Another high-adventure day ... but with no danger, thank goodness!
I set off this morning to ride two round trips to Marsh Park (wanting to do three, but somewhat constricted by schedule, I figured I'd do more later today). I got there on the first, and was on my way home when, just after having crossed Textile Rd. and while on the boardwalk, about two miles from home, the rear gear locked up and wouldn't turn at all.
I got off the trike, turned it on its side, and was in the process of examining it, trying to figure out what (if anything) I could do, when a man walking his dog happened by, and asked me if I needed help. (I could tell he was a good man, as his dog was named Miggy.) I conveyed as best I could what was happening, and, having more of a mechanical bent than I (but then who doesn't?), within a couple of minutes he had it spinning freely again. I got on and rode, but could tell it still wasn't right—I could hear and feel the chain slipping on the rear gear. Miggy's owner worked on it some more, but still couldn't figure it out. He asked where I lived, and I pointed and said, "Just a couple miles up Lohr. I'll be able to make it home OK. Thanks!"
I could ride, but the slipping of the chain made for a significantly increased number of pedal revolutions, so it ended up being a great workout! And I had made good enough time during the first part of the ride that I got home in an hour even (9.5 miles).
About a mile from home, my pedaling finally took effect, and the chain engaged the gear! I was quite encouraged by this, but it didn't last long (only a couple of minutes), so that made the large hills I encounter north of Ellsworth Rd. quite a challenge. On the uphills, my fast pedaling and slow forward progress were not all that unusual for those stretches, but it was frustrating on the downhills to be unable to shift into a lower gear, and instead to merely have the pedals spinning at top speed without the chain engaging the gear at all.
In the early part of the ride, before my mechanical problems, I think I passed my friend Carole Franklin walking (though my distance vision, even corrected, is poor enough that I couldn't be 100% positive). And then, as I neared home, I know I passed my friend Doris Granum, as she called out to me, asking what round I was on. I held up one finger, and thought, "Oh, Lord, if you only knew!"
So, unless I am able to get it figured out later today (with the assistance of my cycling friend Doug, who is to blame for having gotten me hooked), I guess I'll be returning to the dealer tomorrow—Jack's Bicycle, in Dearborn.
WEDNESDAY AFTERNOON
Doug stopped by this noon to look it over, but he said there's a problem with the derailleur which is beyond him, so back to Dearborn I go. Schedule prohibits doing it today, so I'll have to head over tomorrow morning, and hope I can work in a ride after I get home, tomorrow afternoon.
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