Love and a Demon Goat Disguised as a Bicycle (a.k.a. I hate wind)

So two days in a row, I'm relatively late for work. I say relatively, since I can start anywhere between 9am to 10am, but generally am in the office at 9. This week, it was 10:00 on Tuesday, and 9:30 today.

Why, oh why do you ask? Damn good question. Become a slacker again? Right, like I ever wasn't a slacker. Decided the battle to free your people (drug war prisoners) wasn't worth getting up in the morning? Yeah right, NEVER SURRENDER!

First, Tuesday. Full hour later than usual. This is because I was hit. I don't call it an accident when the driver looks at you, and decides that getting past the double-parked car on the left, and the dumpster on the right, is more important that a bicyclist's health, and rams said bicyclist into the dumpster. Then burns off without stopping.

I shouldn't say I got hit, my demon goat of a bicycle, Chupecabra, took the brunt of it. Actually, I'm pretty sure the beast is mad at me, since I dumped the bike. There, I admitted it. I jumped off the back. Minor hand damage from the car hit, minor knee pain from landing hard on my left leg.

Chupecabra? All twisted up. Bad. Slightly ridable for a second, with an askew handlebar/front wheel combination, and something funny going on in the back. Actually, the hub and back mounts popped off, but I didn't find this out until the base of the Manhattan Bridge (Brooklyn side, where formerly I broke a rib), when the back wheel popped out completely.

Can I say I leave something cheap in New York? Of course I can! 99 cent stores are a godsend. Where else can you, for 1.98 plus tax ($2.15) can you pick up a set of allen wrenches and a mini-crescent, the very tools I needed to get Chupecabra in ridable condition. Took me about 15 minutes to get to the store, 5 minutes to find what I needed, and another 10 to get Chupecabra in working order.

Not complete working order. Somehow, the front rim got shaved. That meant flat tire this morning. Front tire. No matter, I was planning on installing a thorn-resistant tube and anti-puncture slimes... after I filed down the shaved rim (to prevent further side-panel flats). So, only a half hour late this morning, most of which I blame on the wind.

Let me rant here about the wind and riding a bicycle: how is it, no matter what direction you're riding on a bicycle, the goddamn wind is going against you? I switch from West-by-Southwest, to South, to West, to North, and every turn, it was like going directly into a wall of wind. I even turned back a block, and somehow, the wind was still against me! I'm blaming the east coast for that one.

Damn, I've rambled too much. Next week, something less mundane than bike crashes (which means, of course, that my good fortune of not wearing a helmet is no longer paying off, goddamnit!).