Ride, Walk, Why Not Both?

I hadn't ridden my bike much since school started up and today is a beautiful sunny warm autumn day. I had my Walkman with me so I could listen to the Purdue-Illinois game as I tore up the trail. In some ways the Canal Towpath is my favorite trail due to the lack of congestion. I managed to ride the four and a half miles or so of the trail from Broad Ripple to 30th Street without a problem. Just a nice weekend ride.

There are two bridges that cross the canal allowing entry to the Butler University campus. I wanted to see where I would end up exactly on campus as my earlier attempts to find the trail from the campus itself failed. After a few seconds going around the road I figured I was near some gardens and the telescope. I noted this for the future. Small liberal arts colleges, like Butler, have very nice campuses. Students were out inline skating, riding their bikes, playing Frisbee, walking a dog, or just laying out and catching some sun.

Suddenly Brian's Life Rule #1 was invoked: when you ass is above your head it isn't a good thing! The good news was that I was approaching a curve so my momentum carried me onto grass instead of asphalt. The bad news is that landing on my back was still very forceful. At least I was wearing my helmet as my head hit the edge of the road. I could have had serious drain bamage otherwise. I lay on the grass for a few seconds trying to figure out what happened. Nothing was around as I got up. What the hell happened? The rear wheel was bent! It wouldn't spin at all.

I figured I was 2 miles south and about a mile and a half west of where I parked my truck in Broad Ripple. I picked up my bike and started walking. It couldn't be that difficult could it? By the time I got to Hinkle Fieldhouse my shoulder was in pain. Putting a bike on your shoulder simply isn't comfortable. I put the bike down and held up the rear end with my arm so that the front end would roll. I passed the impromptu memorial of flowers, balloons, and safety cones that marked where a Butler cop was gunned down yesterday. A few people were there mourning as I continued on. You could easily feel the sadness. 24 hours earlier I was emailing friends in the area to stay low. Today I was walking by with a crippled bike.

My arm was sore from holding up the rear end. I decided to simply drag the bike along when I was at the bottom of the Hill of Death. The City of Indianapolis decided to hide the true name with the innocuous '52nd St' title. No, this is the Hill of Death, at least going upward! Lance Armstrong could ride up the 60 degree incline that is the Hill of Death easily. I am not Lance Armstrong so like a dozen times before I walked up the Hill of Death with my bike. It's much easier when both wheels work. Homeowners heard the dragging sound and looked at me funny. Do I care what you think of me right now? NO!

Somewhere on Illinois I caught a break, sort of. By dragging the tire I created heat. Heat expands air. The heated air blew the tire's inner tube. Once the tire was deflated the wheel would turn a bit, well sort-of. When I reached the canal you have idea how seriously I pondered just tossing it into the water. At least Purdue won 38-30 by this point. Bad enough to be walking with a crippled bike, but to miss the game would have been insulting. If this ever happens again I'm just going to call someone to pick me up and leave the bike where it fell. Right now I'm so thankful for a hot shower and Ibueprofin! I could get a replacement wheel, but cheap bikes now are so much better than this cheap bike. Maybe I should stick to inline skating, nothing can go wrong with those, right?