and oh, what a mess that was!

Ibera Bicycle Bag PakRak

The derailer got yanked out of position; and the bungee had detached itself from the pannier, and was stuck in the derailer. I had to pull pretty hard to get the bungee out; but I couldn’t get the derailer into place. In fact, it looked like it was caught in the spokes. The bike was unridable; and I had to walk it home.

It\’s a good thing the rain had pretty well stopped; and it’s also a good thing that this didn’t wait to happen until I was just leaving the supermarket parking lot! Thanks to the rain, there were areas that were very muddy; and that contributed to the bad trip impression. It was still dark, too; and that didn\’t help.

Frigid

As they say, misfortunes seldom come singly. As I was rolling my crippled bicycle home, my left shoe came untied; and I had to stop to tie the laces. Soon afterwards, my right shoe repeated the act; and in a few minutes, it came untied again!

I left work early to give me time to get the bike to the shop. I figured my derailer problem was no quick, easy fix; and I was right. I had to leave the bike there; and it might be a week before it\’s ready. I guess I\’ll have to forget about going to the salvage store Saturday.

It will be a bad ride if I go out on the road bike early tomorrow! It won\’t be much above freezing; and winds of 10-15 mph mean a chill factor in the 20s! On top of that, there\’s a 50% chance of rain. The frigid temperatures will be bad enough; but add getting soaked and I\’ll be miserable.

I know from experience that a poncho isn\’t the answer. Even with that covering I still get plenty wet; and a wind-whipped poncho makes it hard to control the bicycle; especially if it\’s a strong sidewind.

It looks like there\’s even a slight chance of some sleet, or freezing rain. I don\’t have the right kind of tires for riding in such conditions; so it looks like I\’ll have to set up the road bike in the trainer. Part of me says, Go out and ride, and don\’t be a sissy; and the other part says, You\’ve got to draw the line somewhere. No sense risking hypothermia. That would be a really, REALLY bad trip!