"Fixing" Bikes

Last night on the trek home late at night we were having a fine ride until I looked down at my front tire and noticed a long metal thing sticking out from the axel. We pulled over and the metal thing that goes through the axel to keep the tire on has lost one of it's ends and so it's not staying in place. I would guess that this piece on the bike is for keeping the front of the bike from falling off the tire or if there was a flat, I would guess that you loosen this so you can pull the tire off. Given that I have a mountain bike with very knobby tires it seems that the bike will not pull loose from the spoke since the knobbyness gets in the way of the brakes. Shit. This really needs pictures, but my camera battery is dead.....Maybe you bikers out there know what I am talking about. I just lost one end of that piece (it must have fallen off) and so there was nothing keeping it on the bike.

Since I am biking on the flat city streets it wasn't a bit deal, when the gizmo would fly almost all the way out, I would kick it back in with my foot and keep riding. We got home with no accidents and then looked through our tool box to try and find something to put on the end to keep it in place. It looks like an ancor (for like when you are hanging pictures) will work fine until I can get to a bike shop this weekend. We'll see how it holds up this morning and I can always go to a bike shop out in the burbs if it's just not going to work. If I were seriously mountian biking I would be more concerned, but 3 miles on city streets is just about the opposite of that.

This morning I had a nice discovery, if you do sleep to the first snooze alarm, the coffee is already done, so you don't have to stare at it dripping and waiting for it to be done.

I had a funny phone conversation with my advisor yesterday....for those of you who know me know that I talk fast..... :

Advisor: Hi Leah
Leah : Hey Advisor, sorry I didn't get this to you sooner. I was home sick last week.
Advisor: oh it's no problem
Leah : Yeah, I think I just spent too much time travelling in a metal tube.
Advisor: OH WOW, CONGRATULATIONS!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!

Leah : uh....?
Advisor : Oh wait, what did you say?
Leah : I was just saying that I think all the travel caught up with me.
Advisor : Oh, I thought you said you were expecting.
Leah : face flushes.....uh...no...i wish...maybe when we have better insurance

HA! It was really funny as then I had to go on to explain what I had been working at and I was trying not to laugh for the rest of the time.....at least I know that if that does happen he'd be happy and not mad that it happened before I graduated :-)