Grannies in Granny_4

Well, today I really was in Granny. No one in their right mind would actually call them hills. They were like having a mole on your skin. Or the little nubbins on a football or basketball. I kept having images of Team Postal (now extinct) whizzing along at 60 mph. But for me it was a challenge.

I went about 2 1/2 miles very gently uphill, with lots of downs in-between. My goal was to pedal to my church to help out at the annual church cleaning. It took me 40 minutes to get there, as opposed to 13 minutes by car. But I did it! Sitting all the way.

Afterwards, I took a slightly different route to FedEx Kinko's to see the proofs of a job. I took my bike into the shop with me, because I still don't have a lock. I went home the back way, and had enough "oomph" left over to take a little side tour at the park near my house.

I decided to try a fairly steep, though short, hill standing up. I got about half way up in a high first, but it killed my abdominal muscles, so I had to sit again in granny and weave back and forth. But I made it!

Near the top, I shifted into 2nd, and my chain popped. Now what was I going to do?

For one thing, I can't lift and hold my bike with one arm while working with the other. Stooping over I know is very bad for the back. I pulled the chain a couple of times and got a fistful of grease (an exaggeration, to be sure). So, I thought I had no choice but to walk the 15 minutes home, including the downhill of what I had just pedaled up.

But somehow, I wasn't satisfied with that. It was definitely humiliating to be on foot, walking my bike. So I just thought a little bit. It seemed that what I needed was something like a nice block of wood to support the frame so I could work with the back wheel. And, in less than a minute--there it was! Not a block of wood but a nice, little wall.

I thought of asking permission from the homeowner first, but just went ahead and straddled the bike over the wall. I found out that my chain was really springy and stretchy, not like the chains I remembered from my childhood. So with a little pull here and a little pull there, a little turning of the wheel, I got it!! You can just imagine how proud and pleased I felt.

I even did a very outdoorsy, camping type thing--I got a handfull of mulch and rubbed my fingers until most of the grease was gone. I didn't want that yuk on my handlegrips!

Home was a pleasure, and I even rode up my driveway in a middle-low 2nd standing up.

Application

Psalm 147:1 Praise the LORD. How good it is to sing praises to our God, how pleasant and fitting to praise him!

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