vrijdag, 14 mei 2004

Bicycle 101

The second I jumped on my bicycle, I realised something was wrong. The pedals moved, but the bike did not. Damn! The chain ran off – is it just me or do these things always happen when you are already in a hurry? Fortunately, dad taught me ‘First Aid’ for bikes when I was about twelve, and though I had not used that knowledge in a while, I could still remember all of his lessons.

Cool-headed, I turned my bicycle upside down.

I emptied my handbag and found my pocket knife – Sport Billy moment!

I unscrewed the chain guard, removed it and placed the chain onto the chainwheel – life was some much easier when I did not have a chain guard and thus a grease-less chain…

Intermezzo Off course I was standing in a less than elegant position doing all of this; quite a view (“I can see her thong!”) for the 16 year olds driving me by. An elderly couple, though, was impressed with the fact that “young people nowadays can still fix their own bikes”

I moved the pedals with my hand and ‘magically’ the chain rolled back in position! I gave myself a mental pat on the back, replaced the chain guard and turned the bike into a normal position. I phoned my dad and told him what I had achieved. “Well done, princess! I told you those lessons would come in handy some day.” But I could hear how proud he was in his tone…

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