The day went to crap......

We had big plans for Saturday and all was going to said plan to begin with. Our plan was to hit the bike trail and ride on the whole thing. We parked out by Orion Foods and then headed north on the trail to ride it clockwise. Kris had never been on the switchbacks and then over the spillway which is always fun the first time. Things were still going as planned. We made it all the way to the Cherry Rock area and of course the trail was getting real busy. I also noticed my Ol'Fisher was shifting into gears it thought I should have been riding it and of course my answer was NO. This happened a few time and of course I had decided it needed to to go in for a tune up. So anyway we are cruising along and I am about to go up the little incline before the bridge between 26th and cliff and all of a sudden my gears were changing things were makig noise and then it was like someone grabbed my back wheel and I stopped. I looked back and my derailer (sp?) was in my spokes. YUP, I broke it and not only that but the chain was broken and wrapped around my cassette. By this time Kris met up with me. Then of course there is the older couple sitting on the park bench watching all this and kindly said, "we have a cell phone that you could use!" Of course that was not going to fix my bike nor help me at this point. I told them "no thanks I have one also", kind of them to offer I guess. Well, I got the chain off the bike, you should have seen my hands after that, and then got the bike so at least we could roll it. The next step was to figure out what to do. I know there was people we could have called but we really didn't want to bother anyone so Kris opted to roll the Ol Fisher to Cliff Ave park area and I could take her bike and ride the remaining 9 miles to get the truck. That was the plan even thought that was not in the plan for the day but I was willing to improvise. So here I am riding her Fisher Napa comfort bike which is an odd feeling. I had the wizard of oz song in my head of the lady riding the bike. Anyway I made it to get the SUV.

I decided to hit the indy and head south to I-229. On the drive a truck in front of me threw up a rock and chipped the windshield. UGH....can this get any worse? Well depends on what you call worse. I called Kris and told her that I was on my way. She said of course great. Then proceeded to tell me that she had only one person ask if she needed help while she was walking my bike to Cliff Ave. She did have fun watching the dogs at the dog park and decided to sit in a shaded area. Of course she sat down and of course, dog park, grass, not responsible people, part of the name of the title of this blog, YUP, she sat down in dog CRAP! Well, kind of stepped in it and then got it on her sock and shoe.

We got the bike loaded up and headed to Harlan's to drop it off. Of course Kris didn't want to come in because of her new organic scent which I understand. Irish went through the bike and this is what was needed. New chain, shifter cable, cable housing, rear derailler (again sp?) and big chain ring. Yup, I guess when all this happened I was in the big chain ring and bent it also.

Total cost of Saturday: $200 bike shop, $100 deductible for new windshield, seeing Kris with dog poop on her.....priceless!...haha

Ok so does the story end there......NOPE. Both of us seemed to be down with whatever and were CRABBING at each other which is not normal at all as we are both pretty in tune to each other and know when to not push each others buttons but not this time. Buttons were being pushed ALL over the place! We got home Kris went into the den to clean and I went into the garage to clean it. I had a bunch of stuff fall off a shelf, knocked a putty knife off the peg board to have it come down and land edge down on my chin ( it was high up on the peg board), everything was fine and no injuries to report. Then all of sudden the people in the alley had the music cranked up and kids were screaming and carrying on so I was DONE with that plus it was getting hot in the garage. Seems the neighbors were having quite the Mexican party. I was ready for them to come around and offer salsa and chips or are least margaritas but no such luck instead I opted to watch the Cubs loose to the Phillies 5-2!

Good points of the day:

We did get some ridding in.

Kris got to see a part of the bike trail she had never seen before.

I got to ride on the newly opened section of the bike trail (watch out for the straw and some gravel under the 41st street bridge!)

The windshield had a couple of cracks in it and so now it needs to be replaced.

I got to ride her bike a few miles and have made a few suggestions as to making the bike a bit better for her to ride......yup, more money to be spent on bike parts.

I could have broken spokes with the derailer issue.

I will now have a bike all tuned up and ready to ride the margarita ride!

So far, I am happy to report that today is MUCH BETTER! Kris bought an Ipod (classic) today. I am in charge of buying the speakers and hook up some sort of system so we will have music for the Margarita ride!