I had the perfect Sunday afternoon plan: Bike south on 19th…bike West on Fir…bike South on 18th…and bike West on Dearborn St. to the Good Will to buy some slacks and shirts.
I also had some clothes to donate. I stuffed them into my backpack and headed out.
I wasn’t wearing a jacket, and I was surprised how cold and windy and rainy it was as I pedaled down 19th. The raindrops were blurring my glasses.
But the big drag was when my front brake—which had been alarmingly squishy ever since I got the awful squeaking fixed two weeks ago—totally gave out as I was going down the steep hill on Dearborn on the final swoop to the Good Will.
My bike started fishtailing.
And then it was all slow motion as the bike lifted off the ground, and I flew off the seat. My left side slammed into the wet pavement. My hip was bruised and my elbow and leg were bloody. My backpack and my glasses were lying a foot away from me on the ground—my backpack all spilled open.
It’s a good thing I was wearing my purple bike helmet.
And lucky for me, it was a residential section of Dearborn and there was no traffic; there was plenty of traffic a block ahead at the intersection of Dearborn and Rainier.
There was a happy ending: I found two great pair of slacks—a shiny blue pair (!) and a black & pinstriped pair, plus two perfect belts, including a brown one, and a plum paisley rayon/polyester shirt. All for $50.
I stopped at the bike shop on the way home, and they fixed my brakes for real this time. All for free, obviously.
I had the perfect combo to wear to work on Monday: The plum shirt and the blue pants—and the brown belt to go with my great brown shoes.
The Pedestrian Chronicles 